Lust & Lies Box Set-Sexual Awakenings, Excess, Predator & Prey

I pushed the contract that was couriered over from Devin’s office and asked if she’d reviewed it.

“It’s legit,” she said, pushing it back toward me.

“And this one,” I said, pushing forward another. She read for a few moments and then went deathly still.

“It’s time for you to start gambling, Taylor.” Her eyes swelled with emotion, an absolute first in the two years I’d known her. I hadn’t even so much as encountered a menstrual mood swing since we’d been acquainted. Assessing her now, I knew I’d done the right thing.

“You can’t do this!” she said

, jumping from her seat. “You are handing me a fortune.”

“And a stake in this company and the risk that goes with it. I’m committed, Taylor. I want you for the long haul. I’m a little selfish that way.”

“Clearly you aren’t!” She shook from head to toe. The contract promised her a signing bonus of two million, a position as co-chair CEO with endless perks and an automatic twenty-percent share in the company with an option to buy as much stock as allotted, making her a millionaire with the click of the pen.

“I can’t accept this,” she said, turning ghostly pale.

“I die tomorrow, no one gets it. Well, technically my father will inherit most of it, but he has enough. Taylor, you made this company what it’s become. You have organized my life and helped me through endless bullshit. I don’t want to be your boss anymore. I want to be your equal and your friend.”

She stared at me as if I were insane. I laughed loudly.

“I didn’t feel like I deserved the break I got either, but I took it. I want you to as well, and you deserve this, Taylor, you do.”

A single tear slid down her cheek, and I sighed.

“And when you’re done with your signature, your first order of business will be to tell me why the hell you are hanging out in Savannah.”

She sat down again, reading the contract, and took a pen in her hand. I saw her body stiffen the more she read. I told them to make the offer irrefutable. They’d done their job.

She lifted her eyes to mine with a smile. “I’ll sign this, but I think I’ll keep Savannah to myself, just for now.”

“Fine.” I nodded to her, prodding her to sign and she did so accordingly at the marked tabs.

“Keep that pen, it just made you a millionaire,” I said, repeating the words my investor said to me when my life drastically changed. I hadn’t done well by evidence of my recent mistakes, but I had zero doubts about Taylor.

“I don’t know what to say,” Taylor whispered, looking down at the paperwork in disbelief.

“How about we go over your new role,” I said carefully.

She nodded as we both became excited with plans to expand the top floor and build her new office. She would carry out the task of hiring a new PA as soon as possible. It was done.

With Taylor, I felt safe.

I was halfway through my work day when I heard the protest coming loud from Taylor.

“You can’t go in there,” she said, following Eileen McIntyre into my office.

Suddenly, I wanted my pen back. If not for a weapon, then for a dismissal, but I couldn’t seem to find one, and the contract on my desk was the only thing keeping this woman in my life.

“It’s fine, Taylor,” I assured her as she shut the door behind her.

Eileen stood at the door, scanning my large office. She must have noticed I used Devin’s decorator.

Good.

“He has impeccable taste, that husband of yours,” I said, ridding my desk of the contract and bracing myself for the inevitable fight.

“He used to,” she seethed as she turned her gaze to me, roving my appearance.