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“No.”
“A relative?” Jason knew damn well she wasn’t related to Travis, but he was starting to really have fun yanking Harrison’s chain. He guessed that misery really did love company.
“Hell, no,” Travis replied, disgusted. “But if you touch her, I’ll kill you.”
Bingo.Jason knew he’d hit a nerve. “She’s very nice, and very pretty—”
“I told you—”
“But I’m not interested,” Jason finished with a grin.
“You gay?” Travis asked, actually looking hopeful.
Jason shook his head, nearly hating to squash Travis’s relief that he wasn’t heterosexual. Shit, Travis had a real thing for Ally. Obviously, the man thought that any guy who looked at her wanted to fuck her because he was so obsessed with the idea himself. And Jason knew exactly how that felt. “No. But my affections are otherwise engaged.”
Travis picked up a pen and twirled it thoughtfully between his fingers, scrutinizing Jason so thoroughly that it almost made him want to squirm. Hell, Jason had gone rounds with the biggest boys out there, sometimes more than once, but Travis was in a whole different league. Not meaner, exactly. Just…different.
“I didn’t know you were engaged, or even had a girlfriend,” Travis admitted, dropping the pen on his desk.
“I’m not. It’s…complicated,” Jason confessed, leaning back in the chair and giving Travis a disgruntled look.
“Ah…unrequited lust. You want to fuck her, but she doesn’t want you. It sucks, doesn’t it?” Travis finally commiserated, shooting Jason a knowing look.
That wasn’t exactly how it had gone with Hope, but close enough for him to answer, “Big time,” Jason affirmed, starting to feel a strange affinity with Travis. The poor guy had a serious case of blue balls over his secretary, and that situation was obviously uncomfortable because Travis had to be in close proximity to Ally all of the time.
“So how serious are you about managing this foundation with us?” Travis asked, changing the subject, obviously satisfied that Jason wasn’t going to pursue Ally.
“My time is valuable, and I flew here from the East Coast. I’m extremely serious. I’m not only willing to donate, but work the investments to keep the charity solvent as long as the overall plans are workable.” Jason wanted to be involved, needed to do something valuable. He had more money than he could ever possibly spend over several lifetimes, even if he bought every toy he wanted. He admitted to himself that he was restless; he needed something more important to work on than just increasing his own wealth.
“It’s workable. I figured out most of the plans myself,” Travis answered arrogantly, pushing a thick folder across the desk. “We can go over to Kade’s office and go over it with him. This is an important project for both he and his wife, Asha.”
Jason stood, ready to get busy. He needed the distraction right now. “Kade Harrison. He was a hell of a quarterback,” Jason said, following Travis to the door of his office.
“Still is,” Travis replied, opening the door to his office, and turning back to Jason. “He just doesn’t play anymore. Hell of a businessman, too.”
Jason smiled at Travis’s back as they left the office. Travis Harrison might be raw, but he obviously was fiercely protective and proud of those he cared about. As far as Jason was concerned, that type of loyalty was better than false charm, and rare in the circles that they both traveled in.
Ally smiled at Jason as he walked past her desk, and he grinned back at her, wondering absently if she knew that she had such a ferocious protector, and that Travis’s feelings for her, like his own for Hope, were about as far from brotherly as feelings could get.
“I’ll be in Kade’s office,” Travis snapped at Ally.
Judging by Travis’s not-so-gentle treatment of his assistant, Jason doubted she knew a damn thing. But he nearly laughed when he saw her dismissive attitude, acknowledging Travis’s comment with a small nod, but not appearing the least bit afraid of him. In fact, she’d almost ignored him, not even looking up from whatever work she was doing on the computer.
She challenges him.
Jason smirked as he followed the other man down the hall to Kade’s office, wondering just how long it would take Travis to crack.
She isn’t getting married. She broke up with her asshole of a fiancé. She’s available. She’s available. She’s available.
The mantra drummed in Travis’s brain as he drove his Hennessey Venom GT around his racetrack for the first time, testing out the speed and handling of the new vehicle that had just arrived earlier in the day. Ordinarily, he would have been itching to get the vehicle up to the fastest speed possible, completely focused on examining its capabilities, but today wasn’t an ordinary day.
Today is the day I found out that Alison Caldwell isn’t engaged anymore.
Driving at deadly speeds and thinking about Ally Caldwell really didn’t mix, but his cock was hard, and it wasn’t from the throbbing engine of the vehicle he was currently driving. It was her fault; his erection was due to the fact that the blonde menace in a tight skirt was actually single for the first time since she’d become his employee.
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel as he expertly maneuvered around a curve, barely lowering his speed as he hit the straightaway again. God, the vehicle was sweet, but all he could think about was how much sweeter fucking Ally would be, having her panting his name beneath him as he made her come over and over, until all she could think about was him.
Four years and thirty-two days he’d dreamed about just that scenario; one thousand, four hundred and ninety torturous days of blue balls that no other woman could cure. Except her. He’d been in trouble since the day she’d walked into his office for an interview, slightly breathless and nervous. His dick had twitched in his pants immediately, making him want to reach out, pull her onto his lap, and make her even more breathless until they were both completely sated. Why in the hell he’d gone ahead and hired her he never understood. He must have been feeling masochistic, because her sweet, guileless beauty had haunted him every damn moment since the day he’d hired her. And her intelligence and sharp tongue both annoyed the shit out of him and challenged him. There was nothing more that he wanted than to tame the little tigress, make her yield to him until she purred.