Page 6 of Back in Black

Yeah, he did, but Fran was the type of ballbuster woman who just naturally brought out the worst in men like him. Drew dropped his hand from his brow and began to pace.

He disliked cajoling, but with Fran instigating this, he had little choice. “Fran, come on. We both know you’re a smart gal with a keen mind for business.”

“Agreed.”

Like most women, Frannie loved a compliment. “So you damn well know that it doesn’t make sense to mess with success, right?”

Catching on to him, she sighed. “You are such a pig, Drew.”

Drew could almost see the satisfied smile on her striking face. “That’s harsh, Frannie, even for you.” Not that he gave a fuck what Fran Ferrari thought of him.Except that she had the power to shit-can him on a whim.Drew held a sliver of ownership in the company, but the controlling shares went equally to Loren and Fran.

If he wanted to keep his position as president of the organization and spokesperson for the sport, he had to win her over.

“You’re not only a pig,” she said, “but you’re proud of it.”

Okay, Drew thought, continuing to call her Frannie had maybe exacerbated things.

“However,” she went on, “Gillian Noode is known for her talents in cases like these.”

“What the hell does that mean?”Cases like these. So now he was a damned case?

“She has a reputation of taking pigs and turning them into silk purses.”

“Great. Just the image I want.” The president of a hard-core sport could not be seen as a fucking silk . . .anything. “Put Loren back on.”

She didn’t. “I suggest you work with her, Drew, because I’ve had it with you. And don’t think to bully Gillian, either. I’m paying an outrageous fee to an elite company for her to conform you, enough that Gillian will soon be able to establish her own business in a big way. She’s motivated enough to ignore any efforts on your part to get rid of her.”

Ah,Drew thought, grabbing hold of a possible lifeline.So Ms. Noode needs this job, does she?Gaining his compliance would help her to obtain her own goals.

Loren came back to the phone. “Sorry, Drew, but Fran is right. With every new fight card, we go more mainstream. We want the networks to pick us up. But sometimes, and I’m only saying sometimes, your temper and . . . colorful way of speaking shed a bad light on things.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” He could be as circumspect and tactful as the next guy. But those attributes hadn’t gotten him where he was today. “Lose the babysitter and I can show you—”

“It’s too late for that, my friend. This is Fran’s project, so you and I both might as well go along with her until she has her way.”

“Thanks for nothing,” Drew said, and he disconnected the call.

Through the open doorway to the main barroom, he could still see Gillian, now surrounded by men. She laughed at something, and it made his muscles tighten. The woman had a teasing way of looking at men that made them stupid. The guys around her acted like a bunch of lapdogs, waiting for her attention.

Just then, she looked toward him, saw him standing there watching her, and she had the audacity towink. She knew his balls were in a wringer on this one.

But what she didn’t know was that he was a master manipulator. He hadn’t gotten where he was now by being a wimp or by backing away from a challenge. Thanks to Fran’s bragging, he knew this job was important to her, and he knew why.

That information could be used to dissuade her, no two ways about that. And in the process, he’d get what he wanted—her—and his freedom to run the franchise as he saw fit.

When he smiled, slow and triumphant, her eyes widened before she narrowed them again. With little more than a word, she sent her entourage away and left the stool to approach him.

He met her halfway. The noisy confusion of the live band, and the loud drone of conversation, blared around them.

And still, being only a foot from her felt somehow intimate.

Drew could smell her light perfume and the warmer scent of her skin and hair. Her glossy black hair picked up the low lights in the room and her blue eyes shone with amusement. He appreciated the moue of her sexily painted mouth.

Standing a half foot taller than her, Drew looked down into her face and waited, leaving it up to her to speak first.

Trying for a confidence that wasn’t there, she said, “I trust you got everything straightened out?”

“Yeah, I did.” Unable to stop himself, he brushed his knuckles over her cheek.

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