Page 168 of Savage Bosses

She met me at my desk with a dossier. Jasmine, fleeting and arousing, wafted from her position standing beside me.

To stifle the urge to inhale deeply, I breathed through my mouth and curled my fingers into my palm until the sharp bite from my nails helped me to focus.

Madison’s list comprised a few people in my circle, including Douglas’s mayor, Valentino DeLuca. There were also a few surprising names of people I’d courted for years but never got my foot in the door with.

While schooling my features, I segmented the personalities. “I have ongoing dealings with this group and won’t need to spend much time with them other than to show my face.”

Madison reached for the pile, momentarily brushing the side of her soft breast against me.

My muscles locked in place, and I forgot to breathe through my mouth. Jasmine flitted up my nose to fill my lungs and paint sensuous scenes where I wrapped Madison’s naked body around myself.

“Mayor DeLuca has connections to some of the hottest fashion houses coming out of Italy right now,” she said, noting I’d singled out Valentino DeLuca’s name from the rest of the list.

The reminder cleared the increasingly disturbing images of the two of us from my mind.

“Spend more time with him to give Elsie face time. After all, you both need to benefit from these events.” Madison stacked the names to the side, and I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her delicate ear or the soft luster of her skin as I trailed my gaze down her neck.

Maybe you should be the one on my arm.

Instead of allowing the rogue thought out, I grunted and shoved another set of names at Madison. “These people will be more challenging.”

“What? Are you afraid that you can’t win them over with your sunny disposition?”

I glanced at her face, wondering if my imagination was fucking with me. Had a note of flirtation entered her voice? The slight uptick of her lips could be the same sarcasm she’d been handing me from our reunion. But I… Hell, I didn’t know if I wanted her to be unfeeling or not anymore, and I didn’t like being confused. I was a decisive man in all my dealings, yet somehow Madison could shift the ground from under me.

“Let’s just say I’ll need more than my enviable status to get these men to give me the time. Once I’m in front of them, they won’t be able to deny my charm or the benefits of doing business with me.”

“That’s where Elsie comes in. Have her approach Hayden first.” Madison pulled the dossier on Hayden Mills, heir to one of the largest international media conglomerates. “He’s never met a model he doesn’t try to steal from someone else. I’ll have her drop my name before—”

“What will your name do that my name won’t?”

Madison chuckled while shaking her head. “That’s between Hayden and me. What matters is we’ll have given him two reasons to meet you.”

Whatever was between Madison and Hayden wasn’t my business, yet my gut churned from the possibilities. Even as we discussed the other names on the list, I surreptitiously watched Madison. To hell with her keeping her secrets. I was going to find out how close Hayden was to Madison, and if she knew what was good for her, they better be long-lost siblings separated at birth.

CHAPTER 7

Madison

T

he first time I confessed my love to Kent Luxe, I was sixteen. My pubescent heart didn’t care that he was Ife’s father or that he was married. I blurted out my feelings with no regard to where we were or who was around. Lucky for me, we were alone in the kitchen while Ife and Oyinlola were in the den.

What could I say? I was determined to be a home wrecker if it meant having my crush for myself.

No other man in my life really saw me until Kent. The boys in school saw me as exotic because of my vitiligo, wanting to see just how much of my body was unmelanated. They didn’t care if I fought with my parents, the stress I was under to perform to Nikita Montgomery’s standards, or my inability to cope with disappointment.

Kent did.

He wasn’t patronizing, like some of the other kids’ parents. He spoke to me as an equal, where everyone else treated me like a child. He showed me how to confront my shortcomings in a way that wasn’t destructive. He was everything my teenage heart saw as a hero, and incredibly handsome on top of everything else.

Even after my first confession when he distanced himself, I couldn’t stop my feelings for him. At eighteen, I planned an elaborate declaration, convincing Ife and her mother to go on a mother-daughter weekend trip and leaving Kent at home and alone.

I cringed now, thinking about how I snuck into his bedroom, determined to seduce him when I had zero clue what seducing a man meant. The wait was so nerve-wracking I almost ran to the bathroom several times to purge myself while waiting for his telltale footsteps to approach the bedroom door. Despite my agitated state, I didn’t chicken out, though now I wondered how things would be different if I had.

Instead, I lay in his bed while nervous sweat dotted my back, armpits, and thighs. Nothing prepared me for the horror that overtook his features or the intense anger and scathing dismissal he gave me. It was a million times worse than his first rejection, leaving a wound that I thought I’d healed.

While away, I worked to rebuild the confidence he’d shredded in one sentence and a scathing laugh. When he called me a sexless child who could never tempt a man’s appetites, let alone move his heart, I planned on never returning to Douglas. Yet being here now proved that a part of me wanted his approval. I still wanted him to see me as an equal, and as someone he desired.

---