Page 16 of The Player

Liza didn’t stop to knock, twisting the door knob and flinging open the door before she could second-guess the wisdom of barging into a CEO’s inner sanctum unannounced.

This publishing company were relentlessly harassing her; let them see how they liked getting a taste of their own medicine.

The editors wouldn’t listen, so the only way she’d get this mob to leave her alone was to have the order given from the top.

However, as she strode into the office, her plan to clear up this mess hit a major snag.

Because the guy sitting behind a huge glass-topped desk, the guy barking orders into a phone, the guy clearly in charge of Qu Publishing, was the guy who’d set her body alight last night.

Wade stopped mid-sentence as Liza barged into his office like an avenging biker chick—tight denim, clingy long-sleeved T-shirt, black leather vest, and the sexiest knee-high boots he’d ever seen—her expression grim and her eyes blazing.

Wow.

He’d expected to never see her again, yet secretly hoped he would. But he’d never thought she’d end up in his office the morning after their unforgettable night.

After the crappy year he’d endured—learning his dad hadn’t trusted him with the truth about his heart condition, accepting how far their relationship had deteriorated, his dad’s death, Babs’ sell-out plans—maybe the big guy upstairs had finally granted him a break.

‘Set up a meeting with the buyers and we’ll discuss covers and digital launch later,’ he said, hanging up on his deputy without waiting for an answer.

He stood, surprised by Liza’s stunned expression. It wasn’t as if they were strangers. She’d obviously sought him out, though the dramatic entrance was a surprise. He’d been told most people couldn’t get past Jodi, the receptionist. His dad had raved about her and from what Wade had seen of her work ethic in half a day, the woman was a dynamo.

Maybe Liza had been so desperate to see him she couldn’t wait?

Yeah, and maybe that WAG would saunter into his office any second and give him her completed biography bound in hardcover.

‘Hey, Liza, good to see you again—’

‘You’re the CEO of Qu Publishing?’

She made it sound as if he ran an illegal gambling den, her eyes narrowing as she crossed his office to stand on the opposite side of his desk. ‘It makes sense now. That’s why you slept with me.’

She muttered an expletive and shook her head, leaving him increasingly clueless as he waved away Jodi, who’d stuck her head around the door, and motioned for her to close it. Jodi mouthed an apology before doing as he said, leaving him alone with an irate, irrational woman who stared at him as if she wanted to drive a letter opener through his heart.

He wished he’d stashed it in his top drawer once he’d opened the mail.

‘Time out.’ He made a T sign with his hands and gestured toward the grey leather sofas. ‘Why don’t we sit and discuss this?’

Whatever this was, because he had no idea why she’d gone crazy at him for being CEO of Qu and what that had to do with having great sex.

Her lips compressed in a mutinous line as she marched toward the sofas and slumped into one, ensuring she sprawled across it so he had no chance of sitting nearby.

Ironic, when last night she couldn’t get close enough, and the feeling had been entirely mutual.

Even now, with confusion clogging his head, he couldn’t switch off the erotic images. Liza straddling him. Underneath him. On her hands and knees in front of him. The sweet taste of her. The sexy sounds she made. The softness of her skin. The intoxicating rose and vanilla scent that had lingered on his sheets.

Their night together had been sensational, the most memorable sex he’d had in a long time.

Hell, he was hard just thinking about it.

Then he looked into her dark blue eyes and saw something that shocked him.

Betrayal.

What had he done to make her look at him as if he’d ripped her world apart?

‘You used me,’ she said, jabbing a finger in his direction before curling it into a fist as if she wanted to slug him. ‘Proud of yourself?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He poured a glass of water and edged it across the table. ‘Can we backtrack a little so I have a hope in Hades of following this bizarre conversation?’

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