Sex And The Single Braddock

Shondra couldn’t relate. She’d known what she’d wanted to do for a living since she was five. But as long as Lisa made rent, who was she to judge?

“There. Looks like it never happened.” Lisa stood, brushing herself off. “How was your first business trip on the new job?”

Shondra sank back into her pillows. “It was really fun, actually. I got to fly back in the company jet with the president.”

“Of the United States?”

Shondra leveled a hard stare at her friend. “Of course not. Of Stewart Industries.”

Lisa ditched her cleaning supplies and sat on the corner of the bed. “Wow. Private jet, huh? Maybe I got out of law too soon.”

“It’s never too late, my friend,” Shondra said hopefully.

“Nope,” Lisa finally said, shaking her head so her braids rattled. “It’s better to be happy than rich.”

Shondra grinned. “You know, it doesn’t have to be either-or. Is dog walking really making you happy?”

Lisa shrugged. “I’m not saying I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. I’m still searching. I just think you can’t make your mind up about something until you’ve tried it.”

Shondra knew her friend was talking about careers, but she couldn’t help applying that theory to her love life. Despite it being against her better judgment, or maybe because of it, over the course of the week, Shondra found herself looking around the office for Connor.

Part of her had hoped they would be running into each other regularly, but no such luck. By Thursday evening Shondra had convinced herself that this was fate’s way of telling her to keep her head down and focus on the tasks at hand.

Which was why Connor caught her completely off guard when he called her at home.

“I’d like to take you out to dinner tomorrow night,” he said.

Shondra’s jaw dropped as she fumbled to find something to say. “Um, to talk about business?”

She heard his warm laugh and could just picture those white teeth glinting. “Not really.”

Say no, she coached herself. “No…problem. Pick me up at eight.”

Chapter 2

Shondra paced the foyer at a quarter to eight.

“Sit down,” Lisa called from the living room sofa in front of their large arched window. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you this nervous before a date.”

“Probably because I’m making a big mistake,” she muttered to herself.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Inhaling another deep breath, she tried to make herself relax. No, this dinner didn’t have to mean anything more than a meal between colleagues. Besides, it was another opportunity to find out more about the company and the man she worked for.

So, she reassured herself, this was not a blatantly reckless act designed to indulge her carnal desires. This was a necessary step in her investigation.

Shondra bit her lip. It was a stretch, but God forbid she had to explain herself, it might fly.

“He’s here.” Lisa slammed her bowl of spicy Szechuan chicken on the coffee table. “Girrrl, you didn’t tell me this guy is loa-ded.”

Shondra snapped to attention. “I—I—how can you tell?”

“In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never dated a guy who drove anything better than rusty pickups or ten-year-old sedans. Your last guy was so broke, he would show up in a cab and then make you pay. Now all of a sudden, this one shows up driving a Bugatti Veyron.”

“A whatty what?”

“Uh, how about a sports car worth over a million dollars.”

Sheesh! “How come you know what that is?”

“Because I have time to live in the world instead of working sixty hours a week like you.”

The doorbell rang and Shondra waved Lisa away. But her roommate hovered behind her, still eating her dinner as she watched Shondra like a movie of the week.

“Hi, Connor. Did you have trouble finding my place?”

He stepped into the foyer wearing khakis and a navy blazer with a blue-striped shirt, open at the collar to show off his tan. “Not at all.”

Lisa shuffled behind her and Shondra rushed to introduce them. “Connor, this is my roommate, Lisa.”

He reached out to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Lisa.” His lady-killer smile was in full force and Lisa squeaked in return.

Shondra thought her friend was going to drop her bowl and lick Connor’s face. She turned to Shondra with envy in her eyes and mouthed the words “I hate you.” Then Lisa batted her eyelashes comically in Connor’s direction. “You two have fun,” she called over her shoulder, twisting her hips as she headed down the hallway, fanning herself.

Aside from being embarrassing, her friend’s spectacle got rid of the last of Shondra’s nerves. She met Connor’s ice-blue gaze and the two of them cracked up laughing.

He escorted her out to his car—a stunning combination of midnight and cobalt blues—and Shondra didn’t have to be an expert to know that this wasn’t a car just anyone drove. Her gaze slid over the sexy, rounded curves like silk.

“Okay, now you’re just showing off,” she said as he opened the door for her.

Rounding the car, he slid in beside her. “Damn right. Is it working?”

“I don’t know.” Shondra shrugged to appear casual, taking in the earthy clay-colored leather interior. A stunning mix of chrome and black, the steering wheel and console stood out in the finely crafted luxury surrounding her. She wouldn’t admit she was impressed. “I would think a guy like you wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

Connor pulled off with the attention-grabbing rev of a powerful engine. He winked at her. “No one ever has to work hard. But some of us don’t know any other way.”

As they sped out of her neighborhood, Shondra felt a little thrill bubble up inside her. She was in uncharted waters. Although she’d grown up with money—lots of it—and had always had access to nice things, she was beginning to realize that Connor was playing in a whole other league.

When she dated the average working-class man, Shondra knew where she stood. She was the one in control—often paying or going Dutch on the bills, and dictating when and where for most dates.

Tonight felt very different. Connor was every bit as smart as she was. He had more money. And he was her boss. If she wasn’t careful, she was at risk of becoming Connor’s plaything or worse…a novelty.

Getting involved with a powerful man was dangerous. And that fed her wild streak. The one she never indulged.

Connor must have read the expression on her face, because he looked over and said, “Relax. It’s just dinner.”

So she let herself relax. Determined not to overthink things any further, Shondra sank back into the seat and enjoyed the ride, as downtown Houston whizzed by her.

Twenty minutes later Connor gave his keys to the valet at a trendy restaurant she’d always wanted to try.

“Great choice. I hear the food here is top-notch,” she said as they were seated at a private spot surrounded by potted palms.

“I thought you’d like it. The chef is a friend of my father’s. He makes the most tender porterhouse steak you’ve ever had.”

Shondra looked up from her menu. “A real meat and potatoes kind of guy—is that you?”

He grinned, flashing that smile that tickled her spine. “We’re in Texas. What do you think?”

“I think it’s not healthy to eat a lot of red meat.”

“Ah, you’re one of those.” He winked at her.

She straightened her spine. “One of those what? Sensible people who don’t plan on having open-heart surgery before the age of forty?”

Connor laughed, shaking his head. “So what are you going to order then? Please don’t say a salad. You can’t waste the superior skills of Chef Lerac on greenery.”

Shondra folded her menu. “Actually, I think I’ll have the swordfish.” She eyed him with feigned deference. “If that meets with your approval, boss.”

He looked up, not taking the bait. “I suppose it will have to do this time. But I insist you try Lerac’s sweet potato mousse on the side.”

Shondra agreed and when the waiter arrived, she didn’t bat an eye when Connor ordered for both of them. She sipped her champagne cocktail, realizing it had been a long while since she’d been this relaxed.

Lisa had been right about one thing. She worked too hard. Sixty-to seventy-hour workweeks had been routine long before her father’s passing.

Tensions had been riding high in the Braddock clan ever since her oldest brother, Malcolm, had decided to leave the family business several years ago. Shondra knew it had broken her father’s heart, but she couldn’t fault her brother. Malcolm had always been the type of die-hard defender of the people that never could have lasted in the political game. He couldn’t understand that their father had to give away a few votes to gain ground for bigger battles.

Shondra wasn’t even sure she could agree with all of her father’s decisions. But she and her brother Tyson were determined not to take sides. When Malcolm walked away, their only recourse had been to focus on their own careers.

Not wanting to get lost in the melancholy that rose when she started to think about her father, she focused on Connor. He was talking about the direction he wanted to take Stewart Industries, but she scarcely heard him.

He was a truly beautiful man. His dark blond hair, smoothed back from his face, was tucked behind each ear and hung an inch above his collar. He had a strong, rugged jaw and a sexy dimple in his right cheek. And although she was often captivated by his straight white teeth, it was only because she was avoiding the intensity of his gorgeous pale blue eyes.

Whew. How did any woman in the office get any work done? Suddenly his lips quirked into a sly smirk and he gave her a knowing look. That’s when she realized her mistake.

He had stopped talking and was watching her…watch him.

Hating to feed the ego that a man that hot had to have, she struggled to save face.

“I’m sorry. I let myself get distracted there for a second. I was trying to remember if I renewed my car insurance. I know I wrote the check, but I can’t remember if I mailed it.”

Connor chuckled. He didn’t say a word but she could tell he had noticed her ogling him.

A stinging heat rushed up her neck and bloomed in her cheeks. Picking up her water glass, she fished out an ice cube and began to suck it for a moment before crunching it between her teeth. It was a nervous habit she’d had since childhood.

Anxious to force them past this awkward moment, she began to ramble about her Mercedes and how she should replace it with a hybrid, but loathed car shopping. As she talked, she continued to play with her ice, completely unaware of its effect on her dinner companion.

Connor quickly found the shoe on the other foot as he watched Shondra tease him with her ice cubes. Only moments ago, he’d been awash in masculine pride as he watched her open appreciation of him. He was used to women finding him attractive, and it pleased him in particular to know that Shondra wasn’t immune.

But his smug attitude didn’t last. In her fluster, she began a seductive game of pulling ice cubes from her glass with her neatly manicured nails, sucking them gently with her perfect plum lips, then plopping them into her mouth.

It was mesmerizing and his pants were becoming uncomfortably tight. He’d had women attempt seductions in a variety of ways, but there was never any challenge in that. Shondra’s unconscious act was more erotic to Connor than a thong-clad girl gyrating on a pole.

Connor watched Shondra with new appreciation. He’d found her attractive from the start. Wearing only a bit of eyeliner and lip gloss, she didn’t hide her beauty under a lot of makeup. Her glossy hair was parted slightly off-center and fell in brown-black curls past her shoulders. It was the perfect frame for her heart-shaped face. She was all cheeks and dimples, with a girlishly wide smile that belied her normally serious demeanor.

He was glad she’d worn a dress tonight. It was a simple dark pink tank dress that tied behind her neck, smoothed over her ribs and flared from her hips to her knees. It left plenty of her rich, cocoa-brown skin to gleam in the candlelight, making Connor long to find out if it was as soft as it looked.

Connor knew his father wouldn’t approve of his dating an SI employee. And until tonight, he’d found it easy to resist what few temptations he’d found at work. But after his flight back to Houston with Shondra, discussing business, politics and current affairs, he found himself wanting to look beyond her professional image.

Their easy flirtations were leading Connor to suspect he was in over his head. Her effect on him was more than just the thrill of breaking the rules.

The waiter appeared with their orders not a moment too soon for Connor. It gave him something other than Shondra to focus on, and it gave her something else to do besides frustrate him with those damn ice cubes.

He sliced into his porterhouse, cooked to a perfect medium-rare. “Ah, it looks like Chef Lerac has outdone himself. How is your swordfish?”

Shondra cut into her fish with her fork and tasted it. “Mmm, it’s delicious. Would you like to try some?”

“Only if you’ll take a bite of this.”

She shrugged. “Sure, I’m not morally opposed to eating beef. I just don’t have it very often.”

He held out a juicy pink cut of his steak. And instead of eating it off his fork, as he hoped, she traded utensils with him, offering him a tender slice of her swordfish.

Connor sampled what he was offered. The flavors were clean and simple, but he definitely preferred the savory spice of his steak. “It’s very good—”

He lost his breath watching Shondra chew the steak with her eyes closed. “Oh my God, that practically melted in my mouth.”

“Would you like another piece?”

She eyed his plate guiltily, as though she wanted more but didn’t want to ask. Without hesitation Connor cut a bigger chunk and placed it on her plate.

He’d only taken a couple more bites before he noticed that Shondra had finished what he’d given her and was eating her fish with much less enthusiasm than before.

He grinned wickedly. “Are you regretting your decision not to get the steak?”

Shondra smiled sheepishly. “Yes.”

Connor’s brows rose. He’d expected her to hold her pride by denying it. “An honest answer. For that you deserve a reward.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

Connor picked up her plate and swapped it with his own.

“Oh, no!” She gasped. “I can’t let you do that.”

He waved her off. “Nonsense. You’d be doing me a favor. I probably eat too much red meat. After all, I’d hate to have open-heart surgery before the age of forty.”

Sacrificing his meal proved to be well worth it. Despite her reluctant acceptance, she treated him to a rapturous stream of “mmms” and “ahs” that raised his temperature.

After dinner, the valet pulled his car up to the curb. The young kid was grinning from ear to ear. “Here’s your car, Mr. Stewart. That was my first time in a Bugatti. She sure is powerful.”

“Yes, she is,” he said, handing the kid a tip.

As he steered Shondra toward the car, she commented, “It really is pretty. I guess it’s really fast, too?”

He typically brought the car along on first dates, because he typically dated women who knew exactly how rare and expensive a Bugatti Veyron was. Shondra, on the other hand, had only seemed mildly impressed that it was so “pretty.” And, strangely enough, that pleased Connor.

He knew, for a change, that her attraction to him had nothing to do with his bank account. And despite their exchange of heated looks, he knew their rapport was based on more than the physical. Until then, he hadn’t even known he was looking for more.

Shondra wanted to know if the car was fast. Connor resisted the urge to snort at the understatement. Instead he reacted on impulse, pushing the keys into her hand. “Wanna drive it?”

Handing over his car keys was something he never did. And if he was expecting her to hesitate, he was wrong.

“Hell yes!” she said, circling around to the driver’s seat.

The heavy-duty engine roared to life when she put the keys in the ignition. She pulled into traffic with a jerk.

Shondra looked over at him and laughed. “Don’t look so nervous. I’m a great driver. I just need a second to get used to a car with this much horsepower.”

Connor gripped the door handle. “I’m not nervous,” he lied. “I just want to make sure you realize this is one of the fastest-accelerating vehicles that’s street legal. Take it easy.”

She increased her speed, unfazed by his words. “Get a lot of traffic tickets, don’t ya?”

Connor laughed. “No comment.”

He busied himself cranking up his favorite hip-hop station on the satellite radio so she wouldn’t see him fidgeting.

It didn’t take long for Shondra to get into sync with the car and gingerly maneuver through the downtown streets. She looked over at him as the speakers started vibrating from the thundering bass. “You’re not playing that for my benefit, are you?”

Connor’s brow wrinkled in confusion before he felt the back of his neck start to burn with embarrassment. She thought he was playing a rap song because she was black.

“No, not at all. This is what I normally listen to.” Anxious to prove it, he dug a few CD cases out of the glove compartment. “See. Ludicrous, Chris Brown…Snoop….”

She shrugged indifferently. “Okay. Do you have any Rascal Flatts or Faith Hill?”

He grimaced. “Country music?”

She laughed. “Of course. It’s my favorite.”

He studied her profile. “Really? Don’t you like hip-hop?”

She shook her head. “Not that much. Don’t you like country?”

“Not at all.”

Shondra shot him an incredulous look. “How can you be a born-and-bred Texan without liking country music?”

“Very easily. And I could ask you the same thing. Seventy percent of popular music is hip-hop. What’s not to like?”

“Seventy percent? You made that up.”

He shrugged. “So, it sounds true, doesn’t it?”

She laughed and they agreed to compromise by switching to an 80s station. Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” started playing, and Shondra bounced in her seat and started singing along.

Once they drove out of town, Shondra really opened the car up.

A wild giggle burbled out of her throat and Connor was fully captivated. He laughed along with her, getting an extra rush from watching her experience the Bugatti’s power for the first time.

So Shondra had a wild streak. He liked that a lot.

Shondra pulled Connor’s car to a screeching halt in her driveway and turned off the engine. “That was amazing. Thanks for letting me drive.”

“No problem. Once I was sure you weren’t going to kill us, it was really fun. Especially watching you sing at the top of your lungs while doing one-eighty.”

Shondra’s eyes went wide. “I did not drive that fast.”

“Yes, you did. But don’t feel bad. In a Bugatti one-eighty is like sixty. It’s such a smooth transition you don’t even feel it.”

She clutched a hand to her racing heart. “I’m lucky we didn’t get arrested.”

His wicked grin flashed. “That’s the thrill of it, isn’t it?”

Together they walked up her driveway, Shondra’s blood still sizzling from the adrenaline rush. Connor had all the makings of a billionaire playboy. Just the type she’d carefully avoided all her life.

She was starting to wonder why. Billionaire boys had billionaire toys that were really fun to play with. But could she afford to play in Connor’s sandbox?

They stopped in front of her door and Shondra looked up from finding her keys to thank him for the evening. Before she could get any words out of her mouth, he was pulling her close.

The next thing she knew, she was flattened against his chest and his soft, firm lips were on hers.

A flash of hunger shot through her in his strong, purposeful embrace. Shondra gave herself a moment to enjoy his kiss—soft and heated with just the tiniest flick of tongue—before she pulled away, breathless.

“Connor,” she said when she finally regained her voice. “Thank you for dinner and a really fun evening. But as much as I’d like to continue where we just left off, I really don’t think it’s wise for us to get involved. After all, you’re my boss.”

Her throat ached a bit as she said the words, and part of her wished she could take them back as soon as she’d said them.

He eyed her with his heavy-lidded gaze for a moment, clearly trying to push through his desire to process her words.

Finally, Connor straightened his collar. “Of course, you’re right. It wouldn’t be wise.”

They said good-night and Shondra let herself into her condo. She’d narrowly escaped temptation. As she slipped out of her shoes and padded toward her room, she admitted that Connor might not be so easy to resist in the future.

Shondra started to push open her bedroom door and stopped in her tracks. Something was bothering her.

Connor had said he agreed they shouldn’t get involved, but those wicked blue eyes had been sending a different message.

Something along the lines of…I like a challenge.

Chapter 3

Shondra sat in her office poring over contracts until she thought her eyes would cross. As was typical with a new position, she’d had back-to-back meetings all morning, introducing herself to other department heads and making sure they were all up to speed with her agenda. That had left Shondra with only her lunch hour for research.

After an unsettling weekend, during which she’d spent too much time pushing Connor out of her mind, Shondra had shown up this morning a woman on a mission. In addition to her normal workload, Shondra’s side investigation should have kept her far too occupied for lustful thoughts.

Her first order of business had been to find out how to track down the main switchboard’s call list. There had to be a way to discover which extension her father had been transferred to, as well as the outgoing calls from each extension. Of course, getting what she needed on the first try would have been too much to ask. None of the employees’ extensions matched with her father’s phone log or the anonymous caller. But the numbers were registered to the company, so they might belong to an empty office or an old mobile phone.

Forced to take a more in-depth investigative approach, Shondra decided to search for any business dealings that tracked back to Harmon Braddock. That basically amounted to looking through files to see if her father’s name came up.

A computer search of the company files revealed that a lot of what she wanted was either password protected or on coded hard drives.

Once again, she found herself butting up against a wall. It was painfully clear that security and confidentiality were a high priority within the company.

That meant she was going to have to go about finding facts the hard way. Shondra had immediate access to several contractor and client contracts so she decided to start there. Hopefully, she’d find some mention of a business relationship between Harmon Braddock and Stewart Industries.

That wouldn’t clear up whether or not her father’s accident had been murder, but it could turn up the name of a contact she could follow up with. It could also show that Connor’s family had a legitimate connection to her father, rather than one behind closed doors. Shondra couldn’t deny that she had a new vested interest in that outcome.

Glancing up at the clock, she realized she only had fifteen minutes to grab a sandwich at the corner deli before her next meeting. She was in the process of grabbing her purse when her desk phone started ringing.

She picked it up, secretly hoping it was her boss. “Shondra Braddock,” she said into the receiver.

“Shawnie.”

Shondra winced at her childhood nickname. No matter how often she told her brothers not to call her that anymore, the habit was so ingrained that they’d probably never change it.