Violet sat in her chair, crossed her ankles and folded her hands in her lap. I glanced quickly around the room, and most of the men were definitely sitting forward in their chairs and looking much more lively than before. Even Dawn, the head of Human Resources, perked up. This could be interesting. I wanted to give Dad a look, but I resisted.
“So, Miss Cooper, where do you see yourself in five years?” Hal got to ask the lead-off question, and then everyone got to alternate. It was an intense type of interview, but it was designed that way. If you could get through this, then you could probably hack working here. I’d been through it and I still remember how terrified I was beforehand, almost to the point of throwing up.
“I see myself on the other side of this table, sitting with all of you. It’s been my dream to work here, and everything I’ve done in my life has led to this point. It’s not just that I want to make a lot of money, or have a fancy house. I want to work for this company because it’s a fantastic company. You’re doing good things here, important things, and I want to be a part of it. When I was a little girl and we’d come into the city, I’d stand on the sidewalk and look up at this building and swear to myself that I would work in it someday.” Oh, she was good. She’d definitely rehearsed that speech before coming in.
The questions kept firing and she kept nailing her answers. It was almost like she was putting on a performance of the most perfect interview. When she was done, I wanted to stand and give her a round of applause. Instead, she thanked everyone for their time, and hoped they would consider her and swept out of the room. There was silence after her exit.
“Impressive,” Hal said, looking down at his notes. I hadn’t made many on her. There just wasn’t much to say. No wonder she’d made it past the first round.
“She was very impressive,” Dad said, nodding. “Especially for being so young.” He threw a wink in my direction that I hoped no one else saw. There was a brief discussion on her impressiveness and then it was time for more candidates. I wondered if the lack of outstanding (with the exception of Violet) candidates had anything to do with the company’s current negative press. It had to.
Somehow we made it through, and there were only three standouts. Violet, a man who had been working in the industry since its infancy and a woman who had degrees galore and was so self-possessed she could have Hal shaking in his boots with just one look. I liked her, but there was something about Violet Cooper.
We decided that the decision had to be made right away, so we could get the new person in as quickly as possible. The voting was democratic, but Dad could veto if he wanted.
It wasn’t unanimous in Violet’s favor, but she was chosen by a narrow margin. Hal didn’t vote for her (no surprises there), but I did and so did Dad. I had to say, despite any misgivings about how she got here, I was looking forward to having another young female down the hall. This company needed more women. I would never, ever say my dad was sexist, but he did have a tendency to hire other older white men to work for him. That was also part of the nepotism. But those guys wouldn’t be around forever, and plenty of our interns were female and were doing an excellent job.
Once the interviews were done, it was on to the last item.
“Several of us have talked and we think we should push the launch back.” I wanted to ask him to repeat what he’d said, because at the last meeting, they’d been all for it. The fuck?
“What about Mr. Clarke? Shouldn’t he be in on this discussion?” The room went absolutely silent when I said it. Just as I expected. I didn’t talk much in meetings, except to say “yea” or “nay” when we voted on things, and when I had to present something.
“I already signed off on it,” Dad said, not looking at me. Okay, there was a lot more to THAT story than I was getting, but I wasn’t going to start something in front of everyone. The vote was quick and it passed. If pushing the release meant less work for Dad, then I was all for it. I’d been for it in the beginning, but they’d acted like I was the crazy one. Something had caused them to completely flip flop and that something was making me very nervous.
Dad vanished after the meeting, saying he was off to play golf, and getting several slaps on the back from some of the other Board members. I was still trying to figure out what the hell happened as I walked back to my office. I walked right past Lilia’s desk and into my office and shut the door.
I still had a few more hours before I could leave and put this week behind me with my friends and Lucah.
Lucah. I picked up the phone and dialed his extension.
“Lucah Blythe, how can I help you?” I could tell by his formal tone that he had people either near him, or watching him closely. Crap.
“Hello, Mr. Blythe, I just had some things to discuss with you, but that can be done at a later time. Sorry for bothering you.” I hung up quickly so neither of us would say anything incriminating.
I got a text a few seconds later.
What’s wrong? Do you need me to come up?
No, I was just doing my normal thing and freaking out about things that probably didn’t need to be freaked out about.
I’m fine. Just being me. I’ll see you later. xoxo
His response was quick.
Let me know if you’re not fine. Or if you need to do some pacing. See you later, Sunshine.
I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what was going on, and what I could do about it, and I finally came up with a solution, but it would require Lucah’s cooperation.
I hoped beyond hope that Dad playing golf was a good sign, and that it had to do with him wanting to push the launch all of a sudden. This was a good thing, so why was I freaking out about it?
“I’ve never met anyone as paranoid as you,” Lucah said as we walked toward the T terminal. We alternated taking cabs and riding the T most days. “You really take it to a whole new level.”
“Shut up,” I said, punching his shoulder.
“Ouch. You know it’s true. It’s crazy to try to coordinate this when we’re still reeling from everything else. And it will be less stress on Walter. So what’s wrong with that?” I glared at him.
“It’s suspicious.” He burst out laughing.
“Of course it’s suspicious. I was just playing Devil’s Advocate. And I’m guessing by the look on your face that you want me to do what I do best and maybe do some detective work.” He looked at me with a self-satisfied smile.
“Bastard. You knew I was going to ask all along.”
“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you to ask. In fact, I’ve been checking into things ever since I changed positions. Do you want to know what I found?”
“I don’t know, do I?”
“I know you, and I know that you would want to know.” He waited for me to get myself together.
“Okay, tell me.” The second the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to reel them back.
Lucah took a deep breath.
“They want to get rid of Walter.”
I probably shouldn’t have screamed, “You can’t be fucking serious!” on the crowded sidewalk, but it wasn’t the worst thing anyone had yelled in Boston, I was sure. I did get a dirty look from a woman who hurried her children along past us.
“This cannot be happening. How can they do that to him?”
“They think his leadership isn’t strong enough. They think that he’s been too lax,” Lucah said calmly as we kept walking. I was still in semi-shock.
“Is that what you think?”
“Of course not. But that’s what they think. So they’ve been using the headhunter to find someone new. Someone they can control. They’ve also been meeting with the stockholders and trying to win them over so they have enough votes to do it.”
“And Dad knows nothing about this?”
Lucah shook his head.
“As far as I know.”
“We have to tell him.”
“I know.”
“Sunshine, you have got to calm down. Normally I find y
our freak outs cute and only somewhat annoying, but you don’t need to do this right now,” Lucah said an hour later after trying to get me to sit down and breathe and do yoga poses or some such shit. I couldn’t sit. My mind was spinning too much and I had to keep moving. Had to. Couldn’t stop.
“I do need to do this. They’re trying to take his company away from him. After he gave them jobs. I just . . . I can’t believe it. What makes them think they have the right?” I threw my hands in the air again and Lucah just nodded and waited for me to wind down. I hadn’t been this wound in a long time, but it was for good reason.
And then something occurred me that I hadn’t thought of.
“If they get rid of him, are they trying to get rid of me?” One look at Lucah’s face was all I needed to confirm it. Then I stopped pacing.
“Oh my God.” Suddenly I felt as if I’d been slammed with a thousand punches at once and almost knocked to the floor. But Lucah moved fast and caught me before that happened.
“They can’t do that. They can’t do that.” If I said it enough times, maybe it would be true.
“It’s going to be okay, Rory. Shhh.” I wasn’t crying, but I felt like I wanted to.
Clarke Enterprises was my life. I’d grown up toddling its hallways, and wearing giant corporate t-shirts to bed, and helping my mother plan the Company Ball and bringing my Dad lunch. It was my second home, and I never even considered working anywhere else. That would be inconceivable.
The idea that it could be taken away from me was too much to take.
“I didn’t want to tell you. I’m so sorry, but I waited until you asked, because I didn’t want to drop it on you. Look, this isn’t final. It’s not a done deal, Rory. Don’t give up yet. We can fix this. I know you, and you’re not the kind of girl who gives up. I don’t think we should tell Walter about it yet until we know more. Okay?”
Somehow, Lucah’s words cut through the foggy mess of my freak out, like a knight slashing his way through a battlefield of enemies.
This was why I loved him.
Without Lucah, I would have gotten out of the frenzy eventually, but it would have taken time, and it would have taken me a much longer time to get to realization that I wasn’t the kind of girl who gave up. I was a goddamn fighter. With sassy red heels.
But with him there to help bring me out of my worst, he helped bring me to my best. I hoped I did the same for him.
I looked up at him and slowly wrapped my arms around his neck in a tight hug. He hugged me back and kissed my earlobe.
“Do you want to keep pacing, or do you want me to take you on the floor right here and make you forget about work for a little while?” He dragged my earlobe through his teeth and then blew on my neck, causing a riot of shivers. I’d gone, in one moment, from total shock, to total desire. Lucah sure knew how to flip my switch to the ON position. Every time.
“I’ll take the second,” I said as he licked the spot on my neck and then blew on it.
“I was hoping you would.” He let go of me and reached to the back of my head to take my hair down. After running his fingers through it and giving me a kiss on the tip of my nose, he started unbuttoning my shirt. I wasn’t wearing one of Sloane’s creations, but he still seemed happy with the simple red lace bra he uncovered. I hadn’t let him see me get dressed this morning so I could surprise him with it.
His fingers fluttered over the fabric as his mouth kissed a trail from my neck, to the hollow of my throat, and then down to the swell of my breasts. The kisses moved across the very top of where the bra ended. He was going to make this slow.
I lifted my arms from my shirt and it fell to the floor. Lucah got down on his knees and kissed down my belly to the waist of my skirt.
“Turn around. Slowly.” His voice was rough, and his cheeks were flushed. I loved that I could read so many of his emotions that way. Even the tips of his ears were pink. I turned around, and he kissed his way around my stomach until he got to the zipper in the back of my skirt. I waited for him to unzip it, but nothing happened. I couldn’t tell if he was just trying to build the anticipation, or if maybe there was a giant spider on my back, or he’d been seized by the sheer beauty of my ass.
I waited as long as I could.
“Something wrong?”
“I’m just wondering if I should take your skirt off. Or maybe I should leave it on? What do you think I should do?” Yup. He was teasing me. We’d played these kinds of games before and they always left me frustrated beforehand, but heightened the experience.
“I want you to take it off. Unzip it and slide it down my hips.”
“Yes, Miss Clarke.” The skirt was finally disposed of, and I stepped out of it and kicked it to the side before turning around to face him.
“Now help me get my nylons off.” He hooked his fingers on the edge of the nylons and pulled them down my hips and to my feet. That was one of my favorite things. It was almost like he was peeling away a layer of my inhibitions and tossing them aside. He ran his hands up and down my legs and then buried his face in the V between my thighs. I put my hands in his hair and just held him there for a moment.
“Look at me,” I said and he tipped his face up. I put one finger in his chin dimple.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you.”
“Show me,” I said. “Show me with your mouth and your hands and your dick. That’s all I want from you.” I bent and gave his lips a quick kiss before getting down on my knees as well.
He grabbed a few pillows from the couch and put one under my head as I laid back.
“Take my panties off,” I said, which he did. “Now show me.”
Did he ever. With lips and tongue and fingers, he showed me and made me come, three, four times. I still had my bra on and he’d barely even kissed my lips, but I didn’t mind. I just needed a release of tension, of energy. Of SOMETHING. Sex was the best solution to being stressed I’d ever come up with.
“Turn over,” he said. I liked it when he took over. I let him because it was just as sexy as when I got to tell him what to do. “Turn your head to the side and put the pillow under it.” I did as I was told and then he lifted my hips so my backside was up in the air. I heard him moving into position behind me, and unzipping his pants.
“You have such a great ass, Sunshine. I fell in love with this the first time I saw you walking away from me. I knew that I wanted to see what it looked like under that tight skirt.” He stroked my ass and I was about ready to lose it again.
He kissed each cheek and then teased my entrance.
“You haven’t told me what you wanted me to do. So here I am with your lovely ass in the air and a hard cock, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“Fuck me with it,” I said, my voice a little muffled by the pillow.
“What? I didn’t quite catch that,” he said, stroking my entrance again.
“FUCK ME RIGHT NOW.”
“Well, okay, okay. All you had to do was ask.” He waited one more second, and then he plunged into me with one hard thrust that made both of us cry out.
Lucah grabbed onto my hips and pulled out and then pumped himself into me again before setting a punishing pace that drove my face into the pillow and I knew was going to leave bruises on my knees. Thank God for thick rugs, or else it would be a lot worse.
“I. Love. You. And. Your. Ass. So. Much,” he said with each thrust. I was close to coming again, so I reached one hand between my legs and worked at my piercing.
“I love you too and I love that you love my ass,” I gasped as I came again. If he hadn’t been holding me up, I would have collapsed. He came hard a few thrusts later. When we were both finally sated, he rested his head on my ass.
“We should probably get ready. We’re supposed to be at the bar in ten minutes.” Oops. We were meeting Sloane, Marisol and Chloe at the bar to have dinner and drinks and watch Open Mic Night. I was looking forward to Lucah getting up on the stage and singing for me again.
; But the drama with the Board and then the floor sex had kind of made me forget about it.
“Okay,” I said, still panting. “But I need a shower first.” Actually, I needed to relearn how to move first. Lucah helped me turn over and then get into a sitting position.
“Did that help take your mind off things?” He gave me a kiss and added a little tongue.
“Yes. I want to be stressed out all the time now. You know you just gave me positive reinforcement, so now when I think about freaking out, I will think of mind-blowing sex and then I will want to be stressed.” He leaned down and lightly bit my knee.
“You’re ridiculous sometimes.”
“Says the man who kept all of his pictures and personal items behind a locked door in his apartment and wouldn’t let his girlfriend see them. Pot and kettle, Lucah.” I started to get to my feet and Lucah stood and helped me get up.
I rushed through my second shower of the day and rushed around to get my shit together. My phone was blowing up from my friends asking me where the hell I was, if I was dead, or if Lucah and I had been screwing our brains out. The last one was from Sloane, who knew me too well.
“Braid?” Lucah said as I ripped a brush through my hair. I nodded and then started re-doing my makeup while he did a quick French braid and then wrapped the end into a bun. I nearly stabbed myself with the mascara brush and I dropped one of my earrings and we had to find it, but within a half hour I was bar ready. Lucah had it easy. He just swapped his work clothes for a t-shirt and distressed jeans. Lucky bastard.
“Do I look okay?” It wasn’t bad for only having a few minutes to get ready.
“Sunshine, you could be covered in stinky garbage and I would think you looked fabulous. I’m not really an objective party, BUT I will tell you, looking at you from behind makes me want to tell you to text your friends and say that you can’t come so I can put you on your knees and fuck you from that position again.” He stepped forward and cupped said ass and squeezed it.
“That was exactly the look I was going for, so I think I nailed it.”