He shrugs. “She worries about you a lot. It’s not healthy for you to work all the time and then spend your evenings alone.”

I roll my eyes. “So you and Diem are experts on what’s best for me now?”

“No. We just want to see you happy.”

I level my stare on him. “Is anyone ever truly happy with their lives, Jack? The best someone can hope for is to have enough money not to be miserable in their existence until they die.”

Jack sighs. “That’s a pretty depressing outlook on life, man.”

“Yeah, maybe, but it’s an honest one. Seriously, you and Diem need to find more interesting topics of conversations.”

He laughs. “What can I say? The King is a hot topic of conversation these days. It’s hard to avoid talking about you when I’m out in public. I think you’ve pissed off over half of the females on the Upper East Side. They all say your name with such disdain that it’s comical, and unfortunately, your sister and I are assholes by association. We’ve bonded through our pariah status. I would stop being your friend, but I like getting laid for being the nice guy out of our duo.”

I chuckle. “Ah, so being the best friend of Manhattan’s biggest prick has its perks?”

Jack fills his glass again and has a twinkle in his eye. “Sometimes.”

A quick knock on my door catches my attention just as it swings open. Margo steps into my office and makes a big show of checking out the inside of the room before her eyes land on Jack. Her face lights up as she points a smile in his direction, and for some reason my shoulders stiffen.

“Do you need something, Margo?” I ask, drawing her attention away from Jack.

“I was just making sure that you were decent. The last time—” She smirks as her eyes flit over to Jack and then back to me “—I seemed to have come in at an inopportune moment when you had a guest in here.”

Jack tilts his head, and I feel his gaze on me. I usually tell him everything—but admitting to your best friend that you buy sexual favors from high-paid escorts isn’t something that I want to readily divulge to him.

Damn that Margo. She’s doing this to get under my skin, but the fucking joke’s going to be on her because I refuse to let this chick see me sweat.

I take a long drink and eye her over my glass. “Well, I’m glad that you’ve learned barging in without knocking is rude as fuck. At least you’ve learned one thing from me today.”

She bites the corner of her lip. “I’ve learned plenty today.”

“Glad to be of service. I always aim to please.” I raise one eyebrow, daring her to say more in front of Jack, but she doesn’t.

Instead, she glances down at the silver watch on her wrist. “You have a lunch meeting at twelve thirty and your car service is downstairs waiting.”

I set my glass down. “Thank you, Margo. Be sure to bring your tablet and a notepad to take notes.”

“I’m going?” I fight back a smile as I hear the surprise in her voice.

“Of course. That’s what assistants do—they assist. I’ll be ready in five and I expect you to be as well.” I allow a hint of a smile to play along my lips as she stands there gaping at me. “That will be all, Margo.”

I can tell that she doesn’t like me dismissing her like common help, but something tells me that she doesn’t want to make too big of a scene in front of Jack, so she doesn’t mouth off before she turns and walks out of my office. The princess is definitely not used to anyone bossing her around.

This little game of ours is going to be fun.

The second the door closes, Jack scrubs his hand down his face. “Fuck. This isn’t good.”

“What?” I ask, unsure of what he’s talking about.

He locks eyes with me. “Are you sure you haven’t already fucked her?”

“No!” I argue. “I haven’t touched her.”

“Maybe not yet, but you will. I can see the way you two are looking at each other. It might be a hate fuck, but it’s going to happen, and it’s going to ruin everything we’ve worked for. She’s part of her father’s deal. Please, use the head on top of your shoulders because it has the smarter brain. It’ll tell you that the best thing for business would be to not slip your dick in this chick.”

I understand why he’s flipping out. We have a lot of money riding on this, and with him being my company attorney, screwing this up will cause him a shit-ton of work on top of all the money King Corporation will lose. But he has to know that money and making sure that the company my father built succeeds is far more important than a piece of ass.

“Don’t worry, Jack. I’ve got it all under control. I promise not to fuck the hired help.” I put the crystal stopper back in the scotch decanter. “Now, let’s head to lunch and see if we can get that bastard, Buchanan, to sign this deal.”

I slap Jack on the back as I pass him and we head out to seal the deal and get Margo Buchanan the hell out of my office.

Margo

I CROSS MY LEGS FEELING Alexander King’s cool gray eyes, which are set beneath a pair of dark eyebrows, taking in every inch of my exposed flesh. Even when I catch him staring, he doesn’t seem the least bit apologetic. Rather than look away like most men would do in his position, he gives me one of those smart-ass smirks that I’ve grown accustomed to over the past few days since I started working for him, and he continues to stare at me blatantly.