by Lexi Cross
No one said anything.
“I want to purchase all of them. I have the money already set in a single account so I can transfer it over right away,” I continued.
I realized I had gone from talking about simply becoming a majority shareholder to completely buying my father out. It would cost him his honorary seat on the board and force him into full retirement.
After a brief silence, one of the members said, “We’ll do it. We’ll accept your offer and make the purchase to put the shares in your name once the money is transferred over.”
“I’ll authorize it right away,” I told them. I couldn’t help the smile spreading across my face. I couldn’t believe it. It was over. I had won. I was getting the company from my father.
“And once the shares have been put into your name, we’ll also make you the head of the company,” another board member said.
I was getting moved into my father’s old position, which was the same honorary position he still held even though he had retired. I was going to be the primary owner of Scott Enterprises. I was going to be the CEO and president of the board. And I owed it all to Jake, my former fake fiancé.
I knew I needed to call him and thank him for helping me, but part of me wanted to wait until the transition was over and the company was in my name finally. I also realized how uncomfortable I was now that I felt indebted to him. I had prided myself for so long on doing things myself and not needing anyone’s help. But I wouldn’t have been able to do what I was doing if I hadn’t reached out to him for help.
After I hung up with the board, I called Jake to let him know everything was done. I figured he really needed to know, even though I wasn’t ready to admit to him that I felt like I owed him something for helping me.
“Brooke!” He sounded surprised to hear from me.
“Hey, Jake. How’s recovery coming?” I asked him.
“It’s going. How about the board? Were you able to finally get everything straightened out into your name?”
I smiled before I could say anything. Something about sharing the news with him felt right, as if I was supposed to share my good news with him.
“I did. I am the owner of Scott Enterprises now, and they’re going to be making the official transition soon. They’re going to put me in my father’s old position,” I explained.
“That’s great,” he cheered. “I’m glad that it’s all working out for you.”
He sounded like there was something else he wanted to say.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Jake. Thank you.” My heart began to swell in my chest, filling me with an emotion I didn’t want to name. Naming it meant admitting that I was falling in love with Jake Hall all over again.
“Anything for you, Brooke.” There was something just beyond the words he spoke, something he wanted to say but wouldn’t. I could almost hear him thinking it, whatever it was.
“Well, look, you need to get better so we can celebrate together,” I told him playfully.
“I’ll probably be out of here soon. Then we can celebrate all you want.”
“Then I can thank you in person,” I teased.
“I’d like that. You can thank me all night long,” Jake said suggestively.
Desire quivered inside of me. My muscles and the tender flesh between my legs trembled out of longing for him. It had been so long. So many things had gone wrong, but we finally had the chance to set them right. I just needed to get him home.
“Hey, did you already move your things out of the house?” he asked, almost as an afterthought.
“I did,” I told him. What did he expect? He’d told me it was over. He had broken up with me. There was no reason for me to still be in the house.
“That’s a shame. I guess we’ll have to work on getting you to move back in now.”
“Hold the door, Jake. You told me to leave. Now you want me back?” I kept my tone light while I gave him a hard time about changing his mind.
“It’s just a thought, Brooke. Keep it in mind. Right now, I’ve got PT coming up, so I need to let you go. If you need anything, do not hesitate to give me a call. Also, I’ve got Connor working on your defense. I’m pretty sure none of your father’s charges against you will stick. He’s got something big on your old man,” Jake told me.
“Really?”
“Really. He’ll call and let you know when the time comes. Until then, take care, Brooke.” There it was again, the feeling that he was leaving something out.
“You, too,” I said, commenting on the words he hadn’t said, and I meant what I hoped he heard me saying to him.
We made a great team, and it was time we both admitted that.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Brooke
A few days passed and all was quiet on the work front. To avoid my father’s wrath and further legal complications, I avoided the office until I received the call that we were having a board meeting. It was going to be the meeting where they officially promoted me.
The money had been transferred, and the board had negotiated the purchase of the shares from my father. I owned the majority of the company, but I was more than just a majority shareholder. If I wanted to, I was in the position to buy out the rest of the shares and own the company outright. I had considered it, but I wasn’t ready to buy everyone out completely. Not just yet, anyway.
I walked into the boardroom to find the board members already waiting on me. Two seats were empty. Those members had resigned from the board. Their resignation letters sat on the boardroom table in front of where they would normally have been seated. That left two positions on the board for me to fill with people who would side with me if anything went down.
“Thank you all for calling this meeting,” I said as I approached what was going to be my new seat at the head of the table.
“Of course. What good is a board if we don’t observe some type of formality?” one of the members spoke up.
I smiled warmly and took my place at the head of the table. I was ready to be given my official title and get past all the trouble I’d been having with my father over the company.
“I move to declare Brooke Scott the new president of the board and CEO of Scott Enterprises,” the same board member announced to the table. “All those in favor?”
Everyone seated around the table raised their hands.
“Let it be noted that every board member in attendance voted in favor of this motion. The two who are not present forfeited their votes by resigning. Brooke, you are the new president of the board and CEO of Scott Enterprises,” he said, presenting me to the rest of the board.
There was a light round of applause. I stood and lowered my head in thanks. I couldn’t believe it was finally happening. And it was happening so fast! Before, the fight seemed to take forever, but once I had finally been able to get around my father, everything seemed to be happening quickly.
“Thank you all,” I said graciously. “I promise to continue running the company just as I have been for the past five years. We are going to continue to grow and move forward into this new era.”
They applauded me again. The phone in the middle of the table rang, and we all immediately froze. I could see in their faces that the rest of the board members were thinking the same thing I was. It had to be my father, calling to continue fighting for the company.
I tapped the speaker button to answer the incoming call. It was my secretary.
“Ms. Scott, there is a call for you,” she said.
“Patch it through to the boardroom,” I told her.
“Sure.” A moment later, I heard the call transfer in.
“This is Brooke,” I said, expecting my father’s voice to respond, a day late and a dollar short to try to stop me from taking the company out from underneath him.
“Brooke, it’s Jake.” His unexpected voice filled the room. The board members seemed to relax as he took my father’s weight off their shoulders. Meanwhile, I froze in embarrassment to be taking such a persona
l call in front of everyone.
“Jake, thank you for calling. You’re on speaker in the boardroom,” I warned him.
“Good. I’m assuming the board has already named you the new president of the board and CEO?” he said.
“They have.”
“That’s great news, Brooke.”
He sounded so genuinely happy for me that I couldn’t contain my gratitude anymore.
“Thank you, Jake. I couldn’t have done it without your help and encouragement.” I looked up from the phone at everyone in the room. “Gentlemen of the board, I’m sure some of you already know who Jake Hall is, but for those who don’t, this is my fiancé.”
Fiancé. I stopped immediately after the word left my lips. I wanted to correct myself, but it felt so right to continue calling him that. I hoped he wouldn’t argue. I hoped he would agree that we needed to give it another shot, a real shot.
“Funny you should say that,” Jake said. “Gentlemen of the board, while we were planning a wedding to please Mr. Scott’s wishes, it would seem that Brooke was able to find a more legitimate way to take over the company. However, I do have something I would like to say, and I would appreciate it if you would witness it.”
“Of course, Mr. Hall. You have our attention,” one of the board members said.
“Thank you. Brooke, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, since I’ve been removed from everything for the last few days. I know that we were originally planning on getting engaged and married as part of a business proposition, but we have made a great team as we’ve worked together over the past several weeks.” His voice came through the phone loud and clear. It almost felt like he was in the room with us.
“I agree. We have,” I said.
“Part of that, I think, is that we have a history. At first, I expected our history to make it difficult for us to work together, but in the end it seems to have made our arrangement that much easier instead. Our history and our great chemistry seem to be the secret to our success as a team,” he continued.
“Again, I completely agree,” I told him.
“I want us to continue to be a team,” Jake said. “While we’ve worked together, I’ve realized that I still have feelings for you, and those feelings have only intensified over the past few weeks.”
“What are you saying, Jake?” I asked, pressing him to continue.
“I’m asking, Brooke, if you will marry me. And I don’t mean as my business partner. I mean as the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with. Brooke Scott, will you marry me?”
If anyone had asked me how I would have reacted to being proposed to over the phone, I would have laughed and told them the guy didn’t stand a chance. But, for some reason, it felt right with Jake. It was fitting that he should have asked for my hand in marriage over speaker phone in front of the board. It made sense with the rest of the way our relationship had gone.
With tears in my eyes, I looked around the table at the members of the board. Most of these men could remember me from when I was just a child. They weren’t exactly parental figures. They were more like members of my extended family. I sought their approval in the absence of my father, knowing that this whole process of taking the company and its board away from him was going to drive a serious wedge between us. A couple of the men nodded, encouraging me to give the answer that was already on the tip of my tongue.
“Yes!” I shouted. “Yes, Jake, I will marry you. Nothing would make me happier!”
The board members clapped, and the door to the boardroom opened. Jake had been standing behind the door the whole time, out in the hallway, on his cell phone. He was out of the hospital and walking with a cane. It didn’t seem to slow him down, however. He was still dressed in a flashy button-down shirt and gray slacks. He walked in like he owned the room, demanding the attention of everyone as he approached.
I ran around the table and threw my arms around him. It felt so good to have his body pressed against mine through our clothes, to feel his warmth and his firm muscles underneath his shirt.
“I love you,” I said breathlessly as he wrapped his arms around me.
“I love you, too, Brooke,” he said, looking down at me with his kind eyes. They sparkled with emotion as he looked down at me.
We kissed. Our lips met for the first time in forever. My whole body lit up with white hot desire as his lips pressed against mine. I realized how much I had missed the way he kissed me. I could conquer the world with his kiss on my lips.
The board congratulated us before leaving the room. Once the door closed and we were alone, Jake took my hand and slid the engagement ring I had bought myself off of my finger.
“Forgive me if I can’t get down on one knee right now,” he said, “but I have this for you.”
He pulled a small black ring box from his pocket and held it out to me. I opened it to reveal a beautiful, diamond-encrusted ring with a large diamond in the center. He pulled the ring out of the box and gently slid it down my finger. The band gently brushed my skin until it reached where it was supposed to sit. It fit me perfectly.
I held my hand up to examine the ring.
“It’s beautiful,” I told him, though I thought it was certainly too expensive. He knew I wasn’t much for grand displays of wealth, but this ring was certainly that. I didn’t mind too much, though, because of what the ring symbolized.
“It pales in comparison to your beautiful eyes, my love,” he said with a heavy voice. I could hear his desire for me in his deepening tone.
I blushed and smiled bashfully from his compliment, before throwing my arms back around him and pulling his face to mine again for another kiss. I didn’t want his lips to leave mine. I didn’t want his body anywhere but against me.
My knees were weak, and my desire had been sparked by his sudden appearance, his sweet voice, and the feel of his body against me.
I could feel his desire growing as well, and I wanted him inside me. I needed him inside me. This was Jake, my Jake. I had fantasized about him so many times when we were apart, and I hadn’t thought about anyone else since we resumed dating as part of our arrangement. Now there was no longer an arrangement. It was real, and I wanted to make love to him for the first time since we were younger.
Sure, there had been sex with other partners, but it had been purely physical, intended only to satisfy my urges and needs. What I had with Jake was so much more. The times that we had slept together as a pretend couple, I had wanted to confess my love for him afterwards, but I hadn’t said anything because I didn’t want to ruin what we had. Now, there was no need for me to worry about that.
“Take me home,” I breathed in his ear.
I felt his hardening shaft surge behind his pants, and I decided I couldn’t wait for him to take me back to his place. I closed and locked the boardroom doors. I turned to face him and started stripping out of my clothes. I let my jacket fall from my shoulders to the floor. Then I set my fingers to work on the buttons down the front of my blouse, opening my shirt to slowly expose my bra to him.
His face lit up when he realized what I was doing. He started unbuttoning his shirt with his free hand, exposing the beautiful contours of his exquisite chest to me.
With my shirt still tucked into the skirt I had worn to the meeting, I pressed my hands against his massive, ripped chest. My fingers traced his muscles. I ran them in circles around his nipples, pinching them slightly and pulling on them before letting my fingers work their way down to his belt. I pulled it loose and opened his pants.
“Give this to me,” I demanded as I reached down and stroked his shaft through his boxers. He was so hard in my grip, so eager to fuck me.
I brushed past him and walked to the table, leading him by his cock in my hand.
“How do you want me, baby?” I asked him. “I’m yours for the taking now.”
“Just like that,” he said as he put a hand on my back, between my shoulders. He pushed gently, bending me over the side of the table.
“You’re mine, Brooke,” he growled. “I’m going to take you any way I please.” I heard him put his cane against the table. With both hands he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back to him, planting his rock hard shaft against the crack of my ass.
“I’m so wet,” I panted. “Put it in me, Jake.” I reached back and pulled my skirt up, exposing my underwear to him.
His thick, greedy fingers gripped my panties and pulled them down over my ass. Immediately, I could feel his head pushing against my soft wet lips.
“Put it in me,” I begged him. I didn’t know what had come over me, but I wanted him so badly it hurt. I wanted him to fill me with his flesh. I wanted him to pummel me with his massive shaft.