by Amelia Wilde
It doesn’t help that things have intensified with the merger investigation. If I wasn’t so determined to personally verify that things are being resolved—if I was one of those types who could leave the company in the hands of the CEOs and survive on daily updates—I would be at home with Angelica. Or on one of my yachts somewhere in the south of France.
“They’re asking for more documentation on last year’s partnership ventures,” Connor says from the doorway. He’s been working nonstop since the whistleblower news broke, putting out fires and keeping me posted up to the minute on financials.
“Hand over whatever they want. We’re squeaky clean. The last thing we want to do is give the impression that we’ve got anything to hide.”
My phone rings nonstop all morning. The news has gained traction on the internet, which is wonderful, and the rabid journalists are looking for quotes from anyone who’s ever been near the website.
After the fifth press call, I tell Emily to route any outside requests to the PR department. They can filter out the urgent calls and send them to me if it’s necessary. In the meantime, I’m going to have a new number programmed to represent my office. It gets leaked every so often, and days like today make it perfectly clear when my direct line has become public knowledge.
It’s one thing after another all day.
In the afternoon Connor comes back, his face red, his jaw clenched. “Big problem, Jett.”
I put down the documents I’ve been reviewing as Connor drops into the seat across the desk from me. “Bigger than fraud?”
“Way bigger. While they were investigating they found porn being hosted on their servers.”
I give him a look. “If they’ve got an accounting problem, it’s no surprise that they’ve got other issues beneath the surface. Why are you so shaken up about it?”
“It’s not any porn.” Connor gives me a meaningful look.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake.”
“Yeah.”
“Is PR on it?”
“They’re watching the news release right now.”
“I want us distanced as far as humanly possible from these scumbags.”
“Right now they’re claiming that their servers were hacked.”
“You think anybody’s going to remember that excuse?”
“No.” Connor rubs his hands over his face. “No, I don’t.”
“I want everybody on the management level coached with prepared statements. The press isn’t going to—.” As if on cue, my desk phone rings. I slam my finger down on the button to route the call to Emily. “The press has been sniffing around all morning, and I bet they had an inkling that some shit like this was going to break. Anybody with a public phone number is going to be on their call roster. Including you.”
“I’ll take the message to the PR team on the way back to my office.”
“I’ll be here, trying to salvage something decent from this disaster.”
My stomach tightens as he goes out the door.
I’m not leaving early tonight, and now that this is a mess of epic proportions, I shouldn’t even consider it.
I’m still fielding calls at 5:45 when there’s a soft knock at the door. I hold up one finger and finish the call I’m on. Emily has been doing some of her best work today. I might give her a bonus.
But it’s not Emily at the door. It’s Angelica, a bag of takeout in her arms. She gives me a sympathetic smile.
“Hey, sweet thing.” My chest heats up at the sight of her.
“I saw the news online while I was doing some research for my next package,” she says, coming tentatively into the office and standing next to the two seats situated across the desk from me. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
Her usual confidence is muted. “Only an endless stream of phone calls.” I stand up and go around the desk to her, taking her chin in my hands and tilting her head up for a kiss. “I’m glad you came. I’m starving.”
Angelica’s smile isn’t as bright as I would have expected, but it’s probably because she feels a little weird about visiting me at headquarters. My office can be intimidating, or so I’ve heard.
“Have a seat.” I let her have her pick of the two chairs, then go back to the door. “Emily?”
“Mr. Brandon?” she answers from behind her computer, her head tilted so that she can see me. She pauses the furious typing she’s been doing all day for a moment.
“I’m having dinner in my office. Hold my calls.”
Emily smiles at me, her lips pressed tightly together like she wants to hide her glee, but then she nods and resumes typing. I’ve never allowed a woman to come to the office before. She’s probably beside herself thinking of all the possibilities.
I close the door behind me and take the seat next to Angelica. She’s already laid out the food—two cheeseburgers on beds of waffle fries, the toppings slightly off-center from their journey. I crack a huge smile.
“It’s not a five-star place or anything,” Angelica says, a little tremble in her voice, pink rising to her cheeks. “I thought—.”
“You thought right.” I lean over and cover her mouth with mine, kissing her like she’s presented me with the fanciest meal ever served to man.
“Thank God,” she whispers when we come up for air, but a frown crosses her face before she replaces it with an enthusiastic smile. “Let’s eat.”
I pick up one of the steak fries and watch her as she slides the lettuce on her burger back into place, then grabs one of the plastic knives from the bag and cuts it in half.
A late day at work, and Angelica brings me dinner.
Two things hit me at once.
First, I don’t want to spend my life at the office. Not anymore.
And second, I always want Angelica to be by my side.
23
Angelica
I don’t have any clue why I keep playing this game, going so far as to bring Jett takeout in his office.
My stomach dropped into my toes when I saw the news online about the company he’s been working at acquiring, a social media platform called LinkLove. He’s mentioned the acquisition a few times, but never the name of the company. The gossip sites caught fire when it came out that there had been child porn found on their servers, and they gleefully reported that Brandon, Inc. had been in negotiations to acquire them for weeks. The bookkeeping shit immediately got pushed to the background, but none of it is good for Jett.
I’d planned to sit down with him at the penthouse when he got home. I thought I could put it off one more day, but after what happened with Charlie yesterday, I couldn’t.
He’d met me outside a different coffee shop, this time dressed in a button-down and shorts that made him look like a tourist.
I handed him the flash drive as quickly as I could, holding it in my fingertips so our skin didn’t touch.
He leered at me. “You’re an excellent mole, Angelica. I’m pleased with your work.
This isn’t work, it’s extortion. Not that I could say that to him.
Instead, I took a deep breath. “Do you have what you need?”
He cocked his head at me, his gray eyes boring into mine. “Was I not clear before? This assignment is ongoing.”
My jaw clenched so hard that my molars ground together. “I’m running out of reasons to stay at his penthouse.”
Charlie laughed, the sound making the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not—”
“Jett Brandon has been taking you all over the city. He’s had several weeks’ worth of clothes delivered to his nice little penthouse. Are you telling me he’s not in love with you?”
I swallowed hard. “He’s not in love with me. He’s extremely wealthy. You should know that.”
Charlie shook his head, slowly, like he couldn’t believe my own stupidity. “You did your job too well, sweetheart. The man can’t get enough of you.” Then he laughs again. “It’s only too bad you’re fleecing him.�
��
“You are. Not me.”
“Don’t kid yourself. If it weren’t for your information deposits—,” he says, waving the flash drive in front of my face, “—I’d be months behind on this latest...project. Months, and millions.”
The blood drained from my face. Millions of dollars? Well, what should I have expected, that Charlie would go after a billionaire for pocket change?
“If you’re millions ahead, then I think you could consider Adam’s debt paid.”
He gave a slow nod, and for a split second I thought maybe he would agree with me, that he might call it off. “It’s true—I’ve recovered the....investment I made in Adam.” His smile is wide but cruel, no kindness in his eyes. “But you are proving to be far more lucrative.”
Asshole. “That wasn’t the deal we made.”
Charlie’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped closer, forcing me to step back. The only thing keeping him from hitting me, I was sure, was the fact that there were people in the coffee shop, and he can’t keep running his “business” if he’s in jail.
“The deal is off when I say it’s off.” I can see his muscles flexing, nostrils flaring. This was dangerous ground. I wanted to tell him to fuck off, that my brother doesn’t owe him anything anymore, and that he wouldn’t be seeing me, but the memory of his fist crashing into Adam’s face, more horrible threats in his eyes, made me bite my tongue.
There would be no chance to end it with Charlie—not until Charlie satisfies his own greed. Which could be never.
All I can do is tell Jett.
Which is why my hands are shaking when I go up to his office and ask his secretary if he’s busy. She looks me up and down, then makes a decision. “Go on in,” she says, her voice kind, if a little wary.
Jett is on the phone when I knock at the doorframe, and he holds up one finger, not looking toward me until he’s finished the call he’s on. When he sees me, his face brightens.
“Hey, sweet thing,” he says, a term of endearment that would make my flesh crawl if it was spoken by anyone else. When Jett says it, my chest fills with warm pleasure.
But it doesn’t last, because I know what I have to do.
He kisses me, then closes the door to his office. While he’s out, I arrange the food on his desk, hands trembling, heart jumping.
I don’t want to do this. I have no choice.
I want him to keep looking at me the way he did when he saw that it was me and not his secretary at the door.
I want him to love me. It’s stupid, and it’s a pipe dream, but I want him to love me...and not because I’ve seduced him, but because I make him happy.
The food I’ve brought—burgers from my favorite hole-in-the-wall a few blocks from the Sisterspark offices—stick in my throat. I don’t make it until we’ve finished.
When I abruptly put my burger down on the paper plate, Jett looks at me, his brow furrowed. “Are you all right?”
“No.”
He puts down his burger, turns to face me. “What is it?”
My phone buzzes. Hadley wanted me to be available this evening in case more news broke on the LinkLove story, which she’s also covering on her website.
“I’m—one second, Jett.”
I slide my phone out of my purse and my heart plummets straight through the floor.
Your brother was never supposed to leave the city.
Then, Do you think we can’t find him, wherever he is?
Then, Do you think we won’t?
The blood drains from my face, my mind going into overdrive. What am I going to say to Jett? I thought Adam was safe at home, away from the city, but maybe that was another stupid assumption.
There’s no way I can tell him now, not when my brother’s life is still at risk—and Charlie is angry. If the money stops coming in....
“Angelica?”
“Yeah? Yes.” I drop the phone back into my purse.
“What’s bothering you?”
“I—”
The silence stretches out as stressful heat floods my face. In the end, I have no choice to settle for half of the truth.
“I know this is supposed to be a fling, but...you should know that I...I have feelings for you.”
24
Jett
Angelica’s eyes are watery, like she’s on the verge of tears, and she’s clearly uncomfortable with telling me this, though in this moment I can’t fathom why. We’ve been sleeping together, with her staying at my penthouse, for upwards of two weeks. I bailed her out of an inconvenient situation. I’ve given her everything, including practically unlimited access to me.
This should not be a surprise, but my heart thuds against my rib cage.
Are we at this point already?
My mind spins out of control. It doesn’t seem to matter that seconds ago I was thinking how terrible it would be if she were ever out of my sight. It turns out I’m still torn.
I don’t know what to say.
I stall for time.
I smile at her with a cocky confidence I don’t feel. Underneath I’m a tidal wave of some emotion I can’t name, that I’m not even sure I want to name. “What kind of feelings?”
She looks down at her hands in her lap. “You know.”
Her bottom lip quivers and I want to take her face in my hands and pull her in to me and kiss her until her smile is radiant, comfortable, secure.
My heart twists in my chest, battling against my head.
The truth is....
The truth is....
Angelica is the opposite of Emerald in every way. She’s not in this for my money. She’s shown no sign of using me for my money. She’s ridiculously delighted with everything I do for her.
Far from hindering my obsession with taking control at the office, she’s tacitly encouraged it.
No. No. This is exactly the kind of thinking that made me miss crucial red flags with the merger because I was in London with a gold-digging bitch. I was sure that Emerald was a good woman.
I promised myself when I came back to the city that I wouldn’t get involved. That I wouldn’t let a woman get so close to me that she’d have the power to influence my business decisions, take the focus off my work. Angelica brought me dinner and was more than accommodating when I canceled our plans, but that’s not enough to go on to assume that in the future she’ll....
This is ridiculous, and the longer the silence goes, the redder Angelica’s face gets. She’s put herself out there for me. If I can’t even admit this small thing, then I should tell her to take a cab back to her place, or to the Sheraton, or wherever it is she needs to stay until the repairs are completed on her apartment.
It’s at that moment that Connor bursts through the door without knocking.
“Brandon, the PR team wants—”
“Connor.”
His eyes jerk toward us. “Oh—I’m sorry,” he says, giving Angelica a once over so fast I’m sure he thinks I don’t notice it. “Emily was saying something about dinner, and I assumed that—you know what? This can wait.” He holds up both hands, grins an apology, and heads for the door. Angelica’s eyes are back on her folded hands, so she doesn’t see when Connor pauses, gives me a thumbs up, and mouths “Oh, my God!” before he steps out of the office, closing the door gently behind him.
His entrance cleared my head.
I’m still in control.
I can still make changes at any time.
Angelica is not trying to destabilize my business. She’s not jealous of the time I spend at work. And I want to be with her.
I might—it’s terrifying to even think it, but I can’t ratchet down the intensity of the memories speeding through my mind when I look at her, can’t disregard how it feels to have her body pressed against mine, can’t dismiss the way she’s vulnerable in front of me—I might love her.
I’m sure as hell not going to admit that—not here, not now—but I can set her free from the unbelievable awkwardness of this moment.
“I have fee
lings for you, too.”
She looks up at me, her face lit up with surprise. “You do?”
The only possible answer? I give in to the urge to kiss her, long and wild and fierce, pulling her up from her seat so that I can dip her back in my arms, exploring her mouth with my tongue, giving her another taste of the power I can have over her.
And Angelica—she gives herself over to it completely, melting into my arms like it’s the only place she’s ever wanted to be. She throws her arms around my neck, holds on so tight that it makes me think she’s weak in the knees. From the way her hands still tremble, maybe she is.
It doesn’t matter. I keep kissing her until we’re both gasping for breath, and when she finally pulls away, her eyes are bright, dancing.
“Jett Brandon,” she says, patting the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand. “You had me going there for a minute.”
“You’ve had me going for a lot longer than that.”
She bursts out laughing, then narrows her eyes. “Now that we’ve...had this talk, is it going to be awkward if I keep staying at your place?” Something flickers across her face, but it doesn’t last long enough to disrupt the teasing smile that she can’t seem to wipe off.
I kiss her again, harder this time, faster, rougher, and then lock my eyes on her. “Angelica Chandler, if you leave right now, I’ll never forgive you.”
25
Angelica
After our talk in his office, Jett goes into overdrive planning a weekend getaway for us.
“Where do you want to go?” he asks me as we leave his office for the evening. I’d had to wait another half hour for him to finish up whatever crisis management strategy they were formulating, but then he told his secretary to call him with essential updates and headed for the door. Stuart was bringing around the car. “Anywhere you want.”
“I have work on Monday,” I giggle through the knot forming at the base of my stomach. My heartbeat won’t slow down, won’t relax. Hadley would be irate if I took another unscheduled day off, but Charlie....