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Fighting Words
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Getting Lucky No Notes Needed
KADENIt was another blistering, hot, humid day in Houston as we made our way to the client’s address. In the sweltering heat, there was a highway mirage on the road that made it look like the surface was wet.Ember fidgeted with her fingers in the car, taking deep breath after deep breath. If I hadn’t known her as well as I did, I wouldn’t have been able to tell she was nervous, though. I was on the lookout for the signs after her confession last night, and even though her breaths were deeper than usual, they weren’t obvious.“You’re going to be fine,” I assured her, reaching over to squeeze her knee. The skin beneath my hand was bare and warm, the simple white dress she was wearing having ridden up when she got in the car.She looked gorgeous and professional in her capped-sleeve dress, the neckline demure and the hem brushing the tops of her knees when she stood. She had paired it with what she had informed me this morning were red “power heels” and had pinned her dark hair up in s
Getting Lucky Celebrate
Kaden“We were founded over three decades ago by my dad, Hank Marx. He’s still the CEO and personally reviews client profiles on an annual basis. What he built is a company that is pioneering and employs only intellectually rigorous fund managers with a results-driven client orientation.”We had agreed that I take this part of the meeting because the client was a family-owned company just like ours. Jack Junior would take over someday, just like I had been supposed to. I ignored the pit forming in my stomach and focused on selling Jack Senior and his minions on us.When I was done with my song and dance about how Dad was still there, still involved, and still put his personal seal of approval on every client’s portfolio at least once a year, Ember was going to explain the services we could offer and take it from there.“Our team, the team who will work for you, uses data collected over thirty-plus years and technology to gain the highest levels of financial insight. We have identified
Getting Lucky Filling Him In
EMBERHours after we finished the meeting, my heart was still pounding like a drum. It felt like someone had injected a shot of pure adrenaline into my very heart of hearts, and with every beat it gave, it was screaming its joy at me.I had heard the old adage of never working a day in your life if you did something you loved, but I never believed it. Until now. What were the chances of finding something you loved doing so much that it would feel like you were doing a hobby instead of working?Apparently, they were better than I might have imagined because I definitely managed to find something I loved so much I would do it for free if I could afford it.The run of the mill stuff at the office I was good at, and I enjoyed it, but interacting with clients and recruiting them was the dream. Sitting in a dark bar celebrating with Kaden after the meeting was just a juicy cherry on top. He raised his beer to me. “Congratulations, Ember. You were fantastic today.”Warmth flooded my heart a
Getting Lucky Don't Worry About Me
EmberHis eyebrows lifted. “You did? That’s great. How did it go?”“I think it went great actually.” I explained the conversation I had with my brother and told Kaden we had promised to spend more time together in the future. As Ryan’s best friend, Kaden had insight into my brother’s mind that I didn’t.He listened attentively, smiling when I was done. “I’m really relieved you guys finally got it all out in the open. It couldn’t have been easy having that talk, but I think it’s going to be worth it. I know for a fact that Ryan wants to know you better. He just didn’t know how to do it. You had to take the first step, but I’m pretty sure he’ll take the next one.”“I hope so. It felt good to have my brother back, even if it ends up having been only for that one day.” It felt so natural to talk to Kaden about everything going on in my life. He knew about the situation with Ryan anyway, but I wanted to tell him stuff. “What do you think he’s going to do if he ever finds out about this?” I
Getting Lucky The Morning After
KADENThe sun shone brightly through the windows of our hotel room, clear blue skies stretching for miles without a cloud in sight. It was going to be another scorcher of a day in Houston, but we would head back to New York in a few hours.Releasing a quiet sigh, I turned my head so it was resting on top of Ember’s and stroked the soft skin on her back. The sweet scent of her shampoo drifted up from her dark mane of hair spread out over my chest and shoulder. I took a deep breath, wishing we could stay in Houston so I could keep waking up beside her every morning.Going back to New York meant going back to our separate homes, and I didn’t want that. The thought hit me like a punch to the gut, but it didn’t make it any less true. I wasn’t that guy, the one who thought about moving in with a girl or waking up next to her every morning for the next sixty-plus years.But lying in bed with Ember sleeping peacefully beside me, her chest rising against mine with every breath she took, it was
Getting Lucky Love
Kaden“Nothing.” I shrugged, sighing when she narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “I guess I’m just feeling a little melancholic over what we’re doing this morning.”“What are we doing this morning?” she asked gently, knowing just from the way I was acting and without having to ask that it was a tender topic for me.“I haven’t been back to Houston since my mom passed,” I told her finally, grief winning out between the emotions that had been warring for recognition in my chest. “The last time I was at her grave was at her funeral. I want to go see her.”Empathy and sympathy flooded Ember’s eyes, shining as brightly as the tears she was trying to fight. “Of course. I didn’t realize you hadn’t been back here. I’m sorry, Kaden. I know how much it hurts every time you let yourself revisit thoughts about the funeral and the grave. No matter how much time has passed, the hurt comes back as real and as raw as it was when it happened.”I nodded. Having someone around who really understood th
Getting Lucky Missing Her
EMBER“New York, New York.” I smiled as the plane’s wheels touched down in the city I now called home. I was torn between being sad and being excited about getting back to work now that I knew what dealing with clients was like.I didn’t know all the clients of the firm yet, but I was looking forward to meeting with them. The trip really helped me to understand that the names on the files I dealt with in the office weren’t just names. They belonged to actual people just like those we met with. It was strange. I always knew the names belonged to clients, but having actually met with clients now, it was like it was suddenly real. I knew the meeting had changed my perspective slightly, like it had been the twist on the binoculars that finally brought everything into sharp focus.As thrilling as it was to know I would be throwing myself into my work with renewed vigor and understanding, I was sad about being back because New York wasn’t the same as it had been when I left it.There was a
Getting Lucky More Than Friends
EmberI needed to figure this out for myself first. Kaden had made me no promises, and I couldn’t go blurting out any words that might cause me to lose another best friend this week. So instead of saying the words sitting on the very tip of my tongue, I smiled and said, “Thanks, Marx. I’ll call you if I need you, but let’s go home.”“At least you’ll have some good news to give my dad when you see him tomorrow, so that’s a bit of a silver lining,” he said on our way home. We were in his fancy Bugatti, his leather seats as soft as butter beneath me and a control panel to rival those of a space ship on the console.“What do you mean I’ll have some good news? Shouldn’t it be we have some good news to give him? Don’t you want to be there when I tell him?”“No.” He didn’t even take a beat to think about it. “It’s your news to give, kitten. Not mine. He’ll be happy though. As happy as he ever is, anyway.”Kaden dropped me off at my empty loft, Gracie’s absence obvious in everything from how
Latest chapter
Getting Lucky Gender Reveal
KadenAs an adult, I’d always been too busy to spend too much time on hypotheticals like if I wanted to settle down and have a family someday. I used protection religiously to avoid conceiving a child with a woman I didn’t really know in my younger days, and after that, I kind of gave up on ever finding a woman I could imagine myself spending the rest of my life and having kids with.Until Ember.Everything I used to want, worry about, think, or believe changed the day she walked back into my life. She still teased me some about my previous life of being a jerk as a kid or a player, but I could hardly remember what that was like either. Just like with my apartment, those were vague memories I didn’t care to recall.All my life, I’d heard people say you couldn’t change. I was living proof those people were wrong. To be fair, I’d started making changes before I even met Ember, but the guy I used to be wouldn’t have taken the whole day off work to go to the doctor and then to stock up on
Getting Lucky Ultrasound
KADEN“Everything is looking good so far,” Doctor Kruger told us, holding the ultrasound wand still on Ember’s growing stomach. She was really starting to show now and thought she looked more and more like a whale every day. I couldn’t disagree with her more. “The baby is growing well, and everything looks the way it should at around twenty-four weeks.”Doctor Kruger was the gynecologist Ember chose. She came highly recommended by the girls at the office. She looked a little bit like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, with hair so thin you could see most of her scalp, but there was a whole wall of awards in her office speaking to her ability.Ember smiled up at her, squeezing my hand tightly. Her eyes were glued to the screen beside her though, as were mine. It was hard to believe the black and white smudges we saw was an actual baby growing in Ember, but now and then, we could make out a hand or a foot or something that drove the point home.The doctor moved the wand higher, squeezing ou
Getting Lucky A Dozen
Ember“Have you felt it move yet?” Kaden asked, dragging his chair around to my side of the table so he would be next to me instead of across from me. “And should we be eating Mexican? Isn’t it too spicy?”“I ordered it mild,” I reminded him. “But I don’t think eating Mexican is a problem. Sushi is probably a no-no for me until the baby comes, though.”He nodded, and I could practically see him adding the information to some kind of mental checklist. “So, you didn’t tell me if you’d felt it move yet.”“Not yet,” I said honestly. “I would have told you immediately if I had.”That much was true. Despite my misgivings about his reaction, I wouldn’t have kept him from anything involving his child. Something as major as feeling it move for the first time especially.“When do you think you’ll feel it?” he asked, cocking his head and shifting back on his chair to make space for him to get his phone out of his pocket.I lifted my shoulders, shaking my head. “No idea, but it will probably be s
Getting Lucky Four Months
EMBERFor four weeks, I had been waiting to find the right time to talk to Kaden about this. There just never seemed to be enough time. Though we were practically living together and had adjoining offices now, we were also busy and running around for work.My heart hammered against my ribcage so hard it was almost painful as I leaned forward, forcing myself to look into Kaden’s eyes. I had no idea how he was going to take this news. We had so much on our plates as it was, and we’d never even come close to talking about anything like this.Every word I knew suddenly disappeared from my brain as I looked into his gorgeous eyes, questions darkening them while he waited for me to tell him what I’d been waiting for the right time to talk to him about.Grasping for words, any words at this point, I ended up just blurting it out. “I’m four months pregnant.”Kaden paled, his eyes going huge. His jaw loosened, and his throat worked. Oh crap.This was exactly the reaction I’d been afraid of. Me
Getting Lucky Home
KadenA faint line appeared between Carol’s eyebrows before she schooled her expression, shaking my free hand again. “We’ll be in touch soon, I assume? If you could email the paperwork to my assistant, the same one who set up this meeting, I’ll have the lawyers look it over and send it right back.”“It will be in your inbox before the end of the day tomorrow,” Ember promised. If I knew her, she was already planning on firing off a text to Scotty as soon as we were out of Carol’s sight.Ember and I were sharing Scotty as our main assistant now. We each had a second assistant working under Scotty, but he was our go-to guy and the one who organized our respective second assistants. It was a system that was working really well for us.Once we were settled in my car, I glanced at her before putting my hand on her headrest and backing out of the parking space. “Did you ask Scotty to send her the documents yet?”She smiled, holding up her phone to show me the text she was typing. “Just about
Getting Lucky How Far Along?
KADEN“If you consider we only started putting this together for you last week, I think you’ll appreciate the growth you would already have seen if we’d started making these moves only a few days ago.” I was speaking to our new potential client, an older woman with her dyed black hair pulled back in a severe bun.She was the CEO of a hotel group that was starting to pop up everywhere. The company was only a few years old, but they were expanding at an impressive rate, and Ember and I both really wanted to sign her.“We can do great things together, Carol,” Ember added, clicking a button on the remote in her hand to move onto the next slide we had prepared for her. “Both our companies have shown exponential growth over the last six months, and together, I think we can keep that trajectory going.”I could feel Ember’s excitement coming off her in waves from where she was sitting next to me at a mahogany conference table at one of Carol’s group’s hotels. The group had two new boutique ho
Getting Lucky Together Again
EMBERWhen Kaden’s lips crashed into mine, it was with such passion and fervor that a fresh wave of tears welled up behind my eyes. Different tears this time, happy tears. I couldn’t believe he was here, that he was in my arms and kissing me the way he was.An hour ago, I was convinced our relationship was toast. When I didn’t hear from Ryan, I thought the worst. I thought Kaden was so mad at me, he’d convinced Ryan he was right, and I was wrong. I thought Ryan wasn’t going to speak to me ever again either.I thought so many things, all of which were apparently wrong. It was hard to have faith in people when you felt as guilty and as badly as I did, though. In my defense, those weren’t feelings I had much experience with, and now that I’d felt them in their fullest glory, I had no intention of ever finding myself in a position like that ever again.From now on, I was going back to honesty. I still regretted the way I handled things with Mr. Marx, but I’d also learned from it. With Kad
Getting Lucky Big Brother Talk
KadenShit. I even made her promise to stop avoiding me. I shoved her even deeper into the impossible corner she was already in. I made her look me in the eyes and sleep in my bed, even when she couldn’t do it, and now I was pissed at her for doing exactly that?I groaned out loud, bringing my forehead to my desk.As if Ryan could tell what I was thinking, he said, “She loves you, Kaden. She loves you more than anything in the world. You’re everything to her. Trust me when I tell you she never meant to hurt you. She was stuck in purgatory about this for weeks.”Lifting my head only enough to catch a glimpse of his eyes, I frowned. “Is this a big brother talk? Because I don’t think I can stomach one of those right now.”I really couldn’t bear to hear him tell me how much she loved me after the way I acted. Sure, I was shocked, and she shouldn’t have done what she did, but I honestly didn’t know what else I could have expected her to do under the circumstances.Even if she did, would sh
Getting Lucky You Don't Listen
KADENMy head was spinning. I felt nauseous, my stomach twisting and turning as I tried to focus on the screen in front of me. I was trying to get everything with Ember out of my head and get some work done, but it was proving to be harder than I thought it would be.Despite everything, I still didn’t want to let my dad down. Sure, he told my girl he was dying and not me, but—“Fuck,” I muttered, dragging my hands through my hair. Again. I shuddered to think what I looked like by now. At least no one was bothering me.Scotty was keeping his distance, and most people would probably be leaving soon. They were giving me the day to get settled in, which was a fucking blessing since I had no idea how I would be able to handle meetings or making any big decisions today.I’d been so damn optimistic just this morning, determined to make this work no matter what. I was so damn sure I had this under control, that I was going to walk in as CEO and things would just fall in place.I was prepared
