Californian Kings. Maureen Child
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from Jesse ended his amusement fast. Everything he’d shown her. Everything he’d done to try to impress her hadn’t meant a thing. No, she focused on empty soda cans. He admired her passion. She practically vibrated with it, and he wanted nothing more than to see it up close and personal again. Hell, there she stood, telling him off and his body was more than ready for her. Was it any wonder she fascinated him?
“Sure we recycle, Bella,” he said, his voice patient. He shook his head and looked into her eyes, fired now with righteous indignation. “It’s just not done up here. The janitorial staff handles it every night.”
“Of course they do,” she mumbled, dropping the can back into the trash, then glaring at him. “You hire someone to do the right thing for you rather than making the effort to do it yourself.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” she said, her voice low, but vehement. “You don’t care what your company does as long as there’s a healthy bottom line. You don’t even ask your employees to recycle. How hard would it be to put two trash cans into every cubicle? Is it really so difficult to take personal responsibility for what your company produces?”
The resident of the cubicle hunched his shoulders, lowered his head and started typing, actively trying to ignore both of them. Jesse shook his head again, took Bella’s arm and drew her out of the cubicle. He was not going to defend himself to her in front of his employees.
When they were far enough away from curious ears, he said, “In case you hadn’t noticed, those cubicles are too small to cram much more into them.”
“Easy excuse.”
“What does it matter how the recycling gets done as long as it is done?”
“It’s the principle of the thing,” she muttered, folding her arms beneath her breasts and unintentionally, he was sure, outlining them nicely.
“The principle. So it’s not recycling. It’s having me recycle.”
She frowned.
“I hire people to do that job.”
“Hmph.”
“Okay,” Jesse said, leaning in closer to her, bending low so that he could look directly into her eyes. “Would it make you feel better if I fired the entire janitorial staff and did it all myself? Would that make the world a better place for you, Bella? Putting twenty people out of work? Does that help the environment?”
She was scowling now and her mouth was working as if there were words locked behind her grimly closed lips fighting to get out. But after a few long seconds, her shoulders slumped, her mouth relaxed and she huffed out a breath. “All right, I suppose I can see your point.”
Jesse grinned. She might be a hard case, but she could admit when she was wrong, which was more than he could say for a lot of people. She didn’t look at all happy about seeing his point, but that didn’t matter. She had seen it.
“I think I’m having a moment, here. I’ve just scored a point off Bella Cruz.”
She snorted.
He held up a hand, grinned even more broadly and said, “Wait. Not finished relishing. I want to enjoy the glory of this small victory.” Seconds ticked past, then with a deep breath said, “Okay, I’m done.”
“Is everything a joke to you?” she asked, staring up at him.
“Who said I was joking?” Jesse teased. “Getting you to admit that I have a point about anything is well worth celebrating.”
She rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched and Jesse felt as if he’d scored another victory.
“Now,” he said, taking her hand in his, “how about finishing the tour?”
Her hand lay limply in his for a brief moment, then her fingers curled around his and this time, he kept his smile to himself. She walked beside him, spoke to a few of the people answering phones and Jesse watched as she charmed everyone. Apparently, his mystery woman had plenty of personality—she just wasn’t using it on him.
Clearly, she didn’t trust herself to relax around him. But that was fine with him. He didn’t want her relaxed—he wanted her hot and bothered and poised on the edge of sexual heat. Then he wanted to take her over that edge.
Oh, yeah, he thought. He was going to have Bella again. He was going to wine her, dine her and seduce her until she begged him to take over her business and make her a millionaire. And once the business end of things was taken care of, he told himself, they’d go from there. Once she was a part of King Beach, it would be better for her. Better for him. Better for everyone.
He stood to one side as Bella chatted with a couple of the secretaries. They were both talking about her swimwear and how they wished they could find good suits like that everywhere. Say, for example, at King Beach. Jesse frowned a little to hear even his own employees saying that his company wasn’t meeting the demands of all the consumers. But that only helped to convince him that the decision to absorb Bella’s company into his own was the right one.
As if he’d heard Jesse’s thoughts, Dave Michaels walked up, a stack of folders caught under one arm and an eager expression of welcome on his face. “Bella,” he said, giving Jesse a nod of greeting, “we’re delighted to have you here. Jesse told me he was going to give you a tour. Hope you don’t mind if I call you Bella.”
“Not at all,” she said, stepping away from the two women she’d been talking to as they went back to work. “This is all very…impressive.”
She said impressive, but Jesse told himself she didn’t sound impressed. She sounded just a little bit disgusted.
“Well, we’re big and we’re growing,” Dave said, glee lacing his voice. “Which is just one of the reasons I’m glad you’re here. As you know, King Beach doesn’t really cater to women—”
Jesse’s ears perked up and he shook his head wildly from behind Bella, hoping to head the man off. It wasn’t time yet to hit her with the information that they were interested in buying out Bella’s Beachwear. And when it was the right moment, Jesse intended to be the one to do the telling. Bella was a special case. She wasn’t some ordinary CEO of a big company who would welcome a takeover if the money were right. He had to approach her cautiously or the whole thing would blow up in his face.
Dave caught the frantic motion and stopped himself midsentence. “But I have to tell you,” he said, changing the subject smoothly, “my wife bought a bathing suit from you that she can’t stop raving about.”
“Isn’t that nice?” Bella beamed at him as if the man had just presented her with a bouquet of roses. “I hope she comes back.”
“Oh, she will. She’s bringing her sisters to your shop next week,” Dave assured her. “Connie’s been bragging about your store so much, all three of them have insisted on visiting Bella’s.”
“Thank you, I’m always glad to hear about a satisfied customer.”
“Yes, aren’t we all,” Jesse muttered, and jerked his head, silently telling Dave to take a hike.
Dave got the message. “Right. Well, I’ve got a few calls to make, so I’d better let you get on with your tour. Nice to see you here, Bella. Hope we see you again soon.”
Bella watched him go, then turned to look at Jesse. “I like your friend.”
“But not me,” he added for her.
“Does it matter?” she asked and her voice was almost lost in the bustle of the office.
Yeah, it mattered. He wasn’t sure why and he didn’t like acknowledging the fact, even to himself. So he for damn sure wasn’t going to let her know how he felt. That woman had enough power over him already.
“Let me show you my office,” he said instead.
“Oh,