Corporate Affair (The Small Town Girl series)

by Linda Cunningham

  “And that was my mistake,” Fenton replied jovially. “Yes, I do make a mistake here and there.” He laughed at his owned presumed joke.

  Aiden felt compelled to get away from him. “And now you want to buy an interest in Chat from Trade Winds, is that it?”

  “Well, not exactly,” said Fenton, slowing his pace. “I want you to put me in as CEO of ChatDotCom. I’ll work with no salary until I put the first deal together. I’ll get a percentage of that deal. Then, maybe we can talk salary, you know, after I prove what I can do for the company.”

  Aiden could not process what he was hearing. Fenton as CEO? Of Chat? Was the man delusional?

  “I know, I know!” declared Fenton with the same odd smile on his face. “Sounds crazy, but listen, there’s a method to my madness.” Aiden really didn’t want to hear any more, but Fenton kept talking, an urgent tone in his voice. “I’ve got two deals all set to go. They revolved around Fenton Enterprises acquiring Chat. Now that the decision has been made to sell to Trade Winds, I wanted you to know. I think we could work a deal that would be beneficial to everyone. I could pull off these deals as CEO of Chat.”

  “Jordan Fitzgerald is CEO of ChatDotCom. It’s written into the contract. Besides, Trade Winds has no plans to replace her.”

  “You and I both know contracts are meant to be broken, Stewart,” scoffed Fenton. “We could rearrange things so her feathers wouldn’t be ruffled. And then you and I could join forces and get some real business done.”

  Aiden felt anger rising in him. “Not an option, Fenton, and need I remind you about how you drugged Jordan Fitzgerald with the pure motive of seeing her undone in the eyes of Trade Winds and Gene Palmer so you could advance your own position? Why would I be interested in any kind of proposal from you?”

  “Hey, we’ve all done things we’re not proud of to get what we want. I know you’re, how shall we say, sensitive on the subject of Jordan Fitzgerald, but surely it’s not an insurmountable problem.”

  “Fenton, stop right there.” Aiden spoke softly but the warning in his voice was unmistakable. “Leave any talk of Jordan Fitzgerald out of this. She’s not a commodity. She’s the CEO of ChatDotCom, and she’s staying in that position. As for any affiliation between yourself and Trade Winds or Chat, I’m not in favor of it. In fact, I’m going to repeat myself: It’s not an option. And, you seem to forget, Trade Winds doesn’t belong to me anyway. It’s my father’s—lock, stock, and barrel—but I can assure you, he would feel the same.” Aiden would normally find a polite way to cut the conversation short, but any thoughts of politeness were far from his mind. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Fenton, but I’m done here. Trade Winds and ChatDotCom finalized the merger yesterday. We have specific corporate goals and will pursue them. The position of CEO is filled, and there are no other positions open or any plans for negotiations beyond what we’ve already accomplished. Now, I’m going to book myself a room at the Inn and take a shower. Good-bye, Mr. Fenton.”

  Fenton’s face flushed angrily, but Aiden turned away, the conversation over as far as he was concerned. “You’ll regret this, Stewart! I’m giving you the chance to get in on the ground floor of a big thing. You’ll regret this!”

  Aiden let him have the last word. Without looking back, he walked down the street and up the steps to the lobby of the Inn.

  Susan Noyes was behind the desk. She recognized him and smiled. “Mr. Stewart! You’re back. Breakfast?”

  “That would be nice, but I need a room first, thank you.” Aiden forced a smile. It wasn’t Susan’s fault that he still carried an uneasy feeling from his conversation with Fenton.

  The woman’s face grew sober. “I suppose you’re here because Gene Palmer has died,” she said.

  Less than twelve hours, the body hardly cold, thought Aiden cryptically. The whole town probably knows. Well, less explaining to do, just like Jordan said, he thought.

  “Yes,” said Aiden, “my company and Mr. Palmer’s company have merged. It’s too bad to have lost him so soon. I’m waiting to hear funeral plans.”

  “From Jordan?” asked Susan, smiling again.

  “Ah, yes, from—from Jordan. She’s the CEO.” Aiden paused as he got out his credit card. “And my mother and father will be coming into town this afternoon. Could you reserve a room for them, also?”

  “She’s such a sweet thing,” Susan remarked, not seeming to hear the request regarding his parents. She handed him the key. “Smart, too. She was Gene Palmer’s right hand. His own kids never had any interest in it. Seems strange, doesn’t it? You’d think…oh well. I’ll send her up when she gets here.”

  Aiden blinked. I give up, he said to himself. “Thanks.” He smiled at Susan as he took the key from her. “I’m not expecting her. Her secretary will call me.”

  “I’ll have your parents’ room ready by the time they arrive,” said Susan as he started up the stairs.

  It was the old, familiar Room 21. Ah, the memories, thought Aiden sardonically as he closed the door behind him. His eyes fell, as they had the first time he had entered, on the picture of the couple under the apple trees. Banns. He ran his fingers through his hair. A shower and a cup of coffee would revive him. The creepy conversation with Christopher Fenton still echoed in his ears. It didn’t make sense. Aiden wondered if he had heard the last from Fenton. It wasn’t like the man to drop things. According to all he had heard, Fenton was like a dog with a bone. Aiden made a mental note to speak to his father about it.

  His stomach was beginning to growl; the sooner he got some food, the better. He stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Thoughts fought for priority in his mind as he stepped out of his clothes and wrapped a white towel around his waist. He needed to address the employees of Chat and answer their concerns and ideas following the merger. He needed to properly represent Trade Winds at the funeral of Gene Palmer. He had no idea where he stood with Jordan at the moment, but he did know that they had to put their own emotional involvement aside long enough to make sure the daily workings of Chat were efficiently coordinated and assimilated into the machine that was Trade Winds. And now there was this morning’s disturbing appearance by Fenton, which had left him feeling uneasy. He wandered to the window and looked out onto the garden. The lilacs were in full bloom, and their delicate scent permeated the air, reminding him of how his mother had always tended the gardens at home. He felt soothed, and he lay down on the bed and sighed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  JUST AS BEFORE, Jordan was nervous as she approached Aiden’s room. This time, however, she came to him with a clear head and solid resolve. She rapped on the ancient wood. “Aiden, are you in there? It’s me.”

  In a moment’s time, Aiden opened the door. Jordan gave him a flirtatious smile, and he smiled back at her as she entered the room.

  “Susan Noyes said you’d be coming,” he said with a laugh.

  “Susan knows all.” Jordan laughed back, cocking her head coquettishly to the side. She turned and stepped closer to him, laying her open palm against his bare chest. She could feel his heart beating, feel the muscles moving under the skin. “I came to tell you something,” she said, looking up at him.

  “What is that?” he asked softly, his voice enticing.

  “I came to tell you that I love you.”

  He caught his breath. “You love me…but?”

  “No buts,” said Jordan, slipping her hand down the hard muscles of his stomach until it rested just above his groin. She felt the muscles tense and savored her power to make them respond to her touch. “I love you. It’s that simple. It has nothing to do with Mr. Palmer, or Chat, or my job, or even Grace, for that matter. It’s a thing on its own. I can’t deny it. It would be foolish to, and it would work against me in the end.”

  He was silent, letting her speak. Jordan bent her head to his chest and kissed him gently above his heart. She lifted her eyes to his again, searching his face as she spoke. “I want us to be together, Aiden. I see now that I’m not w
eak or selfish for wanting that. Love is never selfish. It can only make us stronger. We’ll work everything out. Jobs, babies, business, families. It doesn’t matter. Together we can do it. All this time I’ve been worried about compromising my reason, my power, by letting you in. That was so wrong. I’ve compromised myself by trying to keep you at a distance. I’ve compromised us, and I apologize.”

  “No apologies necessary,” Aiden said hoarsely. He dipped his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply. Her lips grew warm under his. He pulled back and smiled down at her. “You look like you could use a shower,” he said.

  She giggled as he slipped the white T-shirt over her head in one deft move. He unclipped her hair, letting it fall in cascades over her shoulders. She stood, trembling almost imperceptibly with anticipation as he unsnapped her jeans and, kneeling in front of her, slid them down her legs. Her breath caught in a little gasp as he pressed his lips between her legs and kissed her through the white lace panties.

  Aiden reached up and undid the clasp on her bra. She slipped her arms free, and it fell in a lacy heap on the floor. He kissed her taut nipples tenderly, one then the other, pulling gently at them with his teeth. The embers of desire that smoldered within her burst into flame. She gave a little moan as his lips traced a path from between her breasts to her navel.

  Aiden stood up and, taking her by the hand, led her into the bathroom. He pulled the towel off, revealing his impressive erection. Instinctively, she reached out, longing to feel it in her hand, the sleek, smooth hardness of it, like silk over iron, but Aiden took both her wrists before she could touch him. He stepped into the shower, drawing her in with him. The steamy water felt almost cool as it fell on her hot, flushed skin, and her body prickled with the sensation of her mounting passion.

  Aiden turned her around, and she leaned into the water, feeling it rush down her back, soaking her panties. She struggled with the heat between her legs, twisting her hips, pushing her buttocks against his groin. She ached to be filled with him. Now she felt Aiden’s hands on her, playing with the wet lace, drawing the panties up between her rounded cheeks until the pressure on her pulsing center threatened to take her breath away. She groaned out loud, twisting in an agony of lust. She felt him move behind her, felt his lips on her back, moving down, down with the water as it cascaded over her body. Then, tiny nibbles and nips of beautiful pain heightened her frenzy. She couldn’t see or hear; she could only feel.

  She felt the panties being stripped off her and the incredible relief as Aiden’s hand slipped between her legs and his fingers probed her secret recesses, slipping in and out, mixing her own hot wetness with the steamy water. Finally, just when she thought she might die of pure animal need, his fingers found the sensual center of her being. He began stroking, squeezing, working the spot until she gave a little shriek, begging for him. He withdrew his hand, and taking her by the hips, pulled her back onto his own hardness, filling her with himself and all his passion. His thrusts became faster and faster until she felt as though she were spinning down a warm, dark tunnel. She met him thrust for thrust until he began to slow, savoring the time, teasing her, urging her to topple with a crescendo of ecstasy.

  Jordan read his mind and abruptly slipped from him. She turned around and knelt down, taking him into her mouth. The water beat down on her, tickling every nerve in her skin until she felt on fire. She slid her lips up and down the shaft, savoring the taste of him, the feel of him in her mouth. He groaned, moving his hips to match her caresses.

  Finally, he lifted her to her feet. Backing her against the shower wall, he raised her leg, draping it over his arm. He braced himself, hands on the wall on each side of her shoulders, and drove into her, face to face, his mouth on hers. That was the peak. Jordan felt her body spin out of control with his first thrust, and the waves of her climax washed over her, again and again, with a force that transported her to a place where she had never been before, even with Aiden. She leaned back, her eyes closed, glorying in the sensation while he brought himself to the fulfillment of his own passion.

  They stood under the water, leaning against the shower wall, until their breathing slowed. They finished the shower together, tenderly soaping each other’s bodies, enjoying the feeling of being the only two people in the world.

  Later, as they dressed, Aiden said, “I need coffee.”

  “I can get a cup of coffee with you downstairs,” said Jordan, “but then I want to go home and be with Grace. Would you come with me? My parents have to go up to Burlington to see my brother at the University. It’s a parents’ weekend, so they’ll stay and come home in the morning.”

  Aiden took her hands in his and kissed them. “I’d like nothing better than to come with you, but isn’t that what we just did?”

  Jordan laughed out loud. “Don’t give up your day job to become a comic!”

  Together, they went down into the dining room.

  “Would you like to sit out on the garden terrace?” asked the young hostess.

  “That would be lovely, thanks,” said Jordan.

  They sat at a small, glass-topped wrought iron table. The hostess put menus in front of them, and a server came by with a pot of hot coffee and filled both cups.

  “I can smell the lilacs,” Jordan said, closing her eyes and drawing a deep breath. “I think they’re my favorite flower.”

  “They always remind me of home.” Aiden picked up his menu.

  “I hope I didn’t offend your parents,” said Jordan as she reached for her menu. “I left in such a state.”

  “Not at all. They were worried about you, though.” The server returned, and Aiden gestured to Jordan.

  “I’ll have the eggs Benedict,” she said.

  “And you, sir?”

  “I’ll have a large orange juice and blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon.”

  “Thank you.” The server nodded and put her note pad into her pocket as she left.

  Aiden sighed deeply.

  “Something wrong?” asked Jordan.

  “I don’t know.”

  Jordan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well, Christopher Fenton stopped me on the street this morning.”

  “What?” Jordan was aghast. “He’s in town? I thought we were done with him.”

  “It gets stranger,” explained Aiden. “He wanted to talk to me. He wanted, well, it sounded as though he wanted a job at Chat.”

  “What do you mean? What did he say?”

  Aiden related the conversation. “It was totally weird. Kind of spooked me. He had a strange look on his face; made me wish we’d reported that incident to the police.”

  “This is just bizarre!” exclaimed Jordan. “He wanted to take my position as CEO?”

  “That’s what he said. What gave the guy that idea? What’s the ulterior motive here?”

  The server returned with their food and set the plates down in front of them, and they both began to eat.

  “I don’t think he’s mentally very stable,” said Jordan between bites. “Although, I’m guessing he’s probably just trying to get a foot in the door and take over from the inside out. Mr. Palmer said he would stop at nothing and then he told us about Fenton’s nefarious past dealings. I hope he’s gone now. I can’t forget what he tried to do to me and what might have happened.” She gave a little shiver.

  “Me, too. Is Chat looking for new hires of any kind?”

  “No. At the moment, there’s nothing available.”

  “Good. Let’s keep it that way. It would be just like Fenton to try to plant a spy within the ranks at Chat. Let’s not hire any new people for a while.”

  They ate in silence, each enjoying the close proximity of the other. To Jordan, it felt as though she belonged with Aiden. She had stopped fighting, stopped trying to love by rule of thumb. They would work things out. They would be guided by their love for each other.

  It was one of the most idyllic days Aiden had ever had. They went back to Jordan’s house. Gra
ce had just woken up from her nap. Jordan dressed her, and they took her outside to play on the lawn. Aiden sat, mesmerized, watching Jordan as she watched her daughter, his body remembering all the exquisite details of her body and the euphoric heights his passions had reached until his desire began to stir again. He reached out and caressed her neck, running his hand down to the small of her back. She turned and smiled at him. It was all he could do to keep from rolling on top of her right there in the sweet, spring grass.

  Later, after Grace had eaten her lunch, they put her in the stroller and walked the mile and a half into town. On this sunny Sunday afternoon, there was hardly a person or a car to be seen. It occurred to Aiden that the strangest thing about this little outing was that he didn’t feel strange about it at all. He smiled to himself, reflecting that on most Sunday afternoons, he would be pursuing some seasonable activity on the mountain, in the woods, on the ocean, and would most likely be taking some girl to bed in the evening.

  This immersion into sudden domesticity should have jolted him somehow, but instead, he felt calm and surprisingly at ease. When Grace squirmed and fussed in the stroller, Aiden bent down and picked her up. His strong hands, which had only held his nieces and nephews on occasion, handled baby Grace as though he had been carrying babies daily all his life. Her chubby little body fit easily into the crook of his arm, and she sat there, instinctively feeling safe, looking down on the world around her with the air of a queen looking down from her throne.

  They walked back to the house this way, Jordan pushing the empty stroller and Aiden walking beside her with Grace cradled against his hip. The rest of the day was spent in a golden haze, any thought outside their own little sphere far from their minds. They were oblivious to anything except the tiny magical bubble in which they found themselves. They drank beer and talked. They laughed. They touched and kissed, happy to not have to contain their affection, happy in their own company.

  When the sun began to slide behind the hills, Jordan fed Grace her supper, bathed her, and after reading a couple of stories, put her to bed in the little nursery across from her own room. The spring night was balmy. Aiden stood in the doorway as Jordan opened the window a few inches to let the fresh air in, and he joined her at the side of the crib until Grace fell asleep. They lingered for a bit, and Aiden marveled at the connection between mother and child. Finally, Jordan sighed contentedly, and she and Aiden left the room, leaving the door open a small crack.