Untouchable: Kohl Family: Johannah & Jaxon

by C R Riley

I decided to share the chapter King Antonio and Larkin Cross meet for the very first time. Enjoy.

  Larkin

  I’ve worked for Manchester International for three years now. They hired me right before I completed my master’s to work in their historical department. That department was quickly growing, and they were looking for someone with my brand of passion.

  One of my projects during my studies had captured the attention of Zach Greene, a mid-level partner in that department. He came to listen to my presentation and then approached me afterward. Later that day took me to meet Timothy Manchester, Senior Partner. Three days later I was offered a job and enlightened that it wouldn’t take me long to make my way up in the ranks with more ideas like the ones they’d seen.

  They had been truthful about that. I had taken all their jabber as a way to get me to join the company, and not as serious as I guess I should have. Of course, I accepted the position with them, because they had one of the best historical departments around. They took on projects all over the world, and it thrilled me to find out where that just might take me.

  Chicago has always been my home. The only place I have ever lived. However, after my friend Randal died, it had never felt quite the same again. Working for a company that would send me away from the city that was a constant reminder of him was ideal.

  It took me two years to finally get assigned to a project like that. I recently returned from Mexico City, where I restored a crumbling cathedral that had been neglected for way too long. It took us almost a year to complete the project—eleven months and fourteen days, to be exact. It was one of the most challenging projects I’ve had the privileged of being a part of and I loved every minute of it. Mainly because the entire time I was there, my thoughts rarely drifted to Randal. Everywhere I looked didn’t trigger some memory that made me feel sad and lost on the inside. I was able to finally live my day-to-day life in the moment while I appreciated the beauty of my surroundings.

  The one thing that had gone completely amiss during that time was what I had allowed to materialize with one of the other architects, Chandler Sloan. The anniversary of Randal’s death was always a tough time for me, as I am sure you can imagine. Chandler and I have been working together since I started. He was the one that urged me to join him on the Mexico City project. So maybe deep down I felt some kind of obligation to him. We didn’t know anyone else in the city, so when he invited me out for drinks on that particular evening, and because I was feeling down, I accepted. I mean, it wasn’t like I never went out with him for drinks, except that night I should have known better than to set myself up for disaster.

  Now what you should probably know about Chandler is that he is one of those types. You know, the kind that believes he is all that and a slice of pie. And I’m not going to lie, he is rather pleasing to look at. He has light blond hair that he keeps cut just long enough to flop around. His eyes have this light blue tint that is a rarity, so one might tend to stare at them because they are so different. And while his smile isn’t perfect, it does the job when he flashes it at you in that way. I’ve watched him use it many times to charm women, so it wasn’t as if I didn’t know what type of guy he was.

  However, that night I had been feeling extremely lonely so I let him kiss me. I mean like really kiss me. He wanted more; thankfully I was able to fend him off by claiming that since we weren’t actually dating, it wasn’t happening. Not that it would have happened even if by chance we had been dating, which never happened, so there was that.

  The next seven months after that misguided night where filled with me constantly avoiding him, brushing him off, or making plans with anyone but him. Ensuring I’d have a ligament excuse to not spend time outside of work with him again. Not that it stopped Chandler from trying his darndest to get me to give him a chance and let him show me what we could have together.

  Which is why I was relieved when the project was completed and we got to return home. I knew that he would be different once back in Chicago. For one, he had his friends to distract him here, people he had known a lot longer than me. Plus, we would no longer be required to spend every single working day together, and once work ended could go our separate ways in completely different directions.

  What I hated about it ending was the fact that I knew as soon as I saw the city Randal would take over my mind again. After having lived somewhere else for the past year, it was not something I welcomed back in my life at all.

  I am positive that explains why I make a beeline to Zach Greene’s office two days later. I need to get out of this city. I will go anywhere that isn’t Chicago, and yes, I do mean anywhere.

  Zach notices me as soon as I step into his outer office. “Come on in, Larkin. You look stressed.”

  I attempt to give him a genuine smile, but I just don’t have it in me. “I need to get out of here.”

  Zach laughs as he leans back in his chair. “You just got back. Ready to blow out again so soon?” He then motions for me to take a seat.

  “Yes. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hate this city.” I admit as I plop down in the chair and sigh.

  A sad expression crosses Zach’s face as he rocks in his chair and studies me carefully. I know he gets my mindset since he is one of the few people that understands why. Randal and Zach once worked together. His death had been a shock to him and this very company.

  Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that part? Randal also once worked for Manchester International and his picture hangs in the main hallway as a memorial to a friend they lost too soon. They held high hopes for the kid who worked his way from the bottom all the way to the top. Randal was an inspiration to all those who knew him, but that was too much for me to deal with day in and day out.

  “Let me see what I can come up with.” Zach seems open to a suggestion, so I give him one.

  “I was thinking maybe I could help out with the…” I glance at my lap, where I wrote the project’s name on a post-it before I walked down here, “… the Hermosa Islas project.”

  A chuckle escapes him as he straightens and clicks his computer on. “You aren’t messing around. That’s a five-year proposed project, maybe longer. We are sending a team over in a few days. I’m not sure I have room on that team at the moment.”

  “I hear Janice isn’t all that excited about being assigned to that particular group. She knows its career suicide to refuse a project of this magnitude, although I imagine she’d be happier with something closer to home. I’d be glad to take her spot.”

  I know this because when I was here late last night, trying to figure out what I was going to do, she was around. Janice was sitting at her desk stressing about her upcoming move she had reluctantly agreed to. I’m sure she felt like if she informed them, she’d rather not take the assignment, her chances of getting promoted would fade fast. However, if I volunteer to take her place, she can then be reassigned somewhere else, and all is good right.

  “Janice is a Level II architect. You are a Level I, Larkin.” Zach peeks up over the glasses he slipped on just a few minutes ago.

  “But I should be a Level II after the project I just kicked butt on. Come on, Zach. You and I both know this would be an excellent fit for me. The team you are sending: Cameron, Bradley, and Reginald are all really good, but they would be better if I were there with them.” I am painting it on thick and I know it.

  “Hope is going as well. Timothy thought it would be a good experience for her.” Zach tries to sound like he agrees.

  Hope by the way is Timothy Manchester’s youngest daughter. She is a few years younger than me and she is good, but not great. Her sister Nicolette is great—spectacular, in fact—which is why she made Junior Partner by the time she was thirty. That woman is who I inspire to be in a few more years, why I work so hard. I mean I know I will never make Junior Partner by the time I’m thirty, my daddy isn’t the Senior Partner, and I am not the person he plans on handing the company over to when he retires.

  And because I am fantasti
c at selling myself, I see this as an even better reason for me to do it right now. “Which is an even better reason to send me. Hope and I started around the same time. She just finished her master’s and has done very little fieldwork. I can mentor her and she’ll be much more comfortable with me than Janice. Janice intimidates her, which come on, if anyone should be intimidated it should be Janice just because of who Hope is.” Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have said that last part out loud, but I can’t retract it now. “Plus, Timothy has always had a soft side for me.”

  Zach leans back in his chair again and crosses his arms in his lap. I know that means he is thinking about everything I’ve said. When his desk phone rings, he leans forward and snags it off the receiver. “Zach here.” His eyebrows lift almost to his hairline, which you should know is a receding hairline. “He’s here now? Like in the building and on his way up. Son of a…”

  There is a long pause and Zach nearly leaps out of his chair. “She did what? When? Last night? Why am I just now hearing about this? Yes, I’ll handle it. I can’t believe she would up and leave us like that without a warning this close to an important project. Yes, Bradley, I understand what this means. I know that it throws a serious…”

  I can hear Bradley Stanton, Project Manager over Hermosa Islas, loudly expressing himself through the phone line. He isn’t letting Zach get a word in edgewise and right now the man is rubbing his face and nodding as if he totally agrees with everything the other man is communicating.

  There are footsteps behind me. I can tell by the sound they belong to someone important. Don’t ask me how I know these kind of details, I just do. I turn around and nearly fall out of my chair when the large man, flanked by two equally large men, enters Zach’s office. One of the men glares at me like I am doing something wrong by remaining in my chair, gawking at the specimen in front of me. So, I glare back but don’t move.

  The man turns to his companions and when he opens his mouth, he speaks in this rich, very unusual accent. “You may wait for me outside.”

  I slip out of my chair after hearing his rich voice, and land on my hip with a loud, “Ugh.” I suddenly feel like I did when I was ten after I tripped and landed at the feet of the President. The day he came to my father’s office in D.C. to congratulate him.

  My cheeks heat as I do my best to try and save face by rolling over onto my knees so I can stand.

  “There is no need to kneel before me, señorita.” The arrogant male chuckles as he reaches out to give me a hand.

  This conceited man no longer impresses me now that he has shown his true colors by making me feel foolish. Accordingly, I slap his hand away and stand on my own, placing a hand on the chair and pushing myself up. It may not have been the most graceful move I have ever done in my life, but at least I didn’t require his assistance.

  So, what if he is the most stunning male I have ever laid eyes on. He is almost a whole foot taller than me, and I am not short by any means, just two inches shy of six feet in my two-inch heels. His shoulders are broad, giving him a very unyielding posture, dressed in his tailor-made suit and very shiny shoes. That square jaw of his has a deep dimple where it meets his chin, making him appear so much more lethal and grants his facial features a very powerful demeanor.

  Then there are those brown eyes, which seem to notice everything. They mix well with his skin tone and black wavy hair—not too wavy but enough to make him look sassy. I mean who cares what he looks like if he is a complete jerk and doesn’t have the decency to ask me if I’m okay.

  Did I tell you how I mouth off when I’m frustrated or feeling uneasy? That I just blurt out what I’m thinking and don’t even care if it offends or makes others equally uncomfortable. It's my defense mechanism my mother desperately tried to break me of but always ended up apologizing for later.

  “Kneel? Please! I wouldn’t kneel to you if you were the King of freaking England. And since I know you are not the King of England, that can be checked off the list.” I make a big check mark in the air and bend to grab my misplaced items off the floor.

  “Bowing isn’t necessary, either.” Again, he chuckles as he clears his throat, visibly amusing himself.

  Argggh.

  I’m pretty sure that is the noise I make when I stand and all but stomp my foot at him. “You sir, are an arrogant, egotistical male. One I don’t have time to deal with at the moment.”

  I turn back to Zach, who is just now hanging up his phone. He is staring very strangely at the man I just chewed out. Whatever. “Let me know what you decide. If that won’t work, then I need to figure out what my other options are.”

  Zach seems to shake the cobwebs from his head like he just realized I was still there. “Meeting in five minutes. Bring all of Janice’s notes. She quit as of this morning, which means if you are serious about taking her place, it’s yours.”

  I do a fist pump in the air and grin widely. “I’ll be there.”

  The large man has relocated and is now blocking my escape, or at least trying to. People don’t intimidate me, because frankly, I don’t care what they think. When I step right, he steps that way too. I move left, and he does the same. I fake a move and then dart around him, feeling very victorious that I slipped past him without having to say anything else to the stunning, annoying stranger.

  I have more important matters to take care of right now than deal with someone like him. I am going to impress the heck out of all those attending this meeting using Janice’s notes. And then I am going home to pack. Or maybe I am going home to not unpack.

  I need to sublease my place again, or just get rid of it this time, since this project will be a more permanent relocation instead of a temporary move. Let me tell you how very glad I am about that.

  Also by C. R. Riley

  Crystal Lake Series

  Facing the Storm

  Uncharted Waters

  Light in the Shadows

  When the Fog Lifts

  Life Series

  The Good Life

  A Transformed Life

  Love of the Game

  Sneaky Quarterback

  Tight End Comeback

  Kohl Family Series

  Untouchable

  Unbreakable

  The Royals

  Suddenly Enthroned

  Unexpected Princess

  My Noble Fight

  Email: c.r.riley73@gmail.com

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  US Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/C.-R.-Riley/e/B07QDFRH1S

  UK Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/C-R-Riley/e/B07QDFRH1S