A Bet With Benefits. Karen Booth

receptionist picked up the phone and eyed Mindy as she spoke to Sam. “Yes, sir, Mr. Blackwell. Of course,” she said before hanging up. “He’ll be with you soon.”

      An eternity went by as Mindy paced in the reception area. Back and forth she went, but she wasn’t about to sit down. She had too much anxiety coursing through her veins. The thought of seeing Sam made her nervous, a reaction she needed to stomp into submission. She would get what she wanted today. She would not let him control her.

      She’d nearly convinced herself of it until all six feet and six inches of deliciously imposing Sam Blackwell appeared before her.

      “Mindy.” His voice was smooth and low, the sound filtering into her ears and quickly spreading through her entire body. It was like being gently shaken awake, something Sam had done to her countless times, rolling over in bed and pressing his long, lean form against hers. Sam was insatiable. He always wanted more of everything. Seeing him now made Mindy want to give him at least a little something. He was too appealing for words in black trousers and a charcoal-gray shirt, no tie, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, showing off his firm forearms and his silver Rolex. His jet-black hair perfectly walked the line between tidy and messy. “I’d wondered when you’d turn up.”

      Damn him. So he had planned this. He’d lured her here by buying the Mercer and she’d taken the bait. Maybe she should have let Matthew deal with this, but it was too late for that. She had to stay strong. Confident. She couldn’t let Sam rattle her. “I need fifteen minutes. In your office.”

      “That sounds like a lot more fun than what I was just working on.” His eyebrows bounced, and the corners of his mouth threatened to curve into a smile.

      Mindy cursed herself for thinking exactly what he was thinking. Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to do a lot of sexy things to each other. “If I do it right, it will only be fun for me.”

      “I’ve had worse offers.” Sam waved Mindy closer, waiting until she started down the hall first. “Last door on the right.”

      “I remember.” Mindy led the way, ignoring the intoxicating effect of having her lungs filled with Sam Blackwell‒scented air, hoping she could find the strength to outmaneuver him and get the Mercer Building, all with her pride and heart intact.

      * * *

      Sam had a definite opinion about most things, but he was uncertain how to feel about Mindy Eden showing up at his office. Judging by the tug in the center of his chest the instant he saw her, he’d missed her. As he trailed behind her down the hall, the tension building in his hips confirmed that at the very least he’d missed her body—every killer curve. But he didn’t trust Mindy. Not anymore. By the third time you get kicked out of a woman’s life, she’s officially taken the gloves off.

      “What can I do for you?” Sam asked, closing the door behind him.

      Mindy dropped her handbag in one of the chairs opposite his desk. “I had hoped you and I were beyond guessing games.”

      “If we are, it’s because I don’t play them. I honestly have no idea why you’re here.” He rounded his desk but waited to sit. “Please. Have a seat.”

      Mindy shook her head, her russet-red hair a wavy tumble across the shoulders of her trim-fitting black jacket. Peeking out from beneath her lapel was something black and lacy. He loved that she worked in a fashion-forward business and could apply a sexy edge to her wardrobe. “I’m not staying. I’m here about the Mercer Building. You know, the historic warehouse out in New Jersey that I was about to buy? You snatched it out from under me. You’re trying to meddle in my business.”

      “I might have bought it, but it had nothing to do with your business.”

      Mindy’s pouty berry-pink mouth went slack with disbelief. “So what, then? Was this some attempt to get back together with me?”

      Wow. He had not seen that coming. “Is that really what you think?” He rounded his desk and closed in on her, enough to smell her perfume and see firsthand the touchable texture of her skin. His mind and body began to wage a battle. There was no telling which would win out—the urge to keep her at arm’s length or the one to wrap her up in them. “I don’t hear from you for five months and you think that I’m suddenly so struck with affection for you that I devise some silly plan to lure you to my office? Believe me, Mindy. If I wanted to get back together with you, I would call you. On the telephone. And I would ask you out.”

      Mindy crossed her arms as if she was determined to keep him away. “I have a hard time believing you aren’t up to something, and it’s not my fault that I suspect it. That’s what you do. You meddle. You’ve interfered with Eden’s plenty.”

      If only Mindy knew that what she saw as meddling, he considered to be nothing more than a favor. “I’m not a gatecrasher, Mindy, no matter what you think. I had nothing to do with buying that building out from under you. I don’t know why Eden’s would want it anyway. You have enough space in Manhattan to build a cruise ship.”

      “It’s not for Eden’s. It’s for BMO. My company. We need to find a single space for our entire operation. Having things scattered all over the place is killing our margins.”

      That was a different case. BMO was Mindy’s baby, but she’d left it in the hands of someone else. Had she managed to worm her way out of her duties at Eden’s? Was that why she was taking time to personally address this issue? “I thought you were letting the interim CEO take the reins.”

      “I’m still involved in the day-to-day. I’m not really capable of being hands-off.”

      The phrase made Sam want to thread his fingers through Mindy’s hair, but he pushed the thought aside. “I get that. I’m the same way.”

      “It’s only a little more than a year until I will have fulfilled my two-year obligation to Eden’s and can hightail it out of there. I’m not going to stop putting my mark on the world with BMO.”

      He’d always admired Mindy’s determination. When she wanted something, she did not take her eyes off the prize. That had actually been part of the fun of being with her—trying to distract her. It almost always involved the two of them taking off each other’s clothes. “Then how can I help? Do you want me to see if I can help you find a different space?”

      “No. I want you to sell the Mercer Building to me.”

      He stepped back, perching on the very edge of his desk and stretching out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. He pinched his lower lip between his thumb and index finger. It wouldn’t be a travesty if he decided to sell her the building, but Mindy was his key to an event he’d been certain before now he’d never get into. An event he needed to be at. “I need something in return.” He didn’t want to be greedy, but he also didn’t want to be foolish. Why do a favor for Mindy? Out of the goodness of his heart? She’d ground his ego into the dirt with her stiletto heels. He didn’t owe her a thing.

      “A pile of money?”

      “No. An invitation to your sister’s wedding.”

      Mindy reared back her head, eyes wide with astonishment. “That’s in a week. There are no invites to be had. Plus, why would you even want to go to Sophie’s wedding? Half of the guest list doesn’t like you.”

      Sam didn’t hurt easily, but that wasn’t an easy remark to hear. “It makes me look second-rate to not be attending the social event of the year.”

      “Since when do you care what people think about you?”

      “A good businessperson always cares about their reputation. I’ve been concentrating my work in New York and I need to be firmly entrenched in those social circles if I’m going to get anything real done in this town.” His sister, Isabel, had been the one to encourage him to stick closer to Manhattan over the last five months. She’d told him he couldn’t outrun his feelings by buzzing to Prague or Buenos Aires or wherever the smell of money and big deals lured him. Logic said that the minute Mindy