“Mr. Christian, is everything okay this morning? You seem a little preoccupied. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Troy dropped his fingers from his temple and found his secretary standing in front of his office desk with several folders in her hand. He didn’t even know how long she had been standing there. He couldn’t get his mind off the fact that Headley had bet him she could have the entire amount of money her father owed back to him in a matter of weeks. What in the hell was she going to do to get her father’s debt paid in full?
“Mr. Christian,” his secretary’s voice chimed in again.
“Heather, I’m fine. Please just lay the files on my desk and go to lunch. There’s no need to worry about me.” He answered making eye contact with her. Troy hoped that Heather would leave without asking him any more questions. He should have stayed home and worked from the ranch like he wanted to this morning. But he hadn’t been into the office for about a week and he felt the urge to check in.
“Yes, sir,” Heather replied, placing the information down like he requested. Then she left closing the door behind her.
Picking up the file on the top, he flipped it open and read over the contract in his hand. He hadn’t tricked Douglas into signing this agreement. Headley’s father had come to him looking for help and he had given it to him, but with a deadline attached. Douglas promised him that he would have the money back within a two-year period, but he failed to live up to his end of the bargain.
How could Headley even think that he would do something to harm her father? Douglas Rose was a good, honest, hardworking man. For as long as he had known the man, Douglas never asked for a hand-out. Then the ranch started losing business.
But he wasn’t about to lose money. Not for anyone, not even Headley. He still couldn’t believe how stunning she was. A day didn’t go by that he didn’t think about those huge dark brown eyes of hers or the hourglass shaped body that he had wanted since he and his family moved to this town.
Headley was a constant temptation to him from the moment he saw her running down the trail at her house. He had been out riding and was coming back in when he saw her and everything around him stopped.
His cock had grown so hard, making it impossible to sit still on his horse. She was a vision of perfection with the way her young, perky breasts bounced underneath her white t-shirt. The matching shorts had shown off her perfect cocoa skin and ideas he shouldn’t be thinking about popped into his twenty-two year old head.
Instead of following her like his body and mind pushed him to, he had turned and headed back for his house. He had made sure no one was home before he locked himself in his room and gave his body the relief it craved.
Headley had been so young that she never realized how badly he wanted her back then. Hell, the need hadn’t left even after all of these years. His body still wanted hers with a driving need that made his gut clench. It didn’t even stop when she stormed into his den looking madder than hell and ready to slap the taste out of his mouth.
It was quite a change from the quiet and shy girl that left here looking for fame in the high paced fashion industry. He’d never forget the day he had followed Headley’s family to the bus station and watched her leave his life. It was the worst pain he had ever felt, but he never let anyone know. His feelings for Headley were private and no one else needed to know about them.
“I see you’re sitting there plotting how to bring down another family,” a feminine voice uttered from the doorway.
Troy slowly replaced the paper back into the folder and closed it. “I’m glad to see you got my message that I left on your answering machine last night. I was a little concerned you might not show up.” He replied watching as Headley came into his office oblivious to the fact that he wanted to kiss her senseless.
“Your message wasn’t a request, but a demand. How could I not come? You know that I want to save my father’s business as soon as I can and head back to New York. So, what do you want?”
Headley was going to leave?
Troy didn’t like the sound of that. He’d have to find a way to make her stay here with him and if he had to use her father to do that, then so be it. “You made a bet with me last night that you’d find a way to pay off Douglas’s off in full. I think it’s only fair that you know the entire amount. I don’t want you making a bet that you won’t have the ability to keep. Besides, making a bet with a man like me is a dangerous thing because I always play to win,” he grinned.
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