by C. J. Thomas
Only it wasn’t them.
Striding into the office was none other than Aaron Bello, looking devastatingly sexy as always.
My stomach did a slow flip-flop, just as it had the night we met. He had that magnetism back, that charm, that air of owning the world.
And he had his sights set on me.
CHAPTER 46
Aaron
I had to take a chance.
She had to understand that I had to take a chance.
She didn’t look thrilled. I hadn’t expected her to. She looked more apprehensive than anything. Maybe a little bit amused. As though she had expected me, somehow. If she had, I wouldn’t have been surprised. She knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t walk out of her life that easily.
“Hello there,” she murmured. “I need to get an assistant who will screen my visitors.”
I grinned. “She tried. Give her credit for that much, at least.” I sat down across from her, still grinning. “You look good behind that desk,” I said. She would have looked good anywhere, especially in my bed, but behind the desk was a close second.
She had changed, I could see. I could feel the difference. She’d walked through the fire and knew how much she could withstand. It would be a long road, but she would make it.
“Thank you,” she said. “I bet you never thought I could pull it off.”
“Bullshit,” I said, deciding to be blunt. “I knew you could. When I heard the stunts you pulled yesterday—”
“What stunts?”
I wasn’t cowed by her sudden flash of temper. “The way you called out the management team, for one. Bravo. That needed to happen. Cut off the dead weight.”
“That was my idea, but who told you I did it?”
“And then,” I continued, “laying down the law when it comes to talking to the media. Good for you. Cut that shit off right away. Make sure nobody says a word.”
“Yes, well, it made sense.”
“Who told you to do it?”
“Nobody told me to do it,” she scoffed. “I sent the memo within twenty minutes of Reed’s arrest.”
“Good job.” I nodded approvingly. “You’re amazing.”
“And you’re buttering me up. Why?”
Still smart. Of course she was, and now she didn’t have the time to play games. I was there to take a chance. It was risky, but I could prove myself to her.
“I wanted to bring you the evidence that I told the truth all along, at least when it came to my innocence and Reed’s guilt.”
“Oh?” She looked intrigued, if not as rabidly curious as I had imagined. Still, I handed her a file from Patrick.
“This first file is every email Reed sent when he put together the false documents, claiming I knew about that deal between MagnaCorp and Triton. I didn’t know anything about it, and all of these so-called communications with my broker were a lie. The SEC is on the case now, trying to pinpoint the person who must have hacked the broker’s account and made up the emails.”
“Wow,” Kenzie breathed. “He worked hard on this, didn’t he? He was determined to punish you.”
“Yeah, he was,” I admitted. “He had his reasons, twisted though they were.”
“Did you, or anyone on the team, ever find out why? Why was he so dead-set on punishing you?”
I shook my head. “There’s nothing anywhere leading one way or the other.”
She shuddered. “It’s just too weird, the way he seemed obsessed.”
“Some people don’t care who they hurt, as long as they hurt someone. I know he felt he needed to carry on in the family tradition of publishing.”
“That’s true.”
“Buying an established company was the only way he could do that. I mean, we both know he couldn’t rely on his skills or his smarts.”
Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that the truth?”
“When he found out I wouldn’t roll over and play dead after he took over my deal, he decided to shut me up for good. Only it backfired.”
“Though not right away. You did come close to serious punishment,” Kenzie murmured.
“Also true,” I acknowledged. “But I knew all along that I hadn’t done anything wrong, and my team believed me, too. I thought you did as well.”
She held up a hand, signaling silence. “I don’t want to get personal right now, Aaron. As it is, I’m extremely busy, and you’re an unscheduled visitor. So, please, can we continue with the purpose of your visit?”
Surprisingly, the commanding tone in her voice sent shockwaves straight to my cock. It stirred, responding to her no-nonsense attitude. I wanted to push her down, make sure she knew who was boss, but thought better of it. There was a time and a place. Maybe I’d finally started learning self-control.
I handed her the second file, then, a much thicker one. “That’s a report of all the counts of sexual harassment that have been brought up against Reed in the last ten years.”
That surprised her. “Wait, what? When did this happen? I never heard anything about this.” She flipped through, her eyes widening as mine had when I first took in the size and scope of the charges.
“That’s a secret, and I’m trusting you with it. My team agreed to keep it quiet as long as the media got off my back. So Reed’s team worked with the papers and news stations covering my case, telling them to back off and announce I’d been cleared of all charges. Otherwise, the story would have petered out and nobody would have known I was innocent. They would have gotten distracted by Reed’s story, is all.”
“I see.” She looked down at the papers, then up at me. “And you trust me to keep this to myself?”
“I trust you implicitly,” I said. My eyes bored into hers. I needed her to know how sincere I was. For the first time in a long time, there were no games, no double meanings, no half-truths. Nothing but honesty.
I had to regain her trust.
“Thank you,” she said. “But if you think I’m going to forgive you just because you handed me a file, you’re way off.”
I smirked, shaking my head. “I didn’t think you would bend that easily. I know you.”
“Do you?” she asked softly.
“Yes.” I handed her one more file. “Just in case you don’t believe me, I never participated in insider trading. Here’s the proof that I didn’t, and the lawyer’s countersuit against Reed’s claim. The judge agreed there was nothing to prove any of the charges leveled against me.”
Kenzie smiled softly. “Okay. I get it. You’re innocent. You don’t have to keep proving it.” She sighed. “It’s not like I believed you were guilty, you know.”
“You didn’t?” That was good to hear.
“No. That’s not like you. You’re honest when it comes to business. Only Reed would stoop that low.”
“When it comes to business,” I murmured, catching her meaning.
“Well? Isn’t that the truth? You certainly aren’t honest in your personal life.” She folded her arms. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re not wrong,” I admitted. “See? I’m willing to be upfront.”
She took a deep breath. I didn’t want to kid myself into believing there was hope in her eyes, but I thought I saw something that looked like it. “Sure, now that it’s over. See, Aaron, what you never understood is that you didn’t trust me enough to believe I’d be on your side.” She leaned forward, folding her hands on the desk. “You didn’t have faith in me. You didn’t believe I would understand if you told me the truth.”
I felt like such a fool, and I told her so. I leaned forward until my hands covered hers. She didn’t pull them away—a good sign, one that gave me the green light to keep talking.
“I was scared you would see me for the lousy ass I was. I did use you at first, I admit it. The idea came to me as a way to get back at Reed. But! When I read your work and heard about the work ethic you have, it was clear that I would have wanted you on my team regardless. If anything, it was a stroke of luck that I wanted to use you at
first.”
“Oh, a stroke of luck?” she asked, shooting me a dirty look.
I looked around the office, then back at her. “Wouldn’t you say this was a stroke of luck? I mean, otherwise, you’d be in that little cubbyhole you used to call an office. Working twelve hours a day, making yourself sick. I’m not trying to twist this around and ask you to thank me for it, okay? I’m not that sick. I’m just saying that it was a stroke of luck that I happened to meet you and find out you worked here. After that, I knew it was a no-brainer to hire you. I would have either way.”
“Bullshit.”
“Call it bullshit, I don’t care. I know it’s true. Your skills are unmatched. I mean, look at what you’re doing here! This isn’t just a matter of having the experience. You have what it takes, period. I learned a long time ago that a person can earn an MBA, land a six-figure job managing other people, earn a shit-ton of experience and still be a lousy leader because they don’t have that special something inside them. You have it, without the MBA, without the experience. Once you spend a little time at that desk and get used to the idea of being at the head of something this big, you’ll have no trouble at all. I know this. I feel it. Maybe I knew it all along, I don’t know. I wouldn’t have offered you the job I did if I didn’t think you could handle it.”
She frowned. “I feel like that’s bullshit, too. You wanted to offer me something so astronomically better than what I did for Reed, you would have stopped at nothing.”
“Had that been my only motive, I wouldn’t have given you any responsibilities. I don’t suffer fools, Kenzie. I wouldn’t have put one so close to the top of my organization.”
She would believe me. She had to believe me. I did everything I could to make sure she saw things my way, because, for once, I was telling the whole, unvarnished truth.
“I wanted you on my team for you. Getting even with Reed was just the icing on the cake. You’re so worthwhile. If anything, I’m glad I helped him see it.”
“You didn’t help him see anything,” she whispered. “I know he only put me here to get back at you. The joke’s on him, right?”
“I guess it is. You can prove him wrong. You can prove them all wrong, all the dickheads who pushed you around and thought they could tell you what to do and make you do their work. They’re long gone. You can be the leader you want to be, be the boss you wish you could have had back then. You can change lives here, you know. All over the world. You can make sure the stories your publications print are worthwhile—not just a bunch of brainless bullshit nobody wants to read. Not just a bunch of click bait. Real, worthwhile work. You have it in you to do this. I’m sure of it. So I’m sorry if you’re still upset with me for what I did, but I’m not sorry because it put you here. You deserve this. And I look forward to seeing what you do in the future. It will be worth watching.”
“Enough.” She held up a hand again, and I closed my mouth. She shook her head, chuckling, looking and sounding chagrined.
“God, what is it about you?” she asked, smiling. “I mean, you come here and you say a bunch of things, and all of a sudden, I think you did the right thing.”
“It wasn’t the right thing because it wasn’t honest. I won’t pretend I was right.”
“Okay, but what you did ended up being right for me. I can’t pretend it’s not.” She laughed a little, sitting back again. “You’re too much.”
It was better than nothing. It was better than anything I had hoped she would give me. I could only hope at that point that I had her firmly enough on the hook.
Because I wasn’t finished yet.
CHAPTER 47
Kenzie
I couldn’t believe what a silver tongue he had.
One minute I resented him. The next I was grateful to him. I wished I could bottle whatever he had and sell it. I wouldn’t need to work another day in my life.
“You know,” I said, “I’m the CEO of this company.”
“So I’ve heard.” He smirked.
I loved that smirk. God, that smirk was so sexy. He had no right to be so charming and sexy, the jerk.
“And I get to make decisions on business partnerships. Plus lots of other things. It’s a pretty big deal.”
“Yeah, an understatement.” I could tell he didn’t quite know where I was going with my train of thought. I held up one finger, going to the door and closing it to be sure we were alone. I saw hope flash in his eyes and shook my head with a grin.
“Down, boy. This is strictly business, but I don’t want any prying ears overhearing us.” I perched on the edge of my desk, facing him. “I don’t plan on going anywhere. I know the stockholders want me out of here. They want somebody they can trust and respect and a bunch of other stupid words that mean absolutely nothing when you get right down to it.”
“I agree with you on that,” he said. “It will make them feel safer about their investment, though. I can’t fault them for that. Sorry, but I can’t. They don’t know you personally.”
“Oh, I get it,” I admitted. “I mean, granted, an escapee from a lunatic asylum has been running the ship for years, now, and none of them cared, but who am I to judge?” I heard the bitter edge in my voice and didn’t care. I could finally vent my true feelings to someone who understood and was on my side.
“Right. They didn’t know that, either. It’s a tricky thing, doing business as a woman.”
“Oh, so you do understand that?”
“Honestly, I didn’t until I met you.” He smiled up at me then, so damned charming and adorable I wanted to kiss his face off. I wondered if he knew the effect he had on me and decided he did.
“Thanks. Anyway, I say all this to tell you I want you by my side in this. I want you to mentor me, guide me, and give the stockholders some measure of peace when they try to sleep at night in their big, soft, comfortable Park Avenue beds.”
He snickered. “I thought you said you wanted to stay on as CEO.”
“I do. I don’t intend to step down. I just want your help, and I wondered if there was anything we could work out together. Come on. You’re a businessman. You can help me figure something out.”
He chuckled, and the gleam in his eye only burned brighter. “Wow. You managed to surprise me, and I was the one who hoped to surprise you.”
“How so?” I motioned to the files on my desk. “You’ve already given me plenty to be surprised over.”
“Yes, but I wanted to tell you that I made an acquisition today. Well, I’m in the midst of it. Patrick and the rest are working on my behalf as we speak.”
“Oh? What sort of acquisition?”
“I’m purchasing an international media empire. Madison Media Group, to be exact.”
I gasped, nearly falling off the desk. Aaron caught me, laughing.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you that much.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I stuttered. “It’s that easy?”
“Kenzie, at the price of the stocks right now, I got it for a song. And with the legal fees Reed is already racking up, he needs the money. It was a win-win.” He let go of me, leaning back in the leather club chair with a satisfied grin on his face.
I gave him a quiet little golf clap. “So, Mr. Bello. You finally have everything you ever wanted. You went through hell to get it, but here you are. I admire your persistence.”
He laughed heartily. “I don’t have everything I ever wanted, though. That’s the problem. And I’m hoping my persistence pays off right now, because I want to get that last thing.” His voice dropped to a low, rich, intimate growl by the time he’d finished speaking. He seemed to touch something inside me with that voice, and a little tremor of excitement crept up my spine.
“I think I know what that last thing is,” I said.
“Oh, you do?”
“Yes.”
“And what do you think about that?” He stood, then, standing just in front of me. I uncrossed my legs, opening them slightly. He stepped into the space I made for
him, our bodies very close but not touching.
“You’ll leave me in place as CEO?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t dream of asking you to leave,” he confirmed. “And you can get that in writing if you wish. I want you to lead Madison Media Group into the future. You have what it takes. Hell, I might have been waiting for you all along. You might be the reason the deal didn’t work out for me the first time. I wouldn’t have had you to run the day-to-day and grow the company in a direction I could approve.”
I thought about it and I couldn’t deny how tempting the idea was. “We would run two of the biggest companies in the city, if not the world,” I said, my voice a murmur as I pictured it in my head. The two of us. An unstoppable force.
Aaron seemed to read my mind. “We’d be the city’s power couple. Can you imagine?”
I looked up at him. “A power couple? You mean this is more than a business transaction, Mr. Bello?”
He glanced down at my open legs, then back up into my eyes with a smirk touching the corners of his mouth. “What do you think. Ms. Olson?”
I giggled. “It’s got a nice ring to it, I have to admit.”
“We’d be a force to be reckoned with.”
“Okay, you sold me on that part. What really impresses me, beyond the whole power thing, is the way we complement each other. You have the management experience I lack.”
“And you have a certain savvy that I lack. That ability to reach the people, the customers. I don’t have that, and I’ve been dying to find a team I could put in place to help me work on it. I know you could be just what I’m looking for.”
I grinned. “So you wanna do this, huh?”
He took my face in his hands, the first time we’d touched, and I gasped softly at the sensation that ripped through me the instant he made contact. His hands were so warm, so strong. They melted me. If I’d had any reservations, they would have disappeared in a matter of seconds.
But I didn’t have any. I was in, all of me.
Sold on the idea of ruling the city with the man I loved.
Only, did he love me, too?