Free All's Fair in Lust & War by Amber Page Page B

nothing...nothing. Just checking in to see how the Eden thing is going.”
    “You know about that?”
    His stepfather snorted. “Of course. I know everything that’s going on in this industry, son. So, have you closed the deal yet?”
    Mark sighed. “No, we haven’t even gotten to the pitch stage yet. But it’s going very well. In fact, I’m acting as creative director on the campaign...”
    “That’s right. You and that Becky girl. I hear she’s pretty hot stuff.”
    “You have no idea,” Mark said.
    “Yeah, well, you’ll keep your hands to yourself if you know what’s good for you,” Bill said. “It’s never a good idea to mix business with pleasure.”
    Now it was Mark’s turn to snort. “Is that what you told my mom? I seem to remember she worked for you before she married you. Unless that was a business arrangement too...”
    “Just keep your hands where they belong and do this right,” Bill snapped. “Our family’s reputation is on the line here.”
    “How do you figure? I never tell anyone we’re related unless I have to.”
    “Maybe so. But the ad world is a small place. Those who matter know you’re my son.”
    “Stepson,” he snarled. “As you never failed to remind me when I was living under your roof.”
    “Yes, well, that was then. This is now. There’s a place for you at my agency anytime you want it. Especially if you can bring—”
    “I assure you, I never will,” Mark broke in, and hung up.
    He couldn’t take any more of his stepfather’s asinine advice today. Although he had deflected the question, Mark knew that love had very little to do with Bill’s marriage to his mother. She had told him so herself—on their wedding day.
    He had found her pinning a flower in her hair in her opulent palace of a bedroom at Bill’s house. She’d looked more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.
    She’d seen him in the reflection of her mirror and smiled. “Come here, handsome,” she’d said. “Let me look at you.”
    He’d moved to hug her, then asked the question that had been driving him crazy ever since he’d heard about their engagement.
    “Mom? Why are you marrying Bill?”
    “Because he asked me to,” she’d answered.
    “But you don’t love him.”
    “I don’t have time to wait for love,” she’d said as she straightened the gray-and-white striped tie of his morning suit. “I’m not getting any younger, but you are getting older. And more expensive. This way I’ll have a partner I can count on—and you’ll have a father.”
    “But I don’t want him to be my dad,” Mark had said. “He doesn’t even like me.”
    “He does, too. He just doesn’t know you very well. Be your usual charming self and everything will be fine,” his mother had said.
    She couldn’t have been more wrong. Bill had never shown him anything other than complete and utter disdain. Mark was sure that his stepfather considered him to be nothing more than an annoyance—a piece of unwanted baggage that unfortunately could not be parted from his wife.
    He would have been better off growing up poor and fatherless.
    Suddenly a soft hand landed on his shoulder.
    “You look lost in thought,” Becky said.
    Mark shook his head to clear it. “Just relaxing,” he said, and pulled her down on his lap.
    She put her head on his shoulder and for a moment they just sat together, the vibrations from the still-operating massage chair the only noise.
    Then she sighed. “Being a creative director is way less fun than I thought it would be.”
    He laughed. “You know, I was just thinking that. I haven’t done any actual work today, but I’m completely exhausted.”
    “Me, too,” she said. “But I was thinking I should try to write now that it’s quiet.”
    She shifted on his lap, preparing to get up. But when Mark caught a glimpse of a black lace stocking as her skirt crept up her thigh all thoughts of work vanished from his brain.
    “What’s this?” he said, running his hand up the