Priceless: Contemporary Billionaire Romance Novel by Aria Hawthorne Page A

Gillian to step backwards and she faltered on the heel of her stiletto. 
It was his first gesture of confrontation.  Her hazel eyes flashed at him.  The
game had changed.  And they both knew it.
    “Ahhhh,
I see… you haven’t been avoiding me.  You’ve just been busy conquering new
lands and pillaging their women.”
    He
narrowed his eyes at her. 
Juvenile and crude
. 
It was how their exchanges had always been, but now, he faulted her for failing
to realize he wanted something better from her—and from himself.
    “Well,
since my phone call to Gary and my message to your assistant all have been lost
in translation, let me put this in a way that everyone can understand,” Gillian
paced back to her purse and pulled out a contract.
    “What
assistant?” Miles suddenly asked.
    “Your
cupcake,” she countered with a flick of her teeth.  “It’s a bit tacky having
her answer your personal line, by the way.  Wouldn’t make a habit out of
that.”  Gillian slapped the contract down onto the island. 
    “This
is a contract with Harvey Zale,” Miles said, surprised.  He quickly thumbed to
its final page to see if it had been executed. 
No signatures—yet
,
Miles noted,
which meant it could all be for show, or it could be the official
final draft—ready for execution
.
    “You
sound genuinely shocked,” Gillian replied. “I gave you fair warning.  I’m not
that
cruel.  But clearly, your cupcake is horrible at relaying urgent messages.  Looks
like you need to hire better help.”
    “Have
they verbally agreed to these terms?” Miles paged through the contract,
skimming the numbers and calculating the lease escalations, cost per square
foot, rental expenses, and subsequent profit margins in his head.
    “I
spoke to Harvey yesterday.  He wants my clients in his Amory building—and he’s
very motivated to do a deal.  By the way, he told me to wish you a Happy
Valentine’s Day.”
    Miles
gauged her eyes.  It was impossible to parse out the lies from the truth from a
woman who was rarely ever honest.  Harvey Zale was Miles’ biggest competitor,
and he did know that Zale would love nothing more than to steal the Olson &
Anderson deal away from him.  Suddenly, the sense of loss and failure seeped
into Miles’ competitive blood like a mood-altering drug.  He was fine with
losing the deal.  But he wasn’t fine with losing it to a double-crossing,
client-stealing leech of a building owner like Harvey Zale.  And clearly,
Gillian knew it.
    “I
suppose that I could call my clients and ask if they would like to give you one
last try to make it up to them.  We’re old friends, Brax, after all.  And I’d
hate for there to be bad blood between us. The last thing I want is to disrupt
our current arrangement.”
    Their current
arrangement
. 
    Gillian
and Miles had an understanding: she would always bring him her best clients
first before shopping them to his competition.  Now, only one thing was
clear—that arrangement was in jeopardy.  Miles could do the deal that Gillian
wanted for her clients; he’d just lose out on a few million per year along with
a chunk of his pride.  But he’d make up for it on all the other potential
tenants she would bring him.  Miles peered down at the contract and flinched
his jaw. Miles hated to lose, but he hated being cornered even more. 
    Gillian
edged closer to touch his cheek with her fingernails before slowly pushing
against his body like a pampered cat.  She was tall and slender, and her red lips
met his own without effort or initiation.  It was an empty shallow kiss.  She
leaned into him, closer, and attempted to slip her tongue into his mouth.  The bitterness
of nicotine and ash marred the sweet taste of Maribel that Miles had been
savoring all morning.  He was not the kind of man to shove away a woman—even
Gillian—but he no longer felt the need to placate her.  Abruptly, he brushed
her aside in a way that surprised them both.  She peered