The Cruel and Beautiful Series Boxset

by A. M. Hargrove

  “Oh, like the Sadlers?”

  “Not exactly. I have to have dinner with Karen.”

  Twenty-Four

  SAM

  His words make me almost drop my phone. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  “I guess I need to backtrack a little.” He explains about a catastrophe at work. “But that’s not the worst of it. Karen showed up right after all hell broke loose. She demanded I take her to dinner.”

  “What! What the hell does that mean? Can you explain?” I can’t hide the shock from my voice nor do I like the direction this is heading one bit.

  “By demanded, I mean more like blackmail. She’s threatening a lawsuit so I need to check with our attorneys. But she wants me at her place at eight. Sam, I know this sounds bad, but believe me, I have absolutely zero interest in her. Because she’s a lawyer, I do have to take her seriously. The company could be at stake. And the fact that she’s resorting to threats makes it even worse. For a smart woman I have no clue how she thinks this would make me want her.”

  My stomach slams to the floor with this news. I know I have no reason to be upset like this. Ben is being honest with me. He could lie and say something totally different and I would never know.

  “Okay. I’ll deal with this.”

  “No. There will be no dealing. I’ll handle her. I’m waiting to hear back from our attorneys. They may tell me I don’t have to do a thing. I just wanted you to be aware of what’s going on. And that I may have to meet with her, if not tonight then maybe tomorrow.”

  “O-okay.”

  “Hey, I’m not going to do anything to mess with what you and I have going. Tell me you understand that.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good. As much as I would rather stay on the phone with you and maybe share some dirty talk, I’ve gotta go before things take an even bigger turn for fuckmeville. I was hoping I could give my dad something to be proud of while he was gone, but now …”

  “Hey, don’t say that. Pull some of your fancy tricks out of your bag. I know you’re savvy enough to figure something out.”

  “Thanks for believing in me. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Even though I try to act like I’m fine, my guts are in knots with the idea of him seeing the spiteful Karen. She’s no dummy; I only hope she doesn’t hold him over a barrel for something he had nothing to do with.

  Later that afternoon, there’s a knock on my office door, and I expect to see Nancy’s head peek through.

  “Mom. What brings you here?”

  “I wanted to pop in and see my baby.” Her smile is like watching someone yawn—when I see it I automatically grin in return.

  “I think I’ve passed the baby stage.”

  “Not for me you haven’t. But the truth is, I wanted to see if you and your new man can come to dinner tomorrow night.” She grabs one of the chairs in my office and pulls it close to mine so she can check out what’s on my computer screen. My mom is a curious sort and loves to see how my business operates.

  “I can check with Ben, but he’s been crazy busy at work. Can you give me another option just in case?”

  She clicks her tongue and says, “Tomorrow was going to be perfect because your sister and Evan were free, too.”

  Shitdiddles! She wants me to introduce Ben to the entire family? What the hell?

  “Oh, Mom, we only started dating. Don’t you think this is a bit early to do the whole family thing?”

  Her hand tucks an errant curl behind my ear. “No, and the reason I don’t is that last boy you dated ended up breaking your heart. Your sister and I want to make sure this boy doesn’t do the same.”

  “Oh for Pete’s sake, Mom. First, Ben is not a boy. And second, I’m a grown woman and can watch out for myself.”

  She clicks her tongue again. “Sweetie, you know you always say that but then end up a sad mess. I think we need to give our approval this time.”

  “Did Laney put you up to this?” Knowing my mother hen of an older sister, I can see her conniving mind behind all of this.

  “No, she did not. It was my idea I’ll have you know. And Evan was free, so when I called Laney, she jumped on it.”

  “I imagine she did. Tell you what, I’ll ask Ben, but I will not pressure him. If he says no, then it’s no.”

  “Fine, but will you come without him? We still want to see our baby.”

  Smiling, I say, “Yeah, Mom. I’ll be there as long as my work is caught up.”

  “You work way too hard, honey.”

  “I know.”

  “So, any decision yet?”

  “Oh, Mom.”

  She puts her hands on my shoulders, rotating me so we face each other. “Honey, can I tell you something? Remember when your grandmother died?”

  “Yeah. It was awful. You know I loved my Grammy.”

  “I know you did. She adored you, too. But it took every bit of wind in the world out of my sails for at least two years. Oh, I put up a good front around you girls, but ask your dad about it. But see, here’s the thing, sweetie—that’s how it’s supposed to work. It was hard, but it’s the order of things, you know. The parents are supposed to go before the children. I just couldn’t bear it if anything …” Her voice cracks and she stops to compose herself, dabbing at her eyes. “Sweetie, I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you, especially since we have all this wonderful information nowadays. You see?” Her eyes pull down at the corners and tug at my heart.

  Now I feel terrible when she puts it this way because I can’t imagine how awful it would be to lose a child. “Okay, Mom. I promise I’ll do something. And let you know about dinner.”

  We hug and say our I love yous, and I get back to work. When I get home that night, I hit Lauren with all my insecurities.

  “I think you’re good as far as that vengeful loony Karen goes. She sounds like she’s on the crackwagon and Ben wouldn’t want anyone like that,” she reassures me. “Like you said, he didn’t have to say a thing. He could’ve lied and then said he went out to dinner with a client and told you nothing. You never would’ve known. He didn’t though. He came clean and you can’t argue with that.”

  “I know. It’s just that woman was hanging all over him. And the fact that she’s a nutjob scares me.”

  “You also said he acted like he couldn’t stand her. If she’s that mental, you know he won’t go for that.”

  Lauren’s right. I’m beating myself up over this and it’s making me as crazy as she is. I need to drop it and move on.

  Ben calls me later that evening and he sounds like he’s gone nine rounds. Or maybe even twelve.

  “You sound awful.”

  “I feel it. This has been one hell of a bad day. I’m whipped.” The desolation in his tone is contagious and his bad mood curls in my chest.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  “No, but I will be once this crisis is averted.”

  “When will that be?”

  “We’re working on it. It’s so complicated, and not that you wouldn’t understand, but honestly, I’m just talked out right now.”

  “You don’t have to explain. I think you need to go home and rest. Get a good night’s sleep.”

  “I’m heading out of the office now and hope to be home soon. At least I’ve managed to put that pain-in-my-ass Karen off for another day. I would love your company, but I’ll probably be asleep in twenty minutes and then I’m going in earlier than usual tomorrow.”

  “Be safe driving. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  “Thanks for understanding.”

  “There’s nothing to understand.”

  After he ends the call, I sit and worry. Since when did I become so freaked over a guy? I never was like this before. Is this telling me that I care for him more than I realize? And then I become aware of the fact that I didn’t mention dinner at my parents to him. Great. I don’t want to call him back, because he doesn’t need this added demand on his plate. But if I don’t ask him, my mom and sist
er will hound me to death and I’ll end up telling them I didn’t ask. So I make the hasty decision and call him back.

  “Sam? Everything okay?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s my mom and my sister. They’ve done some finagling and want us to come to dinner tomorrow night.”

  Dead silence greets me.

  “You don’t have to come. I know it’s …”

  “I want to. I was just trying to figure out in my head if it would work. The timing and all.”

  “Ben, I know things at work are rough.”

  “That’s why it took me so long to answer. And then I have that thing with Karen that I need to figure out.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “I hate to ask this, but can I tell you tomorrow?”

  “Sure. I told my mom it may not work. That’s not a problem.”

  “But I would love to meet your family. If not this time then some other time.”

  “Okay. G’night, Ben.”

  And I notice he’s managed to put a smile back on my face. But it disappears when I think about why he can’t come to my parents and I want to unleash my Kraken and bitch slap the everlovin’ hell out of that whack job Karen.

  Twenty-Five

  BEN

  I’ve barely hung up with Sam when Mark breezes in my office. “Tell me, what’s the damage.”

  “It’s not that bad.” He hands me a paper.

  “So what’s this mean?” I see the numbers and figures, but I want him to tell me what’s not on the paper.

  “Less than ten percent of our clients have that particular mutual fund in their portfolio mix. Most of our clients have a mutual fund from that company, but not that particular one.”

  “That’s good.”

  He grins which catches me by surprise. Mark has been in the dumps for weeks and seeing him smile when he’s not blitzed off his rocker is new.

  “It’s even better.”

  “Okay.”

  “During the last few days, that company has made money for our clients. Not huge amounts, but they didn’t lose any. That hedge fund was such a small segment of their investment mix, the other performing investments absorbed the blow.”

  My mood lightens. “Fucking great news.” I can already envision the words I can say to Karen to watch her smug smile disappear off her face.

  “All right, have someone prepare an analysis for each of the other clients involved. Then have them work on a narrative for each in layman’s terms.”

  Mark nods and leaves my office without preamble.

  “Ben.” I glance up and see Trudy, my father’s admin at my door. “Your father has a meeting in fifteen minutes I wasn’t able to reschedule. I left messages that weren’t returned and the potential client has shown up for their meeting time.”

  “Okay, send me Dad’s notes. In fact, can you print them out? Sit the client in the small conference room and have Dad’s presentation cued up on the computer. Tell them I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  She nods. Dad is always prepared, so I have no doubt that he has everything laid out ready to go. I start to get up from my desk when the human resources manager breezes into my office.

  “Have no fear, you’re the boss now.”

  I chuckle at her joke.

  “What’s up?” I sit back in my chair, knowing I don’t have a lot of time. However, Janice won’t leave before she has her say.

  “I’ve been dealing with an issue with your father.”

  “And?”

  “There have been some complaints from a few people about the number of breaks smokers get versus non-smokers.”

  I groan, letting my head fall back while pushing hair off my forehead.

  “People issues are the number one problem in a company.”

  “I get that, but this sounds petty, even to me.”

  “On the surface I can see that. But I’ve clocked the people being accused and they are taking excessive breaks.”

  I’m dumbstruck for a second. “So we’re resorting to spying on people now.”

  “Mr. Rhoades, these issues can lead to lawsuits.”

  There’s that word again. No wonder people think this country is sue happy.

  “Fine, what do we do?”

  “I just need you to approve me sending out this communication to all employees about the Federal and State guidelines in regards to breaks.”

  “Can you send it to me via e-mail and I’ll get back to you?” I ask, getting up from my desk.

  “Fine, but I’d like to have this out today.”

  I nod. After she leaves, I scrub a hand over my face. When I look again, Lisa is there.

  “You’re messing with your hair again. Maybe you should get it cut.”

  Her eyes rake over me and the excessive attention says she’s still very interested. “I should. Sam says the same thing.”

  Bringing up Sam is a mean thing to do as I watch her face fall, but I can’t deal with anymore crazy women.

  Dad’s admin steps up next to Lisa. “Don’t you have work to do?”

  Lisa’s face pales before she nods and rushes off. “That girl and her puppy crush,” Trudy tsks.

  Pressing my lips closed, I hold in the chuckle that threatens to escape. Trudy is in charge of all support staff and just did me an incredible favor.

  “Here is what you requested. Let’s walk and talk and I’ll fill you in what I know.”

  “Before that, can you send our sorry we missed you letter from the client luncheon and this letter,” I hand her a copy of the letter from the mutual fund company, “to our lawyers. See if you can get a meeting with them today at their offices or ours.”

  “Sure. Want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Not enough time but there could be a potential lawsuit. I want to know what they think of the merits of any such action against us.”

  She isn’t making notes, but I know she’s memorized everything I’ve said. Dad has sung her praises on a number of occasions. “Okay, let me tell you about the Dunbrookes.”

  After the meeting, I finally find a minute to text Karen about her planned dinner. And I choose not to call so there would be a record of exactly what I said.

  Me: I can’t make your blackmail dinner tonight. So you’ll have to sue me.

  My phone rings and when I pick up she gets right to the point.

  “Clever of you, Ben. But I’m not playing your game.”

  “This isn’t a game. I can’t do dinner. I have a ton of things I have to finish tonight.”

  This is true. My office has been a revolving door all day. Most people have finally gone home, and I have to get my own work done. I haven’t been able to touch any of my responsibilities yet.

  “Fine, tomorrow night, and no more excuses.”

  “Tomorrow,” I say with no certain terms because I very much doubt I will see her for dinner.

  By the time I call Sam and explain that I can’t see her tonight, it’s late. I do a few other things before I finally head out my office door. I haven’t eaten dinner, but decide against it when I stare at my phone where I’ve pulled up my contacts. I set the phone down on the passenger seat haunted by what I’d been about to do. It’s automatic to call Drew when I have a shit day.

  It’s a good thing I don’t live far from work. I breeze through my door and head straight for a bottle of whiskey, pouring myself a healthy glass.

  “You fucker, you. I almost think you did this on purpose so you wouldn’t have to deal with my shit.” My words echo in the empty room after I drain the contents of my glass. “Who the fuck am I supposed to call now?”

  I think about Cate and immediately shake my head. She’s trying to get her life together. She doesn’t need me to bring her down. She left because she wants to move on from her grief. So don’t call her, you asshole.

  The phone is in my hand as if it materialized there.

  “Hello,” a sleepy voice says.

  “Sam,
” I breathe.

  “Ben, is everything okay?”

  It is now. “I just wanted to hear your voice. I’m sorry to wake you up.”

  “My voice?”

  You don’t know how talking to you soothes me. “Yeah, it’s sexy.”

  She laughs. “Sexy, huh? Is there a reason you need sexy?”

  It’s way more than your sexy voice. “Is there ever a bad time for sexy?” Her laugh makes a smile form on my face. “Hey, do you think you can meet me for lunch tomorrow? I should be tied to my desk, but I need to see you. Work is hell on wheels.”

  “Yeah, I think I can do that.”

  “Great. I would ask you what you’re wearing, but then I’d never get to sleep. Goodnight, gorgeous.”

  “’Night.”

  My morning meeting with the lawyers sends me over the moon. Only, when I get back to the office, I feel like I need people to take a number to stop the pile-up outside my door.

  “This is what it’s like to be in charge,” Trudy says laying out my calendar for the day.

  “It’s like another full time job.”

  “That’s why your dad comes in early and stays late. It’s the only time he has to himself.”

  Her message to me is loud and clear.

  “I need a little more time at lunch.” She eyes me like my mother does. “I have something I need to take care of outside the office and I need travel time.”

  “I’ll shift things around, but you need to tell me your schedule in advance.”

  “Fine, this is all new to me. I never had problems scheduling my own meetings before.”

  “And now you have me, temporarily,” she adds.

  When lunchtime comes around, I’m armed with an envelope and drive over to pick up Sam. I find myself in a trance when she walks to my car. She’s dressed in an outfit that makes my mouth water and tongue hang out like a panting dog. My dick is on high alert and it sucks I can’t act on it.

  “Hey, where are we going for lunch?”

  “Huh?”

  “Are you okay?”

  I shake my head because I’m mesmerized by the way her breasts move under her shirt as she sits down. I turn away and shift into gear.