Free Ruthless Temptation by Ravenna Tate

sex couldn’t hold at bay for long. He eased himself out of her
embrace, then took a spare comforter from the closet and covered her with it.
The apartment wasn’t cold, but he didn’t want to leave her lying there naked
and exposed. When she woke up, she might not remember where she was at first.
    He
pulled on sweats and a t-shirt, then walked downstairs to his office. Nick
appeared in the doorway, asking Viggo if he wanted
coffee.
    “ No. Not tonight. Thanks.” Viggo refreshed the screen on his laptop then glanced up just as Nick was leaving.
“Nick, could you make sure the suite across from mine is set up for Madison’s
use? She might be staying here for a while.”
    “ I’ll see to it.”
    Nick
was used to him asking for such favors and never made a comment or gave him wry
looks, which was why Viggo still kept him on. He
stared at his laptop screen, but now his mind was on Madison again, and how
much fun he’d had with her.
    From
there it wandered to the way he’d lived his adult life, and specifically to the
fact that ten of his eleven best friends were engaged or married. Was it being
underground that had changed them all, or turning forty a few years ago?
    The
simple truth was that it simply wasn’t as much fun playing the field as it had
once been. The majority of the women he dated went out with him because of his
money, plain and simple. These days, he knew that going into the relationships,
just as they knew going in that he wasn’t looking for a wife. Most thought they
could either trick him into marriage, or that he would change his mind, and
that’s when the relationships ended.
    Viggo didn’t like head games, which had
made Madison’s admonition to him earlier to stop playing them even more
amusing. It hadn’t been the first time someone had told him to stop doing that.
He didn’t think of himself as a game player. He was merely a person who liked
to get information without giving too much of it away in return. If that made
him a head game player, well, so be it.
    He
smiled as he recalled their conversation during dinner. It wasn’t often he met
someone who gave it right back to him and even challenged him. It was
refreshing. She might have made a rash decision in coming to his office, but
she’d proven she wasn’t cold or calculating. She was an intelligent woman who
had recognized that something wasn’t right, and had wanted to dig deeper.
    If
it weren’t for the fact that Viggo wanted to keep
seeing her, he’d call Patrick or Denise at HCS in Central and tell them to hire
her as an investigator there instead, because she’d make a damn good one with
some training. But Central was a long train ride away, and he wanted Madison
here with him.
    He
emailed Blaine and let him know what Madison had overheard, then outlined for
him what she was going to try to find out. It was after ten in the evening in NorthCentral where Blaine lived, but Viggo knew he’d still be awake.
    The
IM window popped up on his computer within seconds.
    Is she someone you’re fucking?
    Viggo chuckled as he typed. What if I am?
    Good for you, but how do you know
she won’t betray you to the media?
    Because she could have done so
already and she didn’t.
    Doesn’t mean she won’t in the future.
    She won’t.
    His
phone rang, and Viggo sighed as he answered the call.
“Look, it’s under control, okay? I only told you because this concerns us
directly.”
    “ How the fuck did someone like Ralph find this out? Who was he talking to?”
    “ That’s what we’re going to find out.”
    “ I don’t like this, Viggo . If
this gets out it’ll only make us all look worse. And she mentioned that damn
article, too. That hasn’t gone away. The connection is there to be made by
anyone between those accusations and this reality.”
    “ Don’t you think I’ve figured that out?”
    “ What happens when she figures out you’re fucking her
to save your ass and mine?”
    “ That’s not what I’m doing.”
    “