A Playboy's Love Affair Read Free

anyway? It’s not like you knew her before the gala. Or did you?”
    Alex ran a hand through his hair. “N-no—”
    “You slept with her, you son of a gun!” Paul sprang to his feet. “Is that why you’re sporting a black eye? Matt kicked your ass?” Paul ran a hand over his face. “Jesus! From all the women at your disposal you have to go and mess with the one you shouldn’t.”
    Alex raised his left hand. “Whoa. Whoa. Hold it right there. First of all, that sorry excuse of a man didn’t kick my ass, he caught me by surprise, that’s all. Second of all, no, I didn’t sleep with her. I met her at the gala. And…”
    “And what?”
    “I kissed her—” Alex was caught mid-sentence by the new visitor at the door.
    “You what!” Dominic and Paul exclaimed.
    “It was more like she demanded I kiss her. When I didn’t, she kissed me.” Alex dropped into one of the two visitor black leather chairs across from Paul’s desk. “Close the door, Dominic. I don’t need any more of an audience.”
    Dominic shut the door and sat next to Alex.
    “Like hell she kissed you. A simple kiss wouldn’t earn you a black eye, would it? Even you don’t believe that yourself.” Paul shoved a hand in his pants’ pocket, pacing to the ceiling-to-floor glass window in back of his desk.
    Meanwhile Alex held to every piece of self-control he had not to punch Dominic’s silly grin off his face.
    “Let me get this straight.” Dominic moved to the edge of his chair. “You met Carly Mitchell, who happens to be our most important client’s fiancée, and you kissed her, not realizing who she was until today. Did I get it all right?”
    Alex and Paul locked their amazed gazes on Dominic. “Yes, you got that right,” Alex answered, breaking the silence. “Just how long were you at the door before you decided to barge in?” he asked.
    Dominic looked from one friend to the other. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” His stupid grin was long gone, and in its place was now an outraged Dominic. “Paul, how are we going to remedy this?”
    “How should I know?” Paul shot back, raising his hand in Alex’s direction. “Why are you asking me, anyway? Ask Casanova here!” He sat back on his chair.
    “Hold it right there,” Alex cut in. “I did say I didn’t sleep with her. She kissed me. Carly said she was running from her ex.” He then realized she’d never bothered to tell him it was her fiancé who she was trying to hide from—the little minx. There’d be hell to pay. He regarded his friends. They had every right to think the worst of him, but the least he expected was for them to try and believe his story. Alex stood and walked to the glass window facing the neighboring skyscrapers. “Did I mention we no longer have Matt’s green home project?”
    “Nor everything else Matt brings, I presume,” Dominic responded.
    “Of course we don’t!” Paul swirled on his chair in Alex’s direction. “What should we expect? You screwed up. You kissed his fiancée... It doesn’t matter whether you knew Carly was his fiancée, the fact is you kissed her and even if you didn’t sleep with her, you still managed to screw us all in the process.”
    “Don’t you think for a minute I don’t know that? I’ll cover the financial damage this brings to our firm,” Alex said over his shoulder, staring out the glass wall window.
    Paul crumpled a paper and tossed it in the trashcan to the side of his desk. “Next time keep your dick in check and stay away from our clients’ fiancées.”
    Silence reigned in Paul’s office for what seemed an eternity, when in truth it probably had only been a minute. Alex took in what his friends had said. Matt’s business would leave a hole on their firms’ books. Everything they’d worked for those long last ten years could crumble overnight if the wrong move was made. He needed some time alone to take it all in and devise a plan of attack. He wouldn’t lose his firm, even if he had to