Scandalizing the CEO

Ainsley hadn’t realized how invasive her idea for the article was to those three women. How had three smart, sexy women all fallen for a man who had kept them all on a string? Her readers would eat up the answer to that question. But how would Geoff, Henry and Steven deal with seeing their mothers back in the spotlight again? That was something she’d have to figure out.

“We will be careful to keep the article within the parameters you mentioned,” Ainsley said. She wasn’t going to agree to not talking about the past—that made the story juicy.

“That’s all I can ask for. The same circumstances apply to her interview—she’ll have to approve the questions and such if she grants it. I will submit topics that are off-limits and I will approve the final draft.”

Since she had no choice, Ainsley agreed. A few minutes later Geoff left. Cathy was already gone when she changed clothes in her executive bathroom and went downstairs to meet Steven.

Would reading the interview with Steven’s mother give her any insight into his character and personality? She wondered if a part of her hadn’t come up with this idea because she wanted to know more about the man who’d affected her so deeply. The man who’d changed her. She wanted to know what had shaped him, and the best way to do that would be to talk to his mother.

Though it had only been five days since she’d last seen him, it seemed much longer when she stepped off the elevator and saw him waiting in the lobby. He put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. Saw in his eyes a hint that maybe he’d missed her, too.

Eight

Ainsley looked as ravishing as he remembered. It ticked him off a little that the attraction he’d felt for her hadn’t waned.

While he’d been away from her, he’d speculated that the attraction was driven by lust and had been intensified by his own lack of a current lover. But the moment she’d stepped out of her building he’d known that that was a lie.

“Good evening,” he said.

“Hello. How have you been?” she asked. The words were banal, and he who had no patience for small talk wanted it to continue so he could keep listening to her voice.

“Good. I have a bit of a surprise for you,” he said. He’d debated taking her to St. Peter’s and the upper galleries. It was a beautiful and quiet destination. And it was someplace different.

There was majesty to the cathedral that was unrivaled by anything else in the world, in his opinion. Though it was late, he’d made special arrangements for them to tour the gallery by themselves.

She arched her eyebrow at him and then said, “I love surprises.”

“No, you don’t,” he said. “I’ve been around you long enough to know that you like to know every detail and you like to be in charge.”

“Touché! I think the same could be said of you.”

“I’ve heard it many times. But I think you’ll like this surprise.”

She didn’t say anything else. He held her hand, sliding their fingers together until their palms met. Then he led her out the door of her building and down the street toward St. Peter’s. She wore a pair of two-inch, round-toed, patent leather shoes. So she reached his shoulder as they walked. Her thick black hair had been left down and brushed her shoulder with each step she took.

The formfitting black blouse with red decorative buttons accentuated the curves of her breasts. She had the blouse tucked into a long red skirt that ended at her calves. The skirt had a slit on the side that gave him a glimpse of her left leg with each step she took.

He wanted to draw her into a dark alley and have his way with her. Needed to taste those full lips under his. Needed to feel her curvy body pulled flush against his hard angles. Needed…her.

And he needed no one.

“About the interviews,” he said, thinking it was time to get all that out of the way.

“Yes, about the interviews. Why didn’t you tell me that Geoff was reluctant to be interviewed?”

“I didn’t know myself until I spoke to him. But we discussed it and he’ll do it.”

“I know. He was in my office today. His mother might not be a part of it, which is disappointing.”

“I’m sure you’ll still have a fabulous story without her. Princess Louisa just doesn’t like to speak in public.” Ainsley nodded. Steven had never met any of the mothers of the other Devonshire bastards and he’d been curious about that when he’d been younger. But now he knew who he was and what he was trying to accomplish. The past could stay in the past as far as he was concerned.

Ainsley would play a key role in spreading the word to many people that the Everest Group was back. That Everest was the exciting company it used to be and that Everest was about to change the way the world looked at retail marketing.