Page 8 of The Southern Thirst Trap

“Yeah man, if that’s what you want, I will,” he replies, a little confused.

“I’ll pay for the whole repair for you both. Just arrange it with Weiss. And don’t tell Harlowe I’m involved.”

I’m grateful when Javi doesn’t reply to that and lets me brood in peace the rest of the drive in. I’m able to work myself out of the weird headspace Harlowe threw me into before we finally pull up to the Olympus International Tower in downtown Atlanta, park, and ride the elevator to the top floors. It’s a little later than I had anticipated, but I’m the CEO. I get to walk into work whenever I want. Payton and Hayes are waiting for us in the boardroom, going over figures for the deal I’m set to lead this week.

“Hey there, adrenaline junkies. How was the freefall?” Payton asks, leaning back in his seat while Hayes keeps his eyes on the paper in front of him. He’s a workaholic even more so than I can claim to be, though his hot young wife has taken some of the edge off. Mostly. He’s been a bit better now that Paige is pregnant. He actually leaves the office at a normal time these days.

“Awful,” Javi answers for us. “Thiscabrónhas a death wish.” He pours a cup of coffee from the sideboard and stirs in a generous amount of sugar with his milk. His Cuban roots are showing more than usual this morning.

“I don’t have a death wish. I just prefer to start the week in a way that’ll get my blood flowing. I think better that way.”

Weiss hands me a cappuccino and a folder, annotated and ready for my attention before swiftly disappearing to work her admin magic elsewhere. I offer my thanks to her retreating back, but she doesn’t even say hello, and it almost makes me laugh. She really is the only woman on Earth I can’t charm.

Javi brings his sweet coffee to the table and settles in, his attention fixed on Payton.

“To top it off, I rear-ended a car full of hot chicks in traffic on I-85,” Javi continues, as if I hadn’t interjected. “And it turns out this fucker slept with the driver and is being cagey as hell about the details. Did y’all know he bagged the hottest Sports Illustrated model ever, Harlowe Sorenson? She was my favorite spank bank material for two years straight. I was bummed when she mysteriously disappeared from the public eye right as she was exploding in popularity.”

I barely maintain my calm and collected exterior at his words that normally wouldn’t have garnered a reaction from me. Instead, unwanted feelings of possession spike through my veins and make me want to do unspeakably violent things to him for even imagining my Harlowe naked, let alone whatever depraved acts got him off.

I suppress the murderous thoughts and yank my own leash to get my thoughts away from she-who-must-not-be-named. She’s not even mine to be possessive of, despite the roaring in my pulse that seems to shout it.Mine! Mine! Mine!

“You’ll have to be more specific when it comes to hot models Zander’s slept with,” Hayes says, still focused on his stack of paperwork, but finally contributing to the conversation. “They’re a dime a dozen and I’ve served probably twenty of them NDAs or escorted them out of his penthouse at one point or another when they didn’t understand that Zander was done with them.”

“You don’t remember her, Hayes?” Payton asks, throwing a ball of paper at his head. Hayes swats it away and looks up with a scowl.

“Trying to remember all of Zander’s conquests is a full-time job, and if you haven’t noticed, we’re plenty busy here as it is.”

“Oh, come on, I can’t be the only one who remembers everything! It’s no fun.” Payton huffs and leans back in his chair as he taps on a tablet. “You have to remember when Zander took two weeks off and went MIA in the Maldives with a model. Like, five years back. It was the last time he took that much time off, and probably the only time he’s spent more than two nights with a woman.”

He puts a photo of Harlowe from Sports Illustrated on the boardroom screen and Hayes looks up, his eyes widening in surprise. It’s the photo that originally caught my interest. Harlowe stretched out on her back in shallow water on the beach, one arm thrown up over her head, the other covering her bare tits, her hips turned invitingly toward the camera. Her dark eyes are half-lidded, a look so feline you feel like prey just waiting to be caught, her full lips parted and almost smiling, knowing the effect she has on you. Her appeal jumps out of the still image and grabs you by the balls. There’s no way to see that photo and not want what she’s offering.

“Oh. Her.” His ominous tone and lack of additional commentary have me instantly on alert.

“What does that mean, you inscrutable fuck?” I ask, unable to hold back my curiosity, and honestly, my intrigue with Harlowe. There’s a pang of longing so strong I have to physically stop it with a hand to my thigh, gripping the muscle hard enough to bruise to distract myself and keep my cock from rising to attention any further.

“It’s nothing,” Hayes says evasively. “I just remember her now.”

“And?” I ask, ready to chase this rabbit to its untimely end now that my brothers have been extra shitty about it.

Hayes takes a deep breath and exhales in a way that speaks volumes.You’re wasting my time and this is bullshit,he seems to say just with that sigh and the scowl he throws my way.

“She called the office, a lot, and even went as far as trying to get into the tower after you ended things. I had to explain that you were done with her and didn’t want to hear from her ever again and escorted her out. I don't think she was very happy that you cut off communication after your romantic time in the Maldives. I couldn’t get her to sign the NDA.” His last words are spoken ominously, like he’s been holding onto that and expecting trouble ever since.

She came here? To Olympus International Tower?Why would she have done that? She knew the score before we ever left the US. We would go back to our own lives when we returned. There wouldn’t be any connection or repeats. She agreed.

I didn't know any of this. I hadn’t wanted to. The staff and my brothers know I don’t want contact with women here at work. I guess they’ve been handling more than I ever knew if Hayes had to escort Harlowe out of the building himself.

“What did she want?” I ask, my voice sounding slightly eager, despite the coldness I infuse into it.

Hayes rubs a hand across his face. “She just wanted to talk to you, and only you. She didn’t want to leave a message or tell me why she was so insistent on speaking with you, so I have nothing more to tell you than that. She was pretty worked up and left angry as hell. She threw a fit and scattered paper all over the conference room. She even threatened me to my face. I was impressed by her.”

I look at Hayes and finally understand why he was being inscrutable before. He isn’t impressed by many people, so to have a woman I fucked manage that while he was trying to clean up the situation I created says a lot. He’s an intimidating fucker—a big, ruthless man with cold green eyes and a scary-ass aura, who is often tasked with the most unpleasant parts of our business, and seems to enjoy them a little too much. But Harlowe is the fiercest woman I’ve ever met. If anyone could go toe-to-toe with Hayes and walk out the victor with his respect, it would be her.

“You’re awfully interested now, Zand. Does it have to do with seeing her again today, or is there more you’re not telling us?” Payton asks, drawing my attention away from Hayes, who refuses to say any more about Harlowe.

“It’s nothing. Just curious now that fate threw her back in my path. I don’t do repeats.” If I just keep telling myself that, it’ll become true.

“Oh, we know,” Hayes drawls, sounding bored and already back to flipping through his profit-and-loss sheets. Numbers and money are his drug of choice, whereas I prefer something that spikes my adrenaline a little more.

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