Chapter 2

I turned the thick card over in my fingers, tapping the desk repetitively with it. Astilbe, the flower he had left for me meant he would be waiting. Well, according to the internet research I had done it meant dedication to the person, and that by giving it away you were promising to wait for the person. So, he was waiting for me? Yet I had been going to the same hotel bar I met him at for the past week, and had yet to see him again or be contacted by him; so exactly who was waiting for who? It was out of character for me to be chasing after a man, this was not something I ever had to worry about because most men did not interest me or were simply tools for pleasure. There had never been a deeper connection, until now, and I did not even know his name! I sighed with annoyance and put the card down. Of course, the one man I find intriguing poofs and disappears on me, after one of the most sensual nights ever. Just the thought of him, of our night, made me squirm in my seat.

“Still mooning over mystery man?” A cheery voice interrupted my thoughts, but I couldn’t be mad as the speaker placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. I smiled up at my friend.

“Not anymore, just confused” I reached for my coffee and took a small sip. Nikki knew just how I liked it. We had been friends for years, growing up, and both of our families in the same sort of business. As such our families had become aligned and she had sort of commandeered the role of my personal assistant/handler. Not that I minded having her around, we sort of kept each other sane. She of course had her own things to attend to, and we tended to play off each other and help one another. She leaned a hip against my desk.

“It is odd he left you no contact info and given that it’s been a week he should have been in touch by now” she mused. “Maybe he’s trying to be mysterious? Even then though. Or maybe he simply has bad manners?”

I laughed, “he didn’t seem like he had bad manners, in fact the opposite” I said, remembering his asking for consent and gentle touches. She smiled, her brown eyes kind.

“Sloane, he wouldn’t have left you that without truly intending to see you again. I just wonder where he got the flower from on short notice?” She tapped her well-manicured nails on the top of my desk, making a clicking sound. 

“You probably aren’t wrong, I’m just not used to feeling like I want to see a man again” I laughed, tossing my thick, curly, hair over my shoulder. Fishing a hair tie from my jeans pocket I quickly secured my massive mane back, away from my face. I knew I wasn’t bad looking, I also wasn’t model material. I figured I feel solidly somewhere in between, I also didn’t care. Nikki sat down at the smaller desk a few feet away from mine and continued to clack her nails on the top of it.

“I reeaaalllyyy don’t want to do a damn thing today” she said grinning. “No way you will play hooky with me, right?’ Her wide grin was full of mischief, and I laughed.

“Girl, you know we can’t today we have to figure out this shipping mess!” I laughed at her, I did wish we could skip a day and go do whatever we wanted. However, we had a huge hot mess of shipping issues to figure out for my parents, and it was a tangled jumble of a mess. 

It took most of the morning to get everything straight, and a few threatening phone calls tossed in as well for good measure. My brain was exhausted and cramping after this logistical puzzle, but I thought I had everything sorted out sufficiently. I got up, stretching slightly, and walked into the kitchen that doubled as a breakroom adjacent to our office. The room connected to our office, the doorway at the side of our room. It was a small spot, only meant to hold several people with a small round table, a two-seater sofa, sink, coffee maker, microwave, toaster, and not quite full-sized fridge. Nikki had run out to grab some food, but food wasn’t what I was after, the blessed caffeine however was. The hum of the coffee maker turning on was music to my ears, and I wasted no time prepping my cup for the warm liquid. Settling onto the couch I kicked my shoes off and drew my legs up onto the couch. 

This afternoon I would have to deal with the Amata’s, well not directly with them but with the merger. The family was incredibly wealthy, billionaires actually; and we had been working with them for awhile to make this happen. My parents were set on making this merger work, no matter the cost; and to be honest I didn’t blame them. A financial alliance with this family would be a huge asset for us, but they were giving us a bit of trouble; probably because we needed them more than they needed us. I had to call their son, who would be taking over eventually; and work with him. I had only ever spoken to him via phone. I huffed out a breath, it’s not that he wasn’t nice but he was so…..stiff…proper. I couldn’t describe it accurately, just very cold and withdrawn, all business and wasn’t interested in even the most basic pleasantries. Which OK, that was fine, but his tone was always so condescending; it gave the impression that I had no idea what I was talking about, at least that’s how he came across whenever we spoke. He seemed like he had a whole forest up his ass, much less a stick. I took another sip of my consolation coffee, I could and would get through this. They were wanting to get into the business of smuggling, using their hotels as a front in a sense, while we provided manpower and the, well illegal, side of things. No one would question their good name, they became wealthier, as did we; and we would also gain a powerful and virtually untouchable ally. My parents had said that in no uncertain terms the Kane/Amata alliance had to go through, which meant I had to rein my temper and personality in, acting the part of the perfect businesswoman to kowtow to this family to secure this. This wasn’t my first rodeo with such things, simply the most important and most restrictive, as far as me having to act a certain way. While I could put on a good show it didn’t mean I enjoyed doing it. My thoughts were interrupted as Nikki strode quickly into the room, making a beeline for the counter to place down the copious number of bags in her hands down.

“Weren’t you just going for food?” I asked her, one eyebrow raised. She had to have at least ten bags that she just tossed on the counter. She grinned at me and winked.

“I found some stuff on sale, you know the buy one get one, and I figured we could stock up a little.” She began pulling out the items, peanut butter, bread, yogurt, some box juices, snack bars and more. I laughed, she wasn’t wrong to do so, we spent a lot of time here. And we had other people that used this room, they just had to go through our office to get to it, so we liked to keep it decently stocked as part of the job. She opened the last bag and brought out some store-bought sushi, opening it and sitting at the table she clicked her chopsticks together as she dug in.

“You called Mr. Stony?” She asked around a mouthful, referring to one Cade Amata. I shook my head and took another sip.

“I thought it best to caffeine up before calling Sir Cunt Chops” I answered, smiling sweetly, my little nickname for him causing her to laugh. 

“After all I have to dredge up every ounce of restraint I own to deal with his boring ass.” I added an eyeroll for emphasis. She snickered, she knew how little I enjoyed these calls, and she had dealt with the family before. They were stuffy, very prim and proper types, and also the silent judgmental types. When you were in their presence you always felt like you were being weighed, measured, and found wanting. I stuck my pinkie out while drinking from my cup.

“I’m Cade Amata” I intoned in a deep, monotone voice, “I don’t know what fun is because I have a whole forest stuck up my ass that prevents me from smiling. In fact, the world may end if I dare to do such a horrid thing!” I erupted into laughter and so did Nikki. I had never met the man, but I had heard he never smiled, in fact he was devoid of any emotion it seemed, according to those who had met him. Not to mention my conversations with him leant me to agree with that statement. He was never warm or friendly, just cool, calm and calculated. I hauled myself off the couch, unfolding my legs and shoving them back into my shoes. 

“Guess I had better get this delightful conversation over with” I said, with mock happiness in my voice as I headed toward my desk and the dreaded phone. Lowering myself into my seat I rubbed my temples, trying to ward off the already forming headache. I swiftly dialed the number and waited patiently as Cade Amata’s secretary transferred me.

“Ms. Kane,” his rich baritone came on the line. Goodness, his voice was so very delicious; it’s a shame it was attached to such a bad personality. 

“Mr. Amata” I replied coolly, thinning my lips into a straight line. After all, I was going to fully commit to acting this part and fake it till I made it right?

 “I assume you know why I am calling?” I stated in my best big girl voice. 

“Indeed, I do, and I was able to speak with the board. There are a few minor details we need to go over but I do believe we can come to an agreement.” Oh? My ears perked at that, good, the sooner we got this done the sooner I could quit directly dealing with Cade Amata. 

Cade proceeded to go down the list, which I assumed he had bullet pointed and was reading from, his voice droning in my ears, almost putting me to sleep with my eyes open. Pinching my self to keep awake and paying attention I scribbled down quick notes as to the changes they wanted made, none that I believed we would refuse; and told him as much. I knew I would need to double check of course, but there wasn’t anything outlandish they were requesting. As the call wrapped up, I opened my email to type out a message to my parents to verify the changes would be ok so we could get back to the Amata’s as soon as possible.

“As always Mr. Amata, it has been a pleasure. I feel confident that we can assist your family in meeting their needs with this business partnership.” 

“I certainly hope so Ms. Kane, have a good rest of your day.” His icy voice came through the line, and then it went dead. Ah yes, what a lovely personality. A downright ray of sunshine that one, hopefully we could institute these changes and I would be dealing with him less. I made a face at Nikki as she walked in.

“That good?” She asked, a dark eyebrow arching gracefully on her ebony face.

“That good” I affirmed, wrinkling my nose. “At least it’s done for now, some small tweaks and we should be good to go.”

“And no more Mr. panties in a wad?” She laughed and sat down at her desk.

“Correct” I answered, “and hopefully I won’t have to deal with him for a long time after this.”