Fair Game (2 page)

He’d just felt so damn good. A hot, hard male. She couldn’t help herself, and he’d been pretty damn impressive in her hand. Ooh, baby.

Maybe she’d see him again on the way out. Nice thought. The final result, though, was that she’d lost her ire with Masters. Whatever. He wouldn’t make it. Fine. SMG was her most ambitious project to date, and now the meeting was all hers. She’d get to shine.

Setting her PC case on the reception desk, she smiled down at the girl.

Rolling her chair away from her monitor, the blonde adjusted her headset and returned Josie’s smile. Her bright blue sweater matched her eyes, and the fuzzy glittering white snowflake on it showcased her chest. Cute sweater. Except that it was August, not December. Josie read her nameplate. Kisa Korsakov. Kisa? She stifled an inappropriate laugh. Perhaps back in Russia it was cold in August. “Hi, I’m Josie Tybrook. I’ve got a nine o’clock meeting.”

“Vould you please sign our visitor’s log?” the girl said with a thick yet understandable accent as she pointed to the clipboard on the counter. “And your meeting vas vith whom?”

Before Josie could answer, the lobby doors opened once again and Kisa turned all sloe-eyed and sultry, her husky voice somehow managing to drop another sexy octave. “Good morning, Mr. Perry.” She flipped her waist-length blond hair over her shoulder. “Vhat a magnificent tie you are vearing too-day.”

Josie turned in the direction of the magnificent tie. She hadn’t noticed the tie—which was a simple red-and-black stripe—on the elevator, only the hot body. And the hard cock. Oh shit. That was Mr. Perry?

“Thank you, Kisa.” He said it with the slightest edge of indulgent laughter, his gaze on Josie as he spoke.

Kisa glanced down at her small yet perky breasts beneath the white snowflake. “And I’m vearing your favorite sweater too-day, too.” She batted her eyelashes.

“So you are.” The edge of his mouth kicked up.

Josie had to hang on to the counter to keep from falling over with laughter, both at the interesting little exchange and at herself. Kyle Perry. Wouldn’t ya know the guy she copped a feel off of in a crowded elevator would turn out to be the very man with whom she was meeting? She could hear her mother’s voice: “I don’t know how you get yourself into these messes, Josie.” Well, hell, she’d been out to impress, and she certainly had.

She didn’t introduce herself. If he had any intelligence, he’d already figured out she was his nine o’clock appointment, the program manager on the Coyote Ridge project. She’d be working with him for the next three months while the new equipment and systems were installed, tested, and qualified.

So. Just how would he handle the meeting after their elevator interlude? She couldn’t wait to find out.

 

 

 

AS Josie Tybrook flipped to another screen in her presentation, Kyle leaned back in his chair, stacking his hands behind his head.

At the conference room’s sideboard, Todd Adams, the sand plant’s superintendent, poured himself another cup of coffee, drinking in every word Josie said. He closed the blinds against a glare that played across the screen, then took his seat at the big oak table.

Seated next to Todd, Will Stevens, head of Machine Maintenance for the quarry, relaxed in his chair, one booted foot propped on his knee. He gave off his usual air of nonchalance, but the guy had an almost photographic memory. Show him a diagram once, and he could practically redraw the thing blindfolded. His genius was machinery.

Josie appeared to impress them both. When he’d first heard she was the daughter of one of Castle’s board members, he’d had his misgivings. Connor Kingston had assured him she was good, and gave an extraordinary attention to detail. The purpose of this meeting was to update the SMG team on subcontractors and outside suppliers to be used, scheduling, installation, training, debugging— especially for the new ticketing system—and a host of other particulars Josie was in charge of coordinating. Castle Heavy Mining would do the major portion of the equipment manufacturing, but on a project of this magnitude, there were myriad components that had to come from outside.

Listening to her, Kyle now agreed with Castle’s CEO; Josie was
very
good. And in ways he was sure Connor Kingston didn’t even know about.

“We’ve chosen Wilson Products for all the electronics, including the depth finder and the electronic eyes on both the load-out system and the weigh station,” she was saying. “We used them on the Dominican project last year with excellent results.”

She had a low, sweet voice, perfect for whispering dirty words in the dark of the night. Or over the phone. She’d apologized for her manager’s absence without casting blame and didn’t twitch or flush when Kyle introduced himself. For all her acknowledgment of it, or lack thereof, what happened in the elevator might have been nothing more than his flight of fancy about a pretty woman. She knew her stuff, too. She’d learned the ins and outs of SMG’s silica mining, researched the suppliers best suited for the company’s machine upgrade designs, and set up an aggressive yet manageable timetable. She wasn’t merely a pretty face or the daughter of a board member.

And he wanted her. After that hot little elevator episode, when he saw the woman in the lobby, his heart kick-started. He’d had to enter with his suit jacket buttoned to hide his cock. Kisa, their receptionist, didn’t miss a thing, and she’d have thought the hard-on was for her and her snowflake sweater. He’d complimented the garment once. She’d started wearing it at least twice a month after that and pointed it out to him every time she did. Or perhaps she was pointing out her breasts.

All he’d really had eyes for in the lobby this morning was Josie Tybrook. Smart, confident, understated, primly suited up in black business attire. Yet he could still feel the phantom press of her hand on his cock.

Todd said something Kyle didn’t catch. Coyote Ridge extracted a bottle-grade sand that was also good for fiberglass insulation. The deposit had been harvested since the seventies and much of the plant’s equipment was outdated. Kyle, Todd, and Will had worked with the Castle engineers for three months on a new design utilizing existing machinery while incorporating new technologies. They’d also spent considerable time with Castle programmers flowcharting the in-house ticketing system that would tie the customer order to the truck making the haul, record both tare and heavy weights, issue the government-required ticket, and feed it all into the billing system. If it worked well, they’d install it in their other plants, paying Castle a licensing fee, and Castle would have a new product line. It was a win-win for both companies.

Josie flipped through a chart in front of her, pointing when she found whatever she’d been looking for. “We’ve got the operators scheduled for two days of training the week before we start bringing the new systems online for testing and qualification.” Ah, so Todd’s question had been about the complexity of the new operations protocol.

Todd rubbed a hand round and round his bald pate. Kyle had worked with him for almost ten years, but even back then, at thirty-five, the guy had been bald, with the same habit of rubbing his head.

“Seems like the training should be done simultaneously, in case there are any hiccups.” It was a bit of a juvenile comment, but Kyle figured Todd was testing Josie. That was Todd’s style.

She took the question at face value, shaking her head, her dark hair brushing her shoulders. “You’re going from manual operation to computer controlled and making a lot of upgrades all at once. Your guys need to know what every flashing light, signal, or warning means
before
they start making product.”

Will Stevens popped Todd lightly on the arm with his fist. He was a head shorter, twenty-five pounds lighter, and ten years younger than Todd, but he never missed an opportunity to give his boss crap. They actually had a damn good working relationship. “Yeah, dude,” he said, “it’s like all those little warning lights in your Beemer. You gotta take it down to the shop to figure out what they mean.” Will then glanced keenly at Josie. “What about my guys?”

Josie pointed to the same chart with an unpainted fingernail. In a world with silicon breasts, fake nails, and dyed hair, she seemed the genuine article. “Machine maintenance personnel,” she said, “require three days total training time.”

Will crossed his arms, rocking slowly in his chair, then nodded. “Makes sense.”

It wasn’t just the equipment itself, but, as Will had alluded to, the electronics required to run it all. Their guys would now have to troubleshoot at a whole new level. What they’d get in return for the capital outlay was significantly higher efficiencies in production and loading, which translated to improved gate-to-gate times. Gate-to-gate was a key factor. The shorter the amount of time a hauler was inside the gate, the more customer orders could be filled in a day.

“What’s our downtime going to be?” It was the first Kyle had added to the conversation, letting his team get their questions out there before his. He already had a good estimate, but he wanted to see what she’d come up with.

The lady didn’t hesitate. “We’ve arranged the various installations to coincide with your production schedule. Once you’ve filled the silos”—the silos housed the glass sand—“we’ll remove the dryer for the new coating and install the temperature automation at the same time. It’ll be back online before the silos are empty.” She flipped to another screen on her presentation. “This schedule shows each installation and indicates that total downtime will be less than two days.”

The timetable was better than he’d expected. “We’ll hold you to that.”

She met his gaze head-on. “I’m sure you will.” A lick of heat flashed in her eyes, giving a whole separate meaning to the exchange.

Damn. He started getting hard all over again. Now, however, was not the time.

“I’ve got the charts on hard copy for you,” she went on, focusing once more on Todd and Will, “which I’ll have couriered over to you this afternoon.”

She’d obviously forgotten to bring them with her. Then again, her boss, Masters, had been a no-show. Perhaps he’d had them.

“No need to courier it to me,” he said. “Just e-mail it, and I’ll have Kisa print it off.”

The corner of her mouth quirked. Ah, she’d obviously noticed the little byplay in the lobby this morning.

“Same for us.” Todd slid his business card across the table. “An e-mail’s fine. We’ll get a couple of copies printed up.”

That settled, she continued with her presentation. Kyle enjoyed the way she moved, sometimes resting her hands on the table, ass thrust out slightly, or pacing to the screen to highlight an item with her pen. She strode, not so much with gracefulness as with efficiency, an economy of movement.

Despite his fascination, his mind didn’t wander again, and the meeting was concluded with her same proficiency, all questions answered, and a plant tour scheduled for the following afternoon, Tuesday. He found it amazing how much she’d accomplished without even visiting the site yet, though with her résumé of projects— Connor Kingston had furnished the list, including dates and duration—she’d become familiar with most types of mining operations. In her eight or so years since college—he guessed her age at about thirty—she’d accomplished a helluva lot at Castle.

After Will and Todd left, Kyle took the extra minutes as she shut down and stored her computer, shoving yellow pad and papers into the case’s front pocket, to discuss some final points.

“I’ll walk you out,” he said when she was done.

“There’s no need.” She lifted her lips in a polite smile. “Thank you, but I can find my way.”

Hell, yes, there was a need. Just inside the door, he stopped her when she would have left him in the dust. “I’d like to see you again.”

“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow at the plant.”

He smiled. She was being difficult. “Personally, not professionally.”

She blinked, then pressed her mouth into a flat line. “First, I don’t date clients. Second, I don’t date, period. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a very demanding job.”

“I’ve noticed. Let’s skip the dating part, then, and get right to the sex.”

Her eyes widened, her lips parted, then she huffed out a breath of air. Finally she found her voice. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

He chanced a step closer to her and lowered his voice. “I couldn’t believe you’d rub my cock in a crowded elevator. But you did, and I would say that bears further exploration.”

“If I’d known you were my client, I wouldn’t have done it.” She straightened her shoulders, standing slightly taller. “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“And I’m not going to pass up a wonderful opportunity simply because I happened to meet you at work.” He smiled to take the bite out of anything he said. “We’re both adults and perfectly capable of separating business and pleasure.” Tipping his head, he let his gaze travel across her face, then back to meet her eyes. “Besides, we met personally first, business came later.”

She huffed again, and her cheeks flushed. “I wouldn’t call that
meeting
.”

Her indignation amused him. “I’d call it intimate, which is even more important.”

“I’m not going to argue with you.” She stepped back, gave a longer-than-necessary look. “The answer is no.”

Kyle studied her a moment, saying nothing, then finally raised his hands. “I go down in defeat.”

Josie was almost sorry. A tiny part of her wanted him to try harder. She liked that he called what happened between them an opportunity. Somehow it took his proposition out of the realm of sleazy and into intriguing. Tantalizing. In today’s careful business atmosphere, where a man’s compliment could be construed as harassment and therefore men simply stopped complimenting at all, she liked that he was a person who asked for what he wanted.

She still wasn’t going to screw up her career for a . . . screw. No matter how handsome Kyle Perry was. The guy somehow came out to be more than the sum of his parts. Tall, a couple of inches over six feet, toned physique, clean-shaven face with decent bone structure and a strong jaw, all of it coming together in a rather devastating package. Not to mention how big and hard he’d felt in her hand.