King of Wall Street: a sexy, standalone, contemporary romance Read Online Free Page B

me, or is it hotter in here than normal?”
    Donna shook her head. “No, and I’m not turning up the A/C, either. It’s ridiculously cold in here.”
    I sighed. It wasn’t worth arguing with Donna about. Most things weren’t. That was what I’d learned from the women in my life—pick your battles.
    “So,” Donna said as she slipped into the seat in front of my desk. The same chair Harper had sat in on Friday. Harper had sat with her legs crossed and her arms fixed to the arms of the chair, almost as if she were bracing herself for a bumpy landing. But it had given me a perfect view of her high tight breasts and her long brown hair sitting gently on her shoulders.
    “What’s going on?” Donna asked.
    “Huh?” I asked, glancing up to look at her.
    “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”
    I shook my head and leaned back in my chair. I needed to focus. “I’m fine. I just have a million things going on in my head. It’s going to be a busy week.”
    “Okay then, let’s get started. You have a lunch tomorrow with Wilson at D&G Consulting. It’s fixed for twelve at Tribeca Grill.”
    “I suppose we can’t cancel?” Wilson was a competitor and such an egomaniac that canceling would be a problem. And because he couldn’t help but be a braggart, I usually got some useful information from our lunches.
    “Yes, it’s too late. You’ve canceled the last three times.”
    “And we can’t go to Joey’s?”
    Donna just raised her eyebrows. I sighed as I reminded myself this was another battle not worth fighting.
    “And Harper wanted some time this afternoon as she’s revised her report.”
    I started to click at my calendar. I’d seen Harper on Friday. I needed to be seeing less of her not more.
    “What are you doing? I have your calendar right here.” She pointed to her tablet. “You have time this afternoon at four.”
    “I don’t think we need a meeting. She should just leave what she’s done with you, and I’ll look at it when I can.” I stared down at my notepad, writing down Lunch with Wilson for no particular reason.
    “You usually like a follow-up meeting.”
    “I’m busy and haven’t got time to go through work that’s probably not good enough.” That was unfair. Harper’s work hadn’t been bad. It had some mistakes in it, but nothing I wouldn’t expect of someone who’d never worked with me before—the quality I was used to from new junior researchers was far sloppier and I was demanding, I knew that. She hadn’t managed to get hold of Donny, but he was a hierarchical son of a bitch. Asking her to speak to him was asking an almost impossible task.
    Turns out she was good at her job—she’d even had some really creative insights—so it didn’t look as though she was going to give me a reason to fire her any time soon.
    That could be a problem.
    “Was the report really that bad?” Donna asked.
    “No, but I don’t need her sitting there watching me read it through, either.” I’d found it utterly distracting on Friday, having her just a couple of yards away. I could barely concentrate because I’d been trying to place her scent—a kind of musky, sexy smell. The way her hands had gripped and then loosened around the arms of the chair—I found myself getting hard at the thought of those hands sliding down my chest and around my cock.
    Fuck, she was a problem.
    “Especially if you’re going to make me have lunch with Wilson,” I added when I glanced at Donna and she was looking at me with narrowed eyes. I didn’t want her asking any more questions about Harper, even if it was about the quality of her work.
    She took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t want to speak out of turn—”
    “Then don’t,” I snapped. What was she going to say? Could she tell I was treating Harper differently? That I was attracted to her?
    Attracted. Shit. I needed to back up. She was just a pretty face with fantastic tits and a great ass. I knew plenty of women like that. My phone had plenty