Acquired Asset Read online

  Acquired Asset

  Copyright © 2016 by Z.N. Willett

  All rights reserved.

  Acquired Asset is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. Except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Editing by Donna Wolosin

  Cover Design by Jada D’Lee Designs

  Cover Images by: iStockphoto / Creative Market © / Shutterstock ©

  Book design by Integrity Formatting

  Z. N. Willett

  Visit my website at www.znwillett.com

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Also by Z.N. Willett

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  TO MY READERS

  A LITTLE HUMOR & SPICE

  Prick, jerkwad, piece of scum who brought his fiancée to my event!

  It was an amicable break-up, I reminded myself.

  Amicable, my ass!

  He said he didn’t love me anymore. How was that amicable or fair? Years of loving him, and for what? A broken heart and thirty extra pounds!

  Tony looked over at me timidly. I turned my back. He’d made me late.

  “Hello?”

  No answer.

  “Vanessa?” I called through the open door.

  “You’re late! Shut the door behind you.”

  Somewhat put off by his tone, I stepped into the suite and walked toward the room from where the irritated voice had originated.

  “Stop,” he ordered.

  Surprisingly, my body did just that.

  The voice was coming from behind a large desk. The man’s high-back chair faced the long, reflective window. He was obviously a tall man and a sloppy one at that. The toffee dark strands of his hair stood straight up from behind.

  I was about to point that out, along with his rudeness, but he reversed his chair.

  He was no sloppy man.

  The man who sat in front of me was a beautiful mess. His chiseled jaw sloped downward as his eyes stayed glued to the iPad in his hands. His mop of hair looked as if he had run for miles, yet his starched tux shirt said otherwise.

  I’d frozen, mesmerized by his beauty. Then my senses came back to me. “Hello, I’m—”

  “I don’t need to know your name, sweetheart. Take off your clothes.”

  I gawked at him for a moment. “Excuse me?”

  He never took his eyes off his iPad as he spoke in a miffed tone. “Be a good girl and take off your clothes.”

  Still speechless; I watched as the man stood—taller than I expected and very fit—and walked over to a credenza, poured himself something to drink, then faced me. When my blue eyes met his green ones, I actually considered his request for a split second.

  “Look, umm, you must—”

  “You’re new?” he asked, more to himself.

  “Yes, I’m—”

  “Is this your first time?” He tilted his head curiously.

  “I think this is a mistake . . .”

  He peered at me for a moment, grinned a bit slyly, and walked straight up to me. “I’m already late. Whatever he offered, I will double it. That should wipe out any doubts in that beautiful head of yours.” His eyes strayed over my body, hovering at my chest, locking with mine. “That dress is too long. The gift shop downstairs should have a shorter one for you to wear.”

  “What’s wrong with my dress?” The floor-length, strapless, black dress had just come off a renowned Milan runway. I was of average height at 5’5”, and while the dress was made for taller women, it had been altered to fit me perfectly. It gave my slim physique some curves, and my back looked amazing with my chestnut hair piled high on my head.

  How dare he insult me!

  The man circled around, stopping behind me; I could feel the warmth of his body on my naked back as he whispered into my ear. “It’s not easy access for a fu—”

  “Excuse you!” I stressed, slack-jawed and a little turned on. He almost rendered me speechless.

  I stared ahead, watching his reflection in the window, as I felt the hairs on my neck stand up. The back of his hand drifted down my arm as he continued to speak. “I need you wet at all times tonight. You are to be willing at any moment—whether it’s in the bathroom, against a wall, on the kitchen counter, or along the pool deck.” His eyes flicked straight ahead, meeting mine in the reflection. “Or maybe up against a window.”

  I inhaled a shaky breath when he whispered those last words.

  I looked away from his intense glare, and before I could say another word, he was gone. He strode out of the room yelling that he would see me downstairs, and closed the door behind him.

  As I walked into the crowded ballroom, searching for something to drink, my assistant Mia Martinez approached me. “Quinn, did you get what you needed from Vanessa upstairs?”

  “Mia, I cannot begin to explain to you what happened. You look great by the way.”

  She always looked good. She was a bombshell and her dress clung to her tall curves. Her two-tone brown and blonde hair was wrapped in a messy updo; her ample cleavage spilled over the top of her dress. Not too much, though, as she always tried to tame the girls.

  Mia said, “Your father was looking for you, by the way. He wanted you to meet Mr. Colby.”

  I glanced around the crowded ballroom, a place filled with all of our biggest investors. The drinks were flowing, the band was playing, and all I could see were well-dressed dollar signs enjoying the opening and no signs of my ex-asshole boyfriend.

  I searched the vicinity unable to locate my father. “Mia, if you see him, let me know, please. Also, when you have a moment, I never had an opportunity to request the copies of the blueprints. Could you make arrangements to get them?”

  She looked puzzled. “Wasn’t Vanessa in the suite?”

  “No,” I answered, shaking my head. This wasn’t the time to explain about the ass that had been upstairs.

  “Vanessa said she would wait for you. I’ll go find her.”

  Mia left, and I suddenly remembered I needed a drink, badly. Before I could take a glass of champagne from the server, a hand grabbed the last glass and presented it to me.

  His breath tickled the outside of my ear as he whispered sternly. “I thought I told you to change.”

  Seeing the devil himself, I ignored the fact my nipples were painfully hard. He looked even better in his black tux. “You did.”

  Taking the glass of champagne from his hand, I sipped it, holding his gaze. His hooded eyes watched and he moistened his lips a few
times, yet he said nothing.

  I placed the empty champagne glass to the side, and directed my attention toward the speechless man. “I would have to disagree with you, sir. This is a very accessible dress.”

  I poked my leg through the high slit. He looked down, and I swore, drooled a little.

  That was what I thought.

  I walked away and ended up plowing into Tony.

  Could this day get any crappier?

  The slim, red-haired man looked incredible. Not as I pictured him. I looked like crap for two weeks after he left me. “Quinn, may I have this dance?”

  Behind me, I saw clueless scowling at us. Tony’s hand grabbed my arm, and I reacted, snarling. “Won’t ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ have a problem with that?”

  Tony scowled. “Her name is Denise.”

  The last thing he said to me before walking out of my life was the pathetic “it’s not you, it’s me” crap. I found out a few months later that wasn’t entirely true. He had found someone else and they were engaged.

  “Quinny, please, let’s be cordial.” He held out his hand.

  I reluctantly grabbed hold and we embraced.

  His touch felt different, foreign, in fact. As much as I had loved him, there was no love lost. No rapid heartbeat or butterfly stomach aches. All I remembered was the pain of heartbreak.

  “Why are you here, Tony?”

  “Denise’s mother received an invitation.”

  I rolled my eyes. “To my hotel. You knew I would be here.”

  He grinned. “I did hope to see you. I needed to explain. About Denise, I knew her way before you. We were high school friends—”

  “Stop. What happened between us is over. You’ve moved on and I have, as well.” It had been over a year.

  “May I cut in?” Mr. Clueless interrupted.

  My eyes locked on to his green ones. At that point, I welcomed the pervert. He didn’t wait for Tony to respond and took my hand, whisking me away from him. “Should I be surprised that you’re light on your feet?” I asked.

  The man could dance.

  “I’m surprised you can move in that dress.”

  “What is it with you and this dress?”

  He thought for a while, and held me tighter as he whispered, “Can you get on your knees in that dress?”

  I gasped, attempting to pull away from him, though he only held me tighter.

  “Can those long legs wrap around broad shoulders in that dress?” He grinned.

  I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me, never mind the fact I was in the middle of a crowded dance floor, while some stranger was verbally getting me off.

  “Do you spew out language like that to every woman you meet?” I hissed.

  His grin shifted crooked as his eyes landed on my breasts. “You’re my first, and I must say I would have loved to have popped that cherry in that dress.”

  My traitorous nubs hardened.

  I wanted this man.

  I wasn’t sure if it was seeing Tony again or feeling this gorgeous man wanted me as much as I wanted him, yet all and any sanity was gone. The smell of him took over my senses. His sweet breath poured over my face, and his eyes burned into mine.

  We stared, saying nothing as all movement ceased. I was afraid of what he would say next. If he asked me to take him here and now, I couldn’t say I wouldn’t. I needed to snap out of it, but as his mouth kept getting closer to mine, I remained hypnotized.

  However when he said, “I told you to pick a shorter dress,” the spell was broken.

  “You’re an ass!”

  I started to walk away, however he wrapped his hand around my forearm and guided us through two double doors into a storage room.

  Before I knew it, I was pushed up against the wall, pinned by the devil himself, as his eyes burned with fire. “When I tell someone to do something, they do it.”

  “I’m sure they do, however this someone is not changing her dress!” I spat out.

  The maddening, sexy as hell stranger tilted his head. “Do I need to prove my point to you?”

  “Yes!”

  The beautiful demon had himself pressed firmly against my thigh. I stood still, trying to gain some semblance of control, but when his hand went in between my dress slit and brushed against my inner thigh, heading straight for. . . .“What are—?”

  “Hmm. I might have been wrong.” His fingers pushed aside my soaked panties, caressing around the lace edges. “It seems I can gain access to you this way.”

  I inhaled as one of his fingers started exploring. I balled my hands, trying not to explode from his fingers alone, yet it was a losing battle. The man was hot, and this was so wrong, but he was making my body feel things it hadn’t felt for a long time.

  When he pushed himself harder against me, a moan escaped from my mouth. “Yes,” he groaned. “It seems this way may be better after all.” He emphasized his words by teasing me with another finger. “It’s nice to see you can follow some instructions.”

  I raised a quizzical brow at him, as the wickedest grin graced his face.

  “You’re very wet.” With that, he pushed deeper.

  “Augh!” My head fell back against the wall.

  “Open up,” he ordered. I spread my legs wider. “You’re dripping for me.”

  His words were making me angrier, and wetter. My chest heaved, and I could feel him throbbing against my leg as he started to move it up and down.

  I wanted to slap the pleased look off his face; however, I moaned instead when he said, “I wonder if this could handle me?”

  He suddenly moved away, and my stomach tightened at the loss, until he positioned his face directly in front of mine. He whispered, “You want more, don’t you, sweetheart?”

  I shifted my head away from him. I wasn’t going to let this asshole see how much I wanted it. Needed it.

  He cupped my chin, dragging my face back to him. “What would it feel like to have those pouty lips wrapped around me?”

  My eyes grew big.

  “To have you on your knees in that dress. . .”

  My heart skipped erratically, and my throat went dry. I licked my lips, and his eyes immediately fell to my mouth. I licked them again and watched as his mouth opened. I wasn’t sure how much more of this my heart could take.

  His eyes darkened. “You don’t have to say a word; your eyes are doing all the talking for you.”

  I grunted at him, speechless from the two fingers that were teasing me. Curved, long fingers hit the right spot. “Aww!”

  His face came closer, and I thought he was going to kiss me until he brushed his cheek along mine. His mouth hovered over my ear, and his breath sped up along with his hand as he ordered. “Wider!”

  My shaky legs tried to spread out, but the dress was restricting them.

  Damn dress!

  I should have listened and bought a shorter one; though, I wasn’t going to tell him that.

  When he came face to face with me again, he wore an evil smirk. It was as if he could read my mind, and the thought caused me to moan more.

  He lifted my dress up with his free hand, which allowed me to spread my legs wider as I continued to rock against his hand. He sped up, vigorously. I could feel the ball of fire building inside me, and I wanted to hold onto it for as long as possible.

  “Let go!” He read my mind.

  I refused. It felt too good, and if he was going to take me to hell, I wanted to enjoy the ride.

  My legs were going to give out at any moment, yet my impending pleasure would not be denied.

  Our moans and groans filled the small space. “You like this, don’t you, sweetheart.” He breathed the words into my neck.

  I wanted to scream out, “No!” yet we both knew that would be a lie.

  “I want to have my mouth on you—you want that don’t you, sweetheart?”

  The thought of his mouth on me, and the feel of his tongue . . . that thought alone caused my toes to curl.

  My ears perk
ed up when I heard a commotion outside of the double doors. He must have heard it as well, because he uttered, “We have to be quick, but after I’m finished out there, I want you back up in my suite, clothes off, and waiting.”

  His fingers curved up, rubbed the exact spot, and the most intense pleasure erupted. I swayed from the pleasure that soared through me, afraid I was going to pass out. His firm arms held me up as I rode out every bit of it.

  After the demon disappeared, running out to do whatever it was he did, I went straight to the ladies room to clean up. I examined myself in the mirror, chastising my behavior. What the hell was that? I let some stranger finger me in the stockroom.

  Get it together, Quinn!

  It had been a while, and yes, seeing Tony was a shock—but this?

  A lady walked out of the stall, looking at me as if she knew what I had done. My hair was a little out of sorts, and I was sure I smelled of sex. I hurried to freshen myself up, over spraying my perfume to cover my sin. Praying no one would notice, and realizing maybe I needed to repent for my sins before asking the big man upstairs for a favor.

  The moment I stepped outside, I heard my dad call my name. “Quinn.”

  Why? I asked looking up. The last person I wanted to see was my father.

  I strolled over, taking my time. He was standing next to a tall man. He made Dad look much shorter and dumpier than he was. He was a distinguished looking, handsome, older man, with silver streaks on each side of his honey-colored hair. Something about his smile looked familiar.

  Dad ran his hand through the balding spot of his dark hair. “Quinn, meet Thomas Colby.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand. Although, we all knew that wasn’t truthful.

  He did have a sincere look on his face; however, there was something about his eyes that made me think of the demon. I shook the thought out of my head as I let go of his hand.

  “Quinn, we are hopeful this merger will be profitable.”

  My dad wanted to expand our hotel brand in the East, and the Colbys wanted to expand theirs in the West. We were considering a merger of the two hotel brands into one—considering wasn’t the right word—forced by the Colbys. We didn’t have much of a choice after their attempt of a hostile takeover. We were merging and expanding into the Midwest, which was the first phase. Chicago would be the first city to have the combined brand. If it went as well as the forecast predicted, we would be expanding globally within the next few years.