KADENA lot of people thought I hadn’t worked hard to get to where I was. It’s your daddy’s business, they said. Of course he’s gonna give you a good spot.If I had a dollar for every time I heard those words, I’d have been even richer than I already was.What those people didn’t know was my dad. If they’d ever met him, they’d know that my being his son meant I had to bust my ass twice as hard to get the job I had.Dad supported a lot of different charity causes, but I wasn’t one of them. I worked twice as hard and got half of the credit, if I got any at all.To be fair, I didn’t need his credit or approval. My track record spoke for itself. When I played, I played hard, but when I worked, I worked harder. Sunday night with Ember was the first time I mixed those two things.Kissing her was purely about me surrendering to mind-numbing lust. The kind of lust that made you forget your own name, or in my case, made me forget my best friend’s name.Ryan finding out about what happened didn
KadenI could see from his reaction he hadn’t seen my email yet, which meant he’d headed over here with the intent of complaining to Daddy and without even waiting to see what I had for him. It was clear he’d already made a fuss to my dad. Asshole.Dad gave him an almost imperceptible nod and turned his hard eyes on me. “Mr. Morrison has raised some legitimate concerns to me this morning. It seems his last few acquisitions have failed, and the merger negotiations on the last two deals have tanked. What’s going on here, Kaden? Why is one of our most valued client’s portfolio looking the way it is?”I nearly rolled my eyes at his choice of wording. I doubted he even knew who Morrison was when he arrived this morning. I was willing to bet he only knew the man’s name because he would have had to give it to get into Dad’s office. One of his most important clients, my ass.Sitting back, I cooled my heels and matched Dad’s detached, calm tone. I hated when he tried to assert his dominance in
EMBERMonday morning at work, I kept looking over my shoulder at the shiny bank of metal elevators every time I heard that familiar low ping signaling the arrival of one on our floor. I told myself it was just because the sound was distracting, but it was a little white lie.Okay, more like a white-whale-sized lie, but hey, I enjoyed trying to fool myself. The truth was that I kept checking for Kaden. Early in the morning, I thought I saw a flash of his blonde hair and perfectly chiseled face when the doors opened for a split second, but they closed again almost immediately. As if the rider had pressed the button for the wrong floor.It wasn’t like I was desperate to see him or anything. I wasn’t. I meant it when I said what happened between us couldn’t happen again, but I was curious to see how he was going to treat me now.Would he be flirty Kaden like he had been this weekend? Or would we go back to being colleagues who hardly knew each other? As loathe as I was to admit it, I didn
EmberAn enthusiastic waitress took our orders for cocktails and brick-roasted free-range chicken before hurrying away. Seated on one of the terraces, Gracie and I had the perfect spot for people watching.I loved it, but there was a sadness in Gracie’s expression I didn’t like. “What’s wrong?”She sighed, her eyes lingering on the sidewalk and the orange glow of the sun setting on the river before slowly venturing back to mine. “Do you feel like New York is swallowing you up?”My head jerked back as my brow furrowed. “No, not at all. Do you?”Tilting her head on another small sigh, she nodded. “It’s all just so big and overwhelming, you know? We’re only two among literally millions of people on this island.”“But we’re two awesome people,” I quipped, changing tack when I noticed the sadness was intensifying instead of lessening. “New York won’t swallow us whole. We’re going to dominate this city one day. We’ll be like our generation of the Sex in the City girls.”“There are only two
KADENTuesday morning came sooner than I wanted it to. After my chat with my dad and Boyd yesterday, my day had gone from bad to worse. What should have been an awesome day had gone to shit because of that little stunt they pulled.I ended up being snappy and argumentative, not the best way to treat my team. As a result, I decided to take today to cool off. There was nothing urgent I needed to do, and the emails I needed to respond to I had already gotten done earlier this morning.Taking a day off wasn’t something I did often, so I didn’t feel bad about doing it now. Everyone needed a break from time to time, and my employees certainly didn’t shy away from doing it when they needed to, on my encouragement and insistence. I owed myself the same I gave them.I wasn’t going to face my dad today. No fucking way. I wasn’t in the mood. I needed to regroup after the shit he’d pulled, or I was going to do something I’d end up regretting.Regret wasn’t in my repertoire precisely because I tho
We flagged down a cab and made our way to the hole in the wall burger joint that had been there for twenty-five years. It smelled of grease, onions, and grill in the small, packed dining space.Ryan and I got a table as a couple of other guys left, and we ordered a beer on tap and their daily special burger. After getting caught up on work, I shifted the conversation to Ember.“So, you know your sister’s working for us now, right?” I started, sipping on my lager.Ryan nodded, a smile on his lips. “Yeah. She told me. I’m glad she’s there. I didn’t know she was starting with you, or I would have given you a heads-up about it.”“No worries.” I shrugged like it didn’t mean a thing to me that she was there. “She’s doing really well, Ryan. You should be proud of her.”Surprise flashed in his eyes. “She is? I was wondering if she was going to cut it there. Don’t get me wrong. She’s smart as hell, but I didn’t know if she had it in her to make it at a firm like yours in a town like this.”His
EMBER“Mr. Marx isn’t in the office today,” a perky receptionist on his floor told me snidely. The tone she used made me wonder if there was something more going on between them, but I dismissed the thought.She was probably simply bitchy. Like Gracie pointed out, people here had their default setting set to rude. I smiled, refusing to stoop to her level. “Do you know when he’ll be back? I have some important business to discuss with him.”What I wanted to discuss with him wasn’t business or particularly important, but I was tired of waiting for him to come to me. I needed to figure out if the air needed to be cleared between us, and I was over wondering about it.If he didn’t have the balls to come to me, I would come to him. Or I would try, anyway. Apparently, I had chosen the wrong day to do so.The receptionist, whose name I didn’t know and didn’t care to learn, glared at me. “I’m not his personal assistant, so I don’t know when he’ll be back or where he is. Would you like to leav
EmberHank’s grip was so strong, it nearly strangled my hand, but I wasn’t one of those girls who shook like a limp fish. One of my female professors back at Harvard had impressed upon us ladies the importance of having every bit as strong a handshake as the men who we would inevitably end up working with.I returned his handshake with more confidence than I felt, curling my lips into a smile. “Mr. Marx, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”“I’ve taken the liberty of ordering up lunch for you. I was hoping you would join me.” He motioned toward the seating area with the waiting salads, looking at me expectantly.Like I was going to say no to an invitation to lunch with the biggest boss I had? “I would love to.”“I’m sure you’re wondering why I called for you,” he said once we were settledI nodded, mentally crossing my fingers that this wasn’t all an act and that he wasn’t going to fire me anyway, despite having gotten me lunch first. “The thought has crossed my mind.”Mr. Marx chuckled good