by Lindsey Hart
He had no choice but to pull out one of the fossil-like chairs and sink down across the table from her. She slayed him with those wet lashes and that dimple he noticed in her left cheek and with her quivering lips that looked far, far too soft and tempting.
God damn her.
He should fire her on the spot just for existing.
Was that too harsh? Should she pay for all the sins of the gold diggers from his past? Yeah. Probably not fair of him at all. She seemed nice. Here she was, defending someone he wanted to fire, crying over it.
She was probably just overly sensitive.
Or putting on a hell of a show.
Women, in his experience, were all pretty damn good actresses.
“Okay.” Ross gave his head a literal shake. He didn’t give two shits how stupid it looked. “This is not personal. It’s a business decision. I know it’s hard to let go, especially when you’ve built relationships over the years-”
“No!”
He was right. The woman, who was beautiful at peace, transformed into a raging, fiery goddess of vengeance when provoked. Shit on a stick, she’s so much more incredible than I thought she’d be. He did his best to fight the raging hard-on testing the durability of his suit. He hoped like hell those seams had been sewn well.
“No?”
“No! You can’t do that. You can’t just come in here and fire people willy-nilly as you see fit.”
“Last time I checked, I could. I’m the owner now,” he deadpanned. Which was exactly the wrong move.
“You’re a real bastard to think that just because you bought this company, you’ve bought us. You’d be lucky if any of us stay on when we find out about who is being forced to leave. I’ll personally make sure that you don’t have a single person left in this office to train any new staff you might send down here if you fire Dora. I’ll personally see to it that the community who has always supported us, the artisans, the people who roll through this town, everyone on this side of the country, I’ll make sure that the word gets out that people should boycott this place since it’s heartless and doesn’t believe in giving back to the community who has always supported it. I’ll make sure that your name, Ross Day, that’s right, I know who you are, becomes mud.”
Ross slowly crossed his arm. His suit jacket creaked with the movement. He hated suits. Hated them with a passion, but there was the look the part dress the part shit that he felt the need to abide by. “Don’t worry. You’re not the first person who has threatened me over the years. I’m sorry. I have to make cuts. It’s a business decision. I have people that know my company who have to come in and replace those in upper-management and accounting positions. Those jobs are redundant. I don’t have time to do months and months of re-training.”
Those gorgeous green eyes narrowed dangerously, and the woman’s full lips thinned into what he could only term a snarl. “Oh really? Redundant? I’ll show you redundant! We’ll see how you do when the entire world is against you and your shelves are empty. The reason this place flourished is… well- you don’t even half understand the meaning of family. But then again, I guess you wouldn’t. All you care about is profit. It’s just business to you? We’re people. People make a business what it is. Enjoy not making any profit from now on. I’ll make it my life mission to see this store close.”
Okay. So, there wasn’t anything like a good old threat from a pissed off nameless employee that Ross just happened to want to ask out and bang senseless after a good wining and dining. Consequences, broken hearts, and gold-digging be damned.
“You said you didn’t know my name.” The woman’s lips pursed, and she’d probably be even more pissed if she knew how damn tempting she looked at the moment, all lively and revved up and raging. “It’s Teela McDaniels. I’ve done reception here for a very long time. People tell me I’m the backbone, the person who holds everything up behind the scenes. I promise you, I’ll bring it all down.”
“I could simply sell, you know that? If no one came to the store, it’s no big loss. This property was worth triple what I paid for it. Even empty, with no profit in the books, it would make me a nice chunk of change.”
Whoa. Those eyes widened and then narrowed again and the look Teela sent could have eviscerated him on the spot if looks could actually kill. What was wrong with him that his balls practically rammed him right in the stomach? Probably a lot. There is probably a hell of a lot wrong with me.
“I’ll be sure that I tell everyone that too.” Teela slammed to her feet. She gave him one more withering look before she whirled and slammed out of the room. Literally. The whole building vibrated with the force of the door slamming.
That’s just great. Not a good start at all. Even if what he’d said was true, Ross wanted peace in his organization. He hadn’t come to ruin lives. He still had a few heartstrings left and they were already being pulled. He didn’t like firing people. He just couldn’t get around it. If he kept all the useless jobs on, he’d be broke. He wouldn’t have a company at all. In the end, being in business was about profit.
Even if it meant tears and sweat and blood and hurting people and breaking hearts and disappointing people who depended on him for their livelihood.
Even if it made him feel like a monster, he couldn’t change a damn thing.
Or he wouldn’t be in business at all.
CHAPTER 3
Teela
“He’s the devil. The straight-up, red, horns, pointy fork, asshole of a devil. Satan himself. The-”
“I think I get it,” Amy said softly. She raised a brow. “Are you sure you should have marshaled all the troops and actually quit?” She glanced pointedly at Teela’s stomach.
Teela did her best not to think of the devil’s far too handsome face. She’d upped her game on the comparisons. Ross Day wasn’t a troll like she’d first thought. No, he was much, much lower than that. Lower than worms, lower than dirt. Way, way lower. All the way down to hell itself lower. Why did he have to have those sharp, chiseled features, the kind of thing straight out of a cartoon or a romance novel? Why did he have to have those piercing blue eyes and that hard jawline? Those high cheekbones? Those perfectly symmetrical features and the gorgeous tan skin that had never seen a pimple or blemish in its life?
“You have a baby in there,” Amy went on. She lowered her voice, even though it was just them in Teela’s living room and the condo was an end unit, so only one room had ears and her neighbor just happened to be a ninety-year-old woman who was beyond deaf. “A baby we put in there illegally.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry. I haven’t told a soul and I never will.”
What was wrong with her that she couldn’t stop hearing Ross’ smooth voice, that deep, easy tone. That she couldn’t stop seeing the sparkle in his eye that could be so much more than anger if she hadn’t resorted so quickly to threats? Worse, what was wrong with her that she actually wanted to see if his lips filled out when he smiled?
She should not be wondering those things. She should not have spent a sleepless night tossing and turning and imagining the devil’s face. She was possessed. His evil magic had rubbed off on her right along with his evil presence. He was straight-up bad. Bad for the company. Wrong in every way. That saying she’d read in high school about beauty not actually being correlated with goodness was true in every single case.
Thankfully, Amy decided to break the silence and derail Teela’s horrible train of thought. “I trust you. You’re my best friend. We’ve known each other since we were two years old. We don’t even remember our first meeting, that’s how long we’ve known each other. I just… it’s crazy. I keep looking over my shoulder. I keep thinking that I’m going to be fired.”
“You took everything when the power went out,” Teela insisted. “It was a spur of the moment decision. No one is going to miss a few samples here and there and a few- uh- supplies. They get thrown out all the time. It’s easy to miscount. And you said you wrote the sample off as being too old the next day. Y
ou had the original canister. No one could tell that we put in shavings off the soap bar and water. It looked exactly the same.”
“No, no one would believe that I took it because no one does that!” Amy leaned back against the couch. She looked anything but relaxed.
Though Teela hadn’t asked her best friend to do what she’d done and steal the equipment and the samples needed to impregnate her, Amy knew how many years she’d struggled in bad relationships, how many times she’d had her heart broken. She knew that she was determined to have a child by herself. That she was off men forever. She didn’t need a man to have a family. At least she didn’t need to be with a man. Even in the traditional sense.
She could have told Amy to take everything back when she showed up, sweating and shaking and soaking wet in the midst of a crazy storm on her doorstep. She could have told her no, that someday she’d save up enough money to pay for the procedure. That she shouldn’t be able to jump the line. That other people who couldn’t afford it deserved to have a child just as much as she did. Probably more, since they’d been waiting so much longer.
Then, there was reality.
The reality that she’d never be able to save up enough money on her current salary. The reality that there were few jobs with better pay than what she was currently earning. The reality that for twelve years she’d been kicked over and over again in the shit storm of love and dating. Kicked a few times, literally, if Steve counted. Not that he remembered. The bastard never remembered a thing he did when he was drunk. Luckily, Teela was smart and she’d got the hell out of that before the prick could do any real damage. She was eighteen. It was the summer after she graduated. She thought she was in love.
How fucking stupid.
She’d landed in Nester Falls though and she’d always be thankful that she’d moved out of Philly to get away from her abusive ex. He was too drunk to notice she was gone. No, that wasn’t even right. He just didn’t actually give a shit that she’d left in the first place. He’d never come after her and she’d stayed in Nester Falls. Amy joined her shortly after and they’d plowed through the upstream current that was life. Unfortunately, while Amy was engaged and happy with Bryan, her long-term boyfriend of seven years, Teela kept getting swept back down the stream to the bottom to start all over again.
If she hadn’t taken what Amy was offering, she knew, deep down, that it was never going to happen for her. She’d never have enough money to pay for the procedure. She was so entirely done with risking her heart and putting herself out there. No more men. No more dating. No more heartache and bullshit and trouble and everything. No. More. Ever. Period.
So yes. She’d been terrible enough to let Amy put that sample inside of her.
She’d been horrible enough to hope like crazy that it would work.
She’d cried like a little kid when she saw those two pink lines on the test.
And yes, it was illegal as hell. Yes, Amy could lose her job. Yes, yes, yes, they were guilty. In every single way.
“It’s okay.” Teela snuggled over on the couch next to Amy. “It’s all going to be okay. I promise. No one is going to find out about this. You’re not going to lose your job. You’re not going to prison. Neither am I. No one is ever going to know. I could easily say I had a weekend away in Philly and came back with a little souvenir. I go there often to visit mom and dad, so no one would be able to say otherwise. I promise. Seriously, I really do promise.” She gripped her best friend’s hand. It was cold as ice.
“But- but- you said that Ross Day is the devil. You quit your job. You got into it with him. You pitted yourself against him. Don’t you know he’s from Nester Falls? You think you can beat him at his own game, but you’re wrong. People know him and love him. He’s the golden local boy making it big and now he’s opening a store here. People are going to flock there no matter what you say. You should have stayed on. You could have convinced him to keep things local.”
Teela’s mouth dropped open. “I didn’t know he was from Nester Falls.”
Something about Amy’s face wasn’t right. She was dark-haired, had dark black eyes and her skin was normally bronzed. At the moment, it was nearly white. Is she that worried about the sample we stole? About being found out? She looked like all the oxygen in the room had suddenly just sucked out the window.
“Of course, he’s from here. I thought everyone knew that.”
Damn it! That started the whole train wreck of thoughts roaring back up again. God, even his hands were pretty with those blunt strong fingers. He smelled good. Annoyingly enough, Teela noticed those things about him when she walked into the room, even though she had been so nervous about losing her job. She thought about his intense direct stare, how he was used to getting what he wanted, but worse, how he’d looked at her, for just a fleeting second that she’d probably imagined it, like he wanted to know what she looked like out of the sweater dress and leggings she’d had on.
No way. That was definitely my imagination. He didn’t look at me that way. I do not want him to look at me that way. Ever.
Teela cleared her throat, a little too loud. “I thought he was from Philly. I see the billboards for him and his stupid grocery stores when I’m there. I never see them here.”
“I guess because they didn’t pay to advertise here. Anyway, you could have done more good from the inside out. And not everyone quit, right?”
“Yeah,” Teela admitted. She let out an undignified huff. She refused to let her thoughts go back to the poop train that they’d been on. “Not everyone quit. I was so sure they would. I thought we were a family. I thought we’d stick together.”
Amy’s worried frown said it all. “So, what are you going to do? Get a job somewhere else? No one is going to hire you when they find out you’re pregnant.”
“I won’t tell them. I don’t have to disclose that. I’m only two months along. Barely. I can hide it for at least five more months.”
“You’re thin!” Amy scoffed. She didn’t even bother to shut her mouth, which was gaping open in straight up disbelief. “You won’t be able to hide it that long!”
“I’ll wear baggy clothes. It’s in style to dress all bohemian and wear a bunch of layers. I’ll just make sure that I don’t wear anything tight. That would hide it well.”
“Teela, come on!”
“Amy!” Teela squeezed her friend’s hand, which was still way too cold. It wasn’t even cold outside. It was May for shit sakes. “It’s all going to work out. I can always get a job in Philly and sell the condo or commute.”
“You wouldn’t get anything for it. The market is pretty much the same and everything is way more expensive in Philly. It’s the reason that we came out here in the first place. Well that and-”
“Don’t say it,” Teela warned. “I was already thinking about that earlier. We don’t need to say his name out loud.”
“Would you really move?” Amy’s eyes widened and her lips wavered like she was about to cry. “I can’t move. I have a good job here. Bryan has a good job. I’d miss you so much!”
“There are lots of jobs here. Even if I have to take a little bit of a pay cut, it’s going to be okay.”
“Unless Ross put out the word that people shouldn’t hire you because you’ll go off like a firecracker and make unsolicited threats.”
Teela released Amy’s hand. She shifted and sat on her hands instead. “I’m not going to blame it on the pregnancy hormones. It wasn’t that. He had it coming. He basically made it pretty obvious that we didn’t matter as anything other than things. We aren’t even people to him. We’re just numbers. Things. Easy to be replaced. Dora has worked there forever. She really did depend on that job. He looked right through me when I said that to him. Like he couldn’t even be bothered to hear about it. He’s heartless. The actual fucking devil.”
Something was really wrong with Amy’s face. She was doing that lemon pucker thing again. As in, someone had just opened her yap and stuffed in an entire thing and made her
chew and swallow, peel and all. And the lemon just happened to be severely rotten. With worms. And mold. And… and beetles or something.
“What the hell?” Teela ground out. “Why do you look like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like someone just crammed a nasty old gym sock into your mouth.” Forget the lemon, that was far more accurate.
“Well- uh- don’t you know that Ross Day didn’t always have money?”
“How would I know?” Teela asked, irritated. She barely managed not to snap. Somehow Amy’s friendly sympathy visit had put her completely on edge as well. Now they both looked like they were sitting on a bed of rusty nails trying not to puncture their dainty little ass cheeks. “I don’t know anything about him other than that he’s rich and he likes to do corporate takeovers and turn good fashioned family-owned stores into his chain of machines. He’s a part of the system. You know that I don’t do the system.”
“You’re such a rebel,” Amy responded sarcastically.
“Okay, well, whatever. I don’t like what he does or what he stands for. He’s enemy number one at this point.”
“Yeah, yeah, the devil. I know. I heard.”
“Well- okay- why does your face still look all messed up? What do you know that I don’t? Or are you just as pissed as I am?”
“I’m pissed alright,” Amy assured her, but her voice was off. Like, really off. Like someone had just jammed that nasty-ass sock down her throat. “Er- well- okay. You can’t hate me. Promise.”
“Of course.” Teela knew she was looking at Amy like she’d just sprouted a second arm right out of her forehead. She had no idea what was wrong with her bestie and it was unnerving as hell. “I could never hate you. Just tell me.”
“Well- uh- Ross- he- he grew up here. He wasn’t always rich. He actually wasn’t rich until a few years ago. He was pretty desperate, even when he was setting up his company. He was trying to make this app thing- it was what took off eventually. Something about the way people can shop for groceries and price compare online and-”