Controlling Interest by Francesca Hawley

But he didn’t hate Mouse.
    “No. She didn’t.”
    “So?” He held out his hand. The command worked. With great
reluctance, she reached into her purse and tugged out a sheet of peach paper.
His mother’s handmade stuff. She held it toward him but then pulled her hand
back as he reached for it. “What?”
    “I’m going to let you look at it, but then I want it back. Intact. ”
    He smiled. She knew him far better than he liked. Even
though his mother had written it and he was feeling sentimental about losing
her—shit, he missed her like hell—still, he wanted to tear the damn list into
tiny pieces.
    “All right. You get it back in one piece after I read
it.”
    She handed it to him. He skimmed the list and realized that
he’d heard all of these from his mother at one time or another.
    “So, you’re in favor of all of these changes?”
    “I don’t know yet. I’ve only been in the club for a couple
of hours. Regine told me to read through the list and use my brain to decide
whether these things are true or not and if I should push for the changes she
listed.”
    He looked down at the list one last time before returning it
to Mouse. “I’ll consider some of these. But I’m not going to just do what you
tell me because you tell me to.”
    “I realize that. Although you know I could force the issue
if I saw fit.”
    Tor frowned. “I know that, damn it. Are you going to ram it
down my throat?”
    “No. I don’t operate that way.”
    “Even if I do, you mean.”
    “I didn’t say it, but if the shoe fits…”
    “Wear it.”
    She nodded.
    “Right.” He held out his hand to shake. “This is going to be
one hell of a roller coaster ride, partner.”
    She took his hand to shake, grinning. “That’s Mistress to
you, fella.”
    “We’ll see about that, Mouse.” He smiled. “We’ll see.”

Chapter Four
     
    Tor paced in his office while he waited for Mouse to arrive
at the club for the evening crowd. Working closely with her all day already had
him on edge. She smelled good, and every time she’d accidently brushed against
him, he’d had visions of burying himself inside her. He rubbed his hands over
his face. Lock it down. Get under control. He needed to keep himself focused for
tonight. They had a large private party scheduled in addition to their usual
business, and Mondays tended to be busier than most of the other weekday
evenings for them anyway.
    It was as if the movers and shakers had a day back at the
grind of power so they needed to unwind. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were
usually dead and then things picked up Thursday and through Saturday. Or things had picked up on the weekend until Unfettered moved into town. He was
sure the novelty would wear off for Erotically Bound’s regulars, but still he
worried. Maybe the club really needed some changes. God, what was he thinking?
    He heard the door click and blinked. Mouse looked hot enough
to eat. Just a hint of cleavage tantalized him from beneath her black suit
jacket. As pulled together as Mouse was, he bet there was a matched set of
black lace panties and bra encasing all her lovely flesh. She looked
no-nonsense except for the blood-red lips he could imagine wrapped around his
cock.
    “You’re late,” Tor growled, trying his best to bring his
libido under control.
    “Are you always going to say that to me?”
    “Only when it’s true,” His cock had tightened the minute
he’d seen her. Damn, that black suit did amazing things for her. She looked all
buttoned-up and he wanted to button her down. Right here, right now.
    “Down, boy. You don’t have to look at me like you wanna kill
me, you know?”
    “That’s not the look I’m giving you. Believe me.” He
laughed drily. Not unless he killed her by fucking her to death, and if he died
too… Well, what a way to go. God. He shifted his shoulders to loosen his tense
muscles. “Let’s go check out the crowd.”
    “It was already starting to fill up when I came in.”
    “Good.