Page 12 of Burning for You

Her hair is blond—I mean, all the girls I’ve been with are blond—but hers flows and sparkles like vintage gold champagne. Her short skirt reveals a pair of legs that are slender, long, firm and shapely. And those curves… how could someone have such a tiny waist?

Now I’m almost certain Jesse and I ought to take her. Logistics and effectiveness aside, I know I’d rather have a goddess than a pumpkin-head man as my hostage.

“Holt!” Grant keeps his voice low, but he pulls at my arm harshly. “Didn’t I tell you?” he murmurs. “Discreet, man, discreet!”

My accomplice hurries. I make half an attempt to keep up with him while holding my stare on her. I’m sure there’s witchcraft in the works here—I simply can’t let her go.

“Holt! Jesus, come on!” Grant says, crouching behind me.

Finally seeing sense, I turn away. But before I disappear into another corridor, out of the blue she throws a gaze at me. No, it’s not out of the blue—I’ve been asking for it. Energy travels, and I sure am full of it. Her blue eyes and half-parted lips effortlessly blow up my heart, leaving a mushroom cloud inside my chest cavity.

By now I’m sure Bright has seen his fiancée’s change of expression. I hasten my stride. I don’t think he had a chance to see me.

Grant stops at a door, shaking his head a couple of times in exasperation. “Don’t do that again!” He swipes me in. “You have an hour.”

“What’s her name?”

My childhood neighbor snorts, not much differently from when he was six years old. “I had a crush on her too. My advice, stay away. She’s out of your league. One, she’s too pretty, and two, she’s an heiress.”

“Heiress?”

“Carolyn Meyer, the daughter of Albert Meyer.”

“Albert Meyer the property mogul?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“What do you think those two are arguing about?”

“I don’t know. Work, what’s for dinner, he wants sex and she doesn’t.”

I glare at the midget. I’ll stick with the dinner theory, although shamefully, even my mind crossed to sex when I saw Carolyn. Being a creature with a penis, I admit there’s truth in what people say about men thinking about sex nineteen times a day.

And I think those nineteen counts are almost up for me today. Something else about Carolyn soon strikes me. “What’s her position in the company?”

“She’s sitting on the board of directors, but word got out that she’s going to be the majority shareholder. Brilliance needs cash for their expansion plans, you see.”

My breathing stutters. I bet those plans include Random Valley. “Do you think she knows about the company’s dealing with Rupert Teller’s Highpoint?”

“No idea. Nobody knows about any plans to acquire your land, or any Montana land. If it’s true, it must be highly classified. But hey, they’re engaged, so if Josh Bright knows, I bet she knows.”

I know the answer, but being smitten as I am, I was hoping for a miracle that somehow that woman isn’t involved.

Perhaps noticing my disappointment, Grant adds, “Whatever she’s gonna do, for now, she’s a welcome change. People look forward to seeing her. She has a way with that. She definitely has a way.” Grant nods to himself, as if reliving the ‘what ifs’ around his crush on her.

“An hour,” Grant reminds me before he leaves me inside the file room.

As I look in drawer after drawer, I’m starting to think this is a waste of time. I even look inside the compartments that house past projects and miscellaneous contracts.

Nothing.

Maybe Teller’s HPI acts independently after all. But Jesse is right—it’s too small a company to handle such a major project.

“Anything?” Grant asks, coming in a couple of minutes early.

“No.”

“Come on, then, we’ve gotta get out of here.”

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