Fatal Attraction (Dark Desires 4)

“I’m sure it’s not now.” She took a sip of her coffee and dabbed her lips with one finger. “So, how was it?”

“How as in what?”

“Your weekend with the pussy hound?”

“It was a working weekend,” I said. “And he was a perfect gentleman.”

“Oh, I’m sure he was.”

“He was. Seriously.” I set the cup aside and tapped the space bar to wake up my computer. I had not had a chance to check my email this morning. I had no texts from Conner, but he had told me Monday morning was always super busy for him, but he’d text as soon as he was free. I picked up the cup and waited for the screen to come up.

“Oh, I’m sure you worked all weekend,” Monique said. “Come on, don’t leave a girl hanging. How was it? Is he as good in bed as he looks like he’d be?”

“Well, after we hammered out the fine points of the contract, we spent the weekend hammering each other.” I heard myself giggle and put a hand over my mouth. I leaned into the desk and lowered my voice. “Oh… my… god… Mo, I am such a slut!”

Monique cackled so loudly that I was afraid the whole office would hear. I got up to close my door. “Shhh… not so loud. I’d prefer to keep my sluttiness to myself.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, waving a hand in front of her face. “I just never thought I’d hear you say something like that. You’re usually such a tight-assed, little Irish girl.”

“Hey, I’m not tight-assed,” I said. “As a matter of fact, my ass is pretty loose. Hang on, that didn’t sound right. Oh hell, you know what I mean.”

“Give me a break. After that one-night stand on New Year’s Eve you felt so guilty you went to confession every morning for a week.” Monique narrowed her eyes at me. “You are the least slutty girl I know. Trust me. I now. I’m an expert on the topic.”

“Whatever.” My computer dinged. I turned toward the screen and smiled. I had an email from Mr. Conner McGee. The subject was: Benson Digital. I tapped the mouse to open the email. I bit my lip as I read his words.

“Don’t keep me in suspense,” Monique said. “What does it say?”

I made a show of clearing my throat, then read the email out loud.

“Dear Miss O’Hara… Thank you for a VERY productive weekend. I think all parties will be very satisfied by the outcome. I know I certainly am… Yours truly, Conner McGee.”

“Whooo-eee,” she said gleefully. She clapped her hands like a little kid about to get ice cream. “Girl, you are either one hell of a lawyer or one hell of a great lay.”

I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “Actually, I’m both.”

Chapter 24: Conner

Reed strolled into my office a few minutes after 8 AM on Monday morning. I had been at my desk for nearly an hour already, sipping the strong coffee my secretary had waiting for me and checking my email.

As was the norm, my inbox was crammed full of emails that had arrived over the weekend, which was a really stupid time to email someone like me because I didn’t even turn on a computer on the weekends.

There were over two hundred emails from clients, investors, the news media, random entrepreneurs looking for funding, random nonprofits looking for donations, and invitations to attend a variety of business meetings and social events.

My secretary would handle most of the inquiries, sending canned replies to those that warranted them and ignoring the rest. The ones that needed my attention she would prioritize and flag in the email program and I’d get to them after lunch.

Reed came in without a word and went to the bar to pour himself a cup of black coffee from the silver service. He tried not to slosh the coffee as he sat in one of the leather chairs on the other side of the desk. He smacked his lips and gave me a tired smile.

“You look like hell,” I said.

“You should see it from this side,” he said with a groan. Reed spent most weekends drinking and partying and looking for wife number five. He lacked the ability to be faithful to one woman, but believed that men with wives were more credible in business than men without. Whatever. I think he just liked having a woman to go home to after he was done whoring and partying.

“Another rough weekend, Reed?” I asked, giving him a sideways smile. He grunted something I didn’t understand and sipped the coffee while I finished typing an email to Katie. I read over it once more in my head.

Dear Miss O’Hara… Thank you for a VERY productive weekend. I think all parties will be very satisfied by the outcome. I know I certainly am… Yours truly, Conner McGee.

Very professional, yet filled with innuendo.

Perfect. I tapped the key to hit Send.