A Mile High Surprise

by Cassidy Coal

  Steamy Short Stories by Cassidy Coal

  A Mile High Romance: The Complete Collection

  An Undeniable Attraction: The Complete Collection

  A New Year’s to Remember

  * * *

  Sweet Short Stories by Cassidy Coal

  writing as C. Coal

  Puppy Love: Volumes 1 to 13

  * * *

  Novels by Cassidy Coal writing as C.K. Carr

  Something Worth Having

  Something Gained

  A Mile High Surprise

  Cassidy Coal

  Contents

  A Mile High Surprise

  About the Author

  A Mile High Surprise

  Sarah crossed and uncrossed her legs and then shifted in the chair, trying to tug her skirt down to an acceptable length as she watched Mr. Horowitz read the report she'd slaved over for the entire weekend.

  She'd needed every minute, too, because there were about ten major mistakes in the report that she hadn't even noticed the first time she prepared it. She'd mixed up last year's numbers with next year's projections! Who did that?

  He'd been right to put her on performance review and demand she go over it again. Well, she'd fixed her mistakes now and she'd be damned if she was ever going to do something like that again. Her career mattered too much to her for her to let a man—even the picture-perfect Tyler Corrigan—distract her.

  She was going on a man hiatus starting today. Three months of no men, no sex, no nada. (She just wouldn't tell Hannah. That girl wouldn't understand going three days without sex or a man.)

  Mr. Horowitz pushed his Santa Claus glasses up his nose and hm'ed to himself softly as he set the report down on the table.

  "So?" She chewed on her thumbnail as she waited for his reaction.

  He nodded. "Much better."

  Sarah sat up straighter, a smile splitting her face in two.

  He raised a hand. "But…"

  "But?"

  "You're still under performance review. Just because you fixed your mistake doesn't mean I've forgotten that you made it in the first place."

  Sarah sighed. "I understand, sir. I promise it won't happen again."

  "Good." He grabbed some papers on his desk, clearly dismissing her.

  "And, sir?"

  "Yes?" Mr. Horowitz eyed her over the rim of his glasses.

  "That other matter? The reason I was so distracted lately?"

  He frowned. "Yes?" His tone was wary, probably thinking she was going to chastise him for having an opinion about her dating the head of the company.

  "It's over, sir. It won't be a distraction anymore."

  His eyebrows rose in surprise, but all he said was, "Good."

  As she started to leave, he called her back. "Sarah."

  "Yes."

  "I know it's probably hard, but I think you made the right decision there. Business and pleasure never mix well."

  She nodded, but couldn't answer past the tightness in her throat.

  As she walked back down the hallway to her cubicle, she thought once more of what it had been like to make that decision. She'd been ready to fly to Frankfurt to spend another weekend with Tyler when Horowitz called her into his office and showed her the flawed report and put her on performance review.

  He gave her the weekend to fix it, which meant another three weeks before she'd be able to see Tyler. She'd called to break the bad news to Tyler and that's when they'd both realized they couldn't make it work. Tyler traveled too much and Sarah wasn't willing to screw over her career and neglect her family to be with him.

  She could've gone to Frankfurt, had a wonderful weekend, and dealt with the fallout later. Tyler would've stepped in on her behalf. (He did own the company after all).

  Or she could've just quit and traveled with him like he wanted.

  But that wasn't who she was. She wasn't the girl who relied on some man to solve her problems. And she wasn't about to jeopardize her career for anyone, not even the most gorgeous man she'd ever met who stole her breath and made her skin tingle with just a glance.

  Plus her family meant too much to her to just throw aside for a man, any man.

  So she'd stayed and worked all weekend except for the break she took to attend her niece's birthday party. And she'd lost Tyler as a result.

  She'd thought he'd call, but he hadn't.

  And he never would again.

  She'd lost the only man she'd ever loved.

  What was she thinking? She'd found a billionaire who wanted to love and support her, to give her anything she wanted, and she'd walked away from him. She'd turned her back on being Cinderella.

  And for what? Life in a six-by-six cubicle preparing earnings reports?

  And her family. Her family was what had really tipped the scales. How could she jet off into the sunset with Tyler and just act as if they didn't exist?

  She'd known it was the right decision as she sat in her mother's living room with all her siblings and watched her five-year-old niece, Katie, open her presents, squealing in delight at each and every one. Money couldn't buy moments like that.

  She would've loved to have more time with Tyler, but if she couldn't keep him, her family, and her job, then it was a no-brainer. Family first. Job second. Man third. Always.

  It was the right choice for her.

  Now she just had to find a way to live with it.

  * * *

  Two weeks later, Sarah walked into the break room for a new cup of coffee and almost ran right into Jane who was standing in the doorway gawking at a poster on the far wall. It was three feet wide by five feet high and consisted of a giant, smiling photo of Tyler Corrigan with the caption, "You matter. Corrigan, Inc. We're not just a company, we're family."

  Sarah laughed. She couldn't help it. Corrigan, Inc. was many things, but a loving cozy family wasn't one of them.

  She shuddered. "Well, that oughta help with my diet."

  Jane raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

  "What the hell's it for anyway?"

  Jane shrugged. She worked in HR, but didn't seem to care too much about anything except who got the biggest bonus each year. Not that she actually said, she just hinted really, really strongly until anyone with half a brain could figure it out. "Some new rah-rah campaign we started to make everyone feel better that they're cutting the bonus pool in half. Of course, it's not going to help. As hot as that man is, he can't compare to a pile of cold hard cash."

  Sarah popped a Keurig pod into the machine and shoved her coffee cup into place. "Maybe instead of plastering photos of Corrigan everywhere they should cut back on his travel budget instead."

  Hell, if he'd done that sooner they might've actually managed to work things out. Not that he seemed to be missing her at all. He still hadn't called or e-mailed.

  "Please. Like that man would ever give up his corporate jet."

  Sarah tried to smile, but she couldn't. Jane was right. Tyler's jet, and jet-setting lifestyle, were essential to him. "Are you serious about the bonuses?"

  "Just a rumor." But she nodded as she said it. "Of course…" Jane glanced towards the door before continuing. "If someone is on performance review as of Friday, they aren't eligible this year anyway."

  "Fuck that, are you serious?"

  Jane nodded.

  Sarah clenched her hands into fists and resisted the urge to storm down the hallway to Horowitz's office and demand that he take her off performance review right now. She'd been perfect the last two weeks—working late, double and even triple-checking everything before she handed off. But she knew he'd refuse.

  She was screwed.

  No Tyler. No bonus. Why the hell was she still at this place? So she could stare at pictures of Tyler
and wonder why she'd made the choice she had?

  She needed a life. A life away from Corrigan, Inc. and its too-perfect CEO.

  Sarah stared at the poster. Tyler Corrigan smiled back at her, more gorgeous than any five normal men put together. Glossy black hair, perfectly tanned skin, piercing green eyes.

  No way she was going to be able to eat lunch in the break room until that poster was gone.

  She grabbed her full cup of coffee, almost spilling the hot liquid on her hand. "Hey, you wanta go out to lunch today?"

  "Hell yeah. Beats the Hot Pocket I packed. Let's make it a real lunch, too. Somewhere with beer."

  Sarah raised an eyebrow. Jane shrugged. "You only live once. Not like they'll fire us for it."

  Sarah laughed. "And not like they can put me on performance review either, now is it?"

  She fumed as she walked back to her cubicle, wondering what the hell she was doing with her life. Before she'd gotten together with Tyler, life had seemed so simple. She'd had a good degree from a good school and was working her way up in the accounting department of a large company. She'd make a few strategic moves, get an MBA somewhere along the way, and then someday be promoted to the C-suite.

  All she'd wanted was a comfortable, hard-working, stable life. Instead she'd fallen in love with a billionaire.

  It had all seemed so easy and straight-forward.

  Now she just wanted out. Not just out of Corrigan, Inc. but out of this corporate world that smothered her and made her feel out of place for having real boobs and real opinions and not being afraid to flaunt them.

  It was time to move on. To what? She didn't know.

  But she'd figure it out. Somehow.

  * * *

  Sarah sighed in happy contentment as she cut into her medium-rare New York strip. They'd decided to really go all out and splurge at Smith's. The dark mahogany booths with hunter green fabric probably hadn't been updated since the eighties, but the food was to die for.

  Sarah took a bite, relishing the juicy firmness as she chewed slowly, savoring the taste of the charcoal-grilled steak. This was what life was about.

  "Cheers." Jane held up her glass.

  "Cheers. Here's to friends, family, and fun."

  They both took a deep swallow of their beers—Sarah's was a nice, dark vanilla porter that complemented her steak perfectly, Jane's was a light lager that barely looked like beer. Why she wasted her money on something so bland, Sarah would never understand.

  "No cheers to love or men or finding Mr. Right?" Jane asked.

  Sarah laughed. "Hell no. I'm writing off men."

  "Forever?"

  "No, not forever. Just for a little while."

  "Why?"

  Sarah shrugged. "Last one took a toll. I need some time to recover."

  Jane narrowed her eyes and studied Sarah. "So the rumors were true, then? You and Corrigan?"

  Sarah shrugged as she cut into her baked potato. She felt a little guilty for not confiding in Jane before, but the whole thing had seemed so unreal that she hadn't known what to say about it to anyone. And Jane did work in HR and Corrigan was the owner of the company. No guarantee she could've kept it secret.

  "I'd rather not talk about it. It's all still a little fresh."

  Jane nodded towards the door as she took another sip of beer. "Then you definitely don't want to turn around right now."

  "Why?" Sarah fought every instinct in her body to turn and see who or what Jane was watching so intently.

  It couldn't be Tyler, could it? He was probably overseas somewhere, like always.

  "Corrigan just walked in with a tall, willowy blonde on his arm. If I'm not mistaken, it's that bitch from the Australian office who put you in that supply closet when you went to work down there."

  What the hell was he doing here? And what on earth was Fiona Jones doing with him?

  Sarah hated very few people, but Fiona Jones was definitely on that list. The woman was a privileged, arrogant little shit who had deliberately set out to punish Sarah for being close to Tyler. She'd also tried to steal him away, but it hadn't worked.

  Until now it seemed. Maybe despite all his protestations that Fiona wasn't his type he'd gone running straight into her arms. And then brought her here to rub Sarah's face in it.

  Real classy. Nice and mature.

  Sarah casually turned her head to get a glimpse of them and saw Tyler place his hand against Fiona's lower back as they walked towards their table. Fiona looked so smug as she strode through the room, head held high, like she just assumed that every man in the room was lusting after her.

  Sarah choked on a piece of baked potato, tears filling her eyes as she coughed and hacked, trying to dislodge the offending piece of food. Just her luck to choke to death in front of Tyler and Fifi. (That's what she secretly called the woman because she reminded Sarah of one of those spoiled rotten little dogs rich women carried around that snapped at everyone and pissed on the carpet.)

  When Sarah finally managed to stop coughing, she looked up to see Tyler standing at her table, his face a mask of stony indifference.

  "Just came over to make sure you weren't choking to death. Seems you're fine now." He turned to leave.

  "Yes, quite. How's Fifi?" Sarah nodded towards where Fiona sat watching them. "You two back on?"

  Tyler's green eyes flashed with suppressed anger, but he ignored the comment as he turned back towards them. He nodded towards the table. "Interesting choice of lunch beverage. Drinking on the job, I see. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

  He looked her up and down, deliberately stopping to linger on her low-cut top.

  Asshole.

  Sarah toasted him with her beer. "Vanilla porter. I highly recommend it." She took a long sip before continuing. "Unfortunately I'm drinking alone. Jane's is just an O'Doul's."

  "I expect more from my employees." He matched her glare for glare.

  She smirked. "Oh, don't I know it. Of course, this isn't really the place to give you everything you demand from your employees. Unless they have a private backroom somewhere?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

  Jane gasped.

  Tyler crossed his arms, his face darkening in anger. Sarah watched in fascination. She'd never actually seen him angry before.

  "Tell me, Ms. Baxter, do you really think it's appropriate to be drinking a beer on your lunch hour when you're on performance review?" He kept his voice level, but it was obvious he was furious with her.

  Sarah took a nice long sip of her beer before answering. "Don't worry, Mr. Corrigan, sir. I'm not going back to work. Today's my last day."

  Jane sputtered out the sip of beer she'd just taken and Tyler jerked backward as if shocked in the ass with a cattle prod. Sarah felt relieved for the first time in weeks, like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

  She hadn't planned on quitting today, but suddenly it felt like the best decision she'd ever made.

  "What?" Tyler's question lashed at her like a whip.

  She shrugged. "I quit."

  She held his gaze as she continued, "Giving my notice to the head of the company in front of a member of the HR department is sufficient is it not?"

  He frowned, his green eyes suddenly shadowed with concern. "Sarah…You don't need to…"

  She raised her hand to stop him. "It's Ms. Baxter to you. And yes. Yes, I do."

  "You can't just quit without notice."

  She turned to Jane. "It is the policy of Corrigan, Inc. to immediately escort all employees who give notice out of the building, is it not?"

  Jane nodded.

  Sarah turned back to Tyler. "Well, there you have it. I'm no longer your employee, so why don't you buzz off and go back to lunch with the Ice Princess. I wish you two the best." She toasted him with her beer. "Here's to another generation of adorable, spoiled rotten children that are actually raised by their Swedish nanny and never learn how to love anyone except the help."

  Sarah took a nice long swig, her eyes holding Tyler's the
entire time.

  He stared at her, his mouth hanging open. It was clear he wanted to say more, but he didn't dare with Jane sitting there watching them like they were some sort of Mexican telenovella.

  Sarah ignored him. She cut into her steak, the knife screeching across the plate, and shoved a large piece in her mouth, chewing it into teeny tiny pieces.

  Tyler stood there another moment before slowly walking away like he was hypnotized, his limbs no longer his own.

  Jane flicked her hand. "What the hell, Sarah? You can't just quit. And you can't talk to Tyler Corrigan like that."

  "The hell I can’t." She shoved another piece of steak into her mouth.

  "What are you going to do?"

  Sarah shrugged. "My lease is up at the end of the month. I'll move back in with my mom and figure it out from there. I think I'd like to start my own business. I'm done working for entitled white men."

  Jane stared at her like she'd suddenly grown three heads. "Are you serious?"

  Sarah nodded. "Yep." She raised an eyebrow at Jane. "Wanta join me? We could start a company together."

  Jane laughed. "No thanks. I like earning money. A lot."

  Sarah shrugged. She'd been poor before, she could be poor again. It sucked, but it didn't suck so bad that she couldn't recover from it.

  * * *

  Sarah collapsed into the worn lounge chair on her sister, Mary's, screened in front porch. Mary handed her a can of Budweiser before sitting down on a similarly worn porch swing.

  Sarah cracked open the can and took a long sip before leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

  "I can't believe you quit your job. What were you thinking?"

  Sarah turned her head to watch the guy two houses down as he worked on his truck like he seemed to do every single night after work. A pack of kids rode by on their bikes, calling and screaming to each other as they passed. The air smelled of mown grass, charcoal, and gasoline.

  Home. The scents of her childhood.