Liam

This day drags on at a snail's pace. McQueen's presentation is about as stimulating as watching paint dry and yet, I have to fake interest and be professional. Despite my best efforts, I find myself constantly checking the clock, watching the seconds tick by till eleven when the next presentation starts.

When Miss Carter took one look at that file, saw all the holes, and fixed our curveball in less than an hour, I knew they would get the bid. A week later, McQueen never even asked for all the missing documents. What's worse is the amendment we dropped on them is maybe a third of the way done, despite them assigning a team to just that task.

She called their bluff right off the bat... I might have been a bit too quick to judge her. So far, she's kept up with every challenge, and even caught me off guard, a hard thing to do. It makes me wonder what else she might be hiding.

After our last meeting, I dug deep into HCR Solutions, Ms. Hernandez's company. It's small, so small that it would have never made it onto our radar if they hadn't submitted their bid. The entire company consists of three people. Sophia Hernandez is the Client Liaison, Ella Carter, the Data Specialist, and Timothy Ried, the Tech Lord. That is literally his title on the website, which he no doubt built himself.

Their size alone is enough to make me dismiss them. Trenton Technologies is a multi-million dollar corporation and we play in the big leagues. But, no matter what we throw at them, nothing fazes them.

"Mr. Anthony, Mr. Moore, a pleasure as always," Ms. Diaz says, leaning forward to shake our hands. She has been flaunting herself at me throughout both meetings, just lowering my opinion further.

"If there's anything more that we can do, you know where to reach me," Mr. Crawford says, shaking our hands as they head out.

"Sure do, we'll be in touch," Declan replies with his CEO charm. With a click of the door, the mask drops, and he turns to me, shaking his head.

"What the hell was that?" he blurts out, gesturing to the slide still up. "I'd have been embarrassed to show up half done like that, yet he comes in here, strutting like he's the king of shit mountain!"

I can't contain my laugh at his reaction. At twenty-seven, Declan may be young by CEO standards, but he's polished and great at playing the diplomat.

He didn't get where he is by half-assing things. Neither of us did.

"Stop laughing and grab me some scotch," he says, flopping back down into his chair. "I'm gonna need it."

The sidebar is fully stocked but my eyes automatically go to the high-end scotch on the far side. I grab two glasses and drop a single large ice cube in each before pouring the liquor. On my way back to my seat, I drop his glass off and he quickly downs half in the first sip.

"Pace yourself, we have another one yet," I chide, sipping mine. The smooth, fiery liquid feels like a caress in my mouth and down my throat as I swallow.

"Don't remind me," he groans and sets down his glass. "Tell me it's not going to be as bad as the first one?"

"Relax," I say with a laugh. "I hate to admit it, but you were right to give them a shot. They know their stuff."

I had been dead set against a small company from the get-go. Seeing Ms. Carter show up, looking like a scared librarian, didn't help my impression, but Declan insisted he saw something. When she challenged me during her presentation, it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

Declan was going to have our assistant Todd run the package down to the front desk, but it gave me the perfect chance to get her one-on-one. That flash of sass she gave me in the elevator made my palms itch.

We always had the plan to do in-person checkups on whoever made it to the next round. HCR, not having a brick-and-mortar building, threw a kink in the plan. We wanted to make sure that whoever we went with wouldn't crack under pressure and had the necessary infrastructure to support our projects.

Emilio within Trenton is like our own personal private eye. With one phone number, he had Ms. Carter's address back to me in less than ten minutes. I trust his take when it comes to people, and he seems to think highly of Ella, too.

His words, 'Worth your time' echo in the back of my mind as I swirl my glass of scotch.

After having witnessed the pitiful attempt by McQueen, I'm glad Declan gave them a chance. By the way he's rubbing his forehead, I already know McQueen's group shot themselves in the foot on this one.

"Fuck, I think a trained monkey could impress us after that," he scoffs.

Our conversation is cut short by Todd paging the conference room.

Bzz - "Your next presentation is here."

"Send them in," Declan answers, throwing back what's left of his drink.

I toss mine back and put our glasses away, then clear the useless presentation on the projector. Declan is still sitting there pouting like a kid being made to sit through detention. I give him a pointed look as I hear footfalls and he reluctantly gets up and straightens his suit.

Todd opens the door and gestures for two women to enter. The first woman is tall, curvy, and dressed to impress. Her dark curly hair is halfway pulled back, which presents her caramel-coloured skin and big, mocha eyes that instantly render Declan spellbound.

He stands there, frozen, with a smile on his face, lips parted as he openly checks her out. I can't suppress my groan as he apparently completely forgets why he's here.

Which isn't eye-fucking one of our subcontractors.

"Ms. Hernandez, I presume?" I ask, holding out a hand to shake as I kick Declan's ankle to snap him out of it before his tongue falls onto the floor.

"You presume correctly, but Sophia is more than fine," she says with an easy laugh. "And you met Ella Carter last week." Sophia steps aside, gesturing to Ella, and now it's my time to gape.

The frumpy librarian is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a sophisticated, polished vixen has all of my attention. My eyes slowly travel up her body, taking in every detail. She's not dressed as provocatively as Sophia, but the colour and fit are very sexy in their own right.

Just when I thought I was starting to figure her out, she throws me for a loop, knocking me off balance once again. This woman is turning out to be a mystery I can't seem to leave alone, something about her just calls for me to keep digging.

"I do apologize for not being able to make it last week. I trust Ella took good care of you in the meantime?" Sophia asks with a warm smile.

"She did indeed," Declan says. Not taking his eyes from her. "You'll have to excuse Liam. He's still reeling from our last presentation."

He flashes me a quizzical look, mentally telling me to pull myself together. Ella struggles to suppress a laugh, gracefully covering her mouth. I can't peel my gaze away and get lost in her beautiful chocolate eyes.

What is happening? This isn't me...

"That good, hmm?" Sophia comments with a smirk. "If McQueen leaves you this flustered, better buckle up." Her eyes are locked on Declan the entire time as she winks to emphasize her point. "If you can give us a second, we'll set up and run through things quickly."

"No hurry," Declan says as he takes a seat.

The women walk to the far end of the table and set to work on their laptop. I barely notice Sophia drop some papers off in front of us, because my attention is solely on Ella. My eyes take on a life of their own, focusing on the way that skirt hugs her hips and cascades over her ass.

As she walks away, I can't help but notice the back seam stockings she's wearing. Most men go wild for fishnets; I love a woman in back seam thigh highs with garters. The mental image alone flushes suggestive urges straight south.

"Here," Declan whispers, passing me a napkin. My eyes lock on it as I furrow my brow in confusion before turning my attention to him. He has a shit-eating grin on with mischief dancing in his blue eyes. "You've got a lil' something here," he says, pointing to the corner of his mouth.

I roll my eyes at him and toss the napkin back at him. "Sure I shouldn't be offering that to you?" He just smirks more, turning his attention back to Sophia.

Sophia runs through the presentation, expertly pacing it, leaving pauses where they need to be and skimming over minor details. As good as Ella is with data, Sophia is with presentations. She knows the project inside and out and the few questions she doesn't know she gracefully turns over to Ella. It becomes quite clear why they work together. And while Declan's cool on the outside, I know by the way he shifts occasionally back to me that he's equally as impressed.

"How flexible are you?" Declan asks, lost in thought as he takes a sip of water.

"Quite," Sophia confidently replies with an air of mischief. Her mocha eyes lock on Declan as he chokes on his water. She can't fully suppress her smirk at his reaction, then raises a brow at him. "That's the beauty of a small business, Declan. What did you have in mind?"

He takes a moment to recover before he flashes me a questioning look. "Renford's?"

The opportunity came up, but we just weren't ready to take them over at the time. Once again, I can see his wheels working as he picks the proposal apart. "I think they could bridge the gap," he mumbles, nodding at the women.

"I know you bid one job, but would you be open to more?" I ask, gauging their reaction.

"Is it safe to assume that we won this bid?" Sophia asks as the corners of her mouth tug up into a slow smirk.

"You already knew that as soon as you walked in the door," Declan challenges with a smirk of his own.

"Well, one never wants to assume," Sophia says politely. "Though if you went with McQueen, I was really going to have to reconsider my intel because I thought too highly of you to make such a choice." Her eyes sparkle with mischief as she chuckles.

Correction, Sophia may be the best I've seen. I think she's genuinely into Declan, but she owns the room and everyone in its attention. She's attractive and dressed to impress but doesn't cross the professional line, always staying classy with a dash of sass. In such a short span, not only does she have us on a first name basis and won the bid she set out for as a complete unknown but has Declan offering her additional contracts.

I feel like warning bells should sound, but I've seen their work—it's flawless and prophetic. Everything almost sounds too good to be true, though at this point I'm more than happy to have competent help that's practically fallen into our laps.

"So, what else do you have in mind?" She asks, eyes locked on Declan like she's sizing up her next conquest.

"I'm not sure yet," he mumbles, rubbing his chin.

"Well, don't shy off now," Sophia teases.

"It takes a lot to scare me off," Declan replies without missing a step. "We have an opportunity we were going to pass up, but if you're able to do half of what you claim to be able to..." he trails off.

"We are that and more," Sopha replies confidently as she beelines for Ella. She stops behind her, hands on her shoulders as she smiles warmly at her. "Ella and Tim are two of the best people I know. I may spin a pretty story, but the magic she works with data and Tim and his computer voodoo, they are on another level. I wouldn't be anywhere without them."

I'm a little taken aback by her attitude. I have spent enough time in the corporate world to know what to expect, and I didn't expect that. Bosses love to take credit for everything their company does, regardless of their involvement. Meanwhile, this woman is gladly shining the spotlight on her employees, basically giving the credit away.

"Well, I must admit, you certainly have our attention," Declan admits. "Let me talk it over with Liam, but are you free for dinner tonight?"

"I'm afraid any night but tonight," Sophia says apologetically.

Declan freezes, clearly he wasn't expecting that, and boldly asks, "Hot date?" Sophia just bites her lip, mulling over her answer.

Ella's soft laugh steals the spotlight before she regains control and stifles that inside information.

"Already planned your victory celebration?" Declan presses on.

"Nothing so presumptuous," Ella chimes in, taking away Sophia's fun. "Just a movie night. Once a week, the three of us do something fun or mindless to unwind and remember that we're friends, not just co-workers."

"Oh?" Declan asks.

"We were all friends before we decided to go into business together and, after a while, we started to lose... something," Sophia replies as she tries to put her thoughts into words. "I'm sure you and Liam go out for drinks and what not?" she asks, raising a brow.

"Actually, it's been quite a while," Declan muses.

He's not lying, we've been so swamped lately all either of us seems to do anymore is work and sleep.

"Sounds like you're past due," Sophia replies with a challenging smirk.

"Is that an invitation?" Declan asks, raising to the bait. I don't miss the surprised gasp from Ella as her eyes go wide in shock.

"Maybe next time," Sophia dismisses with a small smile. "We like to have signed contracts in place before the clients meet Tim."

Ella's musical laugh once again steals all of my attention like a siren. Even in her messy clothes at her kitchen table, she definitely has my attention. There has always been something interesting about her, but after today I know one thing for sure.

I'll take every chance to figure her out.

"Well, it sounds like we are done for today then," Declan says as he holds out his hand to shake again. "I'll send the contract over and work with Liam to get cracking on the other issue. Until then, ladies."

Ella goes to the far end of the table to grab her laptop as Sophia and Declan step into the hall. She struggles to get the laptop disconnected as the cord jams in the power port. She's so focused on her battle that she doesn't even notice me approach.

"Here, let me," I say, stepping closer. She stands frozen in place, wide eyes looking up at mine. Her luscious lips part, but no sound comes out as she continues to stare.

I lean forward and brush my fingers against hers as I follow the cord to where it's caught. With a quick twist, it comes free, letting me turn my attention back to her.

"Thanks," she whispers, finally getting her wits back.

"You're very welcome," I reply with a small smile. Those chocolate eyes have all of my attention, as I realize just how close we are. The soft, fruity scent of her perfume surrounds us, shifting my attention from her eyes back to her parted lips. I feel myself tense, as my body wants more of this woman and my brain struggles for reasons not to.

She breaks the spell first, quickly gathering up her laptop and bag before turning back to me. I can't help but smile as I step aside to make room for her to pass. She stands frozen for a moment, giving me a chance to slip my hand on her lower back to walk her out. She jumps at the initial contact but doesn't shy away and instead she lets me escort her to the elevator. Her petite frame fits perfectly against my towering build and heat pools under my fingertips as they rest on the curve of her lower back.

My gaze never leaves her as they say their final goodbyes and disappear into the elevator. As soon as it descends, I hear Declan exhale loudly, drawing my attention away from the doors.

"Suddenly I see why you wanted to keep such a close eye on her. Before you even try it, don't say it's for the company because you sure as hell didn't look at anyone from McQueen like that," Declan chides.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I dismiss. "I just wanted to make sure they weren't going to waste our time."

Declan arches a brow. "Do you hear yourself?"

I frown, knowing he's not going to drop it. "There was just something about her when we talked in the elevator after the first meeting," I admit. "But that's as far as it goes." I've never mixed my lifestyle and business and I'm not about to start.

"Right," Declan drawls. "You clearly didn't see what I saw."

That he won't drop it only irritates me further. "Can we focus?"

Declan throws his hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine, business..."

"Thank you," I grumble, heading back to my office.

"You good with taking on Renford's?" he asks.

I frown but nod, having had my share of run-ins with Russel, their trust fund playboy CEO. "If it's not us, it'll be someone else, and I'd rather have that market share."

"Let me check with legal and I'll get to work on a proposal, then."

I watch Declan disappear down the hall and turn into my office. Renford's file still sits on my coffee table where I left it. The opportunity is too good, and although Russel brought it on himself by running his father's company into the ground, something nags at me.

I push those thoughts away, one problem at a time; first one up is El. Now that we'll be working together, it's going to become a lot harder to keep the lines clear... something I'm already struggling with when it comes to her.