Page 15 of Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy #9)

“My wife listens to one of the books that you narrate. You do pretty good. So much talent out there, and this Montgomery seems to have picked you up. I’m glad that he was able to piece something together for you after him and Gia’s relationship didn’t work out.”

“Daddy,” Gia whispered. “Seriously?”

“I’m kidding. You know I’m kidding.”

“Sure, sir,” Samuel said through gritted teeth, and I lifted my chin at the other man. He wasn’t my adversary. I wasn’t in love with Gia anymore. And I knew he probably didn’t enjoy hearing about Gia’s ex-boyfriend just as much as I didn’t enjoy what the hell Mr. Arnault was doing.

“Well, it was pretty hard to pin Lex down, but I was able to woo him with ice cream and spreadsheets.”

I rolled my eyes, wondering where she came up with those two things, though usually it would work for me, and smiled.

“She knows me so well.”

“Well, I’m headed off to presentation one. Are you guys coming?”

“Of course. And I’m excited to talk to you about the estate.”

“All in good time, Montgomery. All in good time.”

The three of them left, as Mercy and I stood next to each other. When her shoulders began to shake, I looked down at her. “What on earth was funny about that?”

“I’m so glad that you did not have to do this alone. Because what the hell was that? Did he do some CIA deep dive into my past or something?” I shuddered. “I surely hope not.”

“So creepy. But at least I know what I’m working against.” She rubbed her hands together. “We are going to get you that bid.”

“I didn’t realize you were so competitive.”

“Oh, Emily and I were always competitive with each other. Good naturedly of course, but I tried to win usually.”

“Oh really.”

“Of course. Like this one time in high school when we were trying to figure out who to ask to the sophomore Sadie Hawkins dance, we both were fighting over the same guy, even though we were just friends with him, and the pranks we pulled on each other just to see who would win were hilarious. Neither one of us ended up asking him, because we liked each other so much more than we liked winning, but it was a close one.”

I frowned at that, trying to remember back in high school. “Didn’t you take Ethan?”

“Yes,” she answered with a blush. “And Emily took Graham. But the other guy ended up going to the dance anyway. He was asked by a few people now that I think about it.”

Her tone seemed a little off, and I tried to remember exactly who I went with. “Why don’t I remember the girl’s name?”

“Well, that bodes well of her.”

“It was me, wasn’t it? You girls were fighting over me.” I fluttered my eyelashes, teasing, when Mercy’s lips pressed together.

“What?” I asked, freezing in place. The person behind me cursed, and we moved out of the way. “Are you serious?”

“Emily had a crush on you, and I was a dork wanting to one up her. It was nothing.”

I searched her face, the awkwardness settling in, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or not.

But before I could dive any deeper into that, she looked beyond me, and we moved out of the way for another group.

By the time we made it through lunch, and two presentations, that conversation was long gone from my memory.

I had not only given out the Montgomery information to seven other companies, I had met another large company that had a beautiful estate south of Colorado Springs that I would love to get my hands on.

I just wasn’t sure if that was going to come to fruition.

My phone buzzed as we were heading back to the bar area to mingle, and I let out a loud sigh. “Finally. Our room’s ready.”

“Oh good, I want to go see and freshen up.”

“You look fine,” I said, my mind wandering to exactly how we were going to make the Montgomerys shine.

“Thank you so much for that. I feel gorgeous and stunning with that praise. You should stop.”

I cringed. “I mean you look beautiful, Mercy, you always look fucking beautiful. I was just saying you don’t look like you need to freshen up. But what do I know. I’m a dude.”

“Well if I knew you were going to ramble like that, I’d asked how you felt earlier.”

I rolled my eyes as we picked up our room keys. The bell service said that they would bring our bags up to us later, but Mercy picked up her smaller bag so she could indeed freshen up. Not that I thought she needed to. But apparently saying that only led to more awkwardness.

“So, how formal is dinner tonight? I know you mentioned it, but now I’m worried I don’t have a good enough dress?”

I looked down at what she was wearing, my lips forming a smile. “If I say you look fine right now, will I get kicked?”

“Maybe elbowed.”

“Seriously though, it’s not formal. I’m wearing this.” I gesture down to my pants and button up shirt. “Nothing too crazy. Promise. Plus the storm is getting to be a bit much out there so we’ll be snowed in no matter what. Being warm matters more than sequins. Thankfully I left mine at home.”

She narrowed her gaze at me, though her lips twitched. “Okay then. I won’t pull out the ball gown I brought.”

I nearly tripped at our door. “You brought a ball gown?”

“Doesn’t every girl?” She rolled her eyes. “We are going on with this farce,” she whispered. “So if I’m going and I go full out, why not?”

“You in a ball gown would be a sight to see.”

“I would have to own one first.”

“You’re confusing me, woman.”

“It’s what I live to do,” she teased.

Shaking my head, I opened the door and froze at the sight.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she bumped into me. “Oh. Crap.”

“They promised it would be two beds. I did not do this. I swear.”

We closed the door behind us, and I swallowed hard. Wondering exactly what the hell we were going to do for the evening.

“Okay. We can do this. I mean, we’re adults.”

“Mercy. It may be a king bed, I may be an adult, but you did not sign up for this.”

We stood at the end of the only bed in the single room, and I met her gaze.

“I do realize that I’m more likely to get this contract because the groups think I’m well on my way to being married, and you’re helping with that, but this is ridiculous.

All of this is so stupid. We should just go.

I have enough contacts now, we’ll skip the dinner, the event in the morning, and we’ll just see what happens.

” Though the snow was coming down and I was a pretty sure we wouldn’t make it down the mountain if we wanted to. At least not at night.

“Pull out your phone and tell your family you’re doing that right now.”

“They’ll understand.”

“Yes, they will. But frankly, I don’t want the others to win.”

“Is this that competitive thought?”

“Gia was totally looking down on you. She might’ve pretended that she was doing just fine, but no. I don’t appreciate it.”

“Okay then. I can sleep on that tiny chair over there.”

“The way you just called it tiny, tells me neither one of us believes you’re going to do that.”

I swallowed hard and moved to get out of her way as at the same time, she shifted so she could head to the bathroom. I nearly knocked her over in the process and put my hands on her hips to steady her.

We were so close then, I could feel the heat of her through my clothes, and I swallowed hard.

“Merce.”

“We can totally handle this. We’re adults.”

“Right. Plus, when we have dinner tonight, and the party later, you’re going to be in my arms like this when we’re dancing. So it’s not like this will be new for us later.”

“Right. Totally.” Then for some reason I did the one thing I had wanted to do all day, and the one thing I shouldn’t.

I leaned forward and brushed my lips against hers.

She stiffened for an instant, and I nearly pulled back, before she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply.

I groaned into her, my hands squeezing her hips.

She tasted of wine, sweetness, and all Mercy.

I needed to stop kissing this woman. We were friends after all, but none of that made sense in this moment.

Instead I kept my hold of her, one hand slowly moving up her back and gripping her neck.

She moaned into me as I tilted her head, deepening the kiss.

When her arms came down to pull at the bottom of my shirt, I realized that my other hand had been at the edge of her skirt. Pushing all thoughts of worry out of the way, I tugged up her skirt, finally meeting bare flesh.

“Are these stockings?” I growled against her.

“I wanted to feel pretty.”

“You’re so fucking sexy.” And then I kissed her again, nearly ready to push her on the bed, shove up that skirt, and taste the sweetness between those thighs.

A knock sounded on the door.

I cursed, both of us freezing in our actions. “It’s our bags,” I whispered against her lips.

“I know.”

We pulled away, staring at each other. Her lips were swollen, her eyes dark. And all I wanted to do was ignore the bell service and take her.

But this was just a fake relationship. And fake feelings could get in the way.

Though I adjusted myself, watching the way that her eyes widened at the act, and went to open the door.

And hopefully by the morning, I would be able to forget what had happened.

Even though I knew I was clearly lying to myself.