Shark (Wall Street Beasts 1)

“Indigo! How are you?” Alex forced cheer into his voice.

Indigo smiled that dark smirking sneer which never failed to make Alex want to punch him right in the face. He was a handsome man, older than he looked by almost a decade. Apparently, there was something about being unreservedly and unapologetically evil which kept you young.

He had a coif of thick dark hair, deep dark eyes, and the kind of mouth that would have been described as pouting if it were on a woman, but on a man provided a deceptive softness in contrast to his sharp jaw, high cheekbones, and all over demeanor of barely restrained villainy.

Alex’s secretary had been overheard calling him fucking hot. Alex knew why.

Even when Indigo was speaking with people he had no interest in fucking, he carried a curiously dark sexuality with him.

But she wasn’t paying attention. She saw the veneer. She didn't see the absence of a soul in his eyes. Alex did. He felt the same internal lack Indigo did.

“I’m fine, Alex, how are you?” The casual words were warped merely by having come out of his face.

“You know I don’t like you charming my secretary and barging into my office when I’m not here.”

“We’re even, in that case,” Indigo smiled with gentle menace.

Even for what? Alex didn’t know. Indigo could take offense to almost anything.

“What can I do for you?”

“So many things,” Indigo said, flashing his teeth in a grimace approximating a smile. “But I’m not here for what you can do for me. I’m here for what I can do for you. I have some information.”

“Oh?”

“You’re going to want to pull out of your short positions. I have it on very reliable authority that tens of thousands of social media users are about to start squeezing shorts.”

Alex let out a laugh. “That seems unlikely to have any real effect.”

“These are the days of the unlikely,” Indigo smiled, standing to leave. “That’s all I had to say.”

“You could have put it in an email.”

“You know I don’t use email. Or phones.”

“I know.”

Indigo got up with a nod and let himself out. Alex watched him go, and made a note to review the security footage that covered his office. There was almost no chance that Indigo’s reason for visiting was the one he had given. Social media users causing chaos in the stock market? That would be the day.

Chapter 2

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

Those were not the words anyone wanted to start their career with, but Sophie didn’t have much choice. It was 9:15. She’d actually managed to get through the doors just after nine, but it had taken a good quarter of an hour to hunt her new boss down.

Sophie had been fired from worse jobs for less. She braced herself, barely able to look at her new boss’ face. If it all ended now, she only had herself to blame. It would be a spectacular fuck up, but she was known for that.

Mr. Carlyle was not the sort of man she wanted to disappoint. He was her immediate superior, a blend of Clark Kent and Chris Hemsworth, if she was going to be lazy about describing him. Apparently one of the requirements of running Apex was being really ridiculously good looking. Or maybe rich people just tended to look good on account of all the money.

“We don't have time for lateness, Miss Pierce.”

“I know. I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again, I prom…”

“Which is fortunate for you, because I don’t have time to lecture you for being late either. Walk with me.”

She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. But she also wasn’t stupid or arrogant enough to think that she was going to get away with this more than once.

He was already halfway down the hall within seconds of telling her to walk with him. She had to scurry to keep up.

At first, he didn’t say anything to her. He was dealing with others who were on his route. She followed along behind him, trying to listen enough to get the gist of what was happening, and who he was talking to, but not so much that she seemed to be listening in.

He didn’t introduce her to anybody. She got the sense he didn’t bother much with social niceties, at least, not when he was busy. And he was very, very busy. He seemed to be juggling the complexities of the entire world in an orderly and precise fashion.

It was sexy, watching a handsome man being exceptionally competent. She found herself watching him while he worked. She didn't have much else to do.

He had thick brownish blond hair and nice brown eyes and the sort of jawline models would use pictures of for plastic surgery inspiration. Hot, in other words. But in a very different way than the way Alex Roth was. Alex’s face was still very much floating through her mind, his quirked brow making her flush with embarrassment a good quarter hour since they met. This was definitely going to be one of those days that came back to her at two in the morning when she was trying to sleep.