by Ella Miles
“I have worked for Mr. Browne for the past three years. He is all of those things, but he is also a good man. Give him a chance before you dismiss him.”
I swallow hard and nod even though I don’t agree with him. I don’t want to give Killian a chance. I already did, and instead of being honest with me, he played with my emotions just because he could. A man like that doesn’t deserve second chances.
I just don’t know why all the men in my life keep pushing me to be with Killian. My father has, too, even in death. My grandfather has also, and now, so has Tony. Don’t they trust me to find my own man? To find someone better than Killian?
Tony moves his head to the side, indicating for me to follow him, so I do.
I bite my lip as I watch Tony knock on Killian’s door. Please don’t be here.
“Come in,” Killian shouts from inside.
Tony gives me a knowing smile before he pushes the door open and enters Killian’s larger office. I enter slowly behind Tony, keeping my eyes down. Maybe Killian won’t notice I’m here if I don’t say anything and don’t look at him.
“I have those numbers for you,” Tony says.
“Thank you,” Killian says. “I…” He pauses.
I know he’s spotted me. I let my eyes drift up, and there he is, staring at me with the same intense eyes. He’s wearing another dark suit. Another grim frown covers his face.
I try to move. I try to say something to make this less awkward. I can’t though. It’s like his eyes have captured me and glued me in place. I lose all my thoughts when I see him, except for how it felt to have his lips pressed against mine. I think about how it warmed me to see him smiling just at me and no one else, something I realize he rarely does. I think about how it felt when his tongue finally touched me there, and I already feel desire forming deep in my belly from just thinking about it.
I blush. That’s when I notice Killian’s own reactions change. It’s just slightly, just in a way I notice, but it’s not enough for Tony to notice. Killian’s eyes change from intense glaring to intense lust, and his lip curls up slightly into the tiniest of smiles at my reaction. He knows. He knows what dirty thoughts I’m thinking about, making me blush more.
Tony chuckles and shakes his head as he looks from me to Killian.
Killian glares at Tony. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s funny. I just think Robert is smiling down right now, seeing the two of you together.”
“There is nothing going on,” Killian and I both say in unison.
This makes Tony chuckle again. “Not yet.” He winks at me. He takes a step closer to Killian. “Anyway, I have another call I need to get to. Have a look at the numbers. I think we finally have the data you need to present tomorrow to get the expansion you and Robert wanted.”
I watch as Tony leaves, leaving me alone with Killian. I turn to leave as well.
“Wait…” Killian says.
I don’t know why, but I wait. When I turn back to him, his mouth has dropped open slightly as he stares at the papers in his hand.
“These numbers…they actually work,” Killian says. He runs his hand through his hair. “How did he do it?” he asks himself. Forgetting I’m there, he begins typing on the computer again. “This is genius.”
I smile. Good for Tony. I take another step, but the heel of my shoe clicks along the floor, bringing Killian’s attention back to me.
Killian stands then and walks until he is blocking my exit. “How did he do this?” He holds up the papers.
I try to scrunch my face in a quizzical look, like I have no idea why Tony wouldn’t be competent at his job. But like I’ve said before, I make a terrible actress, a terrible liar. I shrug and look down, avoiding Killian’s eye contact.
His hand lifts my chin until I’m staring back at him as he furrows his eyebrows, searching my face for the answer.
“Who did this?” he says slowly while holding the papers up.
“Tony,” I say quietly.
He shakes his head. “Tony sucks at numbers. He couldn’t have done this, not even by accident.” He moves his body closer to mine so that we are almost touching. “Who did this?”
“I don’t know.” My voice is shaky.
I don’t know why he cares who did it. Killian moves closer, and I take a step back, unable to hold my ground any longer, but he grabs my elbow, holding me in place and keeping our bodies pressed together. I can feel his body breathing slow and easy against my chest, compared with my fast, quick breaths. I even think I feel his heart beating in his chest in a perfect, steady rhythm, unlike my now erratic heartbeat. He’s not affected by my body, like I am by his. It disappoints me.
He raises his eyebrows at me. His lips graze mine, and I stop breathing.
“Who did this?”
I close my eyes. “Me.”
I feel him suck in a breath. It wasn’t what he had expected. When I finally open my eyes, he’s gone. He’s back at his desk, looking everything over again, like he must have missed a mistake. If I created this, it must be wrong.
“What are you doing?” I ask when I have caught my breath again.
“How did you know how to do this?”
I roll my eyes. I hate that he just answered my question with another question.
“It’s not that hard. I just took the data that Tony had and started over. When it was organized, it was obvious to see the trends over the last six months. But based on the numbers, you should add a thousand rooms to the expansion, not five hundred. It’s a waste of money to do such a small expansion. You’ll reach positive cash flow faster with one thousand. It’s sustainable in the long-term, too, even without the holiday spikes. And one good holiday season would more than triple sales with the additional guests staying in the hotel. So, the casino expansion looks spot-on with the data.”
Killian is frowning at me. I nervously run my hand through my hair as I bite my lip. I should have kept my mouth shut. He thinks I’m wrong. He thinks I’m an idiot.
“What was your major in college?”
I narrow my eyes. “You already know the answer to that.”
He raises his eyebrows though, waiting for me to answer.
“Theater,” I say.
He nods. “You didn’t take any business classes on the side? You didn’t minor in anything?”
“I minored in French, but I didn’t take any business classes.”
Killian cocks his head to the side, trying to decide if I’m lying. I’m not.
“What jobs have you done, other than modeling?”
I have no idea where he is going with this. “I’ve only ever modeled.”
“I don’t know how you did this.” He shakes head before running his hand through his locks. “I spent all morning working on the numbers. I knew whatever Tony gave me would be useless.”
I sigh. I wish I had known that before. I wouldn’t have worked so hard to try to save his ass.
“But I never came up with these numbers. I never came up with anything half as good as this.”
I smile.
“You’re a walking contradiction, princess.”
My face falls. “Don’t call me that.”
He stands and walks over to me. “I can’t stop, princess. That’s what you are. It feels weird to call you anything else.”
I glare at him, but I’m not really angry, so I know it doesn’t come across as the angry girl I want to be.
“I want you,” he says when his body is close to me again.
I quizzically look up at him. “You want to marry me?”
He laughs. “No, I want to fuck you.”
I stare at him, wide-eyed. I don’t move as his lips come down on mine, showing me just how much he wants to fuck me. His hands find the nape of my neck, firmly holding me against him. I moan as his tongue sweeps between my lips, easily parting them. I feel his hard erection pushing against my belly.
Does he expect me to fuck him right here in his office?
K
illian pulls away, but I don’t open my eyes. I’m still lost in that kiss. When I open my eyes, I’ll realize this is all a dream. He’s just toying with my emotions again. He doesn’t really care about me. He might want to fuck me, but only so he can destroy me.
“You’re not ready yet.”
“Ready for what?”
“For me to fuck you. I told you, when I fuck you, it will be because you want me as much as I want you, not because you’re running. You’re not there yet, but you will be.”
I shake my head. “You’re wrong. What makes you think I will sleep with you? I don’t even like you.”
He smirks. “You’re a terrible liar, princess. Plus, if you are talking to Tony about me, that’s a good sign.”
“Tony needs to mind his own business.”
He turns away from me to walk back to his desk. “You need to stay out of the business. Go home to your comfy house and modeling career before you get hurt.”
“What is that supposed to mean? I am capable of running this company, if that’s what I decide I want. I just showed that I could make decisions and run numbers. I just need a chance.”
He sits in his chair and just stares at me for several minutes. I don’t know why I bother with trying to convince him that I can do this.
“Okay,” he says.
“What?”
“Okay, if you think you can do this, then prove it. There is a meeting tomorrow afternoon to present the data and to give my recommendation for the expansion. You can present in my place. And if you convince everyone that you are right, then I’ll stop hounding you about giving up. I’ll even help you get up to speed on everything with the company.”
I suspiciously eye him. “And what if I don’t?”
He smiles widely now. I’m afraid he’s going to tell me that I’ll have to stop trying to be CEO, that I’ll have to give up. I’m not sure I can.
“Then, you go on a date with me.”
I relax. I can handle that. “Deal.”
“Good. I’ll send you my notes for the meeting.”
“Thanks,” I say before turning to leave. But before I do, I have one more question for him, one that’s been gnawing at me. “Why haven’t you fired Tony yet?”
He looks up at me, like I’m crazy.
“We both know he is terrible at his job. So, why haven’t you fired him?”
“Because I respect his loyalty. That man would take a bullet for this company. I know I’m going to have to work harder to do things, like create graphs that he should be doing, but that’s okay. He cares, and he is a hard worker. He would never jump ship to a competitor’s company. We need more people like that around here.”
His words shock me. I thought Killian was ruthless. I thought he would have fired Tony the second my father died since the decision was now up to him. I was wrong. It makes me wonder what else I’m wrong about when it comes to Killian. Too bad I don’t have time to find out.
I need to spend the next twenty-four hours doing everything to prepare for tomorrow. I need to impress the other executives. I need to prove to my grandfather that I can do this. I need to prove to myself that this is what I want. It might be my only chance.
I move my hand to rub my eyes, but I stop myself. If I rub my eyes, I will ruin my mascara. I yawn instead, the exhaustion getting to me. It will be worth it though when I see Killian’s smug face turn into one of his classic frowns when I win. I have no doubt that I will. I’ve been up all night, going over everything Killian sent me along with seeing if there is any more data that I need to prove my recommendation.
I was surprised actually when I got the email from Killian. He sent me everything he had on the project, including his personal notes and email exchanges between him and my father. Those were hard to read, but I read them anyway. He also sent me hours and hours of material. I don’t know why he would do that if he wanted me to fail. Maybe he wants me to succeed.
“Ready?” Killian says as he pokes his head into my father’s office.
“Yes,” I say.
I gather my things and follow Killian. I do my best to stand tall and confident even though everything inside is trembling. I follow Killian until we get to the conference room where the meeting is going to be held.
“You’ll do great,” he says, winking at me, before he holds the door open for me.
I walk in, but I have no idea what he is doing. Is he trying to give me fake confidence? Is he trying to distract me? I have no idea. I push the thoughts from my head and instead walk into the room with an intense expression on my face. I try to pretend I’m Killian walking into the room. He wouldn’t be smiling and happy. He would be glaring at everyone, forcing them to do what he said with just one look.
I can’t keep the expression up long though as I walk in. I’m a little in shock at the number of people in this room. There is close to thirty, and the room isn’t even filled yet. I was expecting to present to an intimate small team of ten people, maximum. Instead, I’m going to be presenting to what feels like the entire company.
Killian puts his hand at the small of my back, guiding me to the front of the long table in the center of the room that has at least ten chairs around it. Those are probably for the most important people. On either side of the table, there are three rows of chairs holding at least thirty more people, and they are all staring at me.
“Killian, why didn’t you tell me there was going to be so many people at this meeting? Who are they?” I hiss between clenched teeth.
He smiles brightly. “I didn’t want you to be nervous, but no need to worry. You’ll do great. You are completely prepared. The main table here is the execs, which is where you will need to focus most of your attention when you talk. The rest are their assistants and staff who will be in charge of helping to implement the expansion. They might have a few questions for you because they are more familiar with what the day-to-day operations will look like.”
I stare, wide-eyed, until we get to the end of the table where we each take a seat. I realize now why he’s being so nice to me. It’s not because he wants me to do well. It’s because he has fed me to the wolves, and I’m about to get slaughtered.
I’ve never given a speech in front of this many people. The only thing I have done in front of this many people is model, and all that involved was looking pretty while walking down a catwalk without falling. It was nothing compared with this.
Killian leans over to me. “You wanted a chance. I’m giving you a chance. This is what it’s really like to run the company.”
He grabs my hand and gives it a quick squeeze before he stands. It does nothing to reassure me. Instead, I feel my palm growing sweaty from where he just touched it.
“I’m Killian Browne, VP of Operations. Today, I’m supposed to present the plans for the expansion of the Felton Grand. I’m not going to do that.” He pauses while people uncomfortably shuffle in their seats at his statement. “Instead, I’m going to let the person who ran the data explain. I would like to introduce you to Kinsley Felton.”
I stop bouncing my foot under the table and stand. The room has fallen silent now that they know Robert’s daughter is the one who will be speaking. I smile weakly around the room as I make my way to where Killian is standing. He winks at me before taking a seat.
“Hi. I’m Kinsley.” I can feel my heart beating out of my chest with every word that I’m saying. “Today, I would like to show you my thoughts on the expansion and what the data shows.” I walk to the computer that is already set up with my slides. I press the button for them to turn to the first screen.
I realize I’ve been staring at the ground the whole time, so I look up. I feel what feels like hundreds of eyes on me, but to my surprise, they are all smiling. A few of them are trying to check out what’s underneath my pencil skirt and pink shirt, but for the most part, I’m getting friendly faces in return. I can do this.
“As you can see from the graph, the numbers show a steady increase from month to month in the hote
l and casino revenue. This shows that there is a need for expansion because we can’t keep up with the demand.”
I continue talking, uninterrupted, for thirty minutes, explaining every reason that we should do the expansion and why it is in the best interest of the entire company. I feel good about my presentation. It seems to be going well, and everyone is giving me their undivided attention. I even glance over at Killian a couple of times, and he seems to be nodding his head in approval.
I click the computer to get it to move to the last slide, the one where I give my recommendation. I feel good throughout my speech. Maybe I can really do this. Maybe this is where I belong. “After looking at all the data, it is my recommendation that we increase the expansion to one thousand rooms. That would also allow us to increase the number of slots and the high-roller rooms by fifty percent. It…” I don’t continue though. As I glance around the room, there are about a hundred hands in the air. At least, that’s what it looks like.
“Yes,” I say, pointing to the closest gentleman at the center table.
“I’m sorry, but it would be ridiculous to spend that amount of money on an expansion where we will never get our money back out of it. If we put those kind of resources behind the Felton Grand, we aren’t going to have enough resources to keep the others from failing.”
I freeze at his question. “I, um…I’m not sure.”
I point to the next man, hoping he will say something positive to save me.
“The data you used doesn’t make sense with the data we already have. I just went through the numbers again. They don’t line up. Can you explain why we have different numbers?”
“I don’t know.”
“What metrics did you use?” another man says.
“I…I’m not sure.” I have no idea what he is talking about, and I can feel my face getting redder. I try to gather myself. “If you would just turn your attention to this slide, I can better explain to give you more confidence in the plan.”
“Wouldn’t expanding to just five hundred give us the same amount of profit in just a month longer with less risk?”
“Maybe, but—”
“Then, why don’t we just do the five-hundred-room expansion?”