Pregnant By The Rival Ceo. Karen Booth

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СКАЧАТЬ plan to engineer a takeover of LangTel wouldn’t simply backfire if Anna discovered it—he’d be sunk. The War Chest, a secret high-roller investment group led by Jacob, had watched the decline of LangTel stock after the death of Anna and Adam’s father, Roger. The company was vulnerable with Adam in charge—he didn’t have the confidence of the board of directors the way his dad had. LangTel was ripe for the picking.

      The War Chest’s plan had been born over cards and too much bourbon one night in Madrid, at a retreat for key players. Jacob had put it out there—What about LangTel? Could a company that large be taken over? It would be a daunting challenge, requiring a massive money pool and meticulous planning, but this was precisely the kind of project the War Chest loved. Without risk came no reward. There was money to be made, and a lot of it, because a company that well established would eventually rebound. Carving out a slice of revenge against Adam by ousting him as CEO would merely be giving Adam exactly what he deserved.

      Jacob rode the elevator upstairs. The game had changed the instant Anna walked into that bar. She was no longer a wide-eyed coed. She was a powerful businesswoman—confident, cool, in control. Other men in the bar had taken notice, too—she was formidable for her business pedigree, coming from one of the most successful entrepreneurial families in US history. Her beauty only upped the intimidation factor, with thick brown hair falling around her shoulders, a dancer’s grace and posture, and lips that suggested sweetness and hinted of a storm.

      Anna’s lips had fallen on his once—a few scorching heartbeats still emblazoned in his memory. The way she pressed against him had resonated to his core. She’d been so eager to surrender her body, so ready to explore his. Turning her down, saying he’d destroy his brotherly friendship with Adam if things went further, had been the upstanding thing to do.

      He had no way of knowing that Adam would betray him months later by ending their business partnership, making millions from the sale of the company they’d started together and publicly bashing Jacob’s contribution to the project. The words Adam had said could never be erased from Jacob’s memory. It’s your fault you never asked for a partnership agreement. And to think he’d trusted Adam...that had been his first mistake.

      He keyed into his suite—quiet, sprawling luxury, echoing his private existence at home in New York. Outside of a maid or a cook or an assistant, there was never anyone waiting when he walked through the door at the end of the day, and that was how he preferred it. Most people were nothing but a disappointment—Exhibit A, Adam Langford.

      A business proposition. What was Anna’s angle? It’d be brave of her if it involved peacemaking. The feud between himself and Adam only continued to get worse.

      It seemed as if the more successful Jacob became, the more Adam said crude things about him at cocktail parties and in business magazines. Jacob Lin doesn’t have an entrepreneurial mind. He’s good with money and nothing else. Jacob had given into it, too. Adam Langford will coast on his family name for as long as the world lets him. It was impossible not to engage, but it had also occurred to Jacob after the last barbs were exchanged in the newspapers, that words were no way to go. Actions spoke louder. He’d no longer tell the world what he thought of Adam. He’d show them.

      Jacob picked up the direct line to the twenty-four-hour concierge.

      “Good evening, Mr. Lin. How may I assist you?”

      “Yes. Can you please send up a bottle of wine?” He flipped through the room service menu. “The Montrachet, Domaine Marquis de Laguiche?” He rattled off the French with no problem. Years of shuttling between boarding schools in Europe and Asia had left him fluent in four languages—French, English, Japanese and Mandarin, the language his father had grown up speaking in Taiwan.

      “Yes, Mr. Lin. We have the 2012 vintage for fifteen-hundred dollars. I trust that is acceptable?”

      “Of course. Send it up right away.” Life is too short for cheap wine.

      Actually, he and Anna had consumed more than their fair share of cheap wine during their marathon late-night talks at the Langford family home in Manhattan. That felt like a lifetime ago.

      His friendship with Adam had meant the world then. They told each other everything, commiserated over growing up with powerful, yet emotionally reclusive, fathers. They bonded over career aspirations, came up with ideas effortlessly. Jacob had hit it off with Anna equally well, except that he’d only had a sliver of time with her—ten days during which they drank, played cards and joked, while attraction pinged back and forth between them. He’d thought about acting on it many times, but never did.

      He’d been raised as a gentleman and no gentleman made a move on his best friend’s sister, however tempting she might be. Anna had been supremely tempting. It physically hurt to say “no” to her when she’d kissed him and it wasn’t only because she’d given him a mind-numbing erection. He’d sensed that night that he was turning down more than sex. It was difficult not to harbor regrets.

      After room service delivered the wine, Jacob removed his suit coat and tie. He was essentially shedding his armor, but it would make things more informal. If the Langfords were aware that a takeover was in the mix and Adam had sent her to spy on him, this would make him seem less threatening. The War Chest investors had been careful, but some tracks were impossible to cover.

      The suite doorbell rang. Jacob had given his personal assistant the night off, so he strode through the marble-floored foyer to answer it. When he opened the door, he couldn’t help himself—he had to drink in the vision of Anna. A stolen glimpse of her in the hotel bar had nothing on her up close. Her sweet smell, her chest rising and falling with each breath, sent reverberations through his body for which he was ill prepared.

      “May I come in?” she asked. “Or did you answer just so you could slam the door in my face?” The look in her eyes said that she was only half kidding. He had to give her credit. It couldn’t have been easy to break the silence between himself and the Langfords.

      “Only your brother deserves that treatment. Not you.” Jacob stepped aside. He’d forgotten about the sultry nature of her voice, the way it made parts of him rumble and quake.

      “I won’t take up your time. I’m sure you’re busy.” She came to a halt in the foyer, folded her hands in front of her, playing the role of steely vixen all too well.

      “Anna, it’s eight o’clock at night. Even I don’t schedule my day nonstop. The evening is yours. Whatever you want.” The more time he spent with her, the more sure he could be of her motives.

      She straightened her fitted black suit jacket. The long lines of her trousers showed off her lithe frame. “You sure?”

      “Please. Come in. Sit.”

      Anna made her way into the living area and perched on the edge of the sofa. Palm trees fluttered in the wind outside. Miami moonlight filtered through the tall windows. “I came to talk about Sunny Side.”

      Of the things Jacob thought Anna might come to discuss, he hadn’t considered this. “I’m impressed. I thought I’d managed to keep my investment role at Sunny Side quiet. Very quiet. Silent, in fact.” Exactly as he hoped he’d kept his LangTel investments. Was he losing his touch? Or was Anna that good?

      “I read about them on a tech blog. It took some digging to figure out where their money was coming from, but I eventually decided it had to be you, although that was just a hunch. Thank you for confirming my suspicions.” She smiled and cocked an eyebrow, showing the same satisfied smirk her brother sometimes brandished.

      The СКАЧАТЬ