LOGINShare
He's Proud
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Getting Lucky Oncologist
EMBERThe look on Kaden’s face as he listened to whatever he was being told on the phone was unlike any I’d ever seen him wear, which was saying something since I’d been carefully studying his reactions since I was a preteen and only just starting to realize that boys didn’t really have cooties.It shifted from anger, annoyance, and suspicion about what else I might have been hiding from him, to shock, dread, and, worst of all, fear. The combination left a blank mask in its place that scared the crap out of me.It was almost like he felt so many things in such a short space of time that he just switched off. And that, more than anything, made me connect the dots.Hank. Something had happened, and that call was to let Kaden know. My heart sputtered, its sporadic beats pounding in my ears. I suddenly felt like someone had a vise grip around my neck, choking me and cutting off my air supply.No matter how hard I tried or how deep I gulped, it felt like my lungs refused to expand. I was f
Getting Lucky It Means More
Ember“What’s his prognosis?” He all but whispered, looking the doctor right in the eyes. If Dr. Christie had noticed the size of the bomb he had just inadvertently dropped on Kaden, he didn’t let on.He ran a hand through his graying hair, but there was nothing casual about the gesture. I didn’t know the man, but I recognized the signs when I saw them. In front of me was a man who was about to deliver really bad news. The lines on his face seemed to deepen right before my eyes, a ragged exhale and a soft shake of his head confirming my fears.“Your dad is on life support,” he said. At least he had the decency and probably the years of experience that allowed his voice to remain steady and to keep his gaze firm on Kaden’s. He wasn’t going to give him any false hope or make any promises he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep. “At the moment, these machines are the only thing keeping him alive.”This time, I definitely felt him sway. He was holding my hand so tightly it felt like it
Getting Lucky Pull the Plug
KADENMy dad’s hand was ice cold in mine. His chest rose and fell in simulated breaths, his skin a sickly gray under the lights in his room. Machines hummed and beeped, but I was barely aware of the sounds.For twenty-seven years, the man lying on the bed in front of me had been my tormentor. Apart from brief moments in time, a day here and week or two there, he had been brutal.He pushed me every second of every day, and he never took “no” or “I’m tired” as an answer. If I got eighty percent on a test, he’d asked where the other twenty went. If I came in second place in debate, he told me to bother with preparation next time. It was the same with everything else.No matter what I did or how well I did, I just never did quite well enough. I never quite satisfied his expectations. He just kept pushing and pushing, and eventually, I started pushing back. It’d been that way for years now. Since way before I went to Harvard or came to New York to work for him. In many ways, it felt like
Getting Lucky He's Already Gone
Kaden“I’m not taking him off fucking life support,” I snapped, enraged that this man had the nerve to stand in front of me and tell me we were out of options. “You are going to figure out something else, or I’ll have him moved to another hospital where the doctors are competent enough to actually do something for their patients.”Dr. Christie lifted his hands, holding up his palms, and took a step away from me. Smart man. My breaths were coming hard and fast, my hands in fists at my sides. I was pretty sure my nostrils even flared.“I’m going to have to ask you to calm down, Mr. Marx. I know this is—”“You don’t know shit.” My voice came out louder and harsher than I intended. Several nurses at the station and some of the other doctors he’d been talking to earlier turned to look our way. I didn’t have any fucks left to give about that. “Don’t tell me to fucking calm down. My dad is dying, and you refuse to treat him. How am I supposed to be calm about that?”“I’m not refusing to trea
Getting Lucky Drunk
EMBER“It’s been a week, Ryan. A week and I’ve hardly seen him or heard from him. I’m worried. I know you said to give him space, but I’m not sure how much more I can give him.” Sitting in Ryan’s kitchen, I watched him stir scrambled eggs in a pan.When he invited me for breakfast, I came over thinking we were going out. I never imagined he meant he would be cooking for us. Jeez. I didn’t even know he could cook.The two of us were slowly but surely growing closer. This week, we’d texted back and forth more than we ever had.Sure, it was mostly about Kaden’s dad. I let Ryan know what was going at the hospital, and then it was about the funeral. We kept each other up to date and helped Kaden plan without seeing much of him. But it was still communication, which was more than I could say about Kaden this week. Not that I blamed him, of course.Ryan finished up with the eggs, laying them down on toasted bagels with strips of smoked salmon and chives on them. My mouth watered as he picked
Getting Lucky Oblivion
EmberHe flashed me what I thought was meant to be a smirk. “It’s called oblivion. That’s where I’m going and that’s where I’ve been.”Giving him a long onceover, my heart shattered into a million pieces once more. This week, it felt like every time I managed to scrape the pieces of the organ back together and messily mended it with the world’s worst sticky tape, something happened to break it again.Kaden was pale, his features gaunt. His eyes seemed unnaturally bright, even as red and watery as they were. He was shirtless, but instead of noticing his sexy muscles, all I could see was that he’d lost a couple of pounds since the last time I saw him half naked.My usually rock-solid man was swaying on his feet, holding on to a bar stool that I was sure was the only thing keeping him from toppling over. Walking up to him, I put my hands on his cheeks and tried to get him to focus on me. “Okay, big guy. It’s fine that that’s where you’ve been, but we’re going to bring you back now. You o
Getting Lucky Message From Beyond
KADENThe offices of Mooka, James, and Kent were situated in a high rise a couple of blocks away from Marx Inc. The firm had been handling my dad’s legal affairs for decades now, so it wasn’t the first time I was there.It didn’t make their offices any less impressive, though. They had expansive views, and the floors were covered in thick, plush carpeting my feet sank into on my way to Mr. Kent’s office. The walls were paneled in dark wood, and the air smelled like expensive coffee and pricey perfume, cologne, and soap.There were hundreds of people who worked in their offices, yet the soundproofing of each glass box effectively rendered the floors they occupied almost totally silent. All I could hear were low murmurs from somewhere and the floor receptionist directing someone to the office they were looking for.Mr. Kent’s office wasn’t the biggest in the building, but I was pretty sure it held more books than a library. His walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of brown leather
Getting Lucky Take Her With You
KadenOn the other hand, if I took the drive home and watched it there, I was better equipped to handle it if the video was nothing but a last berating. A last stab with a twist through my battered heart. There had to be at least one more bottle of tequila back at the penthouse. If that was what the video held, at least I could sink back into oblivion—even if only for a little while.Minutes ticked by while I stood there, both sides of my inner argument having it out. Eventually, I decided to take Kent up on his offer and watch the video here. I couldn’t sink back into oblivion, couldn’t put Ember through finding me like that twice.Last week, I had the excuse of the shock. Of dad dying and the funeral to plan and attend. This week, I would be a coward if I drowned myself in alcohol. It was time to man up and face the music, whatever tune it might be.Dad’s face filled the screen a few seconds after I inserted the drive and clicked into it. God, he looked bad. His coloring was almost
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
