Taking On The Billionaire (Redhawk Reunion #1) - Robin Covington Page 0,39

that you know what any of that means.”

“Tess, I’m twenty-one and a sexually active woman. So, wrap your head around that fact and tell me that you know what you’re doing.” Mia’s hand covered hers and Tess wondered when that had happened. It was just yesterday when Mia’s tiny, sticky fingers were engulfed by Tess’s and life had been busier but a lot less complicated. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Tess swallowed hard, Mia’s words echoing the whispers that had already been circling in the back of her mind. But if she wasn’t ready to deal with them in her own head, she wasn’t ready to do it with her sister. The one she was supposed to be taking care of and not the other way around.

Tess patted Mia’s hand, another gesture that brought back memories of earlier days. “It’s just an arrangement.” She leveled her with a stare that did nothing to wipe the all-knowing grin off her face. “Not a booty call. An arrangement between two consenting adults.”

“Is one of those consenting adults still unaware of the vendetta the other consenting adult has aimed at his adopted father?”

Tess picked up her toast, taking a bite and grimacing at how the butter had congealed as the bread cooled. She chewed it anyway, forcing it down with juice and scrambling for an answer that would get her sister to drop it. With a sigh, she turned and faced off with Mia.

“Look, I know very well how this is likely to go. But it’s what needs to be done and I promise you that I’m not taking anything on that I can’t handle. Okay?”

Mia stared her down, her eyes scanning every inch of Tess’s face for something she needed to see. But for once Tess didn’t know how to give it to her.

Finally, Mia nodded and leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek. “You’re not invincible Tess. I saw how you two looked at each other and you’re headed for a whole lot of hurt if you insist on going after Franklin Thornton. I don’t want to be right but you know I am.”

And Tess did know. She just didn’t have any choice.

Twelve

“Tess, I need to call in that favor.”

The silence over the phone line did not bring Adam the comfort he was seeking. He was in a full-on panic and didn’t even attempt to hide the fact. He was willing to grovel for what he needed. He’d faced down irate investors and the wrath of Franklin Thornton but this shit was scary.

“Tess, are you there?” He heard noises on the other end of the phone. A printer printing, a news program running in the background. What he didn’t hear was the woman he’d called for help.

She was at home, where she’d been working since her illness a week ago. Adam still wanted her to rest. Tess wanted to go back to work. This was the compromise.

“I’m trying to remember when I agreed that I owed you a favor,” Tess drawled into the line and he could picture her leaning back in her office chair, dressed in that sexy, green body-hugging dress he’d seen her in at Redhawk/Ling. She’d stopped him in his tracks, completely well and in total control of her sultry, confident and stunning beauty. Justin had laughed at him but he couldn’t have given less of a shit.

Tess was beautiful. She was his—temporarily. And he needed her help.

“Tess, don’t mess with me here. Sarina and Roan are coming over for dinner and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” Adam took a deep breath and willed her to help him. He hoped she wouldn’t make him beg but he wasn’t above it for this situation. “I need your help, Tess. I don’t think I can do this by myself.”

The seconds passed by way too slowly for his heart or his mental health but eventually he heard the words he’d been dying to hear.

“I’m on my way.”

Forty-five minutes later his knees almost gave out with relief when his doorbell rang. He sprinted down the short hallway into the foyer and ripped the door open.

Tess stood there, now dressed in a pretty green sundress with tiny yellow flowers embroidered all over it and flower-covered flip-flops. Her creamy pale shoulders were exposed by the way she wore her long red hair pulled up in a thingy that only let stray curls cascade down over her skin. She was delectable and enticing and his entire body