Page 8 of His Wild Seduction

Too damn good in her sedate dress with her hair wildfire pulled back from her face.

The dress was a little too big on her, bagging around her waist and arms where it should have been taken in by the dressmaker or seamstress. Her purse was scuffed, and her shoes were a different shade of gray.

The Meredith I knew had a keen fashion sense and dressed to enhance her full figure. She’d always had piles of money and an individuality I’d admired.

This Meredith was every bit as beautiful. Even more so.

I’d come there with a purpose. To bring her to heel.

But looking at her, I realized there was so much I didn’t know. Trying to remain aloof was a fighting battle.

My interest was piqued.

There was a storm brewing behind her eyes and whether it was made of the same stuff as the hurricane wild winds billowing inside of me, I didn’t know for sure yet.

But I wanted to find out.

I wouldn’t lie to myself. Not when it came to her. My blood burned when I looked at Meredith.

They said where there was smoke, there was fire. Well, I smelled smoke, alright.

Maybe it was time to check for fire.

CHAPTER THREE

MEREDITH

Anger hummed through my veins, and once again, I was really glad I wasn’t wearing a sweater.

The room felt very warm all of a sudden.

Sticky. Uncomfortable.

I shifted in my seat, aware of the stiff backed chair in a way I wished I wasn’t. I’d grown up with money and I was aware of corporate tactics.

Rooms like this were set up to make the opposing party feel nervous and ill at ease.

I felt downright fucking annoyed. I had no business being there. No dog in this fight, except that I cared about all those people who would suffer if I didn’t agree to sit there with a man I considered my sworn enemy.

A man who sat and glared at me like I was a blight on his pristine suit. Or something grotesque beneath a microscope.

This was not the man I knew fifteen years ago. That man wouldn’t be caught dead in a business meeting wearing a fucking tie.

This Josef was a stranger, and I needed to keep reminding myself of that fact.

Cold. Hard. Calculating.

But I wasn’t the same whimpering little miss anymore. If he thought he could bully me into saying or doing what he wanted, he was wrong. So wrong.

Fuck this man so much.

“Fine. The truth. After my eighteenth birthday,” I said, refusing to acknowledge Josef’s part in that fiasco. “I went to Europe. I made friends. Got a job. And I stayed there for almost nine years.”

“And then?” he prompted.

“And then, I came back to the states. To Washington D.C. first, then to Jersey City. My job had a new location and sent me there to do what I do, and I found a small apartment that suits me.”

“You stayed undiscovered for so long, how did he find you now?” Josef asked, and it was a good question.

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