Free Romance: Dirk (BBW Billionaire Bad boy Alpha Male Romance) (Contemporary New Adult Taboo Short Stories Box Set) by Leela Ash Page B

telling you, he is beyond delicious! He... he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.”
    “Like?”
    Silence.
    “Come on Alexis, you can’t leave me high and dry. My ears are almost falling off,” Claire pleaded. She was the only person in the whole world, besides her parents, who could get away with calling her Alexis.
    “Um, perhaps we’ll talk about that whenever we see. Why did you call?”
    “Nice dodge. Alright, first off, I’m glad you’re having fun and Andrew was over here the other day sniffing around to know where you went; I didn’t tell him zilch!”
    Alexandra waited to feel the familiar pain at hearing Andrew’s name but she felt nothing; not even a dull throb.
    Grinning, she said into the phone, “I hope you tossed him out on his ear.”
    “Sure did, and kicked him in the butt to help him on his way. Also called security and got his ass blacklisted; he can never step foot onto the premises of Beautiful Designs again on their watch.”
    Alexandra snorted with laughter; she knew Claire well enough to know she was serious and not kidding around. The mental image of her prudish partner shoving her foot at Andrew’s ass made her smile.
    Her wandering attention honed in as she caught the last few words of whatever Claire was saying, “ the bid by Beautiful Designs .”
    “Huh? Say that again.”
    “I said I got a call this morning from our guy at Alistairs Plc; he says he thinks Lead Inc may be positioning themselves to either change their bid to a figure below ours, or to convince us to bow out.”
    A cold fist of fear clenched around Alexandra’s heart, “Someone wants us out of the running for Alistairs and you’re just telling me now? You know how much we have riding on that.”
    Silence.
    Alistairs Plc was a company with at least two branches in each state; not to mention some foreign holdings. They had recently decided to rebrand their offices across the states and had invited bids from interior design companies. Beautiful Designs needed the kind of exposure just such a contract would give them if her dream of becoming a household name was to be a reality. Beautiful Designs had sunk months of manpower, research and effort into this bid, not to mention the series of expensive high-powered meetings they had conducted to convince the Board of Alistairs Plc that they were the right people for the job.
    If she lost this deal, it would mean Beautiful Designs had sunk a lot of money down the drain which it really could not afford to lose right now. They had come too far; made it to a point where it was just down to them and some other company. They needed this deal. Besides Beautiful Designs was in debt and if it didn’t get a huge cash infusion soon, they would have to start laying off some people and that was the last thing she wanted.
    “Claire?”
    “I’m here?”
    “Who the hell are the Lead Inc people?”
    Silence reigned at the other end and then quietly, Claire asked, “Have you checked your email recently?”
    “Okay I haven’t. Who’s trying to shove us out the door and why?”
    “They really just want contract as an additional feather in an already heavily-decorated cap. These guys are the big league; I even heard they officially decorate the White House. Last two weeks, someone contacted me and wanted to know if we would drop out of the running but I told them we’re in it to win it. I was going to tell you that day but that was the same day you found out about Andrew and you were so torn up about it. The man was all cocky like his boss is the most persuasive man this side of the planet and when you factor in the fact that he’s the Alarico , you can understand why they have such faith in his abilities.”
    Alexandra fought off a sudden wave of nausea as she digested this latest bit of information. The Alarico? “What is his name?”
    “He’s a Spaniard…Leandro Alarico. He’s a big deal apparently.”
    “Claire, do they know where this Alarico person is at