Knights of the Boardroom Read Free

betraying his friends, he returned his focus to Cressida Walker.
    He’d been shocked when she’d called the club this morning requesting information about membership. Well—he hadn’t been shocked by the question itself, but the fact she’d called the club’s private line—a number that was only given to the club’s members had certainly given him reason to sit up and take notice. It was the only line he answered, and as the manager of The Knight’s Club, Tristan’s job was to deal with their clientele, not screen phone calls from the general public. Since the only way to even be considered for membership was to have your name submitted by a current member in good standing, cold calls to the phone number listed on their website were usually dispatched quickly by Dozer at the front desk or Trudy, Tristan’s personal assistant.
    He’d soon learned the woman who called gave her name as Cressi Walker wasn’t just some random woman off the street who’d heard about the club from her friends while sipping those fruity concoctions with colorful paper umbrellas he despised so much. Damn it, if you can’t drink without props then you just really shouldn’t bother.
    Something about her name had sounded familiar and by the time he’d asked her a couple of general questions, he’d pieced it together. Cressi, AKA Cressida, was the young woman who worked for two of his best friends and business partners. He’d met her a handful of times, but both Law and Brodie had always referred to her by her full name, so it had taken longer than it should have for him to realize he was speaking with the woman his friends had been lusting after for the past two years.
    Seeing Lawton Hill and Brodie Walsh approach the back entrance of the club, Tristan pressed the button hidden under his desk unlocking the door knowing his friends would be slamming into his office in less than a minute. Law might be one of the richest men in the country and would top the list by the time he was forty at his current rate, but he was also one of Tristan’s closest friends. Despite his aristocratic background, Tristan quite enjoyed Lawton’s balls-to-the-wall ambition—the man was one of the most professionally focused men he’d ever met, but his Achilles heel was currently squirming in the lobby like a child caught with her pretty little hand in the kinky cookie jar. Tristan particularly enjoyed the way she kept glancing at her watch, as if that might hurry up the man who’d kept her waiting far longer than she’d expected. Patience, poppet, your future Masters have finally arrived.
    Brodie Walsh was following Law as the two men stomped down the hall toward Tristan’s office. Brodie was as intense in his private life as he was professionally, which seemed to intimidate those who weren’t in the young legal shark’s inner circle. Tristan had seen Brodie reduce subs in the club to tears with just a look—on several occasions.
    Just as his friends stalked through the door, Cressi Walker stood and Tristan knew she was about to bolt. Directing Lawton’s and Brodie’s attention to the bank of monitors, Tristan grabbed the small radio on his desk. The handheld device connected directly to the earbud Dozer wore and he needed the man to stop their beautiful visitor before her impatience and fear won the battle over her curiosity. Even though he wasn’t sure how it would all play out, Tristan was certain it had taken an enormous amount of courage for Cressida Walker to call the club, and if she walked out the door now she might never find it within herself to try again.
    Tristan had talked to far too many women over the years who regretted they hadn’t had the courage to question why they had always felt as if they were missing some large piece of themselves. Some had made an attempt or two, but being shut down or told what they were looking for “didn’t exist” had caused them to cede defeat before they’d ever had a chance to really fight for