Private Parts. Tori Carrington

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СКАЧАТЬ her right brow told him she hadn’t known about the little detail her boss had just shared. Did that mean she was also in the dark about the history behind their business dealings?

      Ari was the one to clear his throat this time. “Troy?”

      He blinked and stared at his brother.

      “Oh, yes. Right.” He opened his file and his secretary took her cue and began handing out the notes he’d had printed up. “If you’ll refer to page two, paragraph four …”

      THREE HOURS AND A CATERED working lunch later, Kendall lingered at the conference table rewriting notes that didn’t need rewriting while the other meeting attendees left one by one.

      Finally, she and Troy were alone in the room.

      She slowly closed her leather-bound notebook and sat back in her chair, watching as he walked from the door where he’d just seen off his brother to the window overlooking the grounds to her right.

      “Did this used to be a mill?” she asked, appreciating the fit of his navy blue suit, rather than their surroundings.

      When they’d met earlier at the diner, she’d been instantly struck by how hot Troy Metaxas was. Intensely so. And his conversation with his brother before the others had arrived had amused her to no end.

      So there was no one currently in Mr. Troy Metaxas’s life then? Good news for her. Because there was no one in her life, either. Not after her last boyfriend had taken a powder, saying something about her being too forward for him, too outspoken.

      How was she supposed to know that his mother hadn’t been aware that he’d lost his job three months ago?

      Well, she did now. And Kendall was currently without a boyfriend. But seeing as they’d only dated for four months, she wasn’t really crying in her chardonnay.

      “Yes.” Troy finally answered her question as he turned from the window. “My family owned this lumber mill for nearly a century before closing it for good four years ago.”

      She nodded. “I like that you’re holding on to the history.”

      She’d moved her chair back from the table and slowly crossed her legs. Troy stood to her right, giving him a bird’s-eye view of her suggestive movements.

      He didn’t disappoint as he leisurely took in the line of her legs. She worked hard on them, tried to run at least three miles, four times a week, so she knew they were fantastic. And wasn’t averse to using them to their full advantage.

      “So how long have you been working for Philippidis?” he asked.

      She raised her brows. “How long? Well, that’s a complicated question.”

      He waited.

      “You see, I don’t actually work directly for Manolis. He brought me on board especially for this project.”

      She didn’t understand his grimace. “And you’ve known him for … how long?”

      She rubbed the front of her shoe against the back of her opposite calf. “I’ve been familiar with him for, oh, about eight months or so. He helped my father out with our law firm in Portland.”

      “He owns it,” he stated rather than asked.

      “Yes. Manolis currently owns it. But my father’s hoping to buy it back at some point.”

      “I’d tell him not to hold his breath.”

      “Oh, the hostility.” She put her notebook into her briefcase. “I picked up on it during the meeting. What’s the history here?”

      Troy scrubbed his hair back from his forehead. The telltale sign made him all the more attractive to her. “It doesn’t matter.”

      He looked at her again, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he was interested, or if he’d rather she’d left.

      “What are you doing here?” he asked.

      “I’m not sure I understand.”

      He gestured toward the table. “I don’t mean to cast a shadow on your qualifications, but—”

      “But you’re casting a shadow.”

      He didn’t blink.

      Kendall slowly uncrossed her legs and got to her feet. She collected her briefcase and sauntered over to him. “Rest assured, Mr. Metaxas, I’m very, very good at what I do.”

      “Troy. Please.”

      She stood within breathing distance of him and she noticed the way he seemed to inhale her scent.

      Hot. Definitely hot.

      “As to why I, um, stayed behind after the meeting …” She allowed her gaze to skim over his tall, solid form. “Well, I won’t lie to you, Troy. Ever since we crossed paths this morning, before I knew who you were, I’ve been attracted to you.”

      He cleared his throat, apparently not as unaffected by her presence as he’d like her to think. “I don’t mix business with pleasure, Miss Banks.”

      “Kendall, please.” She smiled. “And I don’t mix business with pleasure, either. My business is my pleasure.” She slid her free hand inside the lapel of his suit jacket, running her fingertips along the expensive material, and the back of her knuckles against his tight abs through his broadcloth shirt.

      He inhaled sharply.

      “And I happen to think that we can be as successful in the bedroom as in the boardroom …”

      3

      THE WOMAN WAS DOWNRIGHT distracting. And for the life of him, Troy couldn’t decipher whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

      Bad thing. Definitely a bad thing.

      More than at any time in the past year, it was important for him to give his full attention to pulling this contract together. And thoughts of Kendall Banks’s long, long legs weren’t helping him do that.

      To the contrary, they were inspiring him to think of a different business altogether. Monkey business.

      “Would you like a cheese plate with dinner?”

      “Huh?” Troy registered that he stood in the kitchen of the large Metaxas estate, and that Thekla Kalomiris, the housekeeper—who, along with her husband of thirty-five years, Frixos, took care of everything at the house and surrounding property—was talking to him.

      He looked down at the cold beer bottle in his hand, barely remembering taking it out of the refrigerator.

      “A cheese plate,” the Cypriot turned American citizen repeated. “Would you like one to go along with dinner tonight?”

      He squinted at her.

      “Roast lamb.”

      “Ah. СКАЧАТЬ