by Simply BWWM
“I was wondering—if you get here in time, do you want to work on the pies with me?” It was their tradition; Brianna had helped her mother do all the Thanksgiving baking—usually two sweet potato pies, two pumpkin pies, and a pecan pie—the night before, so that the day of, there would be nothing occupying the oven in the morning and they could watch the parade in peace until it was time to start the turkey in the oven.
“Absolutely,” Brianna told her, nodding to Dylan as he let her into the back seat of the car. “Are you sure there isn’t anything you want me to bring?” She’d already planned on taking a few gifts to her parents, little souvenir things from the city—cheesy things, but things they would love.
“No, baby girl. I just want to see you again! I can’t wait,” her mother said. Brianna smiled to herself as she settled into her seat, and then—again—thought about the fact that she was pregnant, out of wedlock; not even, really, in a relationship that she could completely tell her mother about. There were a lot of things that her parents didn’t know about her life in the city, and the long weekend was going to bring a lot of opportunities for them to find out about them.
“I can’t wait to get out of the city and see you and Dad,” Brianna said. “I need to go now—I’m about to duck into a meeting.”
“Okay, baby, keep us posted,” her mother said. Brianna agreed and finished the call with an echo of the familiar “I love you” and goodbyes. When she hung up she felt strangely flattened, and almost wished that her mother hadn’t called her. As much as she looked forward to being out of the hurry and bustle of the city, and away from work and its stresses, she had been so caught up with the situation she was in with Ethan that she hadn’t even considered the fact that there was so much of her life that her family didn’t know anything about—and so much that she was going to have to come clean about.
As Dylan moved away from the curb and started back towards Ethan’s apartment, Brianna tried to think about how she could get rid of some of the oppressive burden she was suddenly feeling. You don’t even know what his Thanksgiving plans are; have you thought of that? You don’t even know if he has a family. Or what his relationship with them is like. Or if he thinks about you as anything other than...basically a friend with benefits.
Brianna closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window. If nothing else, she thought, her parents would be happy to have a grandchild. They might not like the way that she was going to give them one; but she was confident that if nothing else, she knew that Ethan would do the right thing by her in making sure she was financially supported. But the idea of raising her child on her own, and knowing that her parents would be disappointed, only deepened the gloom she had already been feeling with the board meeting hanging over her and Ethan’s heads.
Chapter18
As the members of the board filed in, Ethan reminded himself that he was as prepared as he could possibly be. He still wasn’t sure what the outcome would be—and what he would end up doing about Brianna’s hints in regard to her current pregnant state and the way that would only further complicate matters—but he knew that the die was cast, and he would survive whatever happened. If they made him step down, he was still a billionaire; it would be humiliating in the press, but he could live through it. It would be much more difficult for Brianna to live through—he would have to insist that her part of the situation be left out of any official reckoning or statement.
“Good morning, everyone,” he said, once Mark Loewy had joined them. “We have a lot of ground to cover at this meeting since we’re heading into one of the firm’s busiest times of year, but I think we should probably start with the HR investigation—since that could affect how many of us actually need to be here to discuss all these things.” He looked around the room; there were obviously a few people there who were interested—and who knew that his name had come up. Breckenridge, for one, was looking uncomfortable; Callahan looked as if he was trying very hard not to look like he knew what Ethan was talking about.
“Let’s just get this out of the way,” Bridget Johnson said. “We know that you were named in the investigation, right Mark?” She glanced at the head of the investigation, and Mark nodded. “And someone else on the board was also named. Who was that?”
“Jonathan Breckenridge,” Mark confirmed.
That explains why he’s looking so uncomfortable, Ethan thought.
“Okay, so what are the findings? Until we know what Mark has figured out, we can’t take a fair vote on what to do about it, can we?” Bridget looked around the room and Ethan saw some of the other people nodding. A few of the board members—the older ones, he noticed—seemed to be confused that there was anything at all to find out, much less anything to do.
“In the case of Breckenridge, someone made an anonymous complaint about three weeks ago, and I investigated,” Mark began. Ethan thought that there were some people—Breckenridge among them—who would have rather the man started with him, but he was glad not to have the spotlight just then.
“What were your findings? I’m sure we can all read the report in its fullness later,” another board member—Nathan Tuey—said.
“The evidence suggests that Breckenridge has used his position to hire more than one woman who are unqualified for their positions, and who have had to divert existing staff to take care of what should be under their purview,” Mark said. “Those same women have admitted to having a sexual relationship with Mr. Breckenridge.”
“And we just recently had to go through a staff downsizing,” Johnson said with disgust. The middle-aged woman shook her head. “Okay, before we vote on this; what’s the situation with Ethan?”
“I got a report from someone in the Creative Department that they saw Mr. Hale out with one of his assistants—Brianna Evers—socially, and investigated. One of his other assistants, Cassidy Pearce, reported that Brianna pursued a relationship with Mr. Hale specifically to secure advancement on the basis of a sexual relationship.” Ethan saw to his relief that Bridget rolled her eyes at that.
“So apparently this Cassidy has a thing for her boss. What was the finding?”
“I’d heard that Cassidy was fired this morning,” Callahan said.
“Ah—yes, that was in a parallel investigation,” Mark said. “I was not involved, nor was Mr. Hale.”
“Let’s get to the point: is there any evidence that Ethan used his position to hire a sex-retary?” Johnson looked around the room with a sardonic eye and Ethan barely resisted laughing.
“The evidence that we’ve found is that Ethan Hale hired Brianna Evers on merit, based on a chance meeting—but there is a concern about the fact that they do have a sexual relationship,” Mark said. “It doesn’t appear to be a quid pro quo situation, but it is an ethical issue.” Mark shot him a quick, almost-apologetic look and Ethan made an even quicker gesture to reassure the man.
“Okay,” Callahan said after a moment’s silence.
“I move that the two men involved in this question should leave the room while we make a determination; that seems in keeping with fairness, doesn’t it?” Matthew Knowles looked around the room to confirm that everyone agreed with him.
“If I can have a chance to speak first,” Ethan said. He rose to his feet. “I am not going to make some impassioned plea to the board to keep me on; if you think that my behavior has been questionable enough to affect the company’s profitability, then you have to do what you have to do.
“But I will say that Brianna and I have discussed the issue of our relationship, and have concluded that it may be better in the long run for her to vacate her position.” He paused to let that sink in. It was—ultimately—what Brianna had hinted at in their conversation, wasn’t it? “This would not be a retaliatory thing, or a coverup: she would leave as an employee in good standing, and with positive references from HR.”
“We can discuss that, as well,” Johnson suggested. “We’ll keep it under advisement.” Ethan nodded and he and Breckenridge left the confere
nce room to let the board deliberate on their fates.
“They’re going to kick me off the board, I know it,” Breckenridge said, shaking his head. Ethan raised an eyebrow; the man had apparently kept multiple women on staff to have sex with them on a ready basis, and had thought he wouldn’t get caught? You thought you wouldn’t get caught either, he told himself. But then, he countered, he had only had one such “sex-retary” as Johnson had put it, and he had made sure she was qualified for the nominal job she had.
“I’m not all that sad for you about it,” Ethan said.
“Isn’t it going to piss you off if they vote for you to step down?” Ethan shook his head.
“No, because I knew the risk getting into it, and because at the end of the day—I’ll still be a stakeholder. I won’t be running things, but that was the chance I took when I started up a relationship with an employee.” He wasn’t going to deviate from the story that he and Brianna had told; especially not to someone as obviously ethically devoid as Breckenridge.
They both lapsed into silence as they waited, and Ethan thought about Brianna, who was probably much more stressed out about the situation on the whole than he was. If he lost his position, he could live with it easily; he would still have the revenues from the business he’d purchased, and he’d still be a billionaire. He could move onto another project.
But if he lost his job, Brianna would doubtless worry that she’d lost some security; even if he’d tried to make it clear that he would support her in whatever way she needed, especially now that she was carrying his child. But have you really been completely honest, completely frank with her? That was the bigger problem—that was the thing that bothered him. Everything between them had been so transactional, and when their situation had only been as employee and employer, that was probably as it should have been.
But somewhere along the line, he’d begun to care about her—really and truly care. He’d developed feelings for her, which he hadn’t anticipated. It wasn’t just the fact that she was pregnant with his child; it was that she was beautiful, talented, smart—everything he wanted in a woman he would spend most of his time with. All at once, he didn’t even want to wait for the board to come to its decision; he wanted to go straight to his apartment, and work things out with Brianna.
He considered leaving; but he knew that he needed to see the meeting through, one way or the other. He needed to have something to tell Brianna when he finally got back to her, and if he told her that he’d left the meeting without finding out their fates, it wouldn’t do any good. Ethan thought about what he should do about the larger problem—the one that was more important to him than the decision of the board—that of his relationship with Brianna. He had nearly come up with a solution when the door to the conference room opened.
“The board has come to a decision,” Johnson said. Ethan took a quick breath and focused in on the matter at hand; depending on the decision the board had come to, he might have plenty of time to take care of the plans he had for Brianna—and if not, he could send Jennifer a text message during the meeting to let her know what he wanted and how to take care of it.
The Final Chapter
When it had been nearly two hours—the time frame in which Ethan had told her he would come to see her—Brianna found herself feeling more and more anxious. She’d managed to get some work done in his apartment, after changing into a comfortable set of pajamas she kept there for overnight stays, but worries about what would happen to them—and what she would say to her parents about her situation—continued to gnaw at her the entire time.
Just when she thought she might actually be unable to handle the suspense for much longer, Brianna heard the telltale sounds of Ethan arriving at the apartment. She put her laptop aside and rose to her feet, needing to move; needing to do something. I should have told him to text me whatever the result was, if he was going to be gone the full time. I can’t deal with this kind of stress.
Ethan came into the apartment smiling, and Brianna had to believe that he had prevailed; that he hadn’t been forced to resign from the board and as CEO. “From the look on your face, you have good news,” Brianna said, mirroring his smile.
“Very good news, actually,” Ethan said. “I quit.” Brianna blinked.
“What?” She shook her head and stared at him. “How is that good news?”
“Because they didn’t want me to,” Ethan told her. “I quit because I don’t need the job, and I don’t need you to have your job there—though if you decide you want to keep working with whoever they replace me with for a while, I’m not going to stop you.”
“You’re going to need to explain this to me,” Brianna said. She moved back to the couch and sat down.
“They fired Breckenridge,” Ethan began. He didn’t move to sit with her, which Brianna thought was strange; but it wasn’t so strange that she paid much attention to it—not when there were larger concerns. “Kicked him off the board outright, which—to be honest—is only right. They said that since there was no evidence that I coerced you or that I used my authority to hire an unqualified person merely for the sake of having sex with them, I was cleared.” Brianna raised an eyebrow at the first point, but they had long since resolved that issue between them.
“So why did you quit?”
Ethan licked his lips and smiled slowly.
“I’m still a key shareholder,” he said, ticking off the point on one fingertip. “Besides, I thought it was the best way to finally put paid to the wrong thing I did in starting a relationship with you; if you want to continue to work, you won’t be working for me. Our personal lives will be completely separate from our professional ones. Finally, I just thought—it would be the best way to make sure that you don’t get any kind of blowback from being pregnant with my child.”
“Wow,” Brianna said, taking a moment to absorb the news. “So I would be doing the same job—minus the sex—for whoever they appoint as CEO now that you’re gone?” Ethan nodded.
“Unless you decide to give up the job—or until you go on maternity leave. Whichever comes first.” Brianna stared at Ethan for a moment longer, trying to understand what had happened between them; what had made Ethan change so drastically? Has he really changed, though? Isn’t this in keeping with the kind of generosity he’s always shown you?
“Sorry I’m not—like—jumping up and down or anything, it’s just a lot to take in,” Brianna said. Ethan smiled at her slowly.
“As long as you’re not yelling at me for making such a high-handed move, I don’t feel bad,” he said. He licked his lips again and it occurred to Brianna that he actually seemed nervous. What did he have to be nervous about? “I also wanted to talk about another contract with you.” Brianna frowned.
“A contract?” She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling disappointed already; apparently Ethan hadn’t had as much of a change of mind and heart as she’d thought.
“Yes, a contract that would give you some sense of protection, and security for the sake of the child you’re carrying,” Ethan said. He looked down for a moment and Brianna saw a smile twitch at the corners of his lips. He took a breath and before Brianna’s shocked eyes he dropped to one knee, reached into his pocket, and took out a small jewelry box from Tiffany’s.
“What are you doing?” Ethan gave her a hopeful smile and opened up the box, showing her its contents. There, in the velvet, was a ring: a white gold band, with gold Xs framing pairs of diamonds and sapphires—one each between each two Xs.
“This isn’t the actual ring I plan on giving you to cement our contract—assuming you agree to the terms,” Ethan said quietly. “That one...I have them doing a custom job for me. But I thought this one would at least be a token, something you could wear while we wait for the real thing.”
“What does this have to do with a contract?” Brianna shook her head in confusion, unable to take her eyes off of the remarkable ring.
“Well, technically in the eyes of the law, marriage is a contract
,” Ethan pointed out. “I thought the best way for you to be protected, to feel safe and know that you would always be provided for was to ask if you would marry me.”
That got Brianna’s gaze off of the ring and onto Ethan’s face. For a moment she almost couldn’t believe it; surely he was screwing with her? But he met her gaze with a kind of hopeful affection. “You’re asking me to marry you?” Ethan nodded.
“We can wait until after the baby—or before you get too far along to look the way you want in a wedding dress,” Ethan said. “However you want to do it. But I thought—I hoped—that you would see it as a commitment on my part: to make sure that you know I have no intention of ever leaving you out in the cold.”
“Okay,” Brianna said. “I am going to say yes, on one condition.” Ethan raised an eyebrow at that.
“What condition is that?” His expression was curious—and only a little bit apprehensive.
“You have to come with me to Thanksgiving at my parents’ place this week, and you will explain to them how I came to be pregnant and engaged in a span of only a few months in the city,” she told him, smiling. Ethan laughed, shaking his head.
“Deal!” he said. He took the ring out of the box and Brianna held out her hand for him to put it on her. They kissed, and at first it was just an expression of their mutual joy—Brianna’s at all of the problems she had in her life being solved all at once, Ethan’s at her acceptance of his proposal—but then after a few moments the kiss deepened, and the heat surged between them.
Ethan’s hands moved over her body, lingering briefly at her waist and abdomen before moving to the areas that Brianna already knew he liked the best: her breasts and her hips, down to her thighs and then sliding up between them.
She pawed at his clothes, struggling for maybe a minute before finding the buttons on his blazer. As always, it seemed, Ethan was more deft than she was by far, and before Brianna managed to even get his blazer completely off, he’d already rid her of her pajama top, dipping down to the column of her throat to kiss and nibble the sensitive spots there. For a while they kept things in suspense, stripping each other’s clothes off until they were just in their underwear but not going any further than kissing and touching each other everywhere.