Page 38 of Heart of Stone

“You heard me. Be ready at six o’clock. My driver will be by your apartment to pick you up,” he informed me as he stood up.

He has a driver? Of course he has a driver. How silly of me.

Alexander pushed his chair under the table and turned to leave.

“Whoa, wait just a minute here! I said that I have plans.”

“Cancel them.”

“What if I don’t want to cancel? You can’t just order me about, Stone.” I tried to sound firm, but my voice sounded small to my ears.

“Do I strike you as the type of man who is easily put off? This is not a request, Krystina. We can finalize the details of your employment tonight, then move on to discussing moreinterestingthings. Six o’clock,” he reminded. “Oh, and one more thing. Don’t return the phone I gave you. You’ll need it when you come to work for me.”

The phone.

I had completely forgotten about it. I sat there, still wide-eyed, not sure what to make of the turn of events that had just unfolded. His assumption that I was going to accept his job offer was irritating. Ordering me to join him for dinner just plain ticked me off. But the fact that he came right out and said that he wanted menaked…well, that had the devil on my shoulder rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

I was so flustered that I didn’t even register that he had walked away from the table.

Wait – what just happened here?

I turned around in my chair and almost called out to him, to remind him that he didn’t know where I lived, but then I stopped myself. Alexander Stone knew exactly where I lived. I had a new cell phone as proof.

I watched him saunter towards the exit. The man had the sexiest ass that I had ever seen. Just the sight of him had me throwing all reservations to the wayside. I wanted him. Desperately. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn’t resist him. I knew with an absolute certainty that I would be ready tonight when his driver came to pick me up.

CHAPTER 11

I climbed into the black leather driver’s seat of my Tesla Model S with a satisfied grin on my face. I had finally made some headway with Krystina.

Regardless of whether or not she took the job that I was readily willing to give her, there would be no changing what happened that day in my conference room. And there would be no going back after our conversation in the coffee shop.

She would be difficult for me, of that I was sure. Her quick wit and firecracker temper made me want to put her over my knee.

But I have her attention now.

I was able to see that she had been intrigued by the job proposition, especially after I impulsively sweetened the pot with a potential partnership. And my cock instantly went hard when I saw the flash of desire in her eyes after I told her that I wanted her naked. I knew that I had gotten to her.

However, she had a suspicious nature about her, and she was extremely distrusting. That alone could pose a serious problem. I knew that I would have to be careful and I wasn’t naïve to the risks I was taking with her. Krystina was a wild card. One wrong move, and this could all blow up in my face. She was the antithesis to every rule that I had in the book. But I found her to be irresistible nonetheless, and I would do whatever I had to do to possess her. If that meant a little extra effort on my part in order to tame her, then so be it.

Having cleared my schedule for the remainder of the day, I shifted lanes in the city traffic and headed towards the interstate. Using the touchscreen of the car, I activated the phone system to get Hale on the line. He picked up after the first ring.

“Hale, I’m leaving the city for a few hours. There’s a parcel of land in Westchester that I’m going to look at.”

“Do you want me to meet you there?”

“No, that’s not necessary. Did you get those papers to Charlie?” I asked.

“All set, boss.”

“And he signed them?”

“Of course he did. He would have been stupid not to. You had him. It was either he takes the lump sum once and for all, or you’d hit him with an extortion charge. Stephen was brilliant with the wording of that contract. Your sister can rest easy now.”

“It fucking killed me to give that worm another cent. I just hope you’re right,” I said warily. “Charlie Andrews isn’t the brightest bulb, but we shouldn’t underestimate him.”

“I don’t think he’d risk doing any time in jail,” Hale predicted.

“You don’t know him like I do. The only reason why he wouldn’t want to end up behind bars is because that would mean time away from his dice. Keep an eye on him for a while, will you?”

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