That Night with the CEO

by Karen Booth

  Melanie already knew she wanted him to wear the dark charcoal-gray suit. He’d worn it the night she first met him and he looked absolutely incredible in it—jacket perfectly tailored to accentuate his sculpted shoulders and trim waist. So she’d have to avert her eyes and bite down on her knuckle every time she saw him tomorrow night. No big deal. She’d endured worse.

  She thumbed her way through his ties. The quiet in the closet was suffocating. She had to say something. “Why no tuxedos?”

  Adam cast his eyes away when she looked at him. “My mother hates the way my dad looks in black. She says he looks like an undertaker, which, given the circumstances, is probably an image we want to avoid.”

  “Yes. Of course.” So much for small talk. She selected a few ties—a steely blue, black with a deep green diagonal stripe, and lavender.

  “No way.” Adam plucked the light purple tie from her hand and hung it back up. “You and your lavender. It’s too girlish.”

  “It’s your tie. Why do you have it if you can’t even stand to look at it?”

  “It was a gift from my mother. I think of her every time I choose not to wear it.”

  She deliberated between the other two ties before thrusting one into his hand. “Fine. We’ll try the blue. It’ll bring out your eyes.”

  “You care about how my eyes look. Really?”

  “Yes, I care. Your eyes are one of your best features.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were flirting with me.” He twisted his lips. “But I definitely know better.”

  “Just put on the suit so you can run through your speech and we can both get on with our night. I’ll be outside the door.”

  He let out a frustrated grumble. “Okay. It’ll just take me a minute.”

  Melanie wandered out of the closet and over to the window, looking out at the city. The days were getting longer, only a few months until summer. Where would she be by then? Would she have a few more clients? More money coming in? Logic said that she was on an upward trajectory, thanks to the success of Adam’s campaign. So why wasn’t she happy? She’d made the choice to focus on her career and it was going to pay off, but it all felt empty. She had no one to share these triumphs with, and as Adam had suggested, that was likely her own doing.

  Adam strolled into the room, stopping in front of the full-length mirror on the wall. “Thoughts?”

  Melanie steadied herself, leaning against the window casing. He was so handsome, it hurt to take a breath, producing a sharp pain in her chest. Her exhale came out as an embarrassingly choppy rush of air.

  “That will work.” She straightened, trying to play it off as a triviality when all she felt was a profound tingle from head to toe. Not getting to kiss him while he was wearing that suit was torture. Even worse was knowing that she wouldn’t get to watch him take it off.

  “What are you wearing to the party?” he asked.

  “A dress.”

  “I assumed as much. Care to elaborate?”

  “I don’t know.” She hadn’t figured it out and it wasn’t in the budget to buy anything new. She’d probably just go with one of her reliable little black dresses she’d worn to this sort of event hundreds of times. “Why does it matter?”

  “I’m curious.” Adam adjusted the cuff on his shirt. “Are you bringing a date?” His eyes didn’t stray from his reflection in the mirror.

  Melanie closed her eyes for a moment. This was supposed to be her chance to level the playing field tomorrow night, but she was now far less enthusiastic about the prospect. “I’m going with my neighbor, Owen. He’s a doctor.” She had zero romantic interest in Owen, and she’d made it clear this was just as friends, but Adam didn’t need to know that. She simply refused to attend the party without a date, knowing that she’d have to smile and pretend to be happy while Julia was on Adam’s arm.

  “Let me guess. Ear, nose and throat.”

  “Gynecologist, if you must know.”

  Adam laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Why would I joke about that? Especially knowing what you’d probably say?”

  “This is your event. I take it that you asked him out?”

  What is he implying? That I can’t get a date? “I invited him, but Owen has asked me out plenty of times.”

  “And have you gone? Out with Owen?”

  “We’ve gone to the movies and out to dinner.” She stopped short of clarifying the true context of the outings. They were not dates. There was popcorn and sitting together in the dark, but there was no hand-holding. There was dinner, but it was a slice of pizza at the Famous Ray’s near their building. No romance, just friends, at Melanie’s request.

  “I see. Well, I look forward to meeting your doctor neighbor. I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about.”

  “Because you’re both so familiar with the female form?”

  He delivered a look that shot ribbons of electricity through her body. “We’re both big fans of Melanie Costello’s form, apparently.”

  His words ushered in waves of heat, followed by a rush of confusion. Was he jealous? She couldn’t imagine Adam envying another man. But what about the look in his eyes and the possessive rumble of his voice? Was he saying that he hadn’t given up? And what would she do about that if it were the truth?

  “You should probably practice your speech, so I can hear it out loud,” she said, breaking the spell of silence.

  “Right here?”

  Melanie shrugged. “Sure.” She trekked across the room to sit, even though she’d been inches from the bed, a perfectly acceptable perch if she hadn’t been so afraid of what Adam might think.

  “I almost wish I had a podium. Feels strange to stand here and deliver a speech.” He straightened his jacket, seeming both confident and vulnerable standing before her. She stifled a sigh. That was the Adam she adored, the Adam who would never be hers.

  Adam started his speech, but Melanie noticed something wrong right away. Everything that came out of his mouth was confident and optimistic, but his shoulders had tensed, his voice held a distinct edge of agitation. It was as if he was speaking someone else’s words, but he’d written most of the speech. She’d made only a few minor changes and suggestions.

  I’m excited for this new challenge.

  I’ve been waiting my entire life for this opportunity.

  I appreciate the confidence of the board of directors.

  He was saying one thing while meaning another, which couldn’t be good. After all, Adam had told her countless times. He was no good at faking anything.

  * * *

  Adam pinched the bridge of his nose when he finished his speech. He didn’t even want to hear Melanie’s appraisal. He’d seen the bewildered look on her face when he spoke.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “Um. Sure.” Her question caught him off guard to say the least. She didn’t shy away from criticism when warranted, and he knew he hadn’t done well. “Why?”

  “It just didn’t seem like you. At all.”

  “I’m fine.” The words sat on his lips—nothing was fine. Everything was very much not okay, and it was about more than LangTel. It was more than worry about his dad. It was about her. The two of them in his apartment, being barely civil and making a grand point to not touch each other, hell, trying to not look too much at each other, was utterly and completely wrong.

  But things had changed. Every other time she’d said no to him, it had been because they were working together. It was never because there was another man in the picture. The more egotistical parts of him had presumed that there was no other love interest because she wanted to be with him. Apparently he was wrong.

  Now she had a date, a man she’d chosen, a doctor, no less. Adam never compared himself with other men, but this was pretty clear
-cut. She’d shut down Adam three times. She’d chosen Owen. Maybe she wasn’t closed off to the idea of love. Perhaps she was closed off only to the idea of him.

  “Are you sure?” Melanie asked. “You seem like something’s bothering you. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Here she was, right before him, the woman he couldn’t chase out of his mind if he wanted to. She wanted to listen. She wanted to talk. This could very well be their last chance to be together like this, just talking. After the gala, he would go his way and she would go hers.

  He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I don’t want to run LangTel.” Just getting that much off his chest was a relief of epic proportions.

  Melanie’s mouth went slack. “What? But your dad. The succession plan.” She looked around the room, blinking as if she couldn’t comprehend what he’d said, which was a big part of the problem. It only made sense to Adam and Anna. Nobody else seemed to get it. “You love a challenge and it’s a huge corporation, your family’s name is on it. Why wouldn’t you want that opportunity?”

  He shook his head, dropping to the bench at the foot of his bed. “I know it sounds crazy, but every Langford man before me has been a self-made man. My dad. My grandfather. My great-grandfather. I can’t stand the thought of not doing the same thing, blazing my own trail. I want something that I built myself, from the ground up. Is that so wrong?”

  She smirked. “Adam, you said it yourself. You made your first million out of your dorm room. You’re already a self-made man. Check that off your list and move on to the next big challenge. I have no doubt that you’ll kick some serious butt running LangTel. With your mind for technology, you could do some incredibly innovative things.”

  “You’re sweet, but it’s not quite as simple as that. At least not for me it isn’t.”

  “But haven’t you and your dad been talking about this since you were a little boy?”

  Indeed, Adam had been made keenly aware of what had been preordained for him. One of his most vivid childhood memories was of the day his dad brought him into LangTel on a Saturday afternoon, sat him down in the big leather executive chair in his father’s corner office. Adam was seven. His dad had talked about things Adam didn’t fully understand, told him that the chair and the desk and the whole damn thing would be his one day.

  That day was fast approaching and Adam wanted nothing more than to slam on the brakes and make this runaway train come to a complete stop. The future his dad wanted for him wasn’t what he wanted for himself.

  “Yes, people have been talking about it since I can remember. In the end, I just can’t say no to him, especially now that he’s dying. If I’d been smart, I’d have said something about this years ago. I just didn’t think I’d be confronted with it until he was ready to retire, and I always figured there was a chance I might feel differently by then.”

  Melanie’s eyes grew wide. She hopped forward to the edge of her seat. “But Anna. She wants to do it. She told me when we met about planning the gala. Adam, that’s it. It’s perfect.”

  Adam smiled wide. She was so adorable, wanting to help, wanting to fix things for him and for his sister. Hell, she wanted to fix things for the entire Langford family. “Our dad refuses to entertain the subject. He’s so old-fashioned, it’s ridiculous.”

  Melanie appeared crestfallen. “Damn. I figured sibling rivalry was the bigger issue.” She sighed deeply, their eyes connected, and he sank into them as if they were the only respite he would ever want. “Oh my God, Adam. The scandal. That was your out.” She rubbed her temple, seeming even more concerned than she’d been a minute ago. “You could’ve said no to the PR campaign and just let the board of directors force you out. It would’ve solved everything.”

  He almost wanted to laugh. He’d considered that, but then his dad had hired a public relations whiz named Melanie Costello. The moment he saw her picture on her company’s website, his heart had wormed its way into his throat. He finally knew the identity of his Cinderella. So he’d sucked it up and agreed to the PR campaign, even though it would likely seal his fate. He had to see his mystery woman again, see if the lightning in a bottle was real. And it was. It just wasn’t meant to last.

  He couldn’t tell her that now—she’d moved on. He had no choice but to accept it. “I thought about that. But it would’ve made a mess of the family name, and that would have been no way to say goodbye my dad. It really wouldn’t have solved everything, but it might have fixed that one problem.” He couldn’t have lived with himself if he’d taken that route anyway. It would’ve destroyed his relationship with his dad. Luckily, Melanie had saved him from making that choice. She just didn’t know it.

  “You know, the day I met with Anna, I felt a little jealous of your family,” Melanie said.

  “It’s not all wine and roses, believe me.”

  “I know that, but you’re still close, you really care about each other. I just don’t have that. My sisters think I’m an oddball, my dad is impossible, and my mom is— Well, I never really knew her.” She shook her head. “I know your relationship with your dad is tumultuous, but at least you have him. He’s still here. You can still talk to him. You just have to find a way to get him to understand. You won’t feel right about things if he passes away and you haven’t tried one more time.”

  He’d tried and failed at it more times in the past few months than he could remember. Was that even possible? “How ironic is it that my dad and I are so close and he’s the one person I never push to see my side of things? The idea of letting him down is still unfathomable.”

  Jack lumbered into the room, making a pit stop at Adam’s knee, then beelining to Melanie. How that dog loved her. Adam toyed with telling Melanie that Jack had taken to standing next to the bed at night, resting his head on the pillow where she’d slept. Even Jack knew that she belonged there.

  Melanie ruffled Jack’s ears and smiled at him. “I’m no expert, but it’s better to come out with things and live with the consequences. I did that with my dad. It didn’t go over well, but at least I said my piece.”

  She was so smart, so intuitive about people, although she seemed more interested in helping others than examining her own problems. “I like hearing about your family.” It makes me feel closer to you. He’d wanted to say that last part so badly, but it would sound too much as if he’d fallen desperately in love with a woman he couldn’t have. And he had. He loved Melanie with every fiber of his being.

  “I should probably go.” She stood, straightening her dress and collecting her purse. “And you should get out of that suit so you don’t get it all wrinkly before tomorrow.”

  He rose to his feet to say his goodbye, finding her only a few feet from him. His arms ached to hold her, never let go. He wanted to kiss her for days, escape from the entire world with her. He wanted to cherish and adore her the way she deserved to be. She’d shown him the opportunity in tomorrow, the day he’d been dreading, reminded him that he determined his own destiny. Of course, that pertained to business. There was no controlling it when it came to love, now that there was another man in the picture.

  Seventeen

  Melanie had rendered herself dateless right after she left Adam’s. As difficult as it would be to see him with Julia at the gala, taking Owen as her human security blanket wasn’t right. So, she stopped by his apartment, apologized profusely and owned up to everything. He deserved better and she needed to get her head screwed on straight.

  She hardly slept at all that night, haunted by images of Adam, the way he’d looked at her after he’d tried on the suit, the gravel in his voice when it seemed as if he might be jealous. Other memories swooped in and out of her consciousness—the mountain house, dancing at Flaherty’s, the night when she’d finally allowed herself the pleasure of the sexiest man she’d ever known. She could still feel his tender lips on hers, remember his warm and welcomin
g smell, conjure the safe sensation of his arms around her. Knowing that her chance with Adam was behind her left a void—one that made the one left by Josh look like a chip on a china teacup.

  In the morning, sleep-deprived and feeling duly horrible, she knew she had to keep herself busy on gala day or it’d mean hours of rehashing what she’d gone over countless times. She was going to miss the hell out of Adam and there was no getting around it. She tried on twenty different dresses, threw in a load of laundry, smeared on a facial mask, took a bath, painted her nails ruby red, and spent entirely too much time messing with her hair and makeup. At least she would look good when she said goodbye.

  Just when she’d narrowed her choice of dresses down to two, a push notification arrived on her phone. She picked it up and checked it—big mistake. It felt as though her breath was being dragged out of her as she looked at the tabloid photo of Julia leaving Adam’s apartment building early that morning. So that was what Adam had on his social schedule last night. Julia had been on her way over.

  She plopped down on her bed, still in her bathrobe. She stared at the picture, struggling to make sense of the emotion seething inside her. Logic said that this should make her sad, another sign from the universe that she and Adam weren’t meant to be. But there was no melancholy. She didn’t even feel bitter. She was flat-out pissed off—not at Adam, but at herself. The most incredible man she’d ever met, the only man she wanted, was about to walk away and she was going to let him. Everything holding her back would expire at midnight, and then where would she be? A few bucks ahead and brokenhearted, that’s where.

  Julia wasn’t what he wanted. She knew it. Even if he hadn’t told her as much, her heart still knew better than to accept that. Her heart knew exactly the way it felt when she and Adam were together—complete, fulfilled, as if it didn’t make sense to be anywhere else. And when they were apart, she was lost, not just without a map or compass, but without a destination.