Seduce Me Read online

  Seduce Me

  ________________________________________________

  My Stiff Competition

  Book Two

  Business Enemies. Lovers. Both?

  By Sage Alexander

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 Sage Alexander – All rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  CONTENTS

  Did You Read Kiss Me?

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  About The Author

  Let’s Stay In Touch!

  Bonus Gift For You!

  Bonus Gift For You!

  Get a FREE never before published book just for signing up for my newsletter! You’ll also receive sneak peeks and updates on my next book as well as getting exclusive sales and giveaways!

  Click here to get your FREE book now!

  Did You Read Kiss Me?

  If by chance you did not read the first book, Kiss Me, in the My Stiff Competition series, no problem!

  Click here to get your FREE copy now!

  ~OR~

  You can click or type the link below into your favorite web browser to be instantly transported to my Amazon Author page to pick it up: www.amazon.com/author/sagealexander

  Chapter One

  Erika shook her head as if to clear it up. Then she looked again at the man on the computer screen. Nothing had changed. He had the same brown eyes, the same chiseled features, and the same lips she knew so well. It was the man she was gradually falling in love with. And the same person trying to sabotage her business.

  “Erika?” Jacob’s voice sounded worried. But Erika couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. “Hey!” Jacob exclaimed, shaking her shoulder gently.

  “Jacob… it’s him,” was all Erika could say.

  “Your Pierce?” he asked, staring intently at his boss. She nodded slowly, then looked up at her employee and friend. She was trembling. There was some kind of lost look on Erika’s face and Jacob wanted nothing more but to make it go away.

  “Erika… I won’t say I told you so, but—” he started, but when he saw her face, he felt like taking back his words. “I’m sorry. Come here.”

  Erika walked into Jacob’s arms and buried her face into his chest. Things had escalated so quickly. She had gone from being deliriously happy over her relationship with Pierce, to achingly sad when she saw the letter, and now she was just heartbroken. It almost felt like nothing was going to go right in her life anymore.

  “So, are you going to tell him?” Jacob asked after they had stayed in each other’s arms for a while. Erika hesitated before giving her answer.

  I don’t know Jacob,” she said.

  Jacob pulled away and looked at her. “Erika…”

  Don’t look at me like that! I don’t know Jacob. This is the first time I’m experiencing something like this in my life. I don’t want it to end. I know you think I’m crazy for even thinking like this. But Jacob, I think I fell in love with Pierce from the moment I met him.” She took in a deep breath and continued, ignoring the look on Jacob’s face. “I can’t tell him. I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to lose him.” Her voice broke at the end, and Jacob came towards her.

  He took her into his arms. There were no words he could say, and for the second time that day, he comforted her as she cried into his shirt. He wanted to tell her that she had to tell Pierce the truth. And that she had to break things off with him before she became even more attached. But that wouldn’t do. He loved Erika too much to hurt her. And he knew just how stubborn she was.

  “Thank you, Jacob,” she said after a while, flashing a bright smile at him. The smile didn’t reach her eyes, but Jacob didn’t say anything. He just stroked her hair to try and comfort her.

  Erika went back to her small office and sat in front of her computer. To know that the man she loved was responsible for hurting her in so many ways broke her heart. She knew he wasn’t aware of the fact that he was doing all this to her. But it didn’t matter. It didn’t change the fact that his tactics were cruel.

  Erika gave up any pretense of working. All she had been doing was staring at her screen and thinking. She needed to go home. She needed to take a long shower, then sleep. Because at this point, nothing else was going to work.

  “Maybe you should go home, Erika,” Jacob said. Erika lifted her head, startled. She had no idea he was there. And that he had been watching her. She blushed. “That’s what I’m going to do,” she said with a sigh. Then she stood up and put her stuff into her bag. “Are you sure you won’t need me, Jacob?”

  “I always need you, but not when you’re like this. Go home and rest. I won’t give you my opinion today cause I don’t want you to burst into tears. But please rest. I don’t want to see bags underneath your eyes when you come in tomorrow,” he said.

  Erika smiled. She had gotten so lucky with him. He was one of the best people she had ever met. He was truly her friend even though they had known each other for such a short while.

  “Thank you so much, Jacob. Honestly, I don’t know what I would do without you.” Erika gave Jacob an impulsive hug then she walked out of the office.

  She took a deep breath and walked to the bus stop. The commute home was a bit of a torturous one. She found herself thinking about all the letters Pierce, the business competitor, had sent. She was also trying to remember him as that man she had fallen in love with. The comparison was like night and day.

  Pierce Hunter was driven, ambitious, and cruel. But her Pierce? He was not afraid to show that he cared for her. He didn’t have a sadistic streak. He was almost perfect. Or was it just that she was putting him on some sort of pedestal? He was the first man who made her feel like this. Was she trying to protect that image of him that she had built in her mind?

  Erika sighed and walked listlessly to her apartment. Usually, getting home was one of the highlights of her day. Especially since she had started seeing Pierce. Knowing that she would meet a flood of texts from him and that they were probably going to call each other in the evening was enough to keep her going through the day. But now? Those moments seemed like so long ago. Erika didn’t even check her phone when she walked into her apartment.

  She went straight to the bathroom and ran the bath. And as it was getting filled, she went to the kitchen and got a tub of ice cream. If she was going to feel sad, at least it would be with ice cream.

  About an hour later, when the water had grown cold, she walked to where she had dropped her bag. Erika fished out her phone and pressed the home button. She wasn’t surprised by the number of texts from Pierce.

  She ignored those and focused on what Jacob had sent to her. After replying to him, she turned off her phone and walked into the bedroom. But curiosity got the best of her, and as soon as she got into bed, she checked for Pierce’s texts.

  He had called five times and
sent seven texts. Erika knew he cared. There was no doubt about that. But, every time she was about to text back, she was reminded of the business letters he had sent to her office and how each of them had made her feel. She was left feeling discouraged and degraded after reading them. They had hurt her feelings and her business intentionally. Then she dropped her phone.

  About forty minutes later, Pierce called again. Erika stared at her phone for a while before picking it up.

  “Hello?” she said as she answered the phone.

  “Erika.” Pierce’s voice sounded relieved. “Is everything okay?” he asked, concerned.

  “Yes. I’m okay.” Erika continued with the short replies.

  “Why didn’t you pick up any of my calls? I was worried.” He did sound worried. But at that moment, Erika didn’t care. The only thing that was resonating in her mind at that instant was Cordially Pierce Hunter.

  “I’m sorry Pierce, I just… I’m not feeling too good. Can we talk later?”

  Pierce’s voice was a little subdued when he said, “Good night Erika.”

  Erika felt like shit. Especially since she was so curt with him, and he didn’t even know what he had done. But she couldn’t bring herself to smile and laugh and just pretend like everything was peachy.

  She sighed and burrowed into her covers, then all of a sudden, burst into tears. She was trying so hard to be this strong person. But it was so so hard. She was just a teenager in a world of big business and first-time love.

  It wasn’t her fault that she wanted to make it in life. And that she wanted to share her ideas with the rest of the world. It wasn’t her fault that a man she was smitten with had turned out to be heartless and cruel. And it definitely wasn’t her fault that the man she was falling in love with was the same person intent on the demise of her business.

  Lulled by her tears and sniffles, Erika fell into a deep but restless sleep.

  Chapter Two

  The next day, Erika woke up with her head pounding. She had no idea what a hangover felt like, but from Jacob’s numerous descriptions, this is what it must feel like. Hungover from her own goddamn tears. She laughed a little before going to get ready for work.

  She had told herself she was going to give herself time to think, but time had gone by quickly. She and Pierce always met at the coffee shop every morning. And even though yesterday had been weird between them, Erika had this gut feeling that they were still going to meet up. Besides, Pierce was probably going to insist on the fact that they needed to talk.

  Erika smiled. The man was so driven and determined when he wanted something. Unfortunately, in this case, that something was getting her company shut down. At that thought, Erika’s smile disappeared. Was her relationship with Pierce more important than her sense of self-integrity? Was she going to keep lying to Pierce (and herself) simply because she wanted something real and genuine in her life?

  Was it even still going to be real and genuine if she lied to Pierce about not knowing who he was? If she kept pretending as if nothing was wrong?

  I’m going to tell him, Erika decided. But not now. I’m going to ease him into it and make him see just how cruel he is being. And he is going to stop trying to get rid of my company.

  Even to Erika, it sounded incredibly naive and impossible. But so far, that was her best option. She couldn’t leave this man when she had just found him. She didn’t know what their relationship was going to be like, but she already knew that she wanted to discover more of it.

  Erika hoped that the little bit of concealer she had applied to the bags under her eyes was enough to hide them. She didn’t want Jacob to be worried. She felt like she had worried him enough the previous day for a whole lifetime.

  ***

  As soon as Erika got to the coffee shop, she spotted Pierce. Her first instinct was to run towards him. But she remembered how cold she had been the previous evening and she wasn’t so sure that he would welcome her embrace.

  But the half-smirk that was sitting on his face propelled her forward into his arms. He caught her, and they held onto each other like they hadn’t seen each other in months or years. After a while, Pierce broke away to look down at Erika. Her eyes were shining. He just couldn’t resist and bent over and kissed her.

  Erika closed her eyes and lost herself in the sensation of Pierce’s skilled lips on hers. She parted her lips, and when she felt his tongue on hers, she gasped. It was almost like Pierce was punishing her for something. There was a possessive feel to the kiss. Almost like he was trying to remind her that she was his.

  When they pulled away for air, Erika looked up at him with a bewildered look on her face. “You’ve never… I mean, we’ve never kissed like that,” she said shyly, feeling the heat spread to her cheeks.

  “Before today, I have never gotten the feeling that I was going to lose you. I was just trying to remind you, princess. You belong to me. You’re mine, and I’m not going to let you get away.”

  Coming from any other person it would have been a tad overkill and even justify a call to 911. But Pierce made it sound like something out of a fairy tale. Was she really becoming obsessed with this man?

  But she didn’t say anything concerning that. With a smile, she threw at him, “You’re mine too, you know.”

  Pierce chuckled then placed a kiss on her nose. “Of course, princess, I’m yours.”

  Erika let out something that sounded like a satisfied whimper. Then she pulled away from Pierce with a broad smile on her face. “Now Pierce, you have work, and I do too. So we’d better get coffee.”

  “Cheeky little thing,” he muttered, then he followed her as she went to get her coffee.

  “Tomorrow night, I want us to have dinner,” Pierce said.

  “At your place?” Erika asked. Pierce looked down at her. She looked so hopeful.

  “If you wish, princess. But don’t blame me if I can’t keep my hands off you with no one to keep me in check.”

  “Maybe I’ll be the one not able to keep my hands off you,” Erika retorted with a boldness she didn’t feel. Pierce looked down at her again and smirked.

  Then he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, whispered a small bye and walked away. Erika sighed and started in the direction of her office.

  ***

  When Erika walked in, Jacob was standing there waiting for her.

  “What took you so long?” he asked, after taking the cup of coffee and muffins from Erika.

  “Rude,” she muttered, then she cleared her throat. “So, I met with Pierce.”

  “Wait, wait. Let me finish eating first,” was Jacob’s response. Erika rolled her eyes. This man loved food too much. And it was unfair how he was always fit, no matter how much he ate.

  She sipped at her coffee and tried to stop that dopey smile that always came on her face when she was thinking about Pierce. It was so weird how the previous day she had wanted to murder him, and now she was smiling at the thought of him.

  “From that smile, I’ll assume you didn’t tell him anything,” Jacob said, fixing a disapproving look on Erika.

  She blushed and looked away. “Jacob—” she started.

  Jacob put up his hand. “You don’t need to explain anything to me, Erika. But I do want you to listen to me. It would be better, before anything got too intense, for you to tell him. The outcome of this will be so much worse than you think. I can’t force you to do anything. But… just be careful. It was hard watching you cry yesterday. I don’t want to do it again.”

  “I will. Thank you, Jacob.”

  Erika walked to her office and sat back in her chair. Everything that Jacob had said was right. It was probably best to tell everything to Pierce now so that if he were going to reject her, he’d do it now. Instead of becoming attached to him even more and getting her heart broken.

  But she imagined how it would be if she told him it was her business he was trying to sabotage. It was her career he was trying to ruin.

  And she imagined the look that would come ove
r his face when he discovered she had been keeping the truth from him. She knew he wouldn’t care that they had grown so close. She would lose him. And she just can’t let that happen.

  Pierce was hers. If she had to keep this whole thing a secret to avoid a catastrophe, she was going to. She needed him too much and just couldn’t lose him—anything except losing this man.

  Chapter Three

  Time flew by. Erika was able to get a lot of work done by the time she got home. She was anticipating the call from Pierce. As soon as he called, she jumped on the phone like a maniac.

  “Hello,” she said a little breathlessly.

  “Someone was eager to hear my voice,” Pierce’s deep voice teased in her ear. She was never going to get tired of hearing his voice, was never going to get tired of those goosebumps that took over her when he spoke to her.

  “Well, you can’t blame me. I love your voice,” she confessed. Erika was never this forward. But with Pierce, she felt her inhibitions slip away.

  “Not more than I love your voice, baby girl. Are you excited about tomorrow?”

  “Am I excited about tomorrow? Pierce, are you even listening to yourself? Of course, I’m excited for tomorrow.”

  Both of them knew that they would take a step further in their relationship. Erika was anticipating it. She was a virgin. But she knew that she wanted Pierce to be her first and hopefully her last.

  After talking for a while, Erika fell asleep.

  ***

  The day seemed to go by slowly for Erika. Especially since she couldn’t wait to have dinner with Pierce.

  Erika did everything from cleaning to scrubbing to reading and listening to music. She even did a couple of masks and soaked in the bathtub for some time. But it seemed like time was determined to be slow.

  After what seemed like three days, Erika started getting ready. She chose everything she wore carefully, from her underwear to the shoes on her feet. For her underwear, she decided on a lingerie set that she had never worn before. This cut of the bra emphasized her generous cleavage, and the panties made her feel more than a shy and awkward nineteen-year-old.