For Her Son's Sake Read Free Page A

back home, get back in bed and pretend this day had never happened.
    “This way,” he said, leading her down the hallway to one of the emergency staircases. He held open the door for her.
    “You don’t have to follow me down,” she said.
    “Hell, yes, I do. We have something to discuss,” he said.
    “We’re having a meeting in less than forty-eight hours. We can talk then,” she said.
    “Really? You want to talk about how one kiss made me hotter than a horny teenager in front of our family and the board?”
    She stopped and pivoted on her heel to face him. “We’re not going to ever discuss that.”
    “Into denial now?” he asked. “I shouldn’t really be surprised. That’s how you lost Infinity Games.”
    She dropped her bag and aggressively moved back up the two stairs toward him but he simply held his ground, not at all intimidated by her anger. But she wasn’t daunted either.
    “You’re right. I did deny we were in trouble but that was business. You are dabbling in my personal life at a time when everything is collapsing and I have no fallback point. I can’t turn to my job if I take a risk on an ill-advised passionate encounter with you. And there’s more than me at stake here. I have a son and I can’t be a complete mess.... So believe me when I say we are not talking about that and I’m going to do my damnedest to pretend it never happened.”
    He tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not like that. I don’t forget anything.”
    “Well this time you’re going to. Because we both know that you might give me a chance to win a role at our merged companies but privately you’d never give me anything but heartbreak. I’d have to be a complete masochist to believe anything else.”
    She wasn’t playing around anymore. Earlier she’d realized she’d reached rock bottom, and the fact that she’d just had the most intense intimate experience in recent memory with this man made no sense to her.
    “Fine. I don’t think an affair is a wise idea either. For the record I’m not some kind of monster, Emma. I don’t get off on hurting women.”
    She realized that her words had cut him and that hadn’t been her intent. She shook her head. “I never thought that. I just know where you and I are concerned there is too much baggage. We’re the oldest children in our families. The ones who are determined to carry on our families’ complex legacy, and that makes us the worst two people in the world to ever get involved.”
    “I agree,” he said.
    “It was probably a fluke,” she said. “Just the tension of the moment. I know I wanted to get the better of you at something.”
    He gave her a wry grin. “You haven’t had the best of me.”
    “Haven’t I?” she asked. Then smacked herself in the forehead. “I’m not flirting with you.”
    “I’d apologize but I’m not sorry. This doesn’t have to be any more complicated then we make it.”
    “I agree since we’re not kissing or touching again. Right?”
    He put his hands up. “You fell into my arms.”
    “You kissed me,” she said, pointing her finger at him.
    “I did, but you looked up at me with your lips parted...what was I supposed to do?”
    * * *
    Kell prided himself on always being in control, and the fact that Emma had shaken him made him want to investigate this further. He didn’t want to ignore it or let it go. He needed to explore why he was weak where she was concerned and then ensure it never happened again.
    Seeing the way she was running from him made him reconsider. She had a point. He would never let himself love any woman especially not Emma. He knew that his heart was still too full of hate. He’d never really learned how to care for a woman. It didn’t matter that he really didn’t know her as a person, that her last name had formed his opinion of her long ago.
    But his racing pulse and lingering hard-on were sending a different message. He didn’t want to let her go.