by Ward, Alice
She flattened her lips into a line, the corners perked slightly at the edges. “You’re telling me you don’t have a team of people who handle all that?”
“Well…” The faces of everyone back at Pennington’s headquarters flashed through my mind in a split second like one of those flip-books, and I bobbed my head. “There is a team, a big one, but I’ve been really hands-on trying to learn everything. My father always said a good CEO should have at least some idea of the work his employees do, and I’ve only been at this six months. There’s a lot to learn yet.”
Gretchen narrowed her eyes. “You’ve only been CEO for six months?”
“Yes, ma’am. Not even six months, actually. I think it’s more like five.”
“No wonder!”
I blinked at her. That wasn’t the reaction I’d anticipated. “What do you mean?”
“It makes total sense now, why you’ve been on me like white on rice.” She was grinning broadly, and I couldn’t decipher whether the glint in her eyes was amusement or smugness. “You’re trying to prove yourself.”
“Darlin’, I’ve been groomed for this job since I was born.” There was no way on God’s green Earth I was going to tell her how right she was. “I’ve got nothing to prove. The only reason I’ve taken over now is because my father’s death came so unexpectedly.”
She froze, the grin melting off her face. In its place came pure, unadulterated sympathy. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry for your loss.” Her voice was softer, gentler. I was so unaccustomed to this genuine expression that I felt rooted to the spot, unsure how to reply.
After Dad passed, everyone offered their condolences, but they did so out of obligation and propriety. Coming from Gretchen, I didn’t doubt for a second that she meant it when she said she was sorry.
“Thank you.” I gave her a small smile. “I appreciate that. I’m fine, though. He and I didn’t exactly have the kind of father-son relationship that includes throwing a football around in the backyard, if you know what I mean.”
She nodded, but the empathy spilling from her didn’t recede. I had the sneaking suspicion she grieved for me so honestly because she’d suffered the loss of a close loved one herself. I wasn’t going to ask, though. Putting that glowing smile back on her face was my priority.
“You’re not going to go standing on your head again after eating, are you?”
“I don’t know.” Her lips twitched, and I mentally encouraged them to split into a wide beam. “I guess it depends how long it takes you to whip out your checkbook.”
“You… what?”
She laughed, and delight trickled through me. “That’s why you’re here, right? To bribe me to sell with Sherwood Subs?”
I had two choices. I could tell her the truth that she was correct in her guess, or I could lie and pretend my visit was innocent. Pennington’s board of directors would have expected me to tell her the truth and make another offer. Hopefully, one she couldn’t refuse. For some reason, however, I was reluctant to do that. What if she accepted the offer? What excuse would I have then to see this fascinating, sexy, bullheaded woman?
Besides, I reasoned. A good businessman knows when the time is right, and she’s not willing to bend yet.
“Actually, I’m here because I felt bad for all the harassment you’ve had to deal with from me and my company.” I gestured to her half-eaten sandwich. “Call it an apology lunch.”
She was eyeing me doubtfully, but she didn’t argue. I decided it was the perfect time to excuse myself and let her get back to her strange workout before she started pressing me. Clambering to my feet, I dusted my suit off as best as I could. She stood as well.
“Thanks for letting me interrupt your day off.” I held out a hand, and she took it. Bending slightly, I pressed my lips to the back of her hand, looking her directly in the eye as I did. Her mouth parted, and I was positive I heard her breath hitch. “I’ll be seeing you again.”
As I began my trudge back across the sand to the parking lot, I forced myself to keep my head forward and resist the urge to look over my shoulder. My stomach was in knots, both of the tense kind and the excited. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t want the feeling to end, either. It would, though, as soon as I figured out how to get what I wanted from her. A twinge of guilt streaked through me at the thought.
I’d gotten to know Gretchen a little over this lunch, which crumbled the wall of business between us. She wasn’t just an opponent anymore.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Gretchen
“Wait, how does this go, again?”
“One amethyst, spacer, two lava, spacer, one amethyst…” I pointed to each as I listed them off.
Elena poked her tongue out and started stringing her beads. Making my own jewelry to wear and sell in the store was a pastime I’d developed before I even bought Auras, and I spent at least half my nights toying around with different designs and patterns.
When we were younger, Elena used to mock me for preferring the company of beads over men, but she’d gotten into helping me after she married my brother. They were since divorced — somewhat amicably — but she continued to come over to help me create bracelets and necklaces because she claimed the peacefulness of jewelry-making mixed with wine and girl talk was like therapy for her. I didn’t care what her reasons were. It was just nice to spend so much time with my best friend.
“I’m assuming you’re still not planning on selling the shop to Pennington’s then, if you’re making all this new stuff.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye as she threaded the spacer.
“No, but they’re getting really pushy.” I reached across her to grab another handful of lava rocks. “The CEO is up here now to badger me.”
She whipped her face toward me, and strands of black hair nipped my cheek. “Oh my god, that must be the fancy guy staying at Bullfrog Bay.”
“Yeah, he’s staying there.” I tried to ignore her wide-eyed stare and focus on the half-made bracelet. “Why, did you meet him?”
“Not officially. He helped me with a vacuum.” Her caramel hand palmed her forehead. “He’s gorgeous.”
“I’m surprised he’d stay anywhere that doesn’t include an ensuite butler service.”
Elena groaned lustfully. “Who cares where he stays? When a man’s that hot, it doesn’t matter if he’s a snob or a scumbag.”
I looked up this time to turn indignant eyes onto her. “You can’t be serious.”
“Don’t you think he’s attractive?”
If my thighs could have spoken, they would have replied with a heated, resounding, Yes! Luckily, my legs were beneath the table, and she couldn’t see me squeezing them together to damper the onslaught of desire I suddenly felt. “Yeah, he’s attractive, but he’s also an arrogant corporate asshole.”
Truth be told, after our exchange at the beach a couple days before, I wasn’t sure if I still felt that way about him. Our conversation had revealed a level of humanity within him I hadn’t expected, and I was definitely sympathetic to the loss of his father.
Not that there was ever an excuse for being a jerk, but finding out his dad had passed so recently gave his previous behavior a little leg to stand on. Plus, sad stories aside, talking to him had been far from pulling teeth, which was another twist I couldn’t have anticipated.
“Well, I think you should sell Auras and run off with him.” Elena grinned. “You’d have beautiful children.”
My stomach flipped. “You’re insane.”
“Certifiably.” Her laugh was so loud it echoed throughout the room. “Just ask Greg.”
I rolled my eyes and cast her a knowing smile. Greg, my older brother and only sibling, was not only Elena’s ex-husband but also her on-again, off-again boyfriend. A week after the divorce was finalized, the pair had reunited, only to break up within three months. Fast-forward to a year later, and they’d coupled and parted a total of four times post-marriage. It was impossible to keep up with their romance, but through it all, I’d remai
ned close to both Elena and Greg.
“Okay, I’ve had enough beads for one day.” Elena dropped her uncompleted bracelet onto the table and pushed her chair back. She finished her glass of wine before standing, then started putting on her coat. “It’s late, and I was supposed to call your brother.”
“Please don’t say you’re giving it another try.” I set my bracelet down too, so I could give her a proper goodbye.
She snorted as she fished an arm through a denim sleeve. “Yeah, right, because the first dozen times went so well.” I chuckled at the sarcasm. “He’s got dog custody this week. I was supposed to call to figure out when I can pick Bruno up.”
“You know, that’s probably part of the reason you two keep getting back together. You see each other all the time because you’re sharing the dog. Why don’t you just decide which one of you gets to keep him?”
“We both love him.” She shrugged and gave me a hug. I trailed her to the door. “Besides, in this tiny town, we’d see each other anyway whether we shared Bruno or not.”
I couldn’t disagree with that, so I bid her a cheerful goodbye and closed the door behind her. Once I’d turned the deadbolt — an addition I put onto the apartment when I moved into it even though the most serious crime Fawn had ever seen was a hit-and-run — I bypassed the unfinished jewelry and padded into my room. It was already nearing midnight, and I was tired.
After sliding between the sheets and resting my head on my pillow, sleep still didn’t come. My mind started roving, and the minutes ticked by without getting any closer to a peaceful slumber. I frowned at the ceiling, which looked gray in the dim moonlight rather than the cream color it actually was, and decided to try the old method of counting sheep. But counting sheep reminded me of counting the beads, and that reminded me of my conversation with Elena, which reminded me of Cash.
I couldn’t escape him, and now he was in my bed.
It was frustrating, but the thought also sparked something inside me. I bit my lip as I recalled how handsome he’d looked sitting across the yoga mat from me with the wind in his hair and the sun on his skin. Adversary or not, he was dreamy, and finding out he wasn’t a complete prick added to his appeal.
My hand slid beneath the sheet of its own doing, and I pressed my fingers flush against my mound. To my surprise, an electric sensation shot through me. I was already turned on, and not just a little. I wanted to remove my hand and force myself to sleep because fantasizing to this man was far from a good idea, but I couldn’t resist. What was the harm, anyway? It wasn’t like he would ever find out.
Experimentally, I closed my eyes and took my clit between my thumb and index finger. As I did, I thought about Cash’s hands. His fingers were long and slender, but they were strong. It was easy to imagine them touching me where and how I touched myself.
My breath stilled as I started rolling the sensitive flesh between my pads, and I visualized Cash’s rich eyes looking up at me from my waistline as he teased me with his digits. Those eyes…
Another spike of electricity zoomed through my limbs. He was taking over me, removing my fingers to replace them with his own and inciting my climb to glory.
“You’re all mine now, darlin’.”
I heard the words as clearly as if he were there speaking them directly into my ear, and a shudder stole through my nerves. I quickened my movements, and he quickened his, and my hips started rising and falling with need. He was relentless, stroking the bead of nerves and watching me unravel thread by thread with riveted hunger. I started to pant. A devilish, infuriating smirk curled on his lips.
“I wonder if you taste as sweet as you look.”
In one swift movement, he licked up my folds, and I nearly broke apart. He lapped the length of my slit with calm, measured motions, then flicked my clit with the very tip. I moaned instinctively. A chuckle rose from his throat, and I felt the vibrations against my core. His lips suctioned themselves around my hooded button. He started suckling, gently at first, then with more vigor. I tried to buck, but his weight was bearing down on my legs, and I couldn’t move. All I could do was take the waves of intense pleasure building inside me.
He wormed back down and dipped his tongue into me. I felt it burrow deep within, and I whimpered a plea for more. He grinned against me but didn’t oblige, and the void between pleasurable feelings and euphoric feelings widened. I was so ready. I grabbed his head to maneuver him where I wanted, but he stiffened his neck against my hold and refused to move as I wished.
“Please!” I begged.
He retracted his tongue completely, and I groaned in frustration. Before the groan had completely left my lips, however, his fingers were back on my clit. With his other hand, he buried into me where his tongue had just been, except they plunged deeper. I felt them curve to graze my G-spot, and the edges of my vision went white. Almost…
“Come for me.”
I broke apart, pieces of myself dropping away like grains of sand. If I was moaning or screaming or crying out, I couldn’t hear it. The only thing I knew was the heavenly rush roaring through my entire body, its roots deep in my sex where his fingers continued to stroke my sweet spot. Lights popped before my eyes, wind rushed in my ears, and I could’ve been tumbling off a hundred-story building without giving a damn in that moment.
When my breathing slowed, I realized I was alone in my room with only a sliver of moonlight as a companion. My wrist ached, and my skin was soaked in sweat. Every muscle in my body was quivering. I hadn’t had an orgasm like that in my life.
Cash’s face was still present in my mind’s eye, and it stared at me with its cocky little smirk until I rolled over and fell asleep, which was only a few seconds later.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cash
Thanks to my provocative and disturbing dream, the Fletcher suite looked different to me now. I was reluctant to sit on the bed unless I was about to go to sleep for fear I’d accidentally doze off and end up in another unwelcome part of my consciousness.
The door to the hall had grown eyes that watched me, and I was in a constant state of anticipation waiting to hear a knock from a sun-kissed, bohemian hand. I’d taken to sitting in the striped desk chair whenever I spent extended periods of time in the room.
That was where I sat on this particular evening with Gretchen on my mind, and my cell phone pressed to my ear.
“She’s not budging. It’s pretty clear she doesn’t want to sell because she loves her store, but I’m getting the impression a big part of her stubbornness comes from not wanting to sell to us specifically because we’re a large corporation.”
“We’ve encountered a lot of people with that attitude.” The man on the other end was Harlan Dade, and he didn’t sound concerned about the standstill in the slightest. “All of them have sold for the right price.”
It was the same sentiment I’d imparted to Gretchen on our first phone call but hearing it from Harlan’s mouth rather than my own, it sounded much more callous. I frowned as I flipped through the pages of Gretchen’s file. I’d been studying them since our lunch at the beach, looking for something to use to my advantage as well as satisfying my desire to know more about her as a person. The file was very impersonal given its purpose, but it felt richer in content now that I’d become better acquainted with the woman on the pages.
“I don’t know, Harlan.” I turned my gaze to the window. The creased surface of the lake reminded me of how it had looked as a backdrop to Gretchen’s stunning face. “She might be a lost cause.”
“If you’re already talking like that, you’ve already failed.” A harsh growl bordered his gruff, drawling tone. “That’s a big disappointment, boy. You’re ruining your chance to show up the kind of leader Chaz was.”
My neck prickled as angry heat flushed my face. “How am I ever going to hold up to the standard my father set if everyone keeps throwing that at me? I’m competing with a dead man, for god’s sake.”
Harlan was silent for a beat, and I realized I
sounded like the ultimate jackass. I couldn’t help it, though. I’d turned thirty-five, lost my father, become head of a major national chain, and been met with sky-high expectations to have it together since day one.
It was like I’d been wandering around a theme park, venturing onto some thrill rides from time to time and sitting on a bench resting in between, when some enormous hand came down from the sky and plunked me onto the biggest roller coaster at the park. I hadn’t gotten my bearings yet, and nobody had even the slightest interest in making that task any easier.
“You hold up by doing what you have to do, one thing at a time.” I was relieved to hear him finally speak. My internal dialogue was setting my teeth on edge. “This is just your first showing, and I have to tell you, Cash, your father would’ve had it done with a snap of his fingers. The job the board has given you is important, but it’s not difficult. You need to learn how to handle these types of situations so you can go on to learn even more important things.”
I was divided by what he told me. Part of me knew he was right, that my dad would have been in and out of Fawn in the blink of an eye, and there were more important tasks for a CEO to juggle than negotiating with single-location store owners.
On the other hand, however, I’d gotten to see some of the town I was in, its people and its businesses and its overall flavor. I’d had the chance to speak to the woman with whom I was to be negotiating on a level beyond property value.
Being as revered a CEO as my father had been within Pennington’s corporate walls sounded great, but it was starting to feel contrived. If it had been so easy for my dad to convince people to give up on the dreams they’d successfully built, then I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to live up to his ideals.
I wanted to be better than him. A better CEO, a better visionary, a better man.
“Yeah.” Though I didn’t want to, agreeing with Harlan was the only response that felt appropriate and would get me off this call. “I’ll think of something.”