by Linda Kage
I slapped my hand over my mouth to capture the laugh that wanted to escape, only to immediately swallow the sound when I heard. “Kait—oh! Sorry. I thought I had… No, wait. I do have the right apartment.”
“Yes, you do,” Camille crooned, smiling charmingly as she reached into the hall only to come back, dragging Ezra inside with her. “You have exactly the right place. Gabs and I were just keeping Kaitlynn company until you arrived.”
“Uh… What?” Ezra met my gaze, his face full of question before he glanced between Gabby and Camille and then turned back to me.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Camille smoothly broke in, saying, “You obviously don’t remember us, but we met you at your sister’s flower shop last—”
“What she means to say is goodbye,” Gabby broke in, coming up behind Camille so she could physically nudge her toward the open door. “So don’t mind us. We were just leaving. Nice to see you again. Bye-bye now.”
“The wand,” Camille hissed at Ezra, cupping her hands around her mouth and nodding vigorously, while Gabby shoved her into the hall. “Use your magic wand on her.”
And then Gabby was grabbing the door handle, tossing me an apologetic wince, and shutting me inside my apartment alone with Ezra.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Oh, wow. So I guess it didn’t take much wine to turn Mabel’s granddaughter silly-drunk.
“Magic wand?” Ezra asked, lifting one eyebrow.
And yeah, now I had questions like that to deal with. Lovely.
I cleared my throat, ignoring the way my face heated as I decided to go with Gabby’s tact. “Long story,” I told him.
He nodded.
When neither of us spoke, just stared with this uncomfortable tension brewing between us, he finally broke, his face morphing with concern.
“Jesus, Yellow,” he breathed, running his hands through his hair. “Are you okay?”
When he stepped toward me, I hugged myself and turned to the side, letting him know I wasn’t okay. Not with anything. Not even with him.
He paused, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. “Kaitlynn?” he rasped, his gaze full of agony.
I cleared my throat and shifted my attention from him, unable to focus on anything but how betrayed I had felt when he hadn’t stood up for me in that conference room, how he’d let his father go after me, how he’d never felt the need to even tell his dad we were together.
“We, uh…” I cleared my throat, and tried to sound professional. “Tomorrow, first thing, I think we should call a meeting and explain everything to the employees, about the… About the changes in management.”
Ezra said nothing, he didn’t even make a sound. Irritated because this forced me to look at him for a response, I swerved a scowl his way. “What?” I snapped. “Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”
His eyes flared wide with shock and he pulled his head back, obviously not expecting the bite in my tone. Closing his mouth, he drew in a breath, and I watched his throat work as he swallowed.
“No. I mean, yes, it’s a great idea, but… I, uh, I already called a meeting this afternoon to update everyone on what’s happened.”
“Without me?” My back straightened as righteous indignation filled my spine.
“Kaitlynn,” he said, shaking his head. “They’d just seen one of their CEOs arrested. People had questions that needed answered. Immediately. They needed to be reassured that all their jobs were still safe. And you weren’t there, so I… I took care of it.”
I visibly recoiled, shattered by his words. You weren’t there. Dammit, I should’ve been there, shouldn’t I have? I was now responsible for an entire company, or at least half of it. I should’ve put their needs before my own. I should’ve—
Watching my reaction, Ezra held up both hands and quickly added, “You were understandably absent. I wasn’t casting any blame or trying to make you feel guilty. You’d just gotten slammed by about a hundred different shocking revelations at once. You needed to let that soak in. You needed a moment to fucking breathe. Anyone would. I certainly would. And this was one thing I could do for you, so I did. I didn’t—fuck, I wasn’t purposely leaving you out.”
I nodded and blew out a shuddered breath, telling myself to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions. He’d been trying to be considerate and think of my feelings. He hadn’t been blustering his way in charge without any thought for me.
And yet, no matter how much I repeated that to myself, I just couldn’t seem to soften toward him.
“What…” I licked my dry lips, once again looking anywhere but at him. “What did you tell them?”
“Not much,” he admitted. “I confirmed the rumor that Lana had indeed been arrested. I didn’t mention what for. But I informed them she’d never been the rightful CEO of JFI, and that she’d altered the will after her second husband’s death. They know you’re the new CEO in her place, and that I’m still the other. And… And if any changes came after that, they would be apprised of them immediately.”
“Okay,” I murmured, nodding my approval. “That sounded good. Thank you.”
I hugged myself, trying to think, trying to warm myself, trying to hold it together.
“Kaitlynn,” Ezra whispered. He sounded tormented.
I winced, still refusing to look his way. “Hmm?”
“Why the fuck are you still all the way across the room from me?”
My gaze shot to him. His too-blue eyes looked shattered with agony.
“You’re acting like we’re enemies now. We are not enemies.” But then his eyes squinted. He shook his head and asked, “Are we?”
“I just found out my father was murdered today,” I said, blowing out a shaky breath. I have no idea why I blurted that of all things or how it was relevant to anything we were discussing, but it suddenly seemed like something I had to say… Out loud.
“I know.” Ezra shook his head sympathetically. “Jesus, Kaitlynn. This has got to be the most fucked-up mess of a—” When he stepped toward me, I held up a hand, glaring.
“I learned the woman who was supposed to be a mother to me had killed him.”
When he remained silent this time, watching me from grief-stricken eyes, I went on. “I realized I’d been angry at him for no reason. All this time, he had left me my biggest wish, and I’d been behaving like some kind of spoiled brat, feeling resentful against him and sorry for myself, while that wasn’t the case at all. Then, I learned my brothers had lost their own father the same way. And yet while I was absorbing the shock of all that, the only thing that mattered to you was making sure you still owned your fifty percent.”
“What?” he hissed. “No. Christ, baby, that is not at all—”
“That’s definitely the only thing your father cared about, and you certainly didn’t stop him when he went on full attack to—”
“No! No, no, no,” he chanted, storming to me, determined, and not stopping this time when I tried to ward him off. He clutched my arms and got into my face, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“I was in shock,” he insisted. “You weren’t the only one trying to process everything that was happening. Dad was already barreling along before I even realized what he was doing. I didn’t… Making sure I still had my piece of the pie was the very last thing on my mind. I swear to you. I didn’t… I fucked up. Okay. I admit that. I’m sorry. I didn’t react well, or soon enough, or whatever. Hell, I still don’t know how to react to this. But you can’t hold that against me, because I never in a million years meant to upset you. You’re the only thing I’ve been worrying about all day.”
I believed him, deep inside me, I knew he was being completely sincere, but I continued to hold myself stiff in his arms.
Shaking my head, I said, “When you told him my name, he looked at me as if I were Lana 2.0.”
Ezra gritted his teeth and growled a curse under his breath. “My dad,” he started, trying to explain his father. “That was my fault. He was just being an overprotec
tive father. He meant well, but… He didn’t know any better. He’s listened to me gripe about Lana for months now, and… And he lumped the two names together. I hadn’t yet told him—”
“No,” I cut in. “You hadn’t told him yet, had you? You hadn’t told him about us at all. That’s the thing. It was obvious you’d never told him a single thing about me. Not that we were together. Not anything.” Ezra reached for my cheek, but I nudged his hand away as a tear slipped free. “Were you too ashamed to admit any kind of association with me?”
“What?” His lips parted. “No. Never. Dammit, Kaitlynn, that’s not why I—okay, fuck.” He backed away from me, rubbing his hands over his face. “I didn’t tell him because I knew as soon as he learned you were her stepdaughter, he’d voice all these concerns about why I should stay away from you, and we were already being bombarded by both your stepbrothers on top of our own worries about Lana herself. I didn’t want to hear it from him too. I just… I was being selfish. I wanted to enjoy what I had with you for a little while first.” His eyes peered deeply into mine, his gaze beseeching. “I still want to enjoy what I have with you.”
When I shook my head, he demanded, “Why not? Why can’t we stay together? Nothing’s changed.”
What? Was he insane? “Everything’s changed!” I cried.
He shook his head insistently. “Not the way I feel about you.”
Those seemed to be the words that broke the camel’s back. The floodgates opened. And a hoard of tears joined the single one that had been hanging out on my cheek. My shoulders curled in around my body as sobs seized me.
“Oh, God,” I wept.
What was I doing? Why was I behaving this way? Why couldn’t I just—I don’t know. I didn’t know anything at the moment.
Taking a hesitant step toward me, Ezra lifted his hand to catch some of the tears with the tip of his fingers.
“From the moment I first saw you, I sensed it. I belong to you. Nothing else feels as right as it does when I’m with you. And I will do whatever it takes to prove that. So, if you want the entire company, then it’s yours. I’m rich and have the world at my fingertips. I can find another job. I can’t find another you. So please, God, Kaitlynn, don’t push me away.”
My hands trembled as I reached out and clutched two fistfuls of the front of his shirt. “But you love the company.”
He shook his head. “I love you more.”
I swear, I broke again, sniffing and sobbing, unable to control myself.
Ezra eased in closer. “Now, will you finally let me hold you? I’ve been fucking dying since the moment I saw your face when you learned about your dad, and if I don’t get my arms around you—”
I dove at him, cutting him off by wrapping my arms around him and smashing my mouth to his.
He kissed me back savagely, picking me up by the ass and marching us back to my room. “Christ, baby,” he rasped against my throat before he dumped me onto my bed and then attacked my clothes, frantic to remove them. “You gave me a heart attack. I thought I’d lost you there for a minute.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I sat up to tear at his clothes as well. “We were so worried about Lana trying to tear us apart, but here, I’m the one who almost destroyed everything.”
“No. No, you didn’t destroy anything,” he panted out before bowing me backward so he could suck my newly exposed nipple into his mouth.
I gasped for air, arching my spine from the immediate bite of pleasure, and gripped his hair.
“As long as you’re always willing to talk it out with me, we can make it through anything,” he said while moving to the second breast.
I nodded, sucking my bottom lip in between my teeth in order to contain a couple brain cells and not become totally lost to the desire yet.
“My mom and dad started JFI together, you know,” I said, nodding my head and petting his hair repeatedly as he sprinkled kisses down my chest toward my belly. “Just like you said your mom and dad worked together.”
He made an indiscernible sound in his throat, like he was trying to pay attention to me but was highly distracted by my body.
“I think we could do the same,” I added, gazing down the crown of his gloriously thick dark hair while his tongue dipped into my belly button. “I think we could work together, like a team, and run JFI with equal power. I certainly don’t know what I’m doing yet, and you’re really good at it. I could shadow you for a while, learn from you, and then—”
“Baby,” he said, finally looking at me with an intent level of fraying patience. Cupping my face in his hands, he shook his head. “This is all sounding real good right now, but I can’t even begin to think about business again until I make you come at least four times. Okay?”
I nodded, my smile growing. “Okay.” Then I waved a hand, like the regal CEO I was now. “Please continue.”
He smiled right back before ducking low and pressing his tongue between my legs. I was just as sensitive as ever. Gripping his hair, I gasped my surprise and let him have his way, making me come four times in the course of the next few hours.
EPILOGUE
“I hereby call to order the first meeting of the most kickass book club ever assembled.”
Camille stopped talking in order to take a huge gulp of the wine she’d been holding above her head.
Seated in a comfy chair across the room from her, Isobel—yes, Ezra’s sister, Isobel—said, “Uh…hear, hear,” and took her own drink.
Gabby and I exchanged raised eyebrow glances before we shrugged and tossed back our glasses as well.
So, yeah. A couple months had passed since my wicked stepmother had been arrested and I’d become the new CEO at Judge Fashions Industry, sharing the power with my awesome boyfriend, Ezra.
My lawyers had officially gotten everything that had originally been left to me in my father’s will transferred to my name, even though they were still trying to figure out how much money Lana owed me after spending it as if it were her own for the last few years. Not that she’d ever be able to pay me back everything from behind bars, but the lawyers insisted it was important information to know, anyway.
Speaking of Lana, her future did not look bright. Every couple of days, some new illegal misdeed she’d done came to light and another charge was tacked onto her record. She’d never see the outside of a jail cell again if even half of them stuck.
Brick and Hayden seemed to be dealing with having a fugitive for a mother with aplomb. When I’d tried to reimburse them the rest of the money they should’ve received from my father’s inheritance, both refused. But someday, somehow, I’d make sure they got what they were owed.
And Ezra. Oh, Ezra.
That man was too persuasive for his own good. He’d talked me into moving in with him, mentioning how economically sound it would be if we were roommates… With all the strings attached. So, we’d been living together for nearly a month now. It was still as exciting to wake up with him next to me every day as it had been that first time, except maybe for that one morning he’d gotten seriously sick after eating something that hadn’t agreed with him the night before. That hadn’t been so pleasant. But at least, he hadn’t been a whiny, complainy, demanding patient, and he’d let me take care of him after he’d emptied his stomach in the bathroom. Other than that, plus our inability to agree on music, we were doing perfect.
On the work front, things were a chaotic mess. But I loved all of it. Not only had Ezra talked me into sharing an office too, but we’d consolidated all eight departments so that we both had equal power over all of them. On top of that, the spring fashion show was set to take place in a week’s time, and everyone in the building was frantically scrambling to get everything completed and ready in time.
We won’t mention what happened to the prototype of those chunky-heeled, open-toed, ankle-strapped shoes that went missing for a day there.
And if you were curious about how Christopher and Gavin were getting along, they were both still employ
ed by JFI, but had been placed on a six-month probationary period where every little thing they did went under review until they proved they could behave.
Sadly, Jacqueline the mouse was never seen or heard from again, though I had visited the garden—and my mother’s statue—many times since the night of the Halloween party and looked for her. I liked to think she—or he—had found true happiness and was living out her days in utter contentment… Just like I was.
Throughout all that, I’d kept in touch with both Gabby and Camille, as well as gotten to know Ezra’s sister better. I loved all three of them, and when I realized the four of us were avid readers, I innocently mentioned something about how cool it would be to start a reading group between us.
Well, Camille had taken the suggestion to heart. It instantly became her personal crusade to assemble said group, and thus, she’d jumped in with both feet to organize our first meeting.
And that’s how we came to be gathered around her cozy living room, drinking wine and about to discuss The Nightingale.
“Not to stray from the topic of books or anything,” Gabby said after draining her glass. “But I love all things sparkly and pretty, and Isobel… I couldn’t help but notice you were not wearing that ring on your finger when we first met in your flower shop.”
I gasped and swerved my attention to Isobel. When something icy definitely sparkled from the ring finger of her left hand where she held her glass of wine, I exploded from my chair and dashed toward her. “Oh my God! Ohmigod! Shaw proposed?”
Isobel laughed, her face flaming bright red, and set down her drink so she could lift her hand for me and Camille and Gabby to gather around.
“He just gave it to me this morning. I hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet, and I didn’t want to interrupt the book discussion with my own—”
“Girl,” Gabby broke in, clicking her tongue. “When you get bling like this, you always interrupt the book discussion to show it off.”