Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 69456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
You know that feeling you get when a roller coaster throws you over that first peak and your stomach feels like it's falling out from under you? That about sums up what I'm feeling right now.
Calm down, I tell myself. Calm the fuck down. I need to think rationally.
Remember when I told you that I was competitive? Well, I meant it, and I'm not going to sit here and let Carter get the best of me.
I'm going to stop the bleeding. Right now.
I call up the manager and ask him to buy up all of Carter's shares.
"Are you sure you want to do that, Mr. Stackford?" he asks, disbelief in his voice.
"I said do it!" I shout, slamming down the phone. My patience is running thin. If I'm going to prevent this run, I have to act fast.
I know Carter is trying to get back at me. I pick up my phone and dial my secretary.
"Julie, find out where Carter Blake is," I instruct.
"Right away, Mr. Stackford," she replies.
I hang up the phone and sit back in my chair. I look out across the city skyline just outside of my office windows. Carter is out there somewhere, and I'm going to find him. Within a minute, Julie calls me back.
"I have some information," she says.
"Go on," I say, pacing my office now like a caged tiger.
"Your spy … in Carter's office … has informed me that he's going to be visiting Eliza this afternoon to go over some financial matters."
Hearing that news makes the blood in my veins boil. It takes me a minute to realize that my fists are balled and my jaw is clenched. That slimy, two-faced, backstabbing fucking bastard. He doesn't realize what he's in for.
That's all I need to know.
"Thank you Julie," I say, and I hang up the phone.
Fucking with my company is one thing … and now he thinks he can go and weasel his way back into Eliza's life? That's a fucking joke.
I knew he could be a coward, but I never took him for a fool.
If it's a fight he wants, that's what he's going to get.
Carter Blake, I’m fucking coming for you.
And it's not going to be pretty.
Chapter Sixteen
Carter
If we were talking about any other woman, I’d be long gone by now. But this is Eliza Seymour, my stepdaughter, and the most beautiful woman I’ve ever come across. Even though she went out with Derek, I haven’t been able to shake off the spell she has cast on me.
And that’s exactly why I’m in her office now, sitting across from her with a pile of documents as a wall between us. Even though my rule has always been to never mix business with pleasure, I can’t help myself. It seems that whenever I’m around Eliza, whatever rules I think to be in place always tend to vanish.
I have no idea where this is going, but hell, just being here with her … that’s more than I could’ve asked for, even if we’re just going over numbers.
“Most of it looks promising,” I tell her, pushing another stack of papers across the desk toward her. Despite her age and apparent lack of experience with the market, Eliza has a keen eye when it comes to detail, and it seems like she didn’t waste her time at Wharton. At 25, she’s better than most analysts I’ve come across during my career, and that shows in some of her investment options.
Besides, she also likes the investment options I’ve laid out for her, which means I might get the millions I need to see my company through the storm. It won’t take long for Illicit Pleasure quarter sales to be reflected in their profit margins and, once that happens, I’ll be back in the game. All I need to do is keep afloat while that doesn’t happen.
“I told you, I’m not a teenager,” she responds, but despite her words, there’s a soft smile on her lips.
“I never thought of you as one,” I respond in kind, reaching across the desk and grabbing her hand, squeezing it in mine. The touch of her skin makes me slightly dizzy, and I’m taken back to when my naked body pressed down on hers, my hard cock buried deep inside her tight pussy.
“I know,” she grins, narrowing her eyes and looking at me in that devilish way of hers. The way she looks right now makes all the memories I’m reliving right now become even more vivid, and I can’t help but tighten my grip on her hand. My eyes climb down from her face to take in the round swell of her breasts and, next thing I know, my cock has grown into a hard rod of steel. “The way you handled me before … I can’t stop thinking about it, you know?” she continues, turning her every word into a maddening cocktail of lust and desire.