Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I didn’t care that we were putting on a show for the other diners in the restaurant.
There came a sound of surprise from L, but it was nearly drowned out by my brother’s harsh words. “Shawn, what the fuck?”
I ignored them both, as did Kara. As much as she didn’t want to, she desired me as badly as I did her. But I needed to be strategic.
It was harder than I thought it would be to relax my grip and step back, leaving her looking adrift. “Markus will pick you up at nine-thirty for your interview,” I said. “I have appointments all day, but you can tell me how it went over dinner tomorrow night.”
I said goodbye to my family, who could not have looked more displeased with me, and realized I liked the shade of red she flushed when she was irritated the most.
And if she was mad now, just wait until tomorrow.
18
KARA
I hooked the clasp closed on the sexy black bra Shawn had unknowingly bought me, letting it give me some satisfaction. A matching bra and underwear made me feel pulled together, like I could channel some man-eating runway model.
Shawn Fucking Dunn. He’d walked out on me last night, after feeling me up in front of the entire restaurant, leaving my head spinning. He wanted me. Not just sexually but everything, and I wanted him, too.
There was no denying him, and I no longer wanted to deny him.
What was wrong with me?
God, just thinking about his kiss flooded me with heat. How could I want more, when half of what he said was pure manipulation? Why did I like this?
It probably only made me more desirable to him when I said he couldn’t have me. Nothing was off limits to him.
My suit in place, I put on the red heels. I wouldn’t let him ruin them for me. I’d take back as much as I could from him, including these bizarre feelings I wanted to go away.
The drive to the brewery was short and anxiety-inducing. The impressive front building had an old-world, classic Bavarian exterior, with a large lawn sloping up to the grand front entrance. The Osterhägen logo in the top corner was quietly elegant. Markus drove past the first building to the more generic offices beside the massive brewery and pointed to a glass door.
“Your appointment, Frau Hayward.”
Inside the office lobby, a practical-looking woman in her fifties waited by the receptionist counter with a stack of paperwork in one arm. “Kara Hayward?”
I nodded and extended a hand toward the woman.
She shook it quickly and began to move, encouraging me to walk beside her. “My name is Diana Heineburr. You can put your things at your desk, and then I’ll give you the tour. It’s this way.”
I hesitated. “I’m sorry, did you say ‘your desk’?”
“Yes, project managers usually have their own office, but we’re scrambling to find a space for you right now. It’s temporary. Is that going to be a problem?”
It was a thousand degrees in the room. She looked surprised when she turned a corner and realized I wasn’t following her.
“That bastard,” I muttered. “Forgive me. I was under the impression this was an interview. Is that not the case?”
“No, you already had an interview with . . .” She searched the paperwork. “Oh.”
“With Shawn Fucking Dunn.”
She glanced around nervously, checking to see if anyone else had heard me. Everything went red and silent as rage threatened to overtake me.
Breathe. Calm down.
When I opened my eyes, Diana was staring at me like I had two heads.
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“Who? The CEO?”
Normally, I’d never be able to get to him, but I had a major advantage. “No, Jason Dunn. I need to speak with him right away.”
A half-hour later I stepped off the elevator and marched toward a set of glass doors. Beyond them sat a half wall and a desk with a young, elegant man perched behind it. This had to be Shawn’s assistant.
There was another set of glass doors behind the man that led into an enormous office decorated with blacks and grays.
I grasped the cold chrome handle and pulled the main door open, and when I glanced left to right, I noticed there were other offices on either side of Shawn’s, probably the rest of upper management. That hadn’t really figured into the plan forming in my head.
But I was a problem solver. I’d figure it out. I charged past the assistant, who hadn’t made it out of his seat until I put a sweaty hand on Shawn’s office door and yanked it open.
I kept my breathing steady as my gaze swept the space and took it all in.
The formidable black desk, or the man seated behind it, might have been the focal point, but it was the wall of glass beyond that I found the most impressive. It had a view of the entire brewery floor and its copper-colored vats.