Page 8 of Bound in Lingerie (Bare Naked Designs 3)

“I’m only here for business.” Milton glanced at his blond angel. She had tilted her head to the side and continued to look at him with interest. Or maybe it was disgust. He couldn’t tell.

“All right,” Aleks said. “You work in the family business, but it’s just a matter of time before your old man hands you the keys to the kingdom.”

“What kind of business?” Amie asked.

“Oh yes, what kind of business are you in, Milton?” The brunette beside him flashed a perfect set of teeth. She was exactly the type of woman he attracted. Beautiful. Gold-digger.

“Real estate development. My family deals in large-scale commercial properties.”

“So you’re the ones responsible for all the malls,” Amie said with a sneer.

And there it was. She didn’t even know him and already she was drawing a conclusion that because he dealt in real estate he was the big bad wolf. Milton was used to the stereotype. Nobody saw past the big box stores and office buildings. No one noticed that his company didn’t make a dime from the condo development that had been built as a woman’s shelter for a non-profit organization. No one realized the thousands of dollars they spent every year during the holidays for the children’s hospital, buying them presents and giving them a Santa. No one cared that the residence beside the children’s hospital that parents stayed at for free was built and still maintained by the corporation. All endeavors taken on by his mother. All things that did not stop even when she passed. His sister was in charge of those things now. And she did the company proud.

But the women he slept with, they liked what the business had to offer–expensive restaurants, fancy cars, trips and–

Wait! What makes you think you’re going to sleep with this woman? You just met her, and she obviously wants nothing to do with you.

She eyed him warily, her stare running up and down his length.

“Yes, my company builds malls.”

“Do you know how many trees are cut down every year to make room for shopping facilities?

“Someone has to build the malls, Ames,” Aleks interjected. He looked over at Milton. “Sometimes our Amie can be a little abrupt. But it’s usually not with new people.” Aleks turned his stare back to Amie and glared.

“Then forget about the trees. How many people have you left homeless? Do you know how many people are left homeless because some douche decides to make some money and sell their property and force people out of their homes?”

“It’s my business to know the statistics.”

She was one hundred percent correct. But that’s why the company gave back. They took from one area but gave in another. Was it ethical? Moral? Who knew, but Milton was proud of his family’s accomplishments and the legacy they were going to leave behind.

“You just don’t care, is that it?”

Milton was stunned, and so were a few of the other ladies that belonged to the group. But Aleks rolled his eyes as if this was par for the course when it came to this woman. With only a few sentences out of her mouth Milton knew, an angel she was not.

“I deal with people like you all the time.”

“People like me?” she cried.

He’d hit a nerve. Not what he had intended but maybe, when not under the illumination of soft light and covered in lace, she was exactly the woman he tried to avoid.

“Yes, people like you. Tree huggers,” he said. Amie recoiled, as did a few others in the group. “High and mighty herbal remedy people who would tie themselves with chains around a tree to save it.”

Aleks chuckled. Was he right?

“I’ve never chained myself to a tree,” Amie yelled.

“Surprise, surprise.”

A few of the girls seemed to back away from the group. At first casually, but then they made a break for it when Amie yelled, “You’re pretty arrogant for having such a large stick up your ass.”

“I’m arrogant? You don’t even know me.”

“I know you. All business and money. You never smile. Never enjoy what life has to offer. That’s why you have no problem destroying the natural gifts of this world.”

“I destroy? I saw you with–”

“Okay children, let’s take our corners.” Aleks stepped in between them and held out his arms, bracing himself in case one of them made a move to attack the other.

---