Contents
TITLE PAGE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Thanks For Reading
PIRATES OF THE ANGUI
CIPHER’S KISS BOOK ONE
HEATHER WALKER
Copyright © 2018 Heather Walker
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Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Chapter 1
Ree Hamilton raised her champagne flute. “Here’s to Primary Industries and our continued success in all we do. May the next five years be as successful and rewarding as the last five. Primary Industries!”
The other four women at the boardroom table raised their glasses and answered in a resounding chorus, “Primary Industries!”
They all drank the toast and then took their seats.
Ree took her place at the head of the table and set her glass to one side. “Now, let’s get started. The good news is that the city just doubled our contract for the new anti-aging skin formula. Hence the celebration today. We stand to pull in an additional $10 million in profit on this one. Thanks to Ben Harris, our contact on the San Francisco City Council, we also have four new prospects wanting contracts over the next year. We’ll be expanding our operation and planning to build a new facility within the next six months.”
Ree’s best friend, Ellen Burke, punched at her tablet screen as she took notes. “We better get in touch with Noah Kelly about the new building.”
“I’m assigning the building plans to Quinn’s development department,” Ree told her, “and Vic and Mila have the new formula in hand. Today you’re working with me on the bad news.”
Every face at the table looked up from their tablets and riveted on her.
Ree had met her four friends on their first day of grade school, and they hadn’t spent more than a few days apart in all the years since. They ran Primary Industries together, but the driving passion still came from Ree. She trusted these women with her life, and their bond had kept them together through every obstacle on their way to the top.
“The bad news comes from the good news,” she announced. “I just found out Allied Chemical is making a play to buy us out.”
A collective gasp went around the table. “They can’t!” “No way!” “What!”
“We always knew we’d be taking a piece of their market share,” Ree replied. “I guess now we’ve taken a big enough piece to attract their attention. They’re paying us a big compliment by trying to drive us out of business, but I’d be lying if I said I was happy about it. They’re bigger and more influential than we are—a lot bigger and a lot more influential. But, we haven’t come this far together just to be torn down. Have we?”
“That’s right,” said Ellen with a firm nod.
“So, what’s our play?” asked Vic, her eyes narrowed.
“We’re going to have to move fast and come up with some pretty impressive fireworks to stop this takeover,” Ree began, “which is why I—”
The boardroom door swung open and a tall man with chiseled features walked in. He couldn’t have caused a bigger stir if he’d dropped out of thin air. Considering the group seated around the table, he may as well have been from another planet. Men hardly ever entered this boardroom. Primary Industries had always been a girls’ club since the first day Ree had told Ellen and Vic Doyle about her plan to start the company.
Nerves prickled all over the room; glances were exchanged, fingers twirled hair into curls as the girls squirmed and twitched in their seats.
Either the handsome man didn’t notice the tension, or he didn’t care. He scanned their faces until he spotted Ree, then walked right up to her and stuck out his hand. “How are you doing?”
Ree’s heart fluttered as she got to her feet to accept his handshake. Her iron exterior held firm, but a charge of adrenaline burned through her guts at the sight of his crooked grin and the mischievous sparkle dancing in his eyes. His black curly hair bounced when he moved, and the rounded curve of his muscular shoulders extended out of his shirt collar, up his neck.
After sharing a firm handshake with the man, Ree tore her gaze away from him to face her friends. “This is Ned Lewis. He’s the best strategist I could find. He’s going to help us strategize ways to defeat Allied in their takeover bid. He’ll be working with each of you in turn, so give him a warm Primary Industries welcome.”
No one moved or spoke.
This wasn’t exactly the welcome a visiting expert ought to expect, but Ned didn’t seem to notice. He took a self-assured step toward the table and nodded to the thunderstruck board. “Thank you. I’m confident we can beat Allied and even turn this takeover to our advantage. This could be our David and Goliath moment, if we play our cards right.”
Those words shot to Ree’s heart. She loved nothing better than David and Goliath moments. She’d built her whole life on them. She nodded to herself, assured that she’d made the right choice in hiring Ned. The others were going to love him once he worked his magic. They were already in his trance.
A murmur of conversation went around the table, and the tension lifted.
Ree spoke above the hubbub. “Okay, ladies. Let’s get to work. This guy is getting paid by the hour. Gossip later. Ellen, you handle the new contract specs while I brief Ned on the Allied situation. The rest of you have your assignments.”
The women talked in rapid-fire dialogue on their way out of the room, leaving Ree alone with Ned. Ree leaned on the back of her chair as she watched Ellen and Vic giggle until they were out of her sight line.
Ned smiled even broader and sauntered closer to her. “They all seem very dedicated to your company.”
“They ought to be,” she replied. “They’re all equal partners. I’m really just a figurehead.”
“I’m sure you’re more than that,” he countered. “You wouldn’t be sitting in the top chair if you weren’t.”
She picked up her tablet, took a step toward the door, and turned to look up at him. “Shall we go down to my office and talk this over?”
“By all means,” he replied, gesturing for her to lead the way. “Let’s go.”
She walked out of the room and
toward the elevators, but her mind wouldn’t keep still. What was she doing assigning herself to spend the next however-many hours alone with this man? Why did he make her so nervous?
She pushed the elevator button. Glancing up, she found he was still smiling at her the way he had in the boardroom. His face positively glowed. Ree looked away. She’d never had any issue working with men before. She knew how to communicate with them to get the job done. He affected her in a way she couldn’t understand, and it had nothing to do with him being a lone man in a female-dominated company.
The elevator doors opened, and he held out a chivalrous hand for her to enter first, a pleasant smile on his face. A nervous chortle escaped Ree as she took a gingerly step toward the waiting elevator.
Pull yourself together! she scolded herself once she realized how weak she was probably appearing. She sucked in a breath, then turned and faced Ned with a straight back. His ice-blue eyes and faint smile threatened to melt her into a pool of water. Thankfully, he entered and turned to face the door, shattering the effect. Now, she was locked in a small metal box with an attractive man she was supposed to be dominant over, but was finding the whole dominant thing harder by the second. Great.
The doors shut, and claustrophobia winged its way in. The silence was the worst.
Say something, her mind was telling her, but she didn’t know what the hell to say. All she could do was turn her head up to gaze at how tall he was. How he stood so confidently, hands nonchalantly in the pockets of his pants. As cool as anything. He had an aura about him, a magic that was spellbinding. Luckily for her, it must have been some kind of time-bending magic as the elevator trip was over before it started. The doors pinged open, and Ned’s hand was already gesturing toward them. Along with that smile.
Ree cleared her throat. “Thank you,” she said in a voice that sounded way too weak in her own ears. She brushed it off and set off along the hallway, Ned striding up next to her and walking alongside. He moved like he owned the place, broad-shouldered and straight-backed, showing no sign of even noticing how few men actually worked there.
They entered Ree’s office where Ned plopped in the chair facing her as she sat down behind her desk. He propped his arm on the chairback and crossed one ankle on his knee, then surveyed her office—the chief’s office—like he owned that too. He didn’t look at her like he owned her, though he couldn’t stop smiling at her.
Ree couldn’t help but notice the way the chair seemed too small for him, the way he dominated it. His icy blue eyes gleamed in the light shining through the office window, drawing Ree in. She caught herself in the act of staring, giving her head a brisk shake. She cleared her throat as she pushed errant thoughts aside. “I assume you went over the documents I emailed you.”
Ned plucked a stray bit of fluff from the knee of his pants. “Yeah, I read them.”
“Then you understand what a disadvantage we’re facing in this takeover. We don’t have the spare capital to get into a price war over every share Allied wants to buy. If they really want to buy us out, there’s not a lot we can do to stop them.”
He shook his head, but his grin grew even wider. “You can’t afford to think like that. You have to start thinking David and Goliath. They have a weakness. Everybody does. They’re Goliath. That means their size and power is in fact the weakness we’re going to exploit.”
“How are we going to do that?” she asked.
“The secret is in those documents you sent me. I’ll show you.” He launched himself out of the chair, seeming to dance on wires of powerful energy as he swept around her desk and leaned over her chair.
He stretched to reach for Ree’s tablet, his shoulder within inches of her face. She caught a whiff of his cologne and her eyes briefly closed, the heady scent stirring her senses. A faint smile spread over her lips as she savored the sensation. Her eyes snapped back open once he pulled her tablet toward him and started punching the screen. In seconds, he called up the documents she’d sent him on Allied Chemical.
Ree watched him, stunned. He owned every square micron of space around him. His fingers commanded her network to obey him. Everything his eyes noticed and everything his fingers touched belonged to him. Ree had never met anyone like him before.
Get over yourself, Ree. As if a guy like that would want damaged goods like you, a voice in her mind told her. You’re not worthy of a such a handsome, confident man, Ree.
He pointed to the screen. “See? There it is.”
She looked down at the document. “What am I looking at?”
He laughed and slid around her chair to face her. “You should know, silly. This is the contract list for Allied over the next three years. They have twenty-seven multimillion-dollar contracts in progress and forty yet to be fulfilled.”
“How does that help us?” Ree asked. “This only means they’ll have all the capital they need to buy as many of our shares as they want. They won’t quit until they get a controlling stake in our company.”
“They can’t do that,” he replied. “You yourself know how much investment each of these contracts demands. They have to fulfill all the contracts in progress, plus all the upfront costs of their upcoming contracts, and they have to do it all within their budget. They won’t have all that much extra capital to spend on shares. Even if they did want to buy you out, they wouldn’t be able to drive the price up very high before they’d have to back down. They would bankrupt themselves trying to buy you out.”
Ree stared up at his gleaming eyes, quickly dismissing the thought that they were burning down into her soul. “So what are you saying we should do? Are you saying we should do nothing and let them make a big noise?”
“I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying you have to marshal all your resources to combat this threat, but you have to keep the bigger picture in focus too. Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you’re defenseless. Your small size could be your greatest advantage. You have friends in high places. You have contacts on the city council who are in your corner. Some of Allied’s pending contracts are with the city council. If they cross the wrong person by hurting you, they could lose some of their most lucrative contracts.”
Ree couldn’t take her eyes off this man. He commanded her whole attention, just like he commanded everything else. “But what are you saying we should do?”
“Get in touch with your people and tell them what’s going on. Tell them you’re worried about Allied, and find out what they can do to help you.”
Ree looked away, her cheeks burning. “I don’t think I can do that. If they see us as weak, they might withdraw contracts we already have.”
Ned eased closer to her, perching on the edge of her desk next to her chair and leaning forward. His hand came to rest on hers, and he murmured, “Asking for help doesn’t make you weak. It makes you stronger, because you’re leaning on the power of your network. You worked hard to build that network. You built it by giving these people what they needed, and now it’s time for you to depend on them. You’ll be giving them a reward by offering them the opportunity to support you.”
“I don’t know about that,” she retorted, leaning back in her chair.
He bent just a little farther forward, his lips twitching as he spoke the fateful words. “You hired me to guide you, to show you what to do. Now you have to put yourself in my hands. Do what I tell you, and you’ll get through this. I promise.”
For an instant, she hovered in the magical halo of Ned’s presence. Time stopped.
He sprang to his feet and strode around to the other side of her desk, then looked back with a big smile. “Come take a walk with me. I like to walk during meetings. It helps everybody think more clearly, and we can discuss this better outside in the fresh air.”
“Outside?” she asked. “You want to go outside…to have a meeting?”
He jerked his head sideways. “Come on. You’ve been cooped up in this office way too long. We’re going for a walk, so we can discuss this further.”
“You won’t be needing that,” he told her. “I’m sure you have everything on it committed to memory already. Come on.” He marched to the door and held it open, smiling as he waited for her to obey.
Her nerves rattled when she walked past him to the elevator, and she fidgeted the whole time they stood side by side waiting for the car to arrive. No one had ever suggested leaving the building for a business meeting to her before. She’d heard about so-called walking meetings, but never considered doing one herself. That sort of thing was too out-there even for her. Now she was doing it with this stranger. What was she thinking? Yet here she was, walking out through the front door in the middle of a workday while the receptionist stared at her in amazement.
Ned Lewis might be a little unconventional, but his reputation spoke for itself. If he could save Primary Industries from a takeover, that alone would be worth a couple of walking meetings to pacify his maverick tendencies.
What were her friends doing upstairs? Slaving away in their offices, no doubt. What would they say if they knew Ree was absconding in the middle of a company-wide crisis?
Deciding she couldn’t think about that now, Ree set off down the sidewalk next to Ned. She didn’t know how to begin this walking meeting, so she waited for him to say something.
He crossed several crosswalks, then pointed to the left. “Let’s go this way.”
They walked down the street, passing office buildings and neighborhoods until Ned led them to the right, into Golden Gate Park.
Ree hesitated. “Where are we going?”
“I find green spaces make the most productive spots for planning and strategizing,” he replied. “If you want to go back, we can.”
“That’s okay,” she mumbled, but this was far from okay.
They entered the park and strolled between the lawns and flowerbeds. Finally, he stopped in front of the duck pond and turned to face her.
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