Nicole Edwards - Perception

“We need to talk about the two properties we’re planning to bid on,” Xander explained.

“By ‘we’, you mean you and Shane are bidding against each other? On both properties?”

Xander kept his eyes on her. “Honestly, I could give a shit less about the land, he can have it if he wants it that bad. I want the Milton building.”

Mercedes knew about both properties, the one hundred plus acres off of the toll road up in Frisco and an old office building off of Milton right there in downtown that had just come on the market. Both of them were zoned for either commercial or residential, which was the factor that always put Shane and Xander at odds with one another.

Admittedly, Mercedes had significantly more knowledge regarding the Milton building. After all, Xander had been interested in it since she first brought it to his attention, so she had looked into a few specifics and taken him on a tour earlier in the week.

“I think that’s smart,” she told him. “The Milton building will be your best option of the two. He’ll want to turn it into condos anyway, and there’re an overabundance of them in that area. He’s better off with the land. Much more opportunity for residential development up that way.”

That wasn’t going to make Shane a happy camper, but then again, going up against Xander in a bidding war wasn’t exactly one of Shane’s favorite things to do either.

Mercedes had known both men for quite some time. She knew how their minds worked because she’d worked with them both on practically a daily basis for the last decade.

She sold commercial real estate, and they dealt in commercial and residential property development, respectively. And many of the property transactions they dealt with were handled by her. Although she had a handful of other high profile clients, Xander was definitely her bread and butter. He knew it too.

Before they could go into further detail, her home phone rang. Grabbing the handset that was on the breakfast bar, Mercedes greeted the doorman, letting him know it was fine to send Shane up.

Rising from her chair, Mercedes contemplated getting more coffee before heading to her office. She definitely needed caffeine and a much more structured atmosphere or she would likely do something foolish such as allow Xander, or worse, Shane, know exactly what she was thinking. And the absolute last person who needed to find out what happened last night was Shane Gibson. If he found out, she would never live it down.

“Let’s do this in my office,” she told Xander when she turned back to look at him, her face flaming when she realized how that sounded.

Shit. She was going to have to get a serious grip.

And soon.

The devilish gleam in his eyes said he’d caught on as well.

~*~*~*~

Doing his best to hide his amusement, Xander pushed back from the kitchen table and followed Mercedes through her condo. He didn’t, however, try to hide the fact that he was staring at her ass as she moved gracefully through the house.

The woman was fucking gorgeous, and she had an ass that made a man’s mouth water. Heart shaped and the perfect size to fill his hands nicely.

He’d been hoping she would come out of her bedroom after her shower wearing one of those form fitting, yoga outfits that she favored when she was home. Casual wear, she called them. Much to his dismay, Mercedes had clearly armed herself for battle wearing a short skirt and a blazer with those damn red heels that gave him an instant hard on.

Still, it didn’t matter what she wore. She was hot as hell. Shit, he was pretty sure she could wear a potato sack, and his dick would still stand up and take notice.

Mercedes cleared her throat, and Xander forced his eyes to move upward. He wanted to laugh because he’d been clearly busted while admiring her perfect ass. Rather than pretend he hadn’t been eyeballing her, he tossed her one of the heated looks he’d perfected over the years.

“Sit down,” she said with a choked laugh.

He was fairly certain that Mercedes was on to him. How could she not be though? After last night?

If she seriously thought that what happened between them at Devotion was just a demonstration, the woman was clearly missing a few marbles. And he knew that wasn’t the case because Mercedes was one of the most perceptive, intelligent women he’d ever met.

He waited for her to take a seat behind her desk before he lowered himself to the chair across from her.

“Mornin’,” Shane greeted as he made his way into the oversized room.

Xander glanced back over his shoulder, offering Shane a tilt of his chin in response. The man was decked out in one of those three thousand dollar suits he’d recently begun sporting. Although his own watch probably cost more than Shane’s entire closet, Xander had to admit, he was impressed with his friend’s recent transformation.

Shane Gibson was one of Xander’s closest friends. They’d known each other for approximately fifteen years after they’d met during their junior year in college, were both turning thirty-six this year, and although Xander’d started growing his business back in his early twenties, Shane had just recently started getting serious. Now that Shane was starting to rake in the money, he was definitely beginning to look the part, which Xander found amusing considering all the shit Shane had given him through the years.

He wiped the smile off of his face when he looked up to see Shane glaring at him.

Based on the stern expression on Shane’s too handsome face, it was clear that this was going to be a tense meeting and truthfully, Xander would’ve preferred to spend his time finding a way to get Mercedes naked again.

Twenty minutes later, Xander found himself fisting his hands in his lap as he sat patiently waiting for Shane to calm down.

Tense had been an understatement. Shane had lost his cool the moment Xander hadn’t given in to his demands. It would’ve been comical if Xander were in the right frame of mind.

Keeping his composure, he remained as relaxed as he could while Shane paced the floor behind him. Mercedes was sitting at her desk, watching both of them intently which was the only reason Xander didn’t lose his shit.

She’d been the main reason his focus was off all morning, and the last thing he could afford was to let Shane win this round. Clasping his hands together in his lap, Xander crossed one ankle over the opposite knee and glanced over at Shane, who was moving up beside him.

“Come on, man. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Shane grumbled, his face contorted with anger and frustration. He turned and stomped back the way he’d come before Xander could say anything.

Uncharacteristically restless, Xander leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he glanced up at Mercedes to see that she was smiling. He wondered if she was entertained by his unease. Probably.

Any other day, he might’ve taken offense to her obvious amusement at his expense. But today… Today he just couldn’t find it in him to get pissed off.

No, today he was apparently going to spend every waking moment thinking about her naked.

The woman had blown his damn mind last night.

Having known her for years, Xander had to give himself a significant amount of credit for keeping his hands to himself all this time. Lord knows he’d been tempted ever since he first saw her in that rat trap of an office she had been working out of back when Shane introduced them.

Rather than try and seduce her, which he knew would’ve been futile because Mercedes had a firm set of beliefs and his intentions didn’t fit them, he’d allowed their relationship to mold into a rather intimate friendship.

Xander didn’t have many friends, but those he did have, he kept close. Both Mercedes and Shane were in that category. But, unlike any normal friendship, when it came to Mercedes, Xander had suffered some unbearable physical aches through the years, fighting tooth and nail to pretend the woman didn’t turn him the fuck on.