by Lucy Monroe
And if Kayla said no, Andreas would find a wife. One way or another.
“Come, Kay-love. Marriage between us will give you the safety and security you crave. From this point forward, no matter what business lies between us, you will know where you belong, where you have always belonged. With me.” She could not doubt the sincerity of his words, but they also proved that he knew just what buttons to push to get to her.
And that helped her stay just that little bit wary. “But marriage isn’t a business contract. I’m not sure you understand that.”
“Is it really so different?”
“Yes.” She needed him to understand that.
“If you say so, but I keep my promises. You know this. Once I sign a contract, I keep my side of the bargain, just as you will always keep yours. I do not break my word.”
She knew that in business and life as she’d seen it with Andreas, he had a deep well of integrity. She could not deny his words, but still...who wanted to see their marriage likened to a business arrangement?
Andreas did, apparently. Kayla was not so enamored by the classification.
“What kind of promises are you proposing we make?” She wanted it spelled out, needed to be sure that Andreas understood the kind of commitment he would be making and what she would require him to make.
What might be just another business deal for him, though apparently with much longer duration, was her life and her chance at the family she craved.
“Fidelity, lifetime companionship, family. It will be a real marriage in every sense of the word. How could it not be?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re the one talking about it being like a business contract.”
“Because that is what I know. What I understand.”
That she could believe. He’d never understood the emotional devastation he’d wreaked when he broke up with her so he could bring her on board in his fledgling company.
“What about love?” she asked.
There was that look again. Disgust warring with anger. “My mother said she loved my father. Only that love destroyed her life.”
“But not all relationships blow up like theirs did,” she had to point out.
“My father claimed to love his wife, but he cheated on her. I will never take a mistress, or even have a one-night stand.”
“That’s about integrity and commitment, not love.”
“According to many they are the same thing. My father has plenty of integrity in business. It was his supposed love for my mother that gave him the freedom to cheat, to bring about her disgrace with her family.”
Kayla didn’t have an answer for that and she didn’t need one.
Andreas was not finished. “He said he loved me, that as his son, I was precious to him, but never once did he take into account my needs, my feelings, much less a single thing I wanted. He did nothing but disrupt and destroy the life my mother worked so hard to give me. Love is an excuse people give to justify their selfishness with others, or their own bad decisions.”
Her heart hurt, bleeding from the wounds his words inflicted. “I don’t believe that.”
“What do you know about love?”
The stark demand of the question hit her like a physical blow. Kayla nearly blurted out her six-year-old secret then, but self-preservation kept her silent. “I know that you just got through promising you would love our children, all of them.”
“That is different,” he dismissed with a wave of one hand. “Melia Kostas taught me how to love a child as she loved me.”
And despite how his father’s love had caused major havoc in Andreas’s life, apparently the big bad tycoon was still unafraid to love his own children.
“But you can never love me?” She picked at the wound in her heart like a sore tooth, needing him to say the words.
“Does it matter?” he asked, sounding pained. “Doesn’t what we have transcend romantic drivel?”
Transcend love? Was he serious? But she could see he was. “A man who claimed to love you might walk away from both you and his children. It happens often enough, but I will never leave you.”
She took a deep breath and then spoke some of the most difficult words she’d ever said. “I’ll give you my answer back in Portland.”
Instead of the anger she expected, Andreas nodded. “I expected as much.”
He had?
He tipped his head down and kissed her, his lips firm but gentle. “I know you, Kay-love, no matter what you may think.” He tugged at the haphazard tuck at the top of the towel. “Until then, why don’t we spend more time exploring the benefits of joining our lives and our bodies, hmm?”
She had no answer as her mouth was too busy kissing him back, her body too intent on getting close to his.
They made love into the evening, ordered dinner via the special room service menu only available for their floor and the one below, and then returned to Andreas’s bed, insatiable lovers who had spent too long apart.
* * *
Kayla was unsurprised when Andreas insisted on accompanying her to her meeting with Sebastian Hawk. That didn’t mean she had to like it.
She crossed her arms and glared up at him. “You aren’t part of this deal, Andreas.”
“I’m not leaving you alone to tear around New York on your own again.”
“You’re being ridiculously controlling.”
“I am not trying to control you.”
“Aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Then why come to the meeting?”
“Is it so hard for you to believe I want to watch out for you? You are brilliant in the lab, Kay-love, but Hawk is a shark at business.”
For a man who didn’t believe in love, he certainly threw the word around a lot. She couldn’t decide if she liked it or it just hurt more to hear him using it, knowing there were no feelings of love behind it. “Oh, you mean like you?”
“Don’t you want a shark sitting beside you?”
“Undermining my position?” She gave him a sour look. “No, thank you.”
“You believe I would do this?”
“You won’t?” she asked, stunned.
“You have my word.”
She stared at him. Could she trust him? If she didn’t, she could only give one answer to the marriage question once they got home.
Sighing, still trepidatious, but certain she had to take a leap of faith, she said, “Okay, you may come, but I mean it, Andreas. No undermining my deal with Sebastian.”
Andreas didn’t bother to answer, he was too busy texting Bradley to fix the reservations at the restaurant to accommodate one more person.
“Seriously? Andreas, he’s probably still sleeping.”
The chime of a return text said she was wrong, until she saw Andreas’s wince. Yeah, the überefficient PA had not liked being woken, but she had no doubt the reservations would get updated to a table for three.
* * *
Sebastian Hawk was already at the table when Kayla and Andreas arrived at the upscale restaurant for their meeting.
He stood from the table set formally with full linens, shaking Kayla’s hand first. “It’s very nice to see you, Miss Jones.” He turned to Andreas. “I wasn’t expecting you, but I wondered at the extra place setting.”
“Andreas is convinced you’re going to try to eat me,” Kayla said with her usual forthrightness. “And please, call me Kayla. Formality makes me nervous.”
Andreas winced, but Sebastian Hawk laughed. With the warmth in his smile and gorgeous features, it was easy to see why an Arabic princess would walk away from her intended prince to marry this man.
“Then by all means, let us dispense with it. You will call me Sebastian.”
“Stop flirting with her, Hawk. Your wife would not approve.”
“Lina understands the difference between polite conversation and flirting, Andreas.”
Andreas frowned, but took his seat after helping Kayla into her brocade dining chair. They ordere
d their food before Sebastian broached the subject of business. And it was then that she discovered just how dedicated Andreas was to her interests, as well as the difference between this glam restaurant and the one they’d been to for dinner.
The waitstaff here were attentive, but clearly used to business being conducted over lunch as they handled the food service with subtle difference.
“I’m thrilled you want to stay on at KJ Software.” Sebastian’s handsome face creased in a genuine smile. “As far as I’m concerned, you are the reason the security software is so much above the others in the industry.”
Andreas gave the other business tycoon a less-than-warm look. “She wants more than to stay on, she wants to keep her interest in the company.” Andreas’s tone brooked no argument.
Kayla nodded her agreement.
“Why?” Sebastian’s brows drew together, his expression perplexed. “If you allowed me to buy your shares, you would be a wealthy woman. I assure you that your employment package would be commensurate with your skills and very real importance to R & D.”
“It’s not about the money.” Kayla hadn’t really considered how she was going to explain her desire to stay partial owner of KJ Software to Sebastian Hawk.
The idea of baring her soul to him did not appeal.
“It’s not?” Sebastian appeared a tad disbelieving.
“Kayla has a different attachment to the company than I do,” Andreas said. “Unlike me, she has no desire to start a new venture.”
“You do not like change?” Sebastian was clearly still trying to understand.
“Would you sell Hawk Enterprises?” Kayla asked instead of answering.
Sebastian’s expression cleared, but remained serious. “No. I would not. You’re right, Kayla, sometimes it is not about the money.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“I do, but I am not sure I like the idea of you retaining five-percent ownership in my subsidiary company.”
“You’re a possessive bastard, Hawk.” Andreas didn’t sound like he was insulting the other man, despite the words he used.
Sebastian shrugged. “Lina would agree with you.”
“We were talking business,” Kayla felt compelled to point out.
“It’s a deeply pervasive personality trait.” Sebastian’s lips barely twisted in recognition of his admission.
Andreas leaned back in his chair, almost a relaxed pose, but his arms crossed and his features were cast in intractability. “You’ll have to keep it in check in this instance. Kayla wants to keep her stake in the company and knowing that, I can’t do a deal without assuring she does.”
Sebastian’s eyes flared with surprise, but that was nothing compared to the shock coursing through Kayla’s body. She’d think Andreas was just posturing, but she knew the truth. He never said something he would not back up with action. Not in business, not in life.
It was just that she’d never considered he would lay such a condition on him selling his 95 percent. It was all she could do to hold back her gasp of disbelief.
Sebastian looked at Kayla, his dark gaze probing and speculative. “Some of my top employees in certain subsidiaries enjoy company stock as part of their bonus package. Nothing that would allow them anything like a five-percent stake in even a subsidiary, but I am not without understanding in how to best motivate performance.”
“I am aware.” Andreas met Sebastian’s gaze squarely. “You want Kayla’s brains, she keeps her stake in the company.”
That was more like the argument she had intended to make.
“You are aware I am building up my conglomerate to have worthy companies, not simply a name to give to my children.”
Sebastian gave a short nod. “You’re building a damn dynasty. I am aware.”
Sebastian’s smile was wry. “Lina chose an American businessman over royalty. Our children will have a legacy worthy of such a mother.”
Kayla shook her head. Andreas wasn’t the only business tycoon with something to prove.
“So, we have a deal?” She pressed her hands tightly together under the table, still unable to believe after all her angst Andreas had come down so strongly on her side during this negotiation.
Sebastian looked at her and then back at Andreas. “I have a counteroffer.”
“What is it?” Kayla asked, unwilling to allow Andreas to continue running the meeting, no matter how successful his words might have been.
“You sell half your five percent to Andreas.”
“Why?” Andreas demanded.
Kayla frowned in thought. Was 2.5 percent enough to maintain her sense of security? The money would certainly come in handy for the shelter.
“You can consider it one of your first investments for your new venture capital company,” Sebastian said. “So long as you own skin in the game, the new CEO will have access to your brains and industry contacts. One day, you’ll be there to help mentor my children.”
No matter how much Kayla might like the idea, Andreas would never go for that. It wasn’t part of his grand plan and he never gave up a plan once he made it.
“Why would you need me, now or later?” Andreas asked. “Your CEO would come to you for advice, surely, and you’ll mentor your own children.”
“I can give my children no greater gift than to assure they have access to good mentors in their lives.”
Kayla didn’t know about Andreas, but she was touched on his behalf.
He actually looked kind of gobsmacked. “That is quite an honor, but you know I planned to move on completely from KJ Software.”
Kayla’s heart sank at his confirmation of what she already knew.
“Yes, but would it really be such a burden to maintain nominal ownership in the company?”
And Kayla suddenly realized something. Sebastian Hawk really wanted this, had probably wanted it from the beginning of his negotiations with Andreas.
She looked at both men, realizing their arguments sounded almost rehearsed. Or rehashed. “You asked Andreas to stay on as nominal partner to begin with, but he refused.”
“Despite his possessive attitude toward his business, he did.” Andreas sounded disgruntled. “I let him know it was not an option.”
“Things have changed, haven’t they?” Sebastian prompted.
“Because I’m asking for something you don’t want to give.” Kayla didn’t try to stifle her sigh of disappointment. Sebastian Hawk would rather have her as an employee than a business partner.
Kayla wasn’t offended. She knew her strengths and they happened in the computer lab, not the conference room. That was undeniably Andreas’s forte.
“Oh, I’m positive that under his cool demeaner, Hawk is thrilled you want to keep your ownership, pethi mou. He couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t be headhunted otherwise.”
Kayla looked between the men. Sebastian Hawk’s expression gave nothing away. Andreas looked about as movable as a rock.
Things were not looking good for her.
“I can tell you that Andreas has not changed his mind about pulling out of KJ Software completely.” Kayla’s hope for a positive outcome to this meeting dwindled by the second. “I can also tell you that if you try to push me out of ownership of my company, I will walk away from it and I won’t be signing any non-compete contracts either.”
It wasn’t a threat exactly. She knew she couldn’t hope to compete with a company the size of Hawk Enterprises, but if he wasn’t lying about truly valuing her expertise and creative programming ideas, he wanted to keep her on at KJ Software.
“You’ve trained her well, Andreas.” Sebastian didn’t sound annoyed. He did look just slightly amused.
Kayla could have cheerfully kicked his shin under the table. This was her life they were talking about.
Andreas must have read something on her face because he reached out and pulled her right hand out of its clasp with her left to hold it. “Stay calm, pethi mou. Hawk is a reasonable man.”
“I have not
refused and you are quite right, Kayla, your value to the company is such that I have no desire to see you move on. However, both of you must realize that KJ Software itself will do better with both Andreas and my expertise at its CEO’s disposal. It’s still a fairly new company and even folded into the structure of Hawk Enterprises, there are growing pains ahead.”
Kayla agreed. Of course she did. If she had her way, Andreas wouldn’t be selling the company at all, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to take his money and business skills and bring success to other ventures.
Andreas frowned. “Those growing pains will happen because it’s a strong company that will add significantly to Hawk Enterprises.”
“Agreed.” Hawk didn’t add anything else.
No compromise there. From either man.
“I came to New York to settle my future, not scuttle Andreas’s plans.” Kayla stood up. “I won’t allow you to make my keeping my five percent a condition of the deal, Andreas. This is too important to you.”
“And it is not important to you?” He stood too, his hand still holding hers. “Come, sit back down, this is part of business. I know not a part you enjoy, but that is why you needed me here.”
She’d needed him there because he knew that Sebastian Hawk wanted something Kayla could never have promised on Andreas’s behalf. Nor would she want to. She ignored his claim when she answered, “I think we’ve all said what needed saying.”
She pulled her hand from his and turned to offer it to Sebastian. “Thank you for meeting with me. Let me know if you decide my terms are acceptable.”
Sebastian had stood when Andreas did. He took her hand and shook it with all evidence of friendliness and good will. “Kayla, you are a brilliant programmer. Do not underestimate how much I want you to stay on at KJ Software.”
Just not enough to make the deal without the added incentive of Andreas maintaining a connection to the company. She got the silent message.
Unable to force words past her suddenly constricted throat, she simply nodded.
Andreas cursed in Greek. It was something he did when he was really frustrated, a habit he’d developed young, he’d told her once. He’d learned the words from friends of his mother’s, other transplanted Greeks she made sure he was exposed to during his childhood, wanting him to maintain a heritage from her homeland.
