Page 42 of Beauty and the Bosshole
His face twists in anger as a man in a cheetah print jacket and leather pants emerges from the door of the warehouse. The limo comes to a stop, and Reese’s fingers squeeze mine as panic wraps around my throat.
“Who is that?” The small man steps forward, waving at the car, and in his hand is a pet carrier.
A single paw presses out from between the metal grid of the door.
Cream and white.
The car stops. The man comes closer. My eyes stay locked on the little paw.
Reese is talking, but his words melt into the pumping of my heart as I count the number of toes on the cat’s paw.
Seven little toes spread wide like they are reaching for me. As the sunlight breaks through the front of the carrier, the face of a scared feline makes the world stop spinning.
“Max.” I grab at the door handle, throwing my body across Reese’s lap, tugging as the door pops open. “He’s got my cat. Why does he have my cat?”
Fear blinds me as the Vegas heat swoops through the open door. I kick off my shoes and lunge onto the hot pavement with Reese’s hand sweeping around my waist.
Chapter Fifteen
Reese
"Ava!" I growl as she flings herself out of the limo, desperate to rescue her cat from Leon. When I get my hands on the prick, I'm going to strangle him for upsetting her. That damn cat is her life.
"You told me it was a dream." Her bottom lip quivers as tears well in her eyes.
The accusation in her voice is unmistakable, but for a minute, I'm not sure what she's talking about, and then realization dawns. My fucking meeting with Leon. She told me that she had a nightmare about him demanding I marry his daughter. It was a nightmare, though I left out a few details that didn’t seem relevant at the time. My mother has tried to push me toward hisdaughter in the past. That wasn’t going to fucking happen. And he’s tried to use his daughter to push in on my company, which also isn’t going to fucking happen.
"It was a dream, baby," I murmur, hanging onto her as she squirms to get free. "Just relax and let him come to us. You'll see."
Almost on cue, Leon murmurs something to one of his cronies and then strides forward with all the swagger of a Vegas pimp. I guess if the shoe fits…
"Leon," I growl, clinging to Ava to ensure my wife doesn't get anywhere near the bastard as his gaze sweeps over her, his used-car salesman smile already grating on my fucking nerves. I swear to Christ, the man is as shady as they come. "What is this about?"
"Reese." He nods, pieces of his gray hair slicked to his head beneath the scorching Vegas sun. "Mrs. Donovan, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Don't speak to her. Don't even look at her, Leon. Why the fuck do you have her cat?"
"Oh, Max?" His shady smile grows as he glances down at the pet carrier in his arms. "Consider him a wedding gift from your mother. She thought you might be missing him." He holds the carrier out toward Ava, who snatches it out of his hands with a little cry, her attention immediately falling to the cat swiping at the bars from inside.
My blood runs cold at the mention of my mother. "My mother?"
I swear to Christ, if he says—
"She arrived early this morning on my private jet."
"Son of a bitch."
Satisfaction flares in Leon's eyes at my response, as if he's won. We both know that's what he wants. To win. He blames me for the fact that my mother won’t marry him. He's never forgivenme for refusing to allow it. As if it's my fault he's a piece of shit who’s trying to use her.
"What can I say, Reese? I finally wore her down."
"Ava, take Max and wait in the limo," I say quietly, my blood fucking boiling. I don't care how many men with guns this prick has standing out here, I'm going to knock his teeth down his throat for touching my mother. And then I'm putting her crazy ass on a plane and sending her straight back to Porter.
I don't care what lies he's told her; she isn't dating or marrying him.
That ship sailed when he tried to use her to gain a foothold in our company. It's not fucking sailing back now. No way, no how. Not ever.
He's one of the worst things that's happened to Vegas since the Harmon Tower. And his obsession with my mother is the bane of my fucking existence. He claims that he's in love with her. He isn't. He just hates that he lost.