by Bru Baker
“You can say that again,” Mason muttered, making Greg snort with laughter. RichardAnderson (09/17/2012 8:26 AM): Get Boren on the phone for me in five. Tell him I need to talk to him about this afternoon’s presentation to the board.
AbbyLake(09/17/2012 8:27 AM): I’m sorry, sir, but he’s not available.
RichardAnderson (09/17/2012 8:30 AM): Landers, then, or Trevor.
AbbyLake(09/17/2012 8:35 AM): I’m sorry, sir. RichardAnderson (09/17/2012 8:37 AM): This is unacceptable. You tried their cell numbers? AbbyLake (09/17/2012 8:39 AM): They aren’t available, sir.
Abby watched with trepidation as Richard stared at his mobile phone. His door was open, and she’d overheard him try to call Keller and Gergens, in addition to trying Boren, Landers, and Trevor. All five calls had gone directly to voice mail.
He sat back in his chair, tossing the phone on the desk. Abby knew how bad this was. These were men who never turned off their phones. Not when they went golfing, not on vacations, not even when they were cheating on their wives with their mistresses. The only time they turned off their cell phones was when the board was in session, and Richard was clearly getting suspicious.
Richard glanced up, scooting his chair a bit so he could see through the glass door of his inner office, out past Abby’s desk. She watched him squint at the windows, and she bit her lip, knowing that the closed blinds in the boardroom would be a dead giveaway. Despite the fact that they were sitting close enough for him to speak to her, he picked up his phone and buzzed her desk. She sighed and answered.
“Mr. Anderson?” “Ms. Lake. Please open up the blinds in the boardroom. We have no need to hide our meeting this afternoon—in fact, I think the more people who see us, the better.”
Abby hesitated. “S-sir?” she stammered, trying to buy Parker and Anna more time. They’d been in there for nearly two hours already, and none of the board members had stormed out, so things must be going tolerably well.
“The blinds, Ms. Lake.”
Knowing Richard could see her from his desk, Abby snaked her hand into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She fired off a text to Anna, a meaningless press of keys, but a warning nonetheless. Anna had given her the number that morning when Abby helped her set up the refreshments in the boardroom. It had meant coming in an hour and a half early, but it was worth it, in Abby’s mind. She’d seen all the buyout documents from Century, since Richard rarely could be bothered to print out his own emails, let alone file things. She knew exactly how bad the deal was for Anderson’s employees, herself included.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mr. Anderson,” Abby said, her voice surprisingly steady. She looked up, meeting Richard’s gaze through the glass door.
“Ms. Lake.” The words were clipped and cold, but she lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. “The blinds.” Her phone vibrated, and without moving, Abby glanced at her lap. Duck and cover, Abby. We’re done.
Abby bit down on her lips to keep herself from smiling.
“Of course, sir,” she said sweetly, grabbed her purse, and shoved the phone into it. She had very few personal items at her desk, despite the fact she’d worked for Richard for more than eight years. He hated clutter, and as a result she’d been unable to decorate her desk with the usual knickknacks and family photos that were seen elsewhere in the building. It worked to her advantage now, though, since it made making her exit easier. There was no guarantee she’d be able to return to her desk when all this was finished, and she didn’t want to leave anything behind.
She stood, purse still clenched in her hand, and walked over to the boardroom. The door opened before she could knock, revealing Parker and Matthews, who were laughing and smiling. Parker winked at Abby as she slipped inside and flipped the lever on the blinds.
Richard’s hands tightened into fists as he looked across the office and saw the entire board gathered inside the meeting room. Abby watched the emotions play across Richard’s face, his anger turning to astonishment when he saw his son and his niece in the thick of it, all the board members crowded around them, shaking their hands. When Parker looked up and met his gaze, back ramrod straight and expression fierce, Richard did the unthinkable. He smiled.
PARKER could still hear the blaring music from his perch on the roof, but it was muffled. He was surprised his neighbors hadn’t called the police, especially since it was after midnight, and the party showed no signs of slowing. His father had even made an appearance, much earlier, to congratulate them. He’d brought Parker’s stepmother, Catherine, who’d turned her nose up when Anna had offered her a jelly jar full of rum and Coke, the house drink for the evening, but had been civil otherwise. The two of them had only stayed long enough to have a few words with Parker, but it had been a miracle they’d come at all.
The entire day felt like it had happened to someone else,
Parker mused. He stretched his legs out, a smile playing across his lips as he looked down over the city that was spread before him. It wasn’t so late, for a Friday, and lights still twinkled in the buildings, white like stars except for the neon-lit signs that were too small to read. He knew what they all said, though. Parker had lived in the penthouse apartment since college. It was the first thing he’d bought at twenty-one, when he gained the inheritance his mother had left him. He’d paid a hefty price for a place with private rooftop access, but it was worth it.
Parker shivered a bit in his shirtsleeves, but he didn’t want to go back in just yet. He had too much to process, too much to think about, and he always did his best thinking up on the roof. Especially when that thinking was about his father.
He slipped his hand into his trouser pocket, fingering the cuff links his father had pressed into his hand before he’d left. Parker didn’t need to see them to know what they looked like. The pad of his finger stroked over the smooth gold, the tip of his fingernail tracing the engraving. A dragon, neck raised proudly, the detail fine enough that even the delicate curve of its nostrils, the points of its teeth, the pattern of its scales, were identifiable.
His mother had given them to his father when Richard launched Anderson. Parker didn’t remember the party, though he was sure it had probably been a lot like the one downstairs. Back then, Parker had been only a year old, and his father and mother would have been the age he now was. It was hard to imagine them young and carefree, drinking and dancing in celebration, but he was certain they had. He’d heard the story from Aunt Valerie enough times that he practically could see it play out in his mind.
Money had been tight, since Richard had forbidden Evelyn to touch her inheritance, saying they’d need it to fall back on if Anderson failed. But somehow she’d managed to scrimp and save enough over the years to buy Richard a pair of gold Tiffany cuff links and have them engraved with the dragon. Parker had a vivid memory of her raining kisses over his father’s face teasingly, laugh lilting, and telling him he was her dragon, so fierce and proud, one night when they’d thought Parker was tucked safely in bed. He’d just turned five, and he’d come down to get a glass of juice because he’d woken and been thirsty.
“Your mother would have been so proud,” his father had said when he’d pressed the cuff links on him. “I am so proud. You’ve grown into a fine man, Parker.”
When Parker had come out of the boardroom and seen his father standing there, he’d anticipated a fight. He’d been completely taken off guard when his father had smiled and then clapped him on the back.
“Parker,” Richard had said, his tone fond and completely without heat. “You found a way to save it, then, did you?”
Parker couldn’t do more than gape at him, but Anna had stepped up, back proud and straight, and looked her uncle in the eye.
“He did what was right for the employees who count on Anderson, which is a lot more than I can say for you.” Her tone was calm, but her eyes burned with challenge, making it clear that she not only stood with Parker, but that she’d defend him ardently.
Richard’s smile
didn’t deflate as he draped an arm around her and pulled her in for an uncharacteristic hug. Anna went woodenly, hands still at her sides as Richard enveloped her.
“I didn’t think he was ready,” he said simply, releasing Anna and turning back to Parker. “I should have come to you, Parker. Catherine and I—” Richard’s voice faltered for a second, his proud mask dropping just for a moment before the shutters fell back into place. He looked Parker in the eye. “I couldn’t just step back and let you take the helm, Parker. I needed the money. Catherine and I needed the money.”
Parker swallowed, still reeling from his father’s reaction to the news and completely unable to process the fact that his father, his infallible father, had for a moment looked uncertain and old.
“Too much of our money was tied up in real estate,” Richard continued, and Parker couldn’t believe his father was talking to him as an equal. It had never happened before. “That and Anderson, and when the real estate bubble burst, we were left in a bad way. I’m sorry, Parker.”
Richard clapped him on the back again, and as abruptly as it had started, the moment passed. He was every bit the stoic CEO again as he circulated through the crowd of board members, stopping to talk with each of them. They’d voted to remove him from his post and sell the company to his son, but none of them had seemed afraid to approach him.
Parker swung his feet out over the empty expanse of air again, letting them thump back against the rough cement of the wall. He dropped the cuff links back into his pocket, wondering if the board members had all known about the real reason Richard was in talks with Century. Had this all gone their way because the board hadn’t wanted to sell the company to someone else? Not that it mattered, he reasoned. At the end of the day, he and Anna had successfully negotiated a buyout of his father’s shares in Anderson and installed Parker as the company’s chief executive officer and Anna as the chief operating officer. The financial newspapers would have a field day with the revelation tomorrow, he was sure.
“You’re going to have to stop being so predictable if you want to be hard to find, you know.” Parker startled slightly at Mason’s voice, and he turned to see Mason rushing toward him, eyes wild and hands outstretched as though he was going to try to catch him. Parker laughed and rolled his eyes.
“Shit, Parker. I shouldn’t have snuck up on you,” Mason said, slightly breathless. “You jumped when I started talking, and I thought you were going to fall.”
Parker sighed, reached a hand out for Mason, and tugged him closer, so he was standing directly behind him at the wall. Mason rested his chin in the curve of Parker’s neck, wrapped his arms around Parker’s torso, and hugged Parker to himself as he settled into place behind him.
“Firstly, I did not jump. You didn’t startle me that badly. And secondly, even if I had fallen, it wouldn’t have been far.” He leaned over the edge to demonstrate his point, hands coming up to grab Mason by the forearms so he was forced to go with him. Mason gasped and tightened his grip, pulling at Parker’s broad chest uselessly as Parker brought them both forward. Mason shrieked and squeezed his eyes shut as if waiting to fall, but when nothing happened, he opened them again, his breath rushing out against Parker’s neck as he gave a disbelieving laugh.
The roof extended out past the wall Parker was sitting on, forming a wide ledge under Parker’s feet. Even if Parker had fallen off the wall, he’d have had plenty of room to hit the ground and roll before falling off the edge.
“Jackass,” Mason whispered, hiding his face in Parker’s neck, his cheeks hot with embarrassment. “That’s twice you’ve thought I was about to throw myself off a building, Mason,” Parker said, letting go of Mason’s arms. Mason left them wrapped loosely around him, making a small sound of approval when Parker drew his legs back and climbed over the wall, leaning back against the edge until he was facing Mason.
“You’re the one who makes a habit of hanging out on roofs,” Mason said, the words muffled by Parker’s collar. Parker laughed, lowering his head to nuzzle against Mason’s cheek.
“I happen to have a lot to live for, thank you very much,” he drawled, kissing a hot trail up Mason’s jaw until Mason looked up from where he’d buried his face, letting Parker claim his lips.
“You were amazing today,” Mason said quietly when Parker pulled back, content to just lean against Mason and enjoy the relative silence.
“You weren’t even there.” Parker laughed, shaking his head. Mason and the others had been waiting back at Parker’s apartment. When Parker had gotten far enough away from the melee to call Mason with the news, they’d already been celebrating, since Abby had texted Liam the moment the decision had been made known.
“I didn’t need to be there to know you were amazing,” Mason said, and Parker tried to kiss him again just to wipe the earnest look off his face. “You’re always amazing.”
“I’m amazing, am I? I hear you’re magical.” Mason laughed, shoving at Parker’s hands when he tried to put a stop to the serious talk and pull Mason in for another kiss.
“So, your father was here tonight,” Mason said, keeping his tone light.
Parker and Anna had been tight-lipped about his father’s reaction to the buyout, saying little more than that Richard had accepted it gracefully and with no bad blood. Everyone had been relieved to hear it, but Parker knew Mason was curious to hear the full story, especially after he’d seen Richard slip out the door a few hours earlier.
“He and Catherine were having some money problems,” Parker said, letting his hands fall to Mason’s hips and rest there. “He said he was proud of me, and he came tonight to give me something my mother had given him.”
Mason quirked a brow, and Parker huffed out a breath in mock exasperation, letting go of Mason’s hip to dig in his pocket for the cuff links. They glowed slightly in the moonlight, the soft patina of age burnishing the gold.
“They’re beautiful,” Mason said, studying the glinting metal in Parker’s palm. He looked at Parker’s shirtsleeves, which were rolled up on his forearm, a concession to the heat of his overfilled apartment, which he hadn’t fixed once he’d come outside. “Do you want me to help you put them on?”
Parker closed his fingers around the cuff links, shoving them back into his pocket. He bent forward, pressing a kiss against the column of Mason’s throat.
“I had hoped the dress code for tonight was less formal,” Parker murmured, lips skating over Mason’s Adam’s apple, which bobbed as he swallowed as if his throat was suddenly dry.
“That shirt still looks awfully formal,” Mason managed to say, running a finger over the button nestled just below the notch of Parker’s collarbone. He’d opened the top buttons already, the collar loose around his throat. Mason pressed his lips into the hollow.
“Should I take it off, then?” Parker asked, a bemused expression on his face as he began to unbutton it. “Oh, yeah,” Mason answered, scooting back to give Parker room. “More to your liking?” Parker asked after he’d unbuttoned it all the way, not giving Mason a chance to answer before pressing forward and kissing him, his mouth hot and hungry.
Mason’s fingers scrabbled at the hem of the T-shirt Parker still had on, working their way up underneath to ghost against the warm skin of Parker’s belly. Parker made a strangled sound when Mason abruptly changed course, moving down to wrestle with Parker’s buckle.
“You move fast for a virgin,” he said, and gasped as Mason flicked the opened belt aside and started in on the zipper.
“I am not a virgin, as you will well know when I’m through with you,” Mason murmured, fingers making quick work of Parker’s pants even as he started kissing him again, tongue sliding messily against Parker’s.
“Mason, I—” Parker groaned as Mason’s hand slipped into his boxers, grasping his cock firmly. “Jesus.” Parker ground against him, finally catching on enough to start to unfasten Mason’s jeans. He pushed up Mason’s thin T-shirt, thumb caressing the soft hair that trailed from just below his bell
y button.
“Wait, wait!” Parker pulled away, lips swollen from their hard kisses and pupils blown with lust. Parker’s pressed oxford shirt hung open, his undershirt rucked up to his nipples, which had pebbled in the cool night air. His immaculate trousers were open, belt hanging precariously from the last loop. Mason tried to ignore his protests, inching closer again to bring their hips together, but Parker shoved him, keeping him at arm’s length.
“The neighbors,” he said, darting a glance around. Parker’s building was by no means the tallest one in the area; Mason’s eyes widened as if he realized he’d very nearly shucked his clothes in full view of who knew how many people. It was dark, but no doubt the closer buildings would have gotten quite an eyeful.
Mason groaned in frustration, starting to do up his unfastened jeans, but Parker stopped him, stepping forward and grabbing Mason’s jaw, one hand splayed on either side as he kissed him. Parker urged him backward until Mason’s back hit the brick wall.
Parker didn’t let up, not giving Mason a chance to catch his breath as he kept kissing him, one hand groping blindly for the door. When it finally swung open, he broke the kiss, pulling Mason into the close quarters of the stairwell. The dim emergency lights cast surreal shadows, making the planes of Mason’s jaw look even sharper. Parker surged forward and kissed him again, bracing himself against Mason’s shoulders with one hand as he yanked Mason’s jeans open with the other.
They were hardly in a private space, but neither cared. They were safe from view of the neighbors, and since Parker owned the roof as well as the penthouse, they were assured no one other than their friends would accidentally happen by. It seemed like a small risk to take, especially since the party in Parker’s apartment was still in full force and there would be even less privacy down there.
“Oh God,” Parker groaned, fingers clenching in Mason’s hair as Mason unfastened Parker’s trousers and pushed them and his boxers down. Parker shivered when Mason’s hand wrapped around him again, this time not impeded by fabric.