Masquerade (Swept Away #2.5)(13)
“That’s a pity.” She placed her hand on my arm. “I’m sure there are a lot of girls who would love to f*ck you.”
“I didn’t say that I don’t get to f*ck.” I stared into her eyes. “There are a lot of easy women who are quick to open their legs.”
“I’m sure they’d be just as quick to open their mouths.” She stared back at me defiantly, her lips pursed. “And I’m not sure you’d like that, would you?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I smiled, calling her bluff. “I don’t see what harm a quick and easy lay could do to me.”
“That’s good then.” She smiled and turned to David, her lips kissing his cheek as her hand moved under the table. This time it wasn’t my leg she was caressing. “I’m just sad that you’re so alone.” She glanced at me as her hand moved back on forth on what I assumed was David’s crotch as he was grinning like a fool.
“I think I’ll survive,” I said, and looked at the menu. “I’m pretty sure I can get seconds from all of the girls I’ve had before.”
“Perhaps you could,” she said, and I felt her foot on my calf. I looked up and stared into her eyes, and she had a tight smile on her face. “You just have to play your cards right, Jakob. If you play your cards right, you could have more than you even expected or wanted.”
I knew then that she was talking about herself and the company. I stared at David, who was too busy concentrating on his hand job to appreciate the nuances of our conversation. He didn’t know that Roma was willing to suck or do anyone to get what she wanted. He didn’t know that if I wanted her, I could have her under the table, sucking my cock in that very instant. He didn’t know that she didn’t care about messing up our plan because she had her own plans that would go forward with or without us. Roma was playing with fire and I had to make sure that I wasn’t the one that got burned. I couldn’t afford for one mistaken dalliance to cost me everything.
“I think that you and David make the perfect couple,” I said simply as I smiled at them both. “You’re a beautiful woman, Roma, and David is a lucky man.”
“You got that right.” He grunted as he shifted in his chair. “You’d be so lucky to find a woman half as great as Roma.”
“That I would.” I smiled and nodded as Roma gazed at me with cold, devious eyes. I had to play my cards right here. I had to make sure that both David and Roma played along with the plan. I couldn’t afford to get either of them upset right now. I looked at Roma and gave her a small wink. “You’re pretty much the perfect girl,” I said as I licked my lips slowly and gave her leg a quick stroke.
“Hey, watch yourself, bro,” David said tightly. “I wouldn’t want to think you’re hitting on my girl.”
“Oh, don’t worry, bro,” I said with a laugh. “That’s the last thing that I’d do.” I cleared my throat and smiled widely. “Now, let’s make sure we’re prepared for the shareholders’ meeting.”
four
The shareholders’ meeting was packed full of people I didn’t know or care about. I wasn’t even sure why I’d come. Well, that was a lie. I’d come to see Bianca London again. I was curious to see how she was going to pull off her first shareholders’ meeting ever. And I wondered how she would react when she found out that Mattias Bradley wasn’t going to be there.
When I was younger, I’d been jealous of Mattias Bradley. I’d always wondered why my father had created a fake older son rather than tell everyone about the real older son that he had. I hadn’t understood that Mattias was created as a shield for the family, or, rather, specifically for David. Mattias was the public persona of the CEO and David was seen as the playboy of the company, a role he loved. Frankly, he played his part all too well and had made many stupid mistakes as the real CEO, mistakes that had allowed me to put myself in a position to take over the company and ruin him. It was ironic that my plan was to do exactly what he and Larry were worried about Bianca doing.
Personally, I didn’t care if Bianca took down the company or ruined the Bradley name. It meant nothing to me. My fortune was self-made. I’d been lucky to room with a Saudi Arabian prince my first year of college, and he had helped me invest my student loans in his father’s oil rigs in the UAE. I had had to get a job at a camping store to help pay my bills, but that had taught me survival skills. Skills that could come in handy if I was ever stranded anywhere. My mother had been disappointed that I’d “given away” my loan money, as she’d put it, and gotten a job. She’d been worried that I’d fail my classes and be forced to drop out, but I had proven her wrong. I got straight A’s my first year and ended up getting a three thousand percent return on my investment by the next summer. I had been extremely lucky, as I’d later found out that Khalid’s father had not needed my paltry loan at all; Khalid had been so grateful to me for my honest friendship that he’d wanted to help me out of poverty.
I’d taken the money I’d made and then invested in real estate. Khalid’s father loaned me a million dollars to purchase and renovate a small apartment building. By the time I graduated from college, I had paid Khalid’s father off completely and I was the owner of ten apartment complexes in the New England area and had seven employees. My fortune grew quickly after that. I had a knack for the stock market and knew when to buy and when to sell. I started investing in hotels around the world and by the time I was thirty I was a billionaire. Not that I cared about the money. I’d seen what money had done to too many people, how many lives it had ruined. I also noticed the change it had brought about in how people treated me, especially David. I was no longer the half brother he didn’t want to acknowledge. I was brought into his business circle slowly but surely. Not because he was trying to build a relationship with me, but rather because he was trying to build relationships off me. David wanted my good fortune and knack to rub off on him. Unfortunately he didn’t have my acumen. Our father had created Mattias to protect David and the Bradley fortune from dwindling away at the hands of fortune hunters—he hadn’t anticipated that David would be the one to lose it all by himself.