Provocation SAMPLE (Book 3 of The Conquest Series)

Chapter Two

Whore of Babylon.

Ugh.

Even after two days thinking about what Nate had said, the sting of his words hadn't faded. In fact, they'd only grown.

It wasn't her fault that every man she had fucked in however many years had been dull as dishwater. Or bad in bed. Or both. Many had been both.

And why get to know someone when it wasn't going anywhere? She didn't want them to know even the smallest bit about her if it was only a matter of time before they were gone. Erased from her life as if they never existed, the only thing left being a soiled condom in the garbage bin in a bathroom.

If those walls could talk, they'd tell stories that would make a nun ruin her knickers.

Still, as Leila sat in her office going over the latest contract bids, she thought back to Saturday night and frowned.

Fuck Nate. Not literally, of course. But fuck his fucked-up attitude, his high and mighty pretentiousness, and especially fuck that overgrown chip on his damn fine shoulder.

No, not fine. He may have been good-looking, but his attitude was enough to make him a horribly ugly beast in Leila's eyes. Ugly as...as...

Well, she couldn't think of anything as ugly as what his shit attitude made him.

"Miss Winters, Carson Cray is on line four when you get the chance," Jared told her through the irritating speaker she had placed on her desk for him to announce visitors and callers. It had been Jared's solution to get in touch with her and still be able to answer phones and file at the same time. She should have shot down that proposal before the first syllables slipped past his lips. It startled her every time it went off.

"I said I was not available until 2 PM, Jared," Leila reminded him.

"I know, but he was insistent," Jared's voice said. "Said it was of utmost importance."

Leila frowned at the speaker and huffed. "Fine," she said with a sigh. "I'll speak to him in a few."

Leila hoped the man would hang up before she got a chance to answer the blinking extension on her landline. In any case, she was going to make him wait. For as long as possible.

Carson used to work for Leila before venturing out on his own. Now he was doing everything he could to outbid her at every turn from any project as small as a new addition to a house to the largest of skyscrapers smattering the Bay Area. And he did it all while flirting with her shamelessly.

The man was an imbecile.

"Carson, what can I do for you?" she asked when she finally answered the line.

"Leila, I was hoping for a big favor from you." Carson's voice sounded almost desperate.

Rolling her eyes and thinking, of course, Leila's lips took on a sneer. "What's the big favor?" She was merely waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"The builders I had construct my home fucked me over royal and used an unpermitted plumbing company to build the sewer lateral and water pipes running to and from my house," he told her. The man sounded unlike his usual charming self. "I literally have shit spewing everywhere!"

Leila bit the insides of her cheeks to keep herself from laughing. So, the little shit was covered in shit. How apropos.

"I don't see how I can help you with that, Car," she said amiably. "Though I did warn you to stay away from Bud's company. They cut corners at every pass."