Always Mine (69th Street Bad Boys) Read online

  No time like the present, so I took out my phone while I was parked there and dialed her number.

  “Hey there, sweetheart,” my mom said.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said. “How’re you doing?”

  “Went to the hospital again?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Just dropped Sadie off. I just wanted to let you know how my first day at work went.”

  “Honey. Did you get the job!?” she asked.

  “I did get the job, yes. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner. I’ve been going through financials and documents all week.”

  “Sweetheart, don’t apologize. Tell me all about it,” she said.

  “Well, there wasn’t much to tell about yesterday. There was a boardroom full of guys, and you know how those always go down with me.”

  “You can’t help that men are intimidated by your good looks and intelligence. It’s a deadly combination. You get it from your mother,” she said.

  I could practically hear her grin as I chuckled into the phone.

  “My office is huge. It’s on the 29th floor of this sprawling building and has the most amazing view. You’ll have to come see it sometime,” I said.

  “I’d love to, honey.”

  “I did it, Mom. I made it,” I said.

  I could hear my mother sniffling on the other end and I had to choke back tears of my own. In all my years and in all the ways my mother and I struggled, there were many nights when I couldn’t have imagined I’d be sitting in the position I was.

  “I am so proud of you, my sweet, sweet girl,” she said. “That company is lucky to have you. Just be wary of that Lincoln fellow. I did a bit of research and he seems to be a very prominent man in the ‘flavor of the month’ community.”

  “I promise I won’t screw my boss, Mom,” I said.

  Trust me, I already made that mistake.

  “Such a potty mouth. You get it from working around all these men,” she said.

  “I love you, too. I’ll call you next week and let you know how week one went,” I said.

  “Looking forward to it. I love you, Lia.”

  “I love you, too, Mom.”

  I hung up the phone just as someone blew their horn at me, and I honked back and waved before I pulled out of the parking lot. The hospital receded in my rearview mirror as my grip on my steering wheel loosened, and something deep inside me told me I needed a drink.

  Maybe it was the phone call, or maybe it was being in the hospital with Sadie. Maybe it was the memories that were being conjured up, or the stark reminder of why I was so lucky to have snagged this job in the first place. Maybe it was the fact that I was working for a man who had screwed me then dumped me without a word six years ago, or maybe it was the fact that he didn’t even fucking recognize me.

  Either way, I needed a strong glass of red wine.

  Chapter 7

  Lincoln

  “Well, you’re not a face I expected to see this morning.”

  Drew came into the office of the hotel chain just as I was looking through some applications. I had to be honest with myself, I was a bit stunned when I realized who Miss Wilson was. And honestly, it was not going to be kosher for the two of us to continue working underneath one another. So, I came into the office to take a look at the applications Drew had set aside when hiring Amelia.

  I needed someone else running this hotel expansion.

  “What are you doing?” Drew asked.

  “Just looking through these applications,” I said.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I’m thinking about hiring another applicant for Miss Wilson’s position,” I said.

  “Are you insane?” he asked. “What the hell happened between Friday and today?”

  “I just think we hopped on this train a bit too fast is all,” I said.

  “Lincoln, she’s perfect for the job. Her personality and spunk fit in well with this company, she harnessed a roomful of men who were there to tear her apart, and you were hanging onto every word in the boardroom meeting when she was talking ideas.”

  “I just think we should interview other people is all,” I said.

  “I’m calling bullshit. What gives? What’s really going on here? What happened to trusting me with this part of the company?” he asked. “Why in the world would you think anyone could do this job better than Amelia Wilson?”

  “I believe I would be interested in knowing that answer as well.”

  I whipped my head up from the file when I heard her voice and looked towards the doorway. There she stood, with her stern gaze and her tall posture, and all of a sudden I felt as if I was in trouble. I was standing in the offices of a hotel chain I owned, yet I felt like I was in trouble with the principle.

  What the fuck was up with that?

  “Have I done something to upset you already, Mr. Collins?” she asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “Have I done something against protocol?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Have I done something unruly or obscene?” she asked.

  I raised my gaze to lock with hers as her tongue darted out to lick her lips. She was leaning against the doorframe, like a predator stalking her prey, and that was when I knew we needed to have a conversation. I still wasn’t convinced that the two of us could work together given our past relationship. At the very least, we needed to talk.

  “Miss Wilson—”

  “Amelia,” she said.

  “Miss Wilson,” I said, as if I hadn’t heard, “would you care to have lunch with me today? I believe we have some things to discuss.”

  “Don’t worry, Amelia. He won’t fire you unless he’s got approval from me,” Drew said.

  “Is that so?” I asked.

  “You gave me hiring and firing power as well as your trust. You don’t get to swoop in and undo my decision without a very good reason,” he said.

  I knew the look he was giving me. It was the ‘you don’t get to fire her because you want to fuck her’ look. Oh, if he only knew the history we already had. The night we had shared, both drunk in that hotel room six years ago. The night I felt her skin beneath my fingertips and marked every inch of her body I could taste. The night we showered together, bathed together, rubbed each other down before fucking each other stupid.

  If only he knew the sounds that echoed off the corners of my mind when she walked into a room.

  “You had your chance to interview her, and while the boardroom meeting was impressive, I still have my doubts,” I said.

  “So, this whole trust thing between you and I is a simple fallacy, right? We’ve already sent out packets of information with her name and signature on them to the investors. She’s in,” he said.

  “And she can be out at any point in time,” I said, avoiding her gaze.

  “Don’t worry, Drew. I’ve got this. You can take me to lunch, Mr. Collins. I believe a strong drink or two may be in order,” she said.

  “Since when did the two of you hit a first-name basis?” I asked.

  “Since Drew didn’t attempt to take my job from me because of his own personal insecurities.”

  I hardened my gaze as Drew snickered in the background. Clearly, she and I had quite a bit to talk about, and that mouth was one of the things I wanted to bring up. If we were going to have a kosher working relationship, the air needed to be cleared on several different topics and lines needed to be laid so everyone knew not to cross them.

  The truth of the matter was, I knew she would be good for the company. She had an intimidating presence about her that apparently shook even myself a bit whenever she walked into a room, and that was hard to find in a businesswoman. But, our past and the decisions I made were most certainly going to affect things.

  Especially if she kept giving me the steely stare she currently was.

  “I will see you at noon for lunch. There’s a place around the corner I always go to, Drew will tell you where it is,” I said.

  “I will see you then, Mr. Collins.
”

  “Would you like me to be at the lunch, Amelia?” Drew asked.

  “That won’t be necessary,” I said.

  “I wasn’t asking you, Lincoln.”

  I watched him turn his gaze back to Amelia who simply shook her head lightly. What the hell was going on? How the hell did I become the bad guy? How in the world did this woman swoop in and wrap my business partner around her finger so quickly? I owned this company, for fuck’s sake. She didn’t get to dictate the rules or make the final decisions around here.

  All that shit came to me.

  “That won’t be necessary,” she said. “I’ll be just fine with Mr. Collins here, won’t I?”

  “I am sure you will hold your own just fine. I’ll see you right at noon, Miss Wilson. And good morning,” I said.

  “Love the little afterthought there,” she said. “See you at noon.”

  Brushing past her, I couldn’t help but turn my head to take one last look at her. She was watching me as I walked away and I could tell she wasn’t happy. She had every reason to be upset with me—both now and back then—so I decided I would give this lunch a decent shot. I would lay it all out there on the table, and if she decided to take it she could keep her job.

  If not, I already had three applicants in mind that I was willing to interview today.

  Arriving at the restaurant right at noon, I scanned the area for her. I got us a table in a dimly-lit corner so we could have a bit of privacy, but with every minute that ticked by I felt my frustration growing. If there was one thing I absolutely abhorred, it was tardiness. It wasted my time, it wasted her time, and it wasted precious time I could be working and building what it was I had set out to build.

  Every single second past noon was another reason to fire her. For someone who wanted to keep this job—for someone who was qualified for this job—she really didn’t seem to put much stock into impressing the man that owned the company that hired her. Ten past noon rolled around without her in sight, and I’d decided then and there that she was done.

  If she couldn’t show up for a simple lunch date, then I couldn’t trust her to take my hotel company to the next level.

  Just as I got up from my seat and buttoned my suit coat, I heard the telltale sounds of high heels softly clacking against the floor. She walked with the same grace she had in the bar that night, and it was the long striding of her legs that caught my gaze before our eyes connected.

  Here she was, the woman I’d fucked and left alone in a hotel room that night six years ago, ready and waiting to have this conversation with me.

  “Miss Wilson,” I said.

  “Mr. Collins,” she said, nodding. “You wanted to speak.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

  Chapter 8

  Amelia

  I sat down in my seat across from Lincoln and knew exactly what this conversation would be about. He was attempting to take this position from me because of a night that happened years ago, and I wasn’t going to let him do it. I knew I could take this company to where it needed to be, and that he wouldn’t find anyone with my unique skill set.

  If he wanted to succeed, he’d keep me on no matter what his insecurities were currently telling him.

  “Miss Wilson,” he said, “I do not enjoy it when people waste my time. If I give you a time to be somewhere, arrive 10 minutes beforehand.”

  “My apologies, Mr. Collins. I was on the phone with some potential clients,” I said.

  “Potential clients?”

  “Yes. To help build this hotel chain and develop it the way I believe you want to see it,” I said.

  “And how do I want to see it?”

  “Successful,” I said. “This lunch date was not planned, nor was it high on my list. We have a very tight schedule to keep. I was wrapping up the phone conversation in the car.”

  “Well, I appreciate the work you have already been putting in. It seems Drew has taken a liking to you,” he said.

  “We seem to mesh well, yes. Plus, he’s productive. I enjoy that in a working partner,” I said.

  “Unfortunately, from what I have seen, I simply do not think you are a good fit for my company,” he said.

  “I am going to save us both a great deal of heartache here,” I said. “We are both adults, and I will not allow you to take this position from me because of a night that happened a few years ago. We got drunk, we had a little fun, I woke up alone, and we went about our lives. None of that impacts what we are doing here.”

  “It is not appropriate for two individuals who have encountered one another the way we have to suddenly work on a project such as this one,” he said.

  “Get over yourself, Lincoln,” I said. “The only person who has an issue with this entire arrangement is you. Even if you did interview other applicants, I can assure you they would not be able to bring you to the level I can. I am the only person that can get your hotel chain where you need it to be, before taking it where you want it to be, and you know that.”

  “I do?” he asked as he leaned back into his chair.

  “You do. You just don’t want to admit it because whenever you look at me you see me naked. It’s the plight of a short-sighted, intellectually-stunted male.”

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  “See, the entire time since that night, the only thing I’ve really been upset with is the fact that you never called. You actively asked for my number, yet never used it. I convinced myself eventually it was probably because we weren’t compatible in bed, but in none of this time with you have I even had the want or passion to envision you naked. Do you want to know why?” I asked.

  “I believe you will indulge me anyway,” he said.

  “Because I can be professional,” I said.

  “You have a very sharp tongue on you, Miss Wilson,” he said.

  “And you know firsthand how well I can work it,” I said. “And for your information, I don’t enjoy it when my time is wasted either. I have a great deal of work to do to fix the issues you overlooked because you started this entire passion venture at the drop of a hat. This conversation has served no other purpose but to showcase your insecurities, while establishing my confidence, which I am pretty sure we already did this morning.”

  “It astounds me how you remain under the assumption that you still have a job,” he said.

  “You haven’t fired me yet,” I said. “Have I somehow misread the situation?”

  I could feel his eyes on me as the waitress actively avoided our table. Our drinks were quickly refilled before she scurried off, and that’s when Lincoln finally drew in a long breath through his nose.

  “Remember who you are addressing when you speak with me,” he said.

  “I will pass on anything that needs to be communicated through Drew like he originally established. Have a wonderful afternoon, Mr. Collins,” I said.

  “Are you not hungry?” he asked.

  “No.”

  I picked up my purse and walked out of the building before flopping myself into my car. I couldn’t give a shit less about his company or his feelings right now, but if I was going to earn my paycheck, I needed to take this seriously. A company was only as good as its owner, which meant I had to change not just the mindset of the boardroom, but his as well. He obviously didn’t care for his business the way anyone else did, which was really going to make it hard for me to care as well.

  And yet, when I laid my head back and closed my eyes, he surfaced to the forefront of my mind. I saw that full lower lip slowly inching closer to me as his eyes fluttered closed, and I snapped my eyes open. This could not be happening, not after I just proved my dominance over him by being able to actively keep him out of my mind.

  But, even as I drove towards my home to grab a bite to eat, I could hear his grunts and pants slowly raging to the forefront of my memory.

  Flashes of his teeth digging into my skin and his dick filling me to the brim ricocheted through my head as I raced across t
own. I strode into my home with the smell of his sweat underneath my nose. I burst into my room and flopped down on my bed as in my mind I saw him pinning me to the wall, and all of a sudden a stark reality dawned on me.

  In some ways, I wanted him even more than I’d wanted him before.

  The way he had been so cold and collected was a stark contrast to the way I had first met him. I could feel his breath on my neck as my hand inched down my body, and all the while his hardened gaze was piercing my mind. The fire his fingertips had spread over my body was a stark juxtaposition to the man I’d just had a conversation with, and the fact that he didn’t deny envisioning me naked caused my clit to throb.

  I parted my pussy lips with my fingers before they found that swollen little area, and the circles I drew pulled pants from my chest.

  I could remember how his taut muscles rippled underneath my fingertips. How his back contracted and his hips rolled into mine while he pulled my nipples between his teeth. My fingertips circled my clit faster and faster, forcing my hips off the bed while my legs began to quake.

  I could’ve sworn his lips were against my ear, breathing my name as he reached his precipice with me.