A Bet With Benefits. Karen Booth

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 dumped him last time, he would want to be as far away as possible. The Eden family was impossible to ignore in this city. But he suspected Isabel was right. He couldn’t avoid everything that caused him pain. Even when he’d had more than enough to last him a lifetime.

      “I couldn’t get an invitation for the queen of England right now. Sophie has been moaning for months about how tight the guest list is, and now that we’re this close, she’s perpetually freaking out.”

      Sam’s mind immediately leaped to a solution. He cleared his throat and prepared himself for another potentially insulting answer. “Who’s your date?”

      A rush of pink colored Mindy’s cheeks. She batted her lashes and looked away. “I don’t have one. So what?”

      “There’s no need to be defensive about it.” Sam had to fight the smile that wanted to cross his lips. He didn’t want to be so happy that Mindy Eden, one of the most extraordinary women in the city, didn’t have a date for her own sister’s wedding. But he was. “I could fix that for you. You’d be killing two birds with one stone. Getting your building and a date.”

      “You’ll really sell me the building if I take you to Sophie’s wedding? That’s all you want?”

      Sam was surprised Mindy had asked the question, a classic misstep in negotiations. Never let on that you think you’re getting a great deal. “Take me to the rehearsal dinner, too. You know, make it seem like I’m really in the inner circle.”

      “I’m not sure this is such a good idea. You and I both know we don’t work as a couple.”

      Sam shrugged and pushed off from the desk, taking his seat behind it. He was wary of the idea, only because he knew how frustrating it would be to spend time with Mindy and not be able to touch her. But he could get some real business done at Sophie and Jake’s wedding. He might even mend a few Eden fences. “Like I said, not struck with affection for you. But I think I could be convinced to keep you as a friend.”

      Mindy’s blue-green eyes were full of questions, and maybe disappointment, too. He was okay with that. She’d taken him down many notches more than once. Let her know how much it hurt. “Okay. If you’ll sell me the Mercer Building for what you paid, I will bring you to her wedding.”

      “And the rehearsal.”

      “I’ll have to figure out how to play it with Sophie, but okay. The rehearsal, too.”

      “For what I paid?”

      “Yes. Not a penny more.”

      “And as friends.”

      She grumbled and plucked her handbag from the chair, hooking it on her arm. “If that’s what we’re shooting for, then yes. Friends.”

      Sam got up to walk her out.

      “I can find my way,” she shot at him.

      “I know that. I just want to be sure you don’t steal anything on your way out.”

      “Very funny.”

      “Okay, then. You go ahead. I’ll just watch.” He leaned against the door frame, grinning to himself. Their impromptu meeting had been a win for him, especially the last part. He’d come off like a gentleman, when really he’d been after only a spectacular eyeful as Mindy walked away.

       Two

      As Mindy left Sam’s office, only one thought was running through her head: What in the hell did I just agree to? Letting Sam be her date to Sophie’s wedding? On a long list of bad ideas, this not only belonged at the very top, it was the entire reason for making a list in the first place. Sam was trouble. Her family, for all intents and purposes, hated him. He was the king of underhanded behavior, which he always managed to explain away as somehow noble or good. Then there was the unavoidable fact that Mindy seemed to lose about fifty points off her IQ when she was around him. He had a real talent for making her do stupid things. Case in point, agreeing to let him take her to Sophie’s wedding.

      Judging by the way she’d felt during their short meeting, it wouldn’t be hard for him to do it to her again. Her physical attraction to him was still off the charts. That was why she hadn’t taken a seat, even when her brand-new Louboutins were killing her feet. She couldn’t allow herself to linger or get comfortable, even when she’d wanted nothing more than to unbutton her jacket and ask him if he wanted to rekindle the flame between them. One more time. For old times’ sake. But Sam was too sly and clever. Whip-smart and devious. There were plenty of reasons to stay away.

      Of course, he’d been clear that attending the wedding together would be only as friends. That one detail of their agreement had helped her decide she could escape this scenario unscathed. So she’d be on the arm of a ridiculously hot guy for a few nights, she wouldn’t have to go stag to Sophie’s wedding and she’d get the building her business so desperately needed. This СКАЧАТЬ