Beautiful Little Fool

by K. K. Hendin

  Not that long, unfortunately. Meeting soon.

  Maybe we’ll have a raincheck tonight, then. She texted back.

  Why? What happened?

  Nothing. If we won’t have time for lunch and “lunch,” and I don’t want you uncomfortable for your meeting.

  Was that supposed to help? Because now I’m feeling uncomfortable.

  Sorry 

  Her phone rang. “You’re not sorry,” Ellis grumped on the other end, voice a little huskier than usual.

  Cedar laughed, delighted. “Of course I’m not,” she said. “I do love to torture you.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t do it right before I have a meeting,” he said. “I don’t really have anything to hold in front of my crotch while walking into the boardroom, and I don’t really think they’d appreciate the…sentiment.”

  “Some of them might,” Cedar teased.

  “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t. I don’t. Ugh, never mind.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “In the car.”

  Cedar lowered her voice just a little bit more. “I assume the divider is up?”

  “Would I be talking like this if it wasn’t?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Nope.”

  “Well, then. Good.” Cedar paused for a minute, and made sure her door was completely closed, and turned off her security cameras. “Unzip your pants.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Unzip your pants.”

  “Fine. You take off your…what are you wearing today?”

  “A dress.”

  “Well, take it off.”

  “Okay,” said Cedar. She rustled the material to make it sound like she had taken it off. “It’s off.”

  “How does that feel?”

  “It’s a little cold in the office,” Cedar lied.

  “That sounds nice.”

  “Mmmm. It is, a little,” Cedar said, surreptitiously sitting back down at her desk chair and opening up the spreadsheets again. It wasn’t like she was actually going to be getting herself off or anything. She had too much shit to be doing right now to be having phone sex with anyone.

  Multitasking was a thing for a reason.

  “Take off your bra.”

  “What are you doing now?” Cedar replied.

  “What do you think I’m doing?”

  “There are so many answers to that question,” she mused. “How much longer do you have?”

  “Until what?”

  “Either one.”

  “Fuck, three blocks away.”

  “Well, if I were in the car with you, here’s what I would do,” Cedar said, lowering her voice and detailing exactly what she would do to him to make sure he came before the car pulled up to his meeting.

  “Fuck, Cedar,” Ellis groaned. “Jesus.”

  “Feel better?” she asked.

  “I’d feel better if you were here.”

  “Maybe a different time.”

  “I’m holding you to that.”

  “Sure. Have a good meeting.” Cedar hung up.

  Another part of the spreadsheet gone through and managed, and a well-satisfied fiancé.

  Nobody multitasked better than she did.

  “Who do you want to give you away?” Ellis asked later over dinner.

  “What?”

  “At the wedding. Someone usually gives away the bride to the groom. Usually the father.”

  “Well, I would have said Harold, but he’s dead, too.” Cedar picked at her salad.

  “Do you have any uncles, or cousins?”

  “Not that I speak to,” she said.

  “Are they going to be coming to the wedding?”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Okay, then.” Ellis looked at her, contemplating. “We aren’t really going to have that much family attending, are we?”

  “Any family that would be attending would be yours,” Cedar said. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have any family. The only family I had died eight years ago.”

  Not that she counted them as family, either, but he didn’t have to know that. She preferred to think of herself as unencumbered by the bullshit that came along with family members. Thank God she didn’t have to deal with any of them anymore.

  “I don’t really have any, either. Unless you count that third cousin or whoever it was who called me asking for money.”

  “The fastest way to find out about your family tree is to inherit a lot of money,” Cedar said. “At least, that’s what Harold said. I don’t know.”

  “Your only family died?” Ellis repeated. “What happened?”

  Cedar shrugged. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. You didn’t know.” She shook her head, as if clearing it, and flashed a smile. “So. How’s the merger going?”

  If she didn’t want to talk about it, they wouldn’t talk about it. That was fine with him. He’d find some way to figure out what had happened without making her upset. All that money came in handy every once in a while.

  “It’s going as mergers usually go,” he said.

  “Smoothly?”

  “Sometimes. And sometimes very messy.” He shrugged. “They didn’t really want to be merging, so they’re trying to resist the whole thing happening.”

  “Sucks for them,” Cedar said.

  Ellis laughed. “That’s definitely one way to put it. How’s dress hunting going?”

  “Dress hunting?”

  “For the wedding dress.”

  “Oh.” Cedar laughed. “It’s being custom made.”

  “And it will be ready on time?”

  “Of course.”

  “Even if we elope?” he teased.

  “Ellis! We can’t elope!”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t. No matter how tempting it feels.” Ellis sighed. “That vacation was not nearly enough, babe.”

  Cedar got up from her seat, walked over to him, and sat down on his lap. “I know,” she murmured. “But we’re getting married soon. Which means honeymoon. Which will not be in New York.”

  “Fuck no, it won’t be in New York,” Ellis said, pulling her closer to him. Jesus, what a day it had been. “It will be far, far, far away from New York.”

  “Good.” Cedar ran her hands through his head, smiling as he groaned and leaned into her. “Where are we going, anyway?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Don’t say things like that, babe,” she said, tugging at his hair just enough to make him hard. “You know that means I’m going to try to get it out of you.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” he said, holding onto her as he stood up and abandoned the dinner still sitting on the table. “I guess dessert’s changed tonight. I was so looking forward to that cake. Maybe next time.”

  “What’s my dessert going to be, then?” Cedar asked as Ellis carried her into his room. “I have a wedding dress to fit into.”

  “Something a little saltier,” Ellis said as he dropped her onto his bed and watched her settle into place. “Don’t get too comfortable, because all of that is coming right off.”

  “Maybe I’m not in the mood,” she said, smiling at him.

  She was definitely in the mood. She was a terrible liar.

  “Maybe I can help you change your mind,” he said, dropping down on the bed next to her.

  “Hmmm. I don’t really think you can.”

  “I’m willing to bet on it, actually,” he said, reaching the hem of her dress.

  “Well, you can try, if you want to.”

  “Well, if you insist.”

  Cedar looked so peaceful when she slept. He wasn’t quite sure how she had fallen asleep this time. She normally would be back at her place at this point. He was not going to complain about this turn of events at all. He had been begging her to just move in with him, but no matter how many times he asked or how many times he made her come, the answer was always no. Maybe with the wedding being so soon she had finally
changed her mind. Maybe.

  That one night he had spent at her place would probably be the last thing he thought about before he died. Waking up in her arms was like a drug he couldn’t get enough of. The week on vacation had been the only time since that fateful knock on the door that Ellis had finally felt calm again.

  If Cedar wasn’t looking forward to this wedding so much, they would have eloped by now. It wasn’t like either of them had any family nearby, or alive, for that matter.

  And that was another thing Ellis had to deal with. Cedar’s family. She wouldn’t say anything about it, and he wanted to know exactly what happened. For no reason other than to make sure he never brought up something that would remind her of their deaths.

  That was the first thing he was going to do today, he decided, tightening his hold on Cedar and closing his eyes again. He was going to hire someone to figure out this whole mess. And then he was going to finish up this fucking merger, because he had a honeymoon to plan.

  Ivan Gregor was former NYPD, former FBI, former SEAL, and current badass. It was possible that he wasn’t as clean as he let on, and that didn’t bother Ellis at all. Mr. Gregor was expensive, outrageously so, but he was damn thorough and he got shit done.

  He also had a fondness for cocaine and tuna sandwiches.

  Nobody ever asked him about it. Nobody really wanted to know the answer.

  “Your nine-thirty appointment is here,” Robert said.

  Ellis straightened his tie. “Send him in.”

  Mr. Gregor walked into his office with a small smile on his face. “I was wondering when I’d hear from you,” he said, sitting down in one of the chairs facing Ellis. “Took your damn time, didn’t you?”

  Ellis shrugged. “You’re not the only source of information in New York.”

  “Well, I’m the only accurate source of information. You think Harold ever moved without asking me first?”

  “No wonder people find you so hard to get in touch with. You were on the phone all day tell Harold when to shit and when to breathe. What happened when he died? Were you on vacation or something?”

  Mr. Gregor laughed. Well, more of a cackle than a laugh. “I see why he picked you to take over for him. Maybe one day you’ll end up half the asshole he was.”

  “That’s my goal,” Ellis said.

  “A worthy one. Now. Who do you need info on? Hamlin?”

  “We already have enough on the Hamlins.”

  “You sure about that? Maybe have someone check Long Island City. Might be interested in what you find there.”

  “What are you trying to get at?” Ellis demanded.

  Mr. Gregor shrugged. “Nothin’ much. Just helping you out. So who do you need to know about?”

  “The Reynolds family.”

  “Cedar? Whoo, boy.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Just Cedar you want investigated? Gonna cost you extra for her. She’s a tricky one.”

  Ellis wrinkled his brow in confusion. “No, not her. Her parents.”

  “They’re dead.”

  “I know that part. I don’t know how, though. Or anything else. I want to know everything that happened.”

  Mr. Gregor sat back in his chair. “Well, then. And when do you want the information?”

  “As soon as possible. Yesterday. Goes without saying.”

  “Just checking.” Mr. Gregor shrugged. “Some people want different things. Have to ask.”

  “Don’t give any information to anyone else,” Ellis said, standing up to lead Gregor to the door.

  “Jesus. If you wanted a newbie, should have hired a newbie, Carrington.” Gregor hefted himself out of the chair and headed toward the door. “We’ll be in touch.”

  “Good.”

  The door shut behind Mr. Gregor, and Ellis returned to his seat.

  Long Island City? What would James Hamlin be doing in Queens? What did Gregor know that they didn’t?

  “Robert!” he bellowed. “Get in here, now!”

  Robert rushed in. “Yes, sir?”

  “Call the internal investigators we’re using and connect them to me right away.”

  “On it, sir.”

  “And keep the lawyers on standby. We may have some new information.”

  Ellis sat back down in his chair and waited for the call to be put through. James Hamlin was a pain in his ass, and had been since the day Ellis came to New York. At thirty, and owner of one of the biggest construction companies in the country, Hamlin was a stick in Ellis’s ass that needed to be removed. There was some shit going down in his company that wasn’t right, and taking him down and buying him out for the lowest price he possibly could was how Ellis was going to deal with him.

  Because if Ellis showed any sign of weakness, he was as good as done for it.

  Not to mention that Hamlin had made a little comment about Cedar in front of Ellis, back at that first Long Island party.

  “She’s as dry as a desert, and not worth the trouble she causes,” he had sneered.

  Cedar hadn’t taken him down yet, so Ellis would.

  Happy wedding day, honey. I’ve destroyed an asshole for you. He smirked. She would be grateful for it, he was sure.

  And a grateful Cedar was a wonderful thing.

  “The investigator, line two.” Robert’s voice brought him back to his office.

  He snatched up the phone. “Yes?”

  “Robert said you needed to talk to us, sir?”

  “What connection does Hamlin have to Long Island City?” he snapped.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Are you deaf? I asked what connection Hamlin has in fucking Queens. Find out, and find out now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” Ellis slammed the phone down. “Robert?”

  “Yes?”

  “If they call back, put them through immediately. It doesn’t matter what’s going on.”

  “No problem.”

  “There better be no problem,” Ellis muttered, opening up his email. He had enough to do today that he needed that done already. Not to mention he had to finish booking his honeymoon.

  His electronics-free honeymoon, as it was. Fuck work. If he was getting married, he was going to be taking off completely. Feingold Investments was just going to have to run itself.

  It would be fine. It had run itself before. And Ellis had some vacationing to catch up on with his future wife. Well, at that point, it wouldn’t be so future any more.

  “The investigators are on line three.”

  Good. At least someone was prompt today. Ellis snatched up the phone. “Yes?”

  “Goddammit. How did you find that out?” asked Stevens.

  “What?”

  “He’s running three storefronts in Queens. One in Long Island City, one in Elmhurst, and one in Bayside.”

  “Is it traceable?”

  “Paperwork’s being brought over to your office as we speak. Not to mention the guy has a family.”

  Ellis’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

  “Yeah. Under the name Thomas Garcia.”

  “Garcia?” Ellis laughed. “Well, his wife might not be the brightest bulb in the bunch if she bought that.”

  “Stay at home wife and three kids. Two boys and one girl. Six, four, and two.”

  “Living where?”

  “Elmhurst.”

  “The fuck is he doing in Elmhurst…well, then. Good.” Ellis smiled. This was going to make things a lot more interesting, to say the least. “Just make sure we have all the information.”

  “It should be at your office soon,” Stevens said. “Sorry we missed that.”

  “Next time you won’t.”

  “We won’t.”

  “Good,” Ellis said, before hanging up. Because if they didn’t, it seemed like he had someone else he could hire instead. Who did a better job than Stevens did.

  “Robert? Call Carl and tell him to come in soon.” He had another island to buy, right after he ripped James Hamlin’s life a
part. The bastard had it coming, and Ellis could practically taste the umbrella decorated drink.

  There was no bachelor or bachelorette party. Neither the bride nor the groom really wanted one. Cedar had told Ellis that if he really wanted a stripper, she’d hire one for him herself, and even if Ellis did really want to have a stripper, he said no.

  Cedar treated herself to her own little strip show, where she had four men come over to her house one night under the guise of electricians.

  Anyone who would have looked closely would have realized that actual electricians were not nearly that attractive.

  Good thing nobody really looked.

  It was one week before the wedding. They had already agreed to not touching each other for that week. Well, Cedar agreed. Ellis wasn’t so thrilled with the idea, but in a week she’d be Mrs. Cedar Carrington, so he was okay with pretty much everything.

  They were sitting in Morris’s office, getting all the paperwork taken care of. Deeds, bank accounts, wills, insurance, the works.

  Cedar already had a will, but Ellis had never written one.

  “Do I really need to?” he asked.

  “You have more money than the rest of the state does,” Morris said. “Not that I want to worry you at all, but people might want a little piece of what you have and are willing to stop at nothing to get there. It’s just a precaution.”

  Cedar nodded. “It would be such a relief, honey.”

  “Babe, a will isn’t going to stop people from killing me if they want me dead,” Ellis said. “But if you really want me to write one, I will.”

  He took a piece of Morris’s stationary and wrote out a will. “Here, babe. Better?”

  Cedar read the will.

  I, Ellis James Carrington, being of sound mind and body, do bequeath all my Earthly possessions to my wife, Cedar Elizabeth Reynolds-Carrington, with love and affection.

  Signed,

  Ellis James Carrington

  “Much better,” Cedar said, signing her name as a witness before passing it to Morris.

  If Cedar was the type of girl to jump up and down and shriek in glee, she would have. But she wasn’t.

  Instead, she gave Ellis a kiss that would keep him up every night from then until their wedding, and headed back to the gallery,

  And when she closed and locked the door to her office, only then did she smile.