Page 16 of Savage Suit
“Mr. Keegan,” I began again in a soft, controlled monotone. “I arrived here this morning at the time appointed in my confirmation email to interview for the Amage project manager position. Instead, I sat cooling my heels for four and a half hours.” Those words, his narrowing eyes, were a powder keg reigniting my temper. “You waltz in here like it doesn’t matter!”
The hot ire on his face warred with his icy stare. “Ms. Hagen, you’re out of line,” Noah said with deceptive calm, his lips as tempting as his smell. “I sent my regrets earlier and apologized when I walked in. That’s as much as you get. I explain my actions to no one. Certainly not to a potential employee. Your outburst is unprofessional. There will be times in this business when you will wait, and if you can’t handle it, you’re in the wrong profession.”
The wrong profession? Fucking asshole! “No, Mister Keegan,” I said evenly, turning slightly to snatch up my purse and briefcase. Ignoring my breast brushing against his arm, I straightened and faced him. “I can assure you I’m not in the wrong profession.”
Noah arched an eyebrow, sculpted to precision. I wished they were professionally shaped, but this man was blessed with perfection.
I lifted my chin. “I just have the wrong company.”
His firm jaw relaxed, softening his oh-so-handsome face, which registered surprise. But his undisguised admiration captivated me. For the briefest moment, I went still, unable to move or look away.
His gaze roamed over my breasts, lingered on my hips, then traveled down my legs. My outfit wasn’t lost to him. The sharp intake of breath told me as much. The startling blue intensity of his eyes showed me as much. His appraisal flushed me with heat and melted my insides. An eternity passed, and still, we stared at one another, neither of us speaking. I didn’t like him, and I was damned sure he couldn’t stand me. Words would ruin our mutual carnality.
He cleared his throat. Damn him.
“You’re no longer interested in the position with Keegan Media Group, Ms. Hagen?”
I frowned. He was being purposely obtuse. “You’re very perceptive, Mister Keegan,” I said with sarcasm.
Another beat of silence pulsed between us. “Rethinking your decision is your prerogative.”
Tightening my hold on my briefcase, I bristled at his dismissiveness. He sounded as if our moments of reciprocal awareness had never happened. Glowering at him, I sidled away, determined to avoid him, and started for the door.
He dogged my steps, his looming presence a powerful aphrodisiac. At the door, I grabbed the knob.
Noah placed his hand over mine. “Allow me.”
Electricity surged through my veins. The odd familiarity his touch evoked bewildered me. I’d never met him, even if my body didn’t agree. Imagining his tall, well-built frame moving over me, into me, rose in my head. My fingers tousled his ink-dark hair, and his blue eyes burned into mine. We fit together perfectly.
Then, he shifted, bursting my fantasy. Shame swept through me. This behavior had disgusted and infuriated my parents.
Noah’s hand remained over mine, cool and gentle. Firm and masculine. Desire pooled between my thighs, despite the memory of my father’s fury. I forced myself to recall Noah’s assholery.
Annoyance wrapped me in a protective cloak. I jerked my hand away. “Good afternoon, Mr. Keegan,” I snapped, ready to leave.
Noah turned the knob and opened the door, the action as slow as the small smile tipping one side of his mouth. “Ms. Hagen.”
He nodded as I brushed past him without a goodbye. In my mind, I called him every name under the sun while also kicking myself for squandering the opportunity.
Chapter Three
I stared out the fourth-floor meeting room window for a brooding moment, my hands shoved in my trouser pockets. It was a sunny day, and the street below buzzed with activity. The traffic wasn’t as bad as I’d seen it, the city slowly returning to normal after months of closures and shutdowns. Businesspeople, tourists, and locals populated the sidewalks, waited at traffic lights, crossed streets, and performed the million routine tasks taken for granted. A sidewalk shed, scaffolding to the world, surrounded the building across from mine on the left side of the street. Keegan Enterprises would send documentation to the Department of Buildings in another year to prove our façade still met standards.
But I stood, watching it all, in a dark mood. Somewhere out there, in the everyday chaos, Ryan Hagen circulated. Since she’d walked out of my office yesterday, I’d tried hard to banish her from my head. An impossible task. Fuck, I’d even jerked off in the shower this morning, thinking of her amazing gray eyes, edged with silver, and set in a face so devastatingly beautiful it still shocked me she was single.
The savage game I’d played with her wasn’t a new trick. The moment I saw the gender of an applicant, I put my plan into motion. Most times, I alerted my staff, but this time my sister-in-law’s business trip and the argument with my brother over her distracted me. She was a Keegan executive. If he didn’t worry about her health, why didn’t he take better care to keep her off planes?
It was an answer for another day. I was still smarting from my encounter with Ryan Hagen.
Usually, my tactics worked like a charm. With her, though, it hadn’t. She’d stayed. And she’d waited to read me the riot act.
Even as her dressing down annoyed the living fuck out of me, it also sparked something inside me.
Hours later, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d done the right thing by not giving her a chance. I needed a project manager as much as she needed a salary. Then, I dismissed the idea, assaulted by one just as ludicrous. Last night, I had the insane notion of contacting her and asking her out. Usually, I implemented my ideas. I didn’t hesitate. Whatever I wanted, I pursued until I won.
Yet, I hadn’t executed my plan. Call her. Wine and dine her. Fuck her. And if she showed as much passion in bed as she did in her anger, make her my mistress.
If she worked for me, she’d be off-limits. Ethics and legalities aside, I’m not sure I could have her as my lover if she were a part of the same company that killed my mother.
