A Win-Win Proposition

Sebastian’s disapproving frown would not steer her off course. She was tired of behaving like a mouse when what she wanted to do was roar like a tiger.

Daughter of a small-town pastor, she’d been a free-spirited kid, breaking rules and flaunting authority. True to herself but a disappointment to her father and mother, Missy’s carefree days had come to an end in high school when her mother suffered a stroke. Bound to a wheelchair, needing help with the simplest of tasks, she’d needed Missy to grow up fast. Missy had shouldered a lot of her mother’s daily caretaking until her death after Missy’s twenty-fifth birthday.

“Haven’t you had enough excitement for one day?” Sebastian asked. “You had a makeover. You’ve had too much to drink. Let me take you back to your hotel room. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“I haven’t even gotten started.” She turned to the roulette table and plunked down her wad of cash. “Five thousand in chips, please.”

Sebastian put a hand over the cash before the dealer could move. “Think about what you’re doing here. That’s a lot of money. Two years of saving and sacrificing.”

She tugged at his wrist but might as well have been an ant trying to move a mountain. Her efforts brought her in close to his body. His heat surrounded her, seeped into far corners of her soul where wild impulses waited to be set free. His masculine aftershave invaded her nostrils and sped along her already overstimulated nerve endings. She was teetering on the edge of something reckless.

“I know what I’m doing.” That was the furthest thing from the truth. She had no step-by-step plan. No clue if she was making good decisions. And she didn’t care. For the first time in fifteen years, she was following her instincts wherever they led. Whatever the cost.

And it felt amazing.

“Miss?”

The dealer interrupted their argument and Missy shoved an elbow into Sebastian’s ribs. With an oomph, he released her money.

“Five thousand in chips, please,” she repeated, turning her shoulder away from her boss’s frustrated frown.

His disapproval made her uncomfortable. As she had done with her father, she’d grown accustomed to doing things the way Sebastian wanted them done. How many times had she let his opinion dominate hers? Too many to count.

And old habits were hard to break.

The wheel spun before she placed her bet. Annoyed that she’d second-guessed herself, Missy drummed her fingers and waited for the ball to drop.

“Don’t throw your money away like this,” Sebastian said.

“Why not?” What good was being in Las Vegas if she couldn’t do something that she’d regret even a little? “I was supposed to spend it on my wedding dress. That’s not going to happen now.”

“You’ll find someone,” Sebastian argued. “You’ll get married.”

“I had someone.” He knew absolutely nothing about her, did he? “He dumped me.” Yesterday. The day before her birthday. Two years after she thought she’d be getting married, she was back to square one. No. Worse than that, she was two years older with fewer single men to choose from.

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be. It’s your fault.”

“My fault?” Usually he gazed at her in a neutral way as if he never truly saw her. At the moment he was assessing her with something other than his normal cool. “I don’t see how.”

What was going on here? Sebastian regarded her as if she were a luscious chocolate truffle he wanted to devour. Unsettled, she stammered her first word. “H-he broke up with me because I wouldn’t quit working for you.”

“Why would he care that you worked for me?”

Because he thinks I’m in love with you.

And, of course, she wasn’t. Well, maybe she had been a little in the beginning. For the first year or so. But after Tim came along, she’d gotten over her feelings for her boss. Unrequited feelings. Feelings with no hope of ever being reciprocated.

She wasn’t in Sebastian’s league. He dated women with money and prestigious social status. She knew the type. For a time in high school, she’d dated a boy from the wealthiest family in town. She’d been as infatuated with his promises to take her out of west Texas as she’d been with the guy. But in the end, it was the sting of why he’d broken up with her and how he’d handled it that remained branded on her psyche.

“Tim hated how I went running whenever you called,” Missy continued. “Every one of our fights was over you. I should’ve quit a long time ago.”

“Why didn’t you?”

In true Sebastian fashion, he arrowed straight to the heart of her dilemma. Her boss grasped underlying problems faster than anyone she’d ever known, including her father, who had an uncanny ability to read people. People, but not his daughter.

She couldn’t answer his question. To do so would force her to admit that leaving his employ would be akin to chopping off her arm. She needed him in her life. Needed to be around him to feel alive.

How pathetic was that?

“I just did.” Only not soon enough because yesterday Tim had told her he’d met the girl of his dreams, and they were getting married. Her hands shook. “I waited for two years for him to propose.” Her throat tightened, blocking the next few words.

And he decided to marry someone else after only knowing her a month.

Tears dampened her eyes, but Missy blinked rapidly to make them go away. Facing her undesirability hurt too much. If she wasn’t good enough for Tim, an unmotivated pharmaceutical salesman, who was she good enough for?

“Place your bets,” the dealer called as people began setting chips all over the table.

Missy pushed all her chips onto red. “Five thousand dollars on red.”

“Don’t do this.” Sebastian spoke softly but it was a command.

“Why not?” She didn’t attempt to keep defiance out of her voice. He needed to realize she wasn’t his to boss around anymore. “It isn’t as if I have anything left to lose. Not really.”

“Take the money and spend it on something of value. A new car. A down payment on a house. Something that will last longer than twenty seconds.”

Solid advice, but she could never look at the thing she’d bought with the money and not see her wedding dress. The gorgeous flowing gown of satin and lace with the gathered skirt and beaded bodice. She’d cut the picture out of a bridal magazine two years ago when she and Tim had had their first conversation about the future.

“Tell you what,” she began, feeling audacious and desirable beneath Sebastian’s keen appraisal. Mad impulses had been driving her all day. Maybe turning thirty wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to her. Start a new decade with a new attitude. “I’ll make you a bet.”

Sebastian set his hands on his hips and looked resigned. “What sort of a bet?”

“Last call,” the dealer announced.

Missy heard the wheel begin to spin and the ball start its journey around and around. From reading up on roulette, she knew she had a forty-seven percent chance of winning. Those weren’t such bad odds.

“If the ball lands on black and I lose, I’ll keep working for you.” She gave a rueful smile. “I’ll have to, won’t I, because I’ll be five thousand dollars poorer.”

Sebastian’s eyes locked with hers. The winds of change had begun to blow. Storm clouds loomed. Dangerous for the unwary.

“And if the ball lands on red?”

She licked her lips and his attention shifted to her mouth, lingering as if something fascinated him. Fever consumed the last of her hesitation. Every one of her senses came to life and soaked up the sights, smells and sounds of the man towering over her.

Hunger thrummed, longing to be sated. Only one man had the passion, sensuality and persistence to do just that.

She moved her left leg forward, bringing her thigh into contact with his. The effect on him was instantaneous. His nostrils flared. His entire body went perfectly still. His fist clenched where it rested against the table.

Intrigued, she shifted a few inches more. Her skirt rode up her thigh, baring more of her leg. She wore thigh-high stockings, the sort with a backing beneath the lace band at the top that allowed them to stay up on their own. Standing before the mirror in stockings and her brand-new black silk underwear earlier tonight, she’d been flushed with confidence in her sex appeal.

How many times had she watched his steely muscles flex beneath his tailored suits and wondered what it would be like to get her hands on all that unadulterated male beauty? To experience the immense power contained in his body.

Suddenly, she knew exactly how she wanted to celebrate her birthday.

His chiseled mouth flattened as she leaned into the space that separated them. Thick lashes hid his gaze from her, but a slight hitch in his breath told her he wasn’t undisturbed by her nearness.

“I want a night with you.” The proposition tasted like warm honey against her lips. She had no idea where she’d found the boldness to voice it, but now that she had, she wouldn’t take it back for a million dollars.

“I’m not going to take advantage of you like that.”

A chuckle broke from her. Was he kidding? She was the one doing the advantage-taking here.

“One night,” she coaxed, silencing the sensible voice in her head that howled in protest. One night to rediscover what made her happy. “That’s all I want.”

“This is ridiculous.” Despite his words to the contrary, he didn’t pull back.

Did he desire her? Was she brave enough to find out?

“Black, you get me,” she said, hearing the ball slow. Only seconds now. Seconds that would change her life forever. “Red, I get you.”

She slipped her fingers beneath the lapel of his suit coat and rested on the expensive cotton covering his broad chest. He grabbed her hand with his as her fingers grazed his nipple. His harsh exhalation thrilled her.

If something as mundane as standing close to him and touching his chest made her feel this incredible, what would happen when they were naked together? Her knees wobbled as his hand slipped around her waist.

His eyes burned into her. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because it’s my birthday.” Because I’ve wanted you for four years but never dreamed that you’d want me in return. “Because it’s Vegas, baby,” she crooned.

“Very well,” he growled, arm tightening to draw her body against his. “It’s a bet.”

Two

The ball dropped into the slot.

It landed on red. Missy didn’t need to look for herself or hear the dealer announce it. She just knew deep down that it was so.

And she knew because Sebastian stiffened.

In all sorts of interesting ways.

“Red thirty,” the dealer said, confirming Missy’s win.

She felt like cheering, but one look at Sebastian’s tight expression told her he wouldn’t appreciate her victory dance.

He loosened his grip, releasing her by slow increments. His fingertips grazed across her lower back just above the swell of her butt. Had he meant the caress? His remote expression offered no answer.

“I guess this means I won.” She spoke quietly to hide the tremor in her voice.

“Five thousand dollars,” Sebastian said, scooping up her winnings and depositing it in her hands.

“And you,” she reminded him, clutching the chips to her suddenly tight chest.

Winning a man at the roulette table. If her family could see her now. The thought made her shudder. She pushed aside her concerns. This was Vegas and everyone knew that what happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas.

One night. One night she’d never forget. But only one night.

Her knees wobbled.

Sebastian scrutinized her expression. One eyebrow rose. “Let’s cash it in and get out of here.”

“Eager to start paying up?” Her weak attempt at teasing got lost in the cries of dismay around them as the ball dropped into place.

Sebastian caught her by the elbow and pulled her away from the roulette table. Was he afraid she was going to gamble away her winnings, or was he in a hurry to start their time together? The significance of the debt she was about to collect prompted an unexpected bout of vertigo.

Sebastian steadied her. “What’s wrong?”

She, Missy Ward, unassuming girl from Crusade, west Texas, was about to sleep with the gorgeous and oh-so-elusive Sebastian Case.

If the girls in the office could see her now.

“My heels are a little higher than I’m used to and your legs are longer than mine.” Missy tipped her head back so she could stare into his gray eyes. “However, I’m delighted you’re so eager to get me alone.”

His mouth tightened, but his gaze remained as impenetrable as reinforced steel. “That’s not why I want to get out of here.”

Four-inch heels couldn’t begin to eliminate his height advantage, but she doubted even if they stood eye to eye that his presence would be any less intimidating. A born leader, he took charge in every circumstance. The perfect head of a family owned-and-run business where his brothers were strong-willed and opinionated.

Missy admired how he kept tension from erupting between his brothers Max and Nathan.

Cool. Calm. Collected. Always one hundred percent in control no matter what the situation.

The exact opposite of how she felt at the moment.

“Really?” She slipped on a half smile. “Because I was hoping you were planning on giving me my money’s worth.”

“Let’s cash you out.” Sebastian collected her winnings from her cupped hands and jerked his head toward the cashier. “Then we’ll go upstairs and discuss this crazy wager of yours.”

Not fair, damn it. She’d won him fair and square.

“We wouldn’t be discussing it if you won,” she grumbled as he turned away. She trailed after him. His powerful stride covered ground faster than she could in her heels. By the time she arrived at the cashier, she was out of breath. “You won’t talk me out of it. In fact, the only topic up for discussion is what time you get to put your clothes back on tomorrow morning.”

The woman behind the bars stopped counting out bills. She stared from Sebastian to Missy and back again before starting over.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Why? No one cares.” No one except him. “Unless, of course, you’re ashamed of being seen with me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

The look he leveled on her would have reduced every vice president at Case Consolidated Holdings to quivering idiots. Missy had seen it before. She straightened her spine and braced herself against his annoyance.

As the cashier placed ten thousand dollars in front of them, Missy counted along. By the time the woman had lined up the bills on the counter, Missy’s lightheadedness had returned. She’d won five thousand dollars. And a big hunky millionaire. She wasn’t sure which one shocked her more.

Stuffing the bills into her purse, she tugged at Sebastian’s sleeve. “Let’s go.”

She was glad to have him at her side as they found the elevators that would take them to the suite of rooms they shared. Besides having gotten lost twice today already, the wad of cash in her purse made her feel as if she had a target painted on her back. Knowing security was a scream away reassured her somewhat, but Sebastian’s tall form guarding her body made her feel completely safe.

As the elevator rose to the fifteenth floor, Missy wasn’t sure if it was Sebastian’s ongoing disapproval that caused the panicky flutters in her stomach or the thought that within the next ten minutes she was going to be naked in his arms.

“You look nervous,” he remarked smoothly as he slid the keycard out of his pocket.

“Nervous?” She released a wild cackle, loosening the death grip on her beaded clutch. Letting him believe she wasn’t one hundred percent ready to make love would give him ammunition to shoot holes in her decision to collect on the bet. She cleared her throat. “Do I have a reason to be?”

A long-suffering sigh spilled from Sebastian. “You are obviously not the sort of girl who sleeps with a man once and walks away. Why don’t I escort you back to your room and we can call it a night?”

“Because if you’d won, you’d collect, and that’s what I’m going to do.” She plucked the keycard from his hand and unlocked the door.

Sebastian’s suite was three times the size of her one-bedroom condo back home and way better decorated. Latte-colored walls, carpet and furniture, espresso drapes and accents gave the room a sophisticated feel. Bold, modern paintings added slashes of color during the day. At night the Vegas strip glittered through the large west-facing windows. The suite boasted three separate conversation areas and a conference room that seated ten.

While Sebastian strode around the room turning on lights as he went, she crossed to the wet bar. “I had them put a bottle of champagne in your fridge.”

“Did you plan for us to drink it together?”

She jumped as he appeared beside her without warning. The carpet had muffled his steps. Eyes hard, he awaited her answer.

“It’s my thirtieth birthday.” Two champagne flutes sat beside the ice bucket on the bar. “I wanted to celebrate. I thought that maybe you’d have a drink with me. I don’t know anyone else in Las Vegas.”

“Did you order the champagne before or after you decided to resign?”

“Before.” She’d been feeling blue this morning. Tim’s reason for dumping her had opened a deep wound in her psyche. Stepping on to the plane, she’d felt like an ugly frumpy mess. Sebastian had treated her like a dictation machine the whole flight. She was invisible. Unremarkable. So when they’d arrived at the hotel, she’d bought a new dress, gotten her hair cut and styled, and realized she wasn’t dull after all. “Can you open this?”

He took the champagne bottle and set it aside. “If you need liquid courage to go through with this, maybe we should forget the whole wager.”

“No.” She cursed her breathless tone. “It’s my birthday. I want to celebrate.”

She reached past him for the bottle, determined to open it herself. Shock waves buffeted her as he threaded his fingers through her hair.

His heat pounded against her like a rogue wave, catching her off balance. She grabbed at his forearms and hard muscle flexed beneath her touch.

He lowered his lips to the very corner of her mouth. Skin tingling at the grazing contact, she shifted her head, but his lips were already gone. She sighed in dismay as he drifted kisses along her cheek.

“You smell like sweetness and sin,” he murmured, dragging his thumb across her lower lip. “How do you manage it?”

Relieved to know he wasn’t completely immune to her, she said. “New perfume. It’s called Sweetness and Sin.”

“Remind me to buy you a case for Christmas.”

His hands cupped her head, holding her poised between close-enough-to-kiss and his-lips-weren’t-going-anywhere-near-hers. Despite the anticipation humming through her body like a high-voltage power line, anxiety was beginning to seep in.

Why was he stalling?

Had she imagined the interest in his eyes? What if he didn’t find her attractive after all?

Maybe if she gave him a little reminder why they were here, he’d remember his manners and make love to her.

“Sebastian,” she began, her tone a low warning.

“Yes, Missy?”

In one long caress, he eased his hands down her spine to her hips and back up again. Her muscles melted against his hard body. As nice as it was being this close to him, proximity to so much raw male power was causing a dramatic spike in her sexual frustration.

“We had a deal.”

“Deals are made to be broken.”

“I won you fair and square,” she said, determination punctuating each word. “So, quit stalling and pay up.”

Frustrating woman.

Yet amusement dominated annoyance at his assistant’s command. How had he never noticed her bossy streak before? “Where would you like me to start?”

“I’d like a kiss.”

His attention zeroed in on her gorgeous mouth. At the moment, it was pursed like a disapproving librarian’s. Far from kissable.

“Then what?”

His question launched her eyebrows toward her hairline. When her lips popped open to utter whatever brazen retort brimmed in her eyes, he lowered his head and took control of her mouth.

Warm. Sweet. Pliant. Her lips came alive beneath his. She opened to him and surrendered. He’d never dreamed it would be like this with her. No hesitation. No games. Just pure joy. Delicious perfection.

Right now, he wanted Missy like no other woman he’d ever known. His need gave her power and that infuriated him. But he couldn’t stop the onslaught of longing to take everything she offered him.

Her tongue danced with his. Already he knew how she liked to be kissed and what to do with his lips and teeth that made her writhe against him in wild abandon. Desire swept over him, an enormous, overwhelming rush unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He swallowed her curves in his hands, pulling her tighter against his body.

Seconds before he lost himself, Sebastian tore his mouth from hers and twirled her around. Chest heaving, he trapped her in his arms.

“Why’d you stop?” she demanded.

Because taking advantage of this situation would come back to haunt him later. She wove her hips from side to side in a way that drove him half out of his mind. He groaned.

“What are you doing to me?” Fanning the fingers of one hand on her pelvis, he pulled her snug against his erection.

“If you don’t know, maybe I’m not doing it right.”

He set his mouth against her neck and sucked gently, marking her. “You’re doing just fine.”

“Do you need me to tell you what to do next?”

Damn her for making him smile. “No, I think I’ve got that covered.”

He gathered her dress in his hands, bunching the material in slow increments. The hem crept up her thighs as she gulped in air. When her legs were exposed to the top of the stockings, Sebastian stopped what he was doing and grazed his fingertips along the very edge of the nylon a hairbreadth from her bare skin.

What was his ordinary assistant doing in clothing this provocative? “Sexy, sexy woman. You’re driving me mad.”

Missy murmured something unintelligible.

He didn’t ask her to repeat it. Instead, he let his hands wander upward. Contact between his caressing fingertips and her bare skin threatened the semblance of control he’d recaptured.

“Sebastian.”

Frustration filled every syllable of his name as it slipped from her lips. He sympathized. He ached for her in ways he’d never imagined. He drifted a light caress upward over the triangle of silk that covered her mound. Scarce inches below, her heat called.

“Are you sure about this, sweetheart?” He traced her panty’s edge. His heart thundered against his ribs. “Because if I go any further, I won’t be able to stop.”

Truer words had never been spoken.

“Touch me,” she begged, a catch in her voice.

Sebastian slid his fingers lower, aiming for the soft, wet center of her. Despite the throbbing in his groin, he stopped short of his goal. His muscles shook with effort while he forced himself to consider the consequences of what he was about to do. This was Missy. They’d worked together as professionals for four years. What if there was no going back from this? Where did that leave him? Leave them?

“Sebastian, please.”

She squirmed in his grasp. His control wavered. He tried to hold on while rational thought melted as fast as an ice cube in hell.

Her palms came to rest against his thighs. The bite of her fingers against his legs sparked stars in his vision. Her frank sensuality excited him. So did her wanton gyrations.

“Sebastian.” She seized his hand and pressed it against her hot flesh.

With a jubilant roar his carnal side broke free. Surrendering to instinct, Sebastian slipped his fingers between her thighs, applying the perfect amount of pressure to make her cry out. Satisfaction detonated inside him. He intended to make her come. He needed to take back the power she’d stolen with her sexy transformation.