Afterburn

said, having learned reverse psychology worked best with her oppositional nature. “If you feel that your identity as the Williams twins has more potential than being Stacy Williams, you should absolutely go with your gut. It’s got you this far, after all.”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Lei’s lips twitch with a repressed smile. It gave me a thrill that she was pleased, since she’d taught me pretty much everything I knew about herding egos where we wanted them to go.
    “Don’t be an ass, Stace,” Chad muttered. “You know this casino deal is a prime opportunity for us.”
    “Yes, but it may not be the only opportunity,” she argued. “Ian says we need to give him a chance to deliver.”
    “You told him?” her brother snapped, scowling. “For fuck’s sake, the decision isn’t just yours to make! This is my goddamn career, too!”
    I shot a worried glance at Lei, but she just gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head. I couldn’t believe how cool and unruffled she looked, considering this deal would be the one to finally even the score between her and her mentor-turned-nemesis.
    The Hollywood eateries Ian had pulled out from under her went bust when the celebrity investors got over the novelty of it and went looking for other tax shelters that didn’t involve personal appearances. And two of his heavy-hitter chefs had gone back to their home countries, leaving a lot riding on the young shoulders of the Williams twins.
    “The Mondego deal is exclusive to Savor, of course,” Lei said. “What’s Ian offering you?”
    What the hell had gone wrong? I glanced between the two siblings, and then at my boss. I had the contracts in my lucky satchel under the table. We were in the home stretch and suddenly our prime bet was backing away.
    Later on, I’d recognize the ripple of awareness that shimmered across my skin for what it was. At the time, I thought it was foreboding, my instincts warning me that the deal had tanked long before we’d sat down at the table.
    Then, I saw him.
    Everything in me stilled, as if the predator couldn’t see me if I didn’t move. He came into the bar with a sultry stride that made my hands curl into fists beneath the tablecloth. That walk of his was easy and smooth, confident. And yet it somehow signaled to the female brain that he was packing heat between those long, strong legs and knew how to use it.
    God, did he.
    Dressed in a gray V-neck sweater and dress slacks of a darker hue, he looked like a successful man with the day off, but I knew better. Jackson Rutledge never took a day off. He worked hard, played hard, fucked hard.
    I reached for my water glass with a shaking hand, praying he wouldn’t recognize me as the girl who’d once fallen hopelessly in love with him. I didn’t look the same. I wasn’t the same.
    Jax was different, too. Leaner. Harder. His face made more stunning by the new sharpness in the angles of his jawline and cheekbones. I took a deep, quivering breath at the sight of him, reacting to his presence as if I’d been physically struck.
    I didn’t even realize Ian Pembry was walking beside him until they stopped at our table.
    * * *
    “W HAT ARE THE chances Jackson Rutledge is related to Senator Rutledge?” Lei asked with silky evenness as we slid into the backseat of her town car. “Or any of the Rutledges for that matter?”
    Her driver pulled away from the curb and I fumbled with my tablet just to have an excuse to keep my gaze averted. I was afraid to reveal too much, that her perceptive eyes would see how shaken I was.
    “One hundred percent,” I said, my eyes on my tablet screen and the gorgeous face I’d thought— hoped —I would never see again. “Jackson and the senator are brothers.”
    “What the hell is Ian doing with a Rutledge?”
    I’d been asking myself the same thing as the deal I’d worked so hard on fell apart in front of me—we’d come with contracts and pen in hand and left empty-handed. Unfortunately, I’d lost track of the conversation the moment Jax had allowed Stacy to press an exuberant kiss to his cheek. The roaring of blood in my ears had drowned out everything.
    Lei’s crimson-tipped fingers tapped a silent staccato on the padded door handle. Manhattan spread out all around us, the streets crawling with cars and the sidewalks with people. Steam billowed sinuously from the subways buried below, while shadows claimed us from above, the sun kept at bay by towering skyscrapers that