Twice the Malone by Laylah Roberts

8

The sound of a man’s voice woke her the next morning.

She smiled, stretching. Damn, she hurt. She hurt in places she’d never hurt before. But it was a delicious sort of pain.

And she wouldn’t be opposed to another round.

“Scarlett? Scarlett, are you in here?”

Fuck.That was neither Beau nor Maddox. She sat up with a gasp, looking around to find herself alone in bed. She grabbed the blankets, pulling them up to her chest just in time as her boss stormed his way into the bedroom.

“There you are! Why didn’t you pick me up from the airport?” he complained.

Why have I never noticed how whiny he sounds before?

“I, um, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were coming in this early.”

“I got a last-minute ticket. I sent you an email.”

Right, because in her free time she always checked her work emails.

Easy, Scar. Work paid for this trip.

“I’m sorry. If you’ll just give me a moment, I’ll take a shower.”

Richard paced back and forth, seemingly not even realizing that she was sitting in bed, naked.

“I can’t believe I had to come all the way out here to talk to these people. They should be more than happy with my offer. They’re playing hardball. But I’m not letting them get away with it.”

“Richard—”

“I’ll up it by ten more thousand. Nothing more. They should be grateful someone wants their piece of land. If only I had something else to leverage with them. There’s been some asshole trying to block me. But he doesn’t know who he’s up against.”

“Richard—”

“Why the hell does it smell like sex in here?”

She froze. Shit. Did it really smell like sex?Well, she had spent the night fucking two men, who, thankfully, seemed to have left.

Yeah, that was gratitude she felt, not disappointment. She had no right to feel disappointed. It wasn’t like she hadn’t known it was a one-night thing. They were under no obligation to her.

Still, they could have at least woken her to say goodbye.

“It does? That’s weird.”

Why did she get a two-bedroom suite rather than her own room? And because his name was on the room, reception must have given him an access card.

She’d thought that putting them in close proximity might spark something for Richard. That he might suddenly notice her, realize she was meant for him. That there might be some passion.

Yeah, right.

What did she even see in him? Sure, he was a good-looking guy. About five years older than her, but he was a horrible boss. He took advantage of her, constantly asking her to stay late or do tasks that weren’t part of her job description. He barely even noticed she existed unless he wanted something from her.

Case in point, his pacing up and down her bedroom, while she sat here naked under the blankets.

“Yes, it does. The maids can’t have aired it out from the last people that were here, because we both know it wasn’t you having sex last night.” He let out a laugh.

A couple of days ago she would have laughed with him, telling herself it was a joke.

But now it felt derogatory. Mean.

So, she didn’t laugh.

“You need to complain about it and don’t leave them a tip.”

She’d make sure to leave a big tip.

“Let’s go. I want to get out there early.”

“I need to get dressed.”

“What?” He was staring down at his phone rather than her.

“I need to get showered and dressed, Richard. Can you please get out of my room?”

His gaze moved to her questioningly. “Why are you still in bed?”

“Because it’s barely seven,” she pointed out. And she was exhausted from having sex all night. “I didn’t know you were coming in this early or I would have been ready,” she added to placate him.

He grumbled something under his breath but walked out into the living area of the suite. With a sad sigh, she glanced around the room. She didn’t see any sign that two men had been in here.

Sliding from the bed, she caught sight of a piece of hotel stationery paper that had been torn off. There was a message scrawled on it. When she picked it up, she saw the two hundred dollars sitting there.

What the fuck? Did they think she was some sort of prostitute?

Snow,

Sorry we had to bail without saying goodbye. Didn’t want to wake you, you looked so cute drooling on your pillow. Well, Maddox didn’t want to wake you. I totally would have, but he said we would have been here for another two hours and that we don’t have any condoms left.

So sad.

Left some cash for the food we ate. It’s not for the sex. Maddox wanted me to make that crystal clear.

If you’re free tonight, meet us back at the bar.

Beau XX

Then his phonenumber was scrawled underneath. The knot inside her eased. They hadn’t just fucked and left her. Even though it wasn’t anything serious, at least they wanted to meet up with her again tonight. Not going to be easy with Richard around, but she’d figure it out.

She hastily typed Beau’s number into her phone before climbing out of bed with a groan.

She’d been right. She definitely wasn’t going to walk properly today.

* * *

Scarlett frownedin confusion as she followed Richard’s directions and pulled down a driveway leading toward a ranch house. She glanced around the open fields.

“Is this the piece of land you want to develop?” she said, slowing down for a few potholes.

“No, this is where one of the owners live. The block of land I want is north of here. There are five owners. Apparently, they pooled their money together years ago to buy it. Could you drive a bit faster? We don’t have all day.”

She gritted her teeth. He’d insisted she drive so he could work, which was fair enough. But Scarlett wasn’t used to driving country roads. She didn’t drive back in the city, preferring to take public transportation. She wasn’t the most confident driver, which is why she went a bit slower. If he was in such a rush, he should have driven.

“So you’re trying to convince these people to sell?”

Richard let out a long breath. As though she was inconveniencing him with all these questions. But he hadn’t let her in on any of the details of this trip. Or anything to do with this purchase. All she knew was that there was a block of land on the outskirts of Haven he wanted to develop.

She couldn’t understand why he wanted this piece of property so badly.

None of this made much sense.

“Yep. The man who lives here is the hold-out in the group. All I need is his agreement, and the land is mine. This has been months in the making and I want to close the deal today.” Richard climbed out of the truck. “Stay here, I don’t need you.”

She looked over at the ranch house as an older man with a full head of gray hair stepped out. A woman walked out behind him. Richard approached them, reaching out his hand.

The man didn’t take it.

Something was very wrong here.

She watched the couple standing on the porch. The man was frowning. He obviously didn’t like whatever Richard was saying. He half-pushed the woman behind him, as though defending her.

Richard wasn’t a physical guy. She couldn’t work out why the older man would feel he was a threat. Wasn’t it a simple yes or no? Richard could be very persuasive, though. She guessed it was what made him so successful. Mostly, his corporation bought failing businesses and turned them around, selling them again for a profit. He’d recently moved into real estate, buying run-down buildings and renovating them.

She guessed he wanted to move into another area.

Still, her gut was telling her that something was wrong. She shifted around on her seat and opened her phone, going to Beau’s name.

Should she text him? Wouldn’t that be a bit needy though? And what if she couldn’t meet him later?

She bit her lip. She’d text him later. Surely, she could head to the bar after dinner.

The sound of a vehicle approaching had her looking back in her rearview mirror. A truck was approaching. Fast.

It bumped its way over the potholes and came to a screeching halt beside the car she’d rented. The door opened, and a man wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and a cowboy hat stepped out.

Her breath caught.

It couldn’t be, could it? Why would he be here?

The man strode toward Richard, getting in his face.

Face me. Turn around.

Then he stepped between Richard and the older couple. It was him.

Maddox Malone.

She knew it was Maddox, even though the only obvious difference was the fact that Beau was missing part of a finger. Something she hadn’t wanted to ask him about last night. It felt too personal.

Her breath caught as Maddox stepped into Richard’s space. He leaned over him, saying something. He was a few inches taller and more muscular. If it came down to something physical, she knew Maddox would win.

It didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried, though. Making a snap decision, she stepped out of the truck and moved toward them.

“I own the land now and I’m not selling,” Maddox told Richard.

“How can you own the land?” Richard screamed. She winced at the sound. Ouch. That was enough to hurt someone’s ears. A dog started barking out the back in protest and the man on the porch moved his wife back another step. “The rest of them agreed to sell to me! It was only this loser who wouldn’t take my offer.”

“Your offer? Your offer sucked and they changed their minds,” Maddox said in a dark voice. “Now get lost, no one wants you here.”

“This won’t be the last you’ll hear from me. You’ll pay for this. That land was mine.”

She swallowed heavily. “Is everything okay here?”

Maddox’s eyes widened slightly as he looked over at her. “What are you doing here?”

She jolted at his harsh words. The way he looked at her, so cold, it stung.

Richard swung toward her. “I told you to wait in the car, Scarlett.”

“You know this asshole?” Maddox snapped.

“Scarlett is my assistant,” Richard said.

Why did she feel this sense of doom? Oh yeah, maybe it was due to the darkness growing in Maddox’s eyes. She thought she’d seen a hint of it when she first met him last night, but nothing like this.

“Wait,” Richard said slowly. “You two know each other?”

“No,” Maddox snarled.

She could feel the tears welling. She blinked, pushing them back.

You’re tougher than this, Scarlett.

She’d known last night meant nothing. At least, it obviously didn’t to him. To her . . .

“We met briefly last night,” she added. “But we don’t know each other.”

“Get lost,” Maddox told Richard. “Come back here again and Darren will call the sheriff. Oh, and stay off my land. I don’t like trespassers.”

“There will be repercussions for this!” Richard stormed back to the car, slamming the door behind him.

“Maddox,” she whispered, unable to help herself.

He turned his cold gaze on her.

“Say something.”

His eyebrow rose. “What would you like me to say? What was last night? Were you hoping that by fucking me I would somehow give your boss what he wanted?”

What?

“No! I didn’t even know you owned that land. Neither did Richard. How could I have thought that sleeping with you would help him? Not that I would do that anyway.”

“You work for that slime bag, who knows what you know. Or what you’ve done for him.” He sneered at her, looking down at her like she was shit on his shoe. She felt her insides shrivel.

She’d known that this wasn’t some love story. Hell, she’d slept with two men at once. That sort of stuff wasn’t normal. Or likely healthy. But she thought he might at least give her the courtesy of thinking her innocent until proven guilty.

“I didn’t know who you were. And if I had, I wouldn’t have slept with you.”

“You really think I’m going to believe you have morals when you work for him?” He sneered at Richard who was back in the car.

“Richard isn’t a bad guy.” Although she wasn’t so sure of that anymore. She still thought she should defend him since he was her boss.

“He can take his underhanded tactics and crappy offer and stick them up his ass,” Maddox replied. “If he’s such a good guy, then how come he was having to resort to threats and blackmail to get the owners of the land to agree to sell it to him?”

“He . . . he wouldn’t do that. He offered them all a fair price.”

“A fair price?” Maddox scoffed. “I paid ten times what he was offering them and what I paid was a fair price. He was trying to cheat them. He’s immoral and a criminal.” He stepped toward her.

“That’s not true.”

“I can’t believe you’re defending his practices. You know that makes you no better than him. And it sickens me that I slept with you. I know Beau left you his number. Lose it.”

A horn blasted and she glanced over to see Richard glaring at her.

“You’re wrong, about all of this. About me,” she said quietly.

“Go back to the city, Scarlett. And forget all about this place and my brother. Because you don’t belong here or with us.”

Barely able to breathe, her vision blurred by tears she managed to make her way back to the car without breaking down.

“Can you believe that asshole? He’s going to pay for this. Nobody takes what I want, nobody!” Richard seethed.

She turned the car around carefully, deliberately keeping her gaze away from Maddox as Richard continued to rail. Then she drove down the driveway.

Don’t break down. Don’t let Richard see.

She blocked out most of his speech. He was spouting off things against Maddox, threats that she knew were unfounded.

Or were they?

“Richard,” she interrupted.

“You need to book tickets home immediately,” he said, tapping away on his phone. “I’ve got things to organize. I need to find out everything I can about Maddox Malone. Do you have anything to tell me?”

“What? No. I met him last night. Briefly. That’s it.” She wasn’t going to let Richard use her as a weapon against Maddox, no matter how much of a jerk the other man might be.

“Richard, he said you threatened those people to get them to sign over the land. Is that true?”

“What? How can you even ask me that? Why would I need to threaten anyone? Yeah, I wanted that block of land. But there’s other land I can buy.”

That was true . . . but . . .

“Scarlett, I can’t believe you’d listen to a dumbass cowboy over me. We’ve known each other a long time now. Have I ever done anything to make you doubt me?” His hand landed on her thigh.

Only instead of sending shivers of delight through her, it made her feel ill.

“No, you haven’t.”

“So, I expect your loyalty on this, understand?” His hand tightened on her thigh. Almost to the point of pain.

“Of course.” She forced herself to smile. “You’re the boss.”

“I knew your loyalty was to me. You’re always there for me.”

For some reason, that knot in her stomach didn’t disappear.

His phone rang. He answered it quickly. “The deal fell through.”

She couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation.

“Yeah, well, I thought this was a sure thing, but Maddox Malone bought it out from under us . . . yeah . . . all of the land, yep . . . you do that, Rodney. Fuck. Right.”

He ended the call. She bit her tongue against asking who that was.

“Let’s get out of this shithole place.”