Page 35 of The Player

She’d refused. But her kiss indicated otherwise.

She wanted this as much as he did, which begged the question, why weren’t they out at a movie or dinner or at his place right now?

Instead, he had to face his worst nightmare.

With impeccable timing as always, Babs knocked on his door, and he braced for the inevitable awkwardness that preceded any confrontation with his step-mother. Ridiculous, considering she couldn’t be more than ten years older than him, if that.

‘Wade, darling.’ She breezed into his office and made a beeline for him.

‘Babs.’ His terse response didn’t deter her from planting an air kiss somewhere in the vicinity of his cheek.

He preferred it that way. The less those Botoxed lips got near him, the better.

‘Thanks for seeing me.’ She took a seat without being asked. ‘From what I hear we have a lot to catch up on.’

‘Really?’

She hated his monosyllabic answers, which was why he did it.

‘You’re stalling the inevitable.’ She waggled a crimson-taloned finger in his direction. ‘It would be best for all of us if Qu Publishing sold sooner rather than later.’

His fingers dug into the underside of his desk. ‘I beg to differ.’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘You always did.’

With a calculated pause, she leaned forward and he quickly averted his gaze from her overt cleavage spilling from an inappropriately tight satin blouse.

‘It’s what your father would’ve wanted.’

Low blow. Incredibly low. What did he expect? The woman was a gold-digging piranha and probably had already spent the money she’d anticipated from Qu’s sale.

‘My dad would’ve wanted to see his family legacy live on.’ He forced a smile, knowing it would never reach his eyes. ‘I’m surprised you wouldn’t know that.’

The corners of her mouth pinched, radiating unattractive wrinkles toward her nose. ‘We’d both be better off without a struggling business dragging us down. Digital publishing is the way of the future. Audiobooks are booming. Paperbacks are redundant.’

Showed how much she knew. Sure, the digital and audio revolution was a boom for readers but, from the extensive research conducted by online companies over the last five years, there was room in the expanding market for tree books, as he liked to call them.

‘I have figures to prove you wrong there.’ He tapped a stack of documentation on his desk. ‘Including record pre-orders for Liza Lithgow’s biography.’

‘That tart?’

Wade would never touch a woman in anger, would never consider it, but he wouldn’t mind clamping a hand over this vile woman’s mouth and dragging her out of his office.

Babe nose crinkled like she’d smelled something bad. ‘Who would want to read about her fabricated life?’

He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of asking what she meant.

‘All those WAGs are the same. Fake, the lot of them. Happy to be arm candy for what they can get.’

Pot. Meet kettle. Wade had heard enough.

‘I’m not selling, Babs. The board isn’t selling. They’ve agreed to give me three months to take this company into the black and they are men of honour.’

More than he could say for her. She wouldn’t know honour if it jumped up and bit her on her nipped and tucked ass.

Her eyes narrowed, and took on a feral gleam. ‘You’re pinning the success of this entire company on one book? Not a smart business decision. All sorts of disasters could happen before it hits the bookstores, like—’

‘I have to get back to work,’ he said, standing and heading for the door, which he opened in a blatant invitation for her to get the hell out of his office.

---