Page 2 of Sensual Games

A sour taste filled my mouth and left me reaching for the bottle of water on the podium, taking a sip in hopes of washing the bitterness away.

“And please remember,” I concluded, practically racing for the finish line in hopes of putting an end to all of this. “My door is always open. I look forward to my first meeting with the new digital team early next week. For now, get your feet wet, orient yourselves, and don’t forget to ask questions whenever they come up. We are here to help you make this transition as smooth and painless as possible. Thank you all very much for being here with us, and I look forward to working with all of you.”

They were smart enough to offer polite applause before I nodded to Dad. “Now, a few words from our CEO. Be careful,” I warned, dropping my voice to something barely above a whisper. “You better sit up straight and be on your best behavior, but then that’s probably the command only reserved for me when I was getting yelled at back in the day.” Laughter filled the room while Dad shook his head and wagged a finger at me. “If I were you, I would be on the safe side,” I finished, and a fresh wave of laughter resulted when I stepped aside to let Dad take my place.

We exchanged a glance, and then I returned to my seat.I set it up. All you have to do is bring it home.

Now that the part I had dreaded most was over—my first time being paraded around like this, forced to play happy boss in front of a bunch of strangers—I could sit back in my chair and, once again, go over the situation I had found myself in.

But instead of thinking about what Ivy’s presence meant for my job security, where did my mind go? Right back to my hotel room, around the time I pulled her off the dresser and fell onto the bed with her underneath me.

I couldn’t keep my hands off her, touching everything I could reach while tasting every inch of her skin. There was something wild, almost unhinged, about it, a sense of complete abandon. Everybody knew women tended to get horny as hell at weddings—at least, that was the way I’d always found it. This was on another level. Every touch, every high-pitched whimper and deep, throaty moan was a challenge. Could I make her do it again? And would she do it louder this time?

“As my son told you,” Dad offered, nodding toward me. “Family is something we focus on here. And please, don’t get me wrong,” he continued with a soft chuckle. “I’m not trying to blow smoke up anyone’s rear. There’s no such thing as a complete work-life balance. I know that too well, myself. Sometimes, life takes precedence, while other times, we make sacrifices to advance ourselves professionally. I don’t expect anyone to walk in here every day and be able to completely disconnect from the life they left outside these doors. It’s impossible. And it’s unfair to demand that. But don’t get me wrong. We do work hard…”

This would be challenging enough to pay attention to if I wasn’t out of my mind trying to focus on anything but this insane twist of fate, if it was indeed a twist and not something Ivy had orchestrated. I knew I had to be stronger than this, but nothing could stop me from sliding a glance her way, gauging her reaction. She may as well have been some lovesick kid, hanging onto Dad’s every word as she gazed up at him.

Damn, she was gorgeous. Not that I could forget, but remembering something and seeing it in front of me were two different things. Her delicate features were perfectly balanced, but it was the eyes that drew me in. They had from the first second I had spotted her sitting at the bar in the clubhouse dining room, where some of the guests had spilled over to take a break from the music and dancing. The second those orbs had landed on me, shining and sharp, I was a fish on a hook. All she had to do was reel me in, and an inviting smile had done that.

Looking back, I cringed at myself. Had I really made it that easy for her? How was I supposed to know we would meet again and under these circumstances?

But she had to know. The takeover hadn’t exactly happened overnight. There had already been rumblings in the air. I was one of the groomsmen, for fuck’s sake. My name was in the program everybody received before the wedding. She had to know who I was by the time I’d introduced myself.

I thought I had picked her up and seduced her, but now I was seeing everything clearly. It had been the other way around. She had used me. She thought she could take my job. A job I hadn’t wanted when I woke up that morning but was now the most important thing in my world.

She wanted to play games? That was fine with me. Nobody tried to take what was mine and got away with it. And she was about to find that out.

Dad clapped his hands together briskly, snapping me to attention. “Now, as Lucian explained, you’ll all be gathered together and taken to your new workstations. When you reach them, you’ll find copies of the employee handbook, along with welcome packages we assembled for each of you. Again, I look forward to working with you, and we hope you can be as happy and as fulfilled here as you were before Diamond Media and Jones Media joined forces. Thank you all very much.”

He headed straight for me, and I stood, aware of the icy blonde watching us. “Well, this is it,” Dad murmured. “Tomorrow, you’ll be working one-on-one with Ivy, showing her the ropes. She’ll take on a managerial role, a step down from her prior title but with better compensation.”

“What a shame I had no idea I had to do any of that,” I muttered, offering a tight smile to some rando who caught my eye as he walked past. Somebody sucking up, trying to get me to remember their face. Like that would help them if they couldn’t hack moving up to the big leagues.

“If that was an oversight, it was on your part.” Dad’s narrowed eyes found me and locked on. All I could do was withstand the weight of his disappointment. “I sent you the list of new employees and their past positions. Since when can you not add two and two together?”

This motherfucker. My blood was boiling, and I wanted nothing more than to throw his bullshit job in his face, along with the thinly veiled contempt he’d always held for me. It was a shame he had only been granted one child, and that child happened to be me. Someone he couldn’t trust to work on their own. Somebody he had to assign a handler to.

“It’s fine,” I assured him, fighting to maintain composure if only to defy his expectations. “We can talk about the strategy I’ve come up with during our breakfast meeting on Wednesday.” Two days from now, I would more than likely have a better idea of what I was dealing with when it came to her.

“Fair enough.” He turned away, all smiles for a pair of older women who obviously couldn’t resist his charm. Women never could, especially the ones closer to his age.

I was not in the mood to charm anyone, especially not when I found Ivy lingering in the doorway, staring my way, one eyebrow arched.More like Poison Ivy. Nice to look at, dangerous as all fuck to touch.

She was not going to take this from me. I would see to it she regretted ever thinking she could. I might have let my dick do the thinking for me once, but I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

2

IVY

“Ibrought these because I know they’re your favorite.” I buried my nose deep in the fragrant blooms I’d finished arranging on Mom’s windowsill. They were gorgeous and had cost more than I wanted to think about, but she needed a little cheer in this bleak, dingy room.

I turned away from the vase of roses, my gaze landing on what looked suspiciously like mouse droppings in the corner. Over the months, I’d seen more than a few mouse traps here in the only nursing facility I could afford, and while my stomach soured, I had no choice but to turn a blind eye. Aside from lodging complaints with the state advocate, there was nothing else I could do to try to improve Mom’s situation. I needed her taken care of so I could go out and work. But it was a vicious cycle. I worked so I could keep her here.

Taking a seat at her bedside, I pulled her hairbrush from the drawer in the nightstand. Her energy was low today. Normally, she at least tried to be awake when I came to visit, but she didn’t have it in her tonight.

Instead of trying to wake her up, I leaned in and unwound the long, silver braid hanging over one shoulder. Bits of food were stuck in her hair, which nobody had bothered to clean out after she’d eaten. Another thing I had to overlook. My soul was weary as I began brushing her soft locks.

“I’ll be making more here than I ever did at Jones Media,” I told her, and for once, I could let a little excitement leak into my voice. Not only would I be making more, but I would be making enough to afford an actual, decent facility in Hoboken. It wouldn’t be the Ritz, but it was clean, and the staff seemed kind and on top of things. She wouldn’t have to feel like she was simply waiting to die after her stroke.

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