The Merger Read online

  The rest of Spencer’s day was spent catching up. He’d spent so many hours, days, weeks even, working on getting the merger to go through, he was behind on everything else.

  The first Benson, Benson, and Hart community was his brainchild. The houses were being sold. Model homes were going up. School districts were restructuring for the influx of new families, and now the cost of the homes could stay in the affordable range due to the merger with the lumber manufacturer.

  His assistant had kept him abreast of everything going on in the office and on his sites. They’d assembled a good team at BBH. And he had perfected it, he thought.

  His father and Ed had carried on the old way of doing business, but Spencer was bringing it into the twenty-first century. Yeah, he was good at what he did.

  Tyler, his older brother, wasn’t interested in the family business. He didn’t care if a building went up at all. He was heading up their Aunt Simone’s Diamond Gift non-profit. Tyler’s heart was certainly in a different place.

  Spencer liked the spoils that success brought. He didn’t live in the old house his Aunt Arianna had owned and nearly every Keller and Benson had lived in. No, he lived high above Nashville in the penthouse that his own father had designed years earlier. He’d designed it for himself, but had married Spencer’s mother and moved out into the country before the project was ever finished. BBH had kept ownership of the penthouse for all those years, but now it was his.

  It had been decorated with the very best of everything—he had dated the decorator. It had some of the most exquisite art hanging on the walls—the artist had been a love affair one hot summer.

  Spencer Benson had it good for his mere twenty-five years. Money wasn’t everything, though he enjoyed it a hell of a lot.

  He’d seen the world, and he’d fallen in love in every country he’d traveled to. He wouldn’t say he was a player— mostly because no one wanted to think of themselves that way—but he enjoyed the company.

  Spencer knew he wasn’t the only one in his family that hadn’t settled down with the first person he’d met. His Uncle Curtis had a lot of friends before he’d fallen in love and married his aunt. Curtis was refined enough now not to talk about it, but it was there. There were a few stories lingering.

  Not that it mattered. Spencer loved his family and cherished the business he was helping to build. As long as it had perks he was going to enjoy those too.

  Of course, the whole reason the perks were even on his mind was because of that bitchy lawyer in Oregon.

  He scrubbed his hand over his face. Where the hell had she gone the next day? Did they fire her because of what had happened in the elevator? Surely no one knew about that, unless she told them. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why he cared. She was old news in another state. He was home and had already solidified a date for the evening and he was fairly sure his date would still be around by Sunday morning. He deserved that after having put up with that lawyer and her attitude.

  But she kept gnawing at his brain, which she always did. Over the last five months, she’d crept into his consciousness more than once. There had been many late night discussions over the contracts—or arguments might be a better term. They’d walked away from each other at least a hundred times in disagreement. Oh, she made his blood boil in anger, but then she’d creep into his thoughts again.

  She was married, and that was what always made him mad that she’d be on his mind. He wasn’t that kind of man. He shouldn’t care where she went on that last day, but the problem was, he did care what happened to her. Something had her crying in the hotel, and what about that ring—or lack thereof—on her finger. She was hurt. Perhaps not physically, but emotionally.

  Spencer might like to move from woman to woman, but he never broke their spirit. If they thought something was going on, he nixed it. There was no forever with him. He didn’t want it. But he wouldn’t hurt a woman over it either.

  Then that kiss crept into his mind. If you’re crying in the elevator why do you kiss a man? None of it made sense.

  He sat up in his desk chair and rolled back his shoulders.

  He didn’t need to be thinking about it. She’d been a bitch. She had cost him thousands of dollars with her questions and her demands. Good riddance to her. If he never saw her again, it would be too soon.

  Someone moved past his office door and it caught his attention. He looked up to see them backtrack and stand in his doorway.

  Spencer’s shoulders dropped. What-in-the-hell was she doing there, he asked himself as the bitch looked at him from the hallway.

  Julie stood there as if she’d been frozen in place. She was the last person he thought he’d see in his own office. That was evident by the wide-eyed, jaw-dropped look he was giving her.

  Every part of her was shaking. The entire trip to Nashville had been a mistake. This man hated her. Most men hated her. Okay, that wasn’t fair, but it seemed to be a current trend.

  She was opinionated. She was stubborn. And now she was alone, homeless, and jobless in a town she knew nothing about. Worse, she was still staring at the man she’d kissed in an elevator and then run off.

  Was he going to say anything? Should she just keep walking? Where was she going to go?

  Yes, she’d just walk on. So she turned away from his office door and continued down the hall. She heard his chair, then his footsteps. Julie sucked back a breath of courage and turned around to go back toward the office just as he rounded the corner.

  Spencer Benson plowed right into her, and her shaky legs simply couldn’t hold up. Julie fell backward and landed right on her ass.

  Damn that hurt! She sat on the floor, every part of her body aching from the collision. He was just standing above her looking down at her. His eyes were dark and his lips were tight, just as they’d get when he was mad. She’d seen that part of him even if he wasn’t the kind of man who lashed out. No, he grew silent mad and she’d many times caused it.

  A moment later she remembered she had on a skirt and it had nearly crawled to the top of her thighs. She wasn’t helping his impression of her. Julie fixed her skirt and looked back up at him. He’d held out a hand to help her up, but still he hadn’t said anything to her.

  Swallowing her pride she reached for his hand. Graceful wasn’t happening as she tried to pull her legs under herself to gain leverage. Why had she worn shoes with heels too high? Why had she come at all was more like it.

  Finally, she managed to get her ass off the floor, and as he pulled she found the leverage needed to get up, and ended up slamming her body right into his.

  She let out a grunt as her chest pressed right into his and his eyes—those dark eyes—were staring right at her. Spencer Benson’s hands were on her hips and the stupid thought of kissing him flashed into her mind again. But she couldn’t do that. Doing it the first time was stupid enough.

  “Why are you here?” He spoke through gritted teeth while he still held her.

  “I—well…”

  “Spencer?” A woman’s strained voice broke through the awkwardness of the moment.

  His hands dropped and he turned from her and faced the redhead standing behind him.

  Her eyebrow was raised and her hands were fisted on her hips. “What are you doing?”

  Spencer gave a grunt. “Picking lawyers up off their asses when they fall on them,” he said snidely as he moved to the redhead and put his hands on her hips. “Sorry.”

  She slid her hands up his chest and then shot a look Julie’s way before looking back at Spencer. “Where are we going tonight?”

  “Thought we could order in Chinese and stay at my place.”

  The redhead’s painted red lips curled into a devious smile. “I packed a bag, just in case you were going to say that.

  “Did you?” His shoulders dropped slightly. “I have at least another hour or two of work.”

  She nodded with a pout. “I could meet you there.”

  Spencer pulled his keys from his pocket and removed one f
rom the ring. “You remember how to get up there?” He obviously teased with a smile that had the redhead puckering up her lips.

  “I remember,” she said, her voice airy.

  “I’ll see you then.”

  She slid Julie another look before pressing her red lips to Spencer’s and pulling him closer to her.

  Julie thought she might be sick, but she stood there and watched as if it were some kind of show.

  The redhead gave him a seductive grin as she strolled away with a sway in her hips and Spencer’s eyes glued to her ass.

  Once she was out of sight, with both of them watching her walk away, Spencer turned back to Julie and narrowed his eyes on her again.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Julie’s mouth had gone dry and she wanted to rub her thumb over his lips and wipe away the red lipstick that still stained his bottom lip.

  She didn’t reach out. Instead, she took a deep breath and acknowledged, mentally, the pain in her butt from where she’d fallen.

  “I came to talk to you.”

  He moved toward her and she pushed back her shoulders hoping she seemed to be in control.

  “You’re in Nashville because you need to talk to me?”

  “Yes.”

  “A phone call, text, or even email wouldn’t work?”

  “No.”

  He nodded slowly and moved in even closer. “Did you get fired?” he whispered.

  She hadn’t noticed the number of people in offices and behind cubicles when she’d fallen on her ass. In fact, even when the redhead was seducing Spencer she hadn’t heard the noise she did now.

  She looked around, but no one was watching them. Obviously, they were as oblivious to her as she had been to them.

  “Can we talk in your office?”

  His eyes sparked and softened. His mouth turned up into a grin—with red lipstick on it. “Can I trust you?”

  She was sure her jaw had dropped clear to the floor. Was he serious? He had some hot redhead ready to jump him in the hallway of his office and he was grinning at her asking her that?

  Spencer turned and walked back into his office.

  Julie turned and picked up her purse from the floor. She rubbed her hands down her skirt, looked around to see if there were any eyes on her, and followed him into the office.

  As she walked in, the door closed behind her. She spun to see him standing there with his back pressed to it.

  “Okay, why are you here?” He asked again, his voice had lost its playfulness again.

  Looking at him in his white button down shirt, only wrinkled from having sat in his desk chair, and his tie loosened around his neck made her stomach jumpy. There had been a good reason she’d pounced on him and kissed him the way she had in that elevator. Okay, to be honest there were a few reasons she’d done that. But just the sight of him did things to her body she couldn’t control. For the past five months, she had controlled it. That’s what a married woman did—controlled it. Well, she wasn’t married anymore. It should matter that smeared on his mouth was the lipstick of a seductive redhead, but it didn’t seem to.

  “Can we sit down?”

  “You need business formal? I get it. Fine,” he said motioning to the chairs in front of the desk. “Have a seat.”

  That was better she thought as she walked to the chair. Her butt, back, and shoulders hurt from their collision in the hallway, but she did everything she could not to let him see that.

  She sat down in the chair, tucked her purse into the seat with her, and then looked back toward the door. Spencer was still standing there with his hand wrapped around the knob. Was he going to run?

  “Are you going to sit?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  She gave him a nod. “Okay, fine.”

  “Let’s do this again. Why are you…”

  “I’m here to apologize.” His hand released the knob on the door. That was better. “I acted spontaneously the other day and, well, I’m sorry.”

  Now he took a few steps toward his desk. “You flew all the way out here to tell me you were sorry? I assume you’re sorry for the elevator?”

  Her chest clenched when he said it. “Oh, that. I’m sorry for that too. I hadn’t given any thought to the fact you probably had someone back home.” She motioned toward the door to indicate where the redhead had kissed him. “And I drove out here. Flying is too expensive.”

  Spencer didn’t sit behind his desk. No, that would have made things easier on her. Instead, he walked right in front of her and leaned against his desk.

  This wasn’t helping her thought process at all. She could smell his cologne. His feet were literally inches from hers. She could stand and kiss him again. Was that what he was egging her to do?

  He gripped his hands on the side of the desk. He had nice hands, she thought. God, she needed to stop this. She wasn’t like this. She wasn’t some sex-crazed woman who threw herself at a man, but this man seemed to have a different effect on her than others. The last thing she ever should have done was kiss him. But in that moment, back in the elevator, she had needed validation. It would have been better had he pushed her back. He hadn’t. No, he’d given into her kiss and gripped her body next to his. Instead of discarding her, which she was sure he’d have done, he held on tight.

  She pushed it all down into her gut. There was a reason she was here, and he kept asking, so she needed to get to the point.

  Chapter Three

  Spencer was gripping the desk trying to keep himself in control. Julie, that bitch lawyer, was in his office. He needed to keep reminding himself that he thought she was a bitch because it was very hard to remember that after she’d kissed him.

  She was looking broken, and he’d been raised to help those who needed him no matter the circumstance. The only problem was he didn’t know her circumstance yet.

  What he did know was how his body felt pressed to hers in a hot kiss. He knew what those pink pouty lips felt like against his, and now he knew what those legs looked like all the way to the top.

  “You have a little…” she wiped her thumb over her lips only drawing more attention to them.

  Spencer lifted his hand to his lips and wiped. On his finger was Tiffany’s lipstick.

  “Thanks.”

  His heart ached thinking about the sexy redhead on her way to his house. When he’d called her up, she was all he could think of. She wasn’t anything serious and never had been, but he was her go-to man and she was his go-to woman. They hadn’t been serious since they were nineteen years old. She’d been engaged to two men, married a different one, and called Spencer on the day after the divorce was final. Three weeks ago he’d driven all the way to Memphis to pick her up at some bar when the musician she’d gone with had hooked up with someone else.

  They’d had sex on and off for the last five years when one of them needed it. He wouldn’t be surprised if he got home tonight and she was in her yoga pants, her hair pulled up onto a knot on her head, and a big glass of wine in her hands. That’s how they were. They were friends first.

  Oh, he’d had every intention of having sex with Tiffany tonight. Some of that mind blowing, body numbing sex to forget about women kissing him in elevators. But looking at Julie Jacobson, with her hands gripped so tightly in her lap that her knuckles were white, he wondered if he could even wrap his mind around sex with Tiffany.

  “I’m sorry I showed up here. I know you probably never wanted to see me again,” Julie began as she wrung her hands together.

  “Didn’t expect to see you is more like it.”

  She gave him the slightest smile, but it disappeared again. “With the merger between Pacific Line Lumber and Benson, Benson, and Hart my legal position was in jeopardy.”

  Spencer nodded. That must have been why she drew the process out so long.

  “We agreed not to let any of the original staff go until an evaluation a year into the merger.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why
was your position in jeopardy?”

  “First of all, I’m a very thorough lawyer. All T’s crossed all I’s dotted.”

  “I know that.”

  “The granddaughter of the owner had been hounding me. She wanted you to pay more for the company. Initially, she wanted me to draw it out until your offer went up.”

  “Oh, in all that stalling you were supposed to be making it sound more appealing?”

  Her eyes were sad and she shrugged. “You made a wonderful purchase.”

  “I’m not feeling it.”

  “No, you really did get a good company. The family built a wonderful business. Unfortunately, they have a greedy heir.”

  “The deal is done, so now what’s the problem?”

  The first tear fell and she quickly wiped it away.

  “What happened that night?” he asked.

  She swiped at her eyes again before looking into his.

  “The morning I came in late and dropped all my papers—well I’d been up all night.” She let out a hard breath. “The day before, my divorce had gone through. Judgment said I got nothing. All I had rights to was my car.”

  “I can see where someone would be distraught over that.”

  She nodded. “I’d found out just prior to the merger that my husband was having another affair, so I’d filed for divorce.”

  “Another affair?”

  She puckered her lips to obviously try and push back her emotion. “This was the third time.”

  Spencer’s shoulders dropped. That was inexcusable, no matter what he’d thought of the woman.

  “That was when I found my husband in bed with the owner’s granddaughter. In my bed. In the house I would later lose in the divorce,” she bit out the words.

  “Oh, Julie.”

  “That’s why I was late and was such a wreck when I walked in that morning and you helped me when no one else would.”

  He couldn’t help himself now. He pulled her from the chair and to him, wrapping her in his arms.

  She sobbed against his shoulder, and her body began to ease against him. Spencer closed his eyes and inhaled her. There were a lot of things going on in his body making him forget that he didn’t like this woman.