Beautiful Little Fool

by K. K. Hendin

“We won’t be defiling your desk quite yet,” she said. “You have to earn that.”

  We won’t be defiling your desk quite yet. You have to earn that.

  Spending all day with a hard on was a pain in the ass, and no matter what Ellis tried to do to deal with the issue, it wouldn’t leave. Sure, taking matters into his own hands helped a little, but not nearly enough. It was like he was fifteen all over again, and fifteen had been awkward enough the first time around.

  Ellis pulled open the drawer in his desk and glanced down at vibrator that he had tucked there. Cedar had sent it over to him yesterday morning with a note telling him that after that night with him, she didn’t need it anymore.

  That wasn’t helping anything¸ either.

  “The papers for the Delling acquisition are here,” Robert said.

  “Bring them in,” Ellis said, thankful to have something to do that wasn’t lusting after Cedar. It was only going to end horribly. Not to mention he had a fucking girlfriend.

  A girlfriend who would not be happy at all if she found out he had slept with Cedar Reynolds.

  Not happy at all was about the nicest way he could put that, too.

  “Ellis?” Robert stood in front of him, holding the paperwork that he had printed for him.

  “Sorry, I was a little distracted. Thanks.” Ellis took the papers and tried to focus on his damn job and not all the dramatic crap that he had somehow brought upon himself.

  Jesus, he needed a vacation. And not a “don’t go into work tomorrow” vacation, a “move to a tropical island for at least a month” kind of vacation.

  Although truthfully, he could probably afford to buy a tropical island to hide on if he really wanted to. But if he didn’t focus and get his shit together, he wouldn’t be able to for that much longer.

  How much did tropical islands cost, anyway? Real estate for things like that seemed like a pretty safe bet if there weren’t any crazy storms in the future that destroyed anything. He made a note to talk to someone about buying an island or two.

  Harold had owned another fourteen houses, spread out over the country and over the world. And paid pretty penny to keep them, as Ellis was doing now. He would at some point have to fly to all of them to make sure everything was okay there, he reasoned. It wasn’t like he could trust other people with doing that for him.

  And there was his vacation. Although when exactly he was going to do that he had no idea. Taking over any business was a big deal, but taking over all of Harold’s at one time? Big deal didn’t even cover it.

  “You have a lot of people who want to interview you,” Robert said later that afternoon in their daily debriefing. “New York Times, The New Yorker, Washington Post, every other major newspaper and news station, and I’m pretty sure every damn magazine has called about you, too. Including Penthouse, Playboy, US Weekly, and Vogue.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “Holy shit is right,” Robert said, rolling his eyes. “Why the hell does US Weekly want to talk to you? Or Good Housekeeping?”

  “It’s almost Mother’s Day,” Ellis pointed out. “But my mom’s dead, so that would make for an awkward ‘moms and famous sons’ article thing. Get a list of everyone and I’ll let you know who I’ll talk to.”

  “I mean this in the nicest way, sir, but are you sure you want to do this alone? Sorting through reporters and such. You’re new to all of this, and you could get fucked over pretty quickly.”

  “Thanks for your concern, but it’s okay. I have help,” Ellis said.

  “Okay…”

  “Seriously. Calm down.” Ellis rolled his shoulders back and slumped into his chair. “Have any plans for the evening, Robert?”

  Robert shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Well, have fun, maybe. You can leave now.”

  Robert’s eyes practically fell out of his head. “Seriously?”

  Ellis laughed. “Yeah, I think we’ve pretty much dealt with everything that can be dealt with today. I’m sure we’ll have to stay a little late tomorrow to compensate it, but pretend you know nothing about that until tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Crystal clear, sir.” Robert headed out of Ellis’s office in a hurry. Maybe, his ass. There was a definite yes in whatever plans he had for the evening.

  Ellis checked the time. Cedar would be here in fifteen minutes, and he was in no way ready for all of this. For any of this.

  He didn’t have much of a choice, though, he knew that. He could already feel the board members starting to test the waters, and if he was honest with himself, he was no match for them. And that scared the shit out of him.

  Okay, this whole thing scared the shit out of him, but the thought that the board might somehow manage to vote him out of what was now his company was absolutely nerve-wracking. And being that nervous didn’t help his performance and leadership at work in the slightest.

  Fuck. Why did he say yes to this? Say yes to any of this? Why couldn’t he have just laughed it off and walked away and stayed at his shitty apartment in the middle of nowhere in Connecticut and been happy with Karen?

  Whom he still hadn’t called to break it off with.

  What the fuck was wrong with him?

  The list was too long to even begin to contemplate, although he was pretty sure it started off with him being an idiot.

  “Well, don’t you look like a ray of sunshine,” Cedar said as she walked into Ellis’s office. “At least pretend to be excited to see me.”

  Ellis jumped up. “Sorry, just moping. Thanks for coming in, Cedar. How are you?”

  What was he doing, reading off some random script for visitors? Jesus. There was only so much patience she was going to have for him if he was going to play the poor me game. But it was too early for her to tell if that was the kind of shit he got off on. “What’s going on?” she asked, sitting down in one of the chairs on the side of his office. No desk for them today—they were going to be on equal footing. And if anyone was going to be sitting behind that desk, it was going to be her.

  “Nothing.”

  “You’re a bad liar,” she said, because he really was. No poker face at all, this one. No wonder the board members were starting at him already.

  “Just the usual shit,” he said, sitting in the seat next to her.

  “A little bit more explaining would be nice.”

  He stared at her, blank.

  “I can’t really fix it if I don’t know what the issue is, can I?”

  “Mostly stress and overwhelm, I think,” he said, and began to ramble about whatever shit happened that day.

  She listened because she had to, but she really didn’t give a shit. Just suck it up and deal with it, you asshole! She wanted to yell. You have enough money for that!

  But she didn’t, because she wasn’t stupid and because eighty-seven billion dollars gave her a lot more patience than she thought she’d ever have.

  “It’s been quite a day for you, hasn’t it?” she cooed when he finished his fucking whining. “I’m sorry it’s been so sucky.”

  “You know what would be nice now?” he asked.

  If he was going to say sex, she was going to be pissed. “What?”

  “A tropical island somewhere far away.”

  “That does,” she agreed. And it did. Away from here, she’d have him wrapped around her finger in days. At this rate, it was going to take weeks, maybe months. “Maybe we’ll be able to figure out something in a few months.”

  “Maybe. But a few months isn’t now.”

  “We can always pretend,” Cedar drawled, because she’d rather fuck him than listen to him whine like this. “I can wear a bikini and rub lotion on your back.”

  “That sounds nice,” he said, his eyes turning dark.

  “Not yet,” she said, opening up her bag. “Business first, pleasure later. You need to earn it.”

  “Fine,” he said, smiling. “Okay, what first?”

  “We work on your greeting,” Cedar said. “Because if you greet everyone who walks into
this office the same way you greeted me, you’re fucked.”

  “I don’t know if I do.”

  “Well, then. Let’s try again.” Cedar got up from her seat, walked to the door, and walked out. After waiting a full minute on the other side of the door, she knocked and walked back into his office.

  “Ms. Reynolds, thank you so much for coming,” Ellis said, standing up at his desk.

  “No,” Cedar snapped.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s all wrong. You don’t get out of your seat for anyone. I don’t care if it’s the President or the Queen of England or your mom, you don’t get up for anyone. If anything, they should get up for you.”

  “Um. My mom’s dead.”

  “Well, don’t get up for a ghost, either.”

  “That’s rude.”

  “No, it’s powerful,” Cedar said. Weren’t these things they taught you in kindergarten or something? “You always want people to know just how highly you think of yourself. And if you don’t think of yourself that highly, you fucking learn how to and do it. Now, we’re going to try again.” She slipped off her jacket before walking back out of his office.

  And again.

  This time he stayed sitting, but greeted her right away.

  “Okay, how about I demonstrate?” Cedar asked. She wasn’t going to be running in and out of this office all night, but if that’s what it took for her to whip him into shape, that’s what she was going to do.

  “That would be great,” Ellis said.

  “Okay, go,” Cedar said, shooing him toward the door. She sashayed over to his desk and settled in his oversized chair as he walked out of the room. She toyed with the idea of taking off her shirt before he came back in, but she realized that she wasn’t rewarding him for something he hadn’t done correctly yet.

  He knocked on the door before opening it, and walked across the room. She completely ignored him for a good forty-five seconds before looking up and coolly greeting him.

  “Like that,” she said, getting up from the chair and heading back to the door. “Your turn.”

  The next time was a little less horrible, and the time after that was even less horrible. Still bad, but not hopeless. At least that, Cedar thought, standing outside the door of Ellis’s office again.

  The fifth time was almost decent, and Cedar took off her shirt before walking into the office. Ellis’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, which was rather flattering of him and all. The way he looked at her was the same way all those boys did when she was in high school—like she was some heaven they could achieve if they tried hard enough. Most of them never did, which was the only difference between them and him.

  “Stop looking,” she snapped as she walked toward his desk. “It doesn’t matter how the person is dressed when they walk into the room, you don’t look up. I don’t care if they’re naked.”

  “Why would anyone walk into my office naked?” he asked.

  “You’ve inherited enough money to buy out all of Manhattan if you really wanted to. People will do anything to get a piece of you.” Oh, if only he knew just what they would do. What she would do. “And I do mean anything.”

  “I’m just trying to figure out the logistics of how someone would manage to get past Robert and into my office without clothing,” he said.

  “Oh, it’s possible.”

  “I don’t know…”

  Well, this was one method of communication. “Well, maybe if you behave, one day I’ll show you just how it’s possible.”

  His lips curled into a smile. “That would be nice.”

  “I thought you might appreciate it.” Cedar sat on the edge of his desk. “Do you have any work you still have to do tonight?”

  Ellis rolled his eyes. “I have nothing but work to do tonight.”

  “Well, I have some work to do, too, and as nice as your office is, I’d rather not spend all night here.” She batted her eyelashes and hoped he wasn’t too dense.

  “We can take this over to my place,” he suggested. “Order in, get things done…”

  “Well,” Cedar pretended to deliberate out loud. “I’m not sure.”

  “I’ll make it worth your while,” he said, a slow grin spreading across his face.

  Oh, he was going to. And not in the way he thought, either.

  “And how can I resist that?” Cedar purred, leaning against him. “I love when things are worth my while.”

  “Trust me, this will be,” Ellis said, trapping her in his arms.

  Trust him. As if.

  She didn’t need him to tell her exactly how much this was going to be worth her while.

  She didn’t stay the night, because she had to get away from him before she did something stupid, like punch him in the face. This was going to be a bigger pain in the ass than she thought it would be, if he was going to keep on whining like that. Cedar could put up with a lot, but not with whining.

  Goddammit.

  She could deal with just about anything to win at the end, but she didn’t really want to have to work this hard. But if this was what she was going to have to do, then she would do it. It was far from the worst thing she’d done to get what she wanted.

  Lying in her bed, alone, she scrolled through the list of things she had to get done the next day. Meetings with three artists, four managers, and two new potential buyers, not to mention interviewing people for Iris’s job.

  And then back to teaching Ellis how to grow a pair of balls. If he didn’t whine after work, she would give him a blow job. Positive reinforcement and all.

  But so far, so good. He hadn’t mentioned his girlfriend to her since that first night, which was a good thing. He hadn’t broken up with her yet, which annoyed the shit out of Cedar, but she could wait a little bit longer. More guilt from him meant when he finally did break up with that girl, he would throw himself into a relationship with Cedar. Had to justify breaking up with her somehow. It would take a longer than she anticipated, but that just meant she was going to have to keep a better eye on him until he did break up with her. Nothing she couldn’t handle.

  If it meant she was going to have to put up with his whining and have to pretend to care about football and baseball and whatever other shit he cared about, she’d do it. Eighty seven billion dollars was quite a motivator.

  She was going to be strict with boundaries, though. There were a lot of things he didn’t deserve yet. He’d have to earn her full affection.

  Okay, not full. Who was she kidding?

  But he was going to learn. Because she would be damned if he fucked up anything at Feingold Investments before she got her hands on it. Why the fuck had Harold done this? She wondered for what seemed to be the millionth time. Why couldn’t he have just let her inherit straight out? The end game was always going to be her. She knew that. There was no other end game.

  The question was why he wanted her to work so hard for it.

  And she couldn’t even ask him, because he was dead. Actually dead. No playing dead and running away under a different name. She would have found out about that. No, he was fucking dead, and now she had to figure out what the hell he was getting at with this whole will situation.

  She would figure it all out. She was also going to go through the scholarship applicants and pick the one that would make her look best. And the one who was the most photogenic.

  Or she’d just have them discreetly go through surgery. It would be worth it for them.

  Maybe she’d call Lawrence back. He was annoying, but he got the job done quicker than Ellis did.

  And she was going to keep a very close eye out for Cecil, because he was too good of an assistant to have to fire. Lord knew she didn’t have time to train a new assistant.

  Her phone buzzed, and she glanced over. A text from Christina, letting her know about a party at her Hamptons home that weekend.

  Hmm. Might be a good place to test Ellis’s new social skills.

  She flipped her phone back over and went to sleep. She had t
oo many things to do the next day to stay up much later than this.

  “Give me the rundown,” Cedar said, tapping the wheel as they waited at a light.

  “Um, we’re in your car, going to a party at Christina’s house.”

  “Try again.”

  Ellis sighed. “Okay, then. We’re on our way to a party in the Hamptons, at Christina Smith-Harrison’s house. She’s throwing a mid-summer party, and…” he trailed off. “I don’t know. What do you want me to tell you?”

  “What does she do?”

  “She’s one of the head sellers at the real estate office. She also is a known philanthropist, and mostly donates her time and money to pet rescue and LGBT teens.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she loves her dog?”

  “And her girlfriend, who she pretends she’s not dating.”

  Ellis’s eyebrows shot up. “That wasn’t included last time I got the rundown on her party.”

  Cedar laughed. “Some things are meant to be a surprise.”

  “Who’s the girlfriend who she pretends she’s not dating?”

  “Florence Rainor.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  “Nope. It’s fun to watch them. Flor pines after Christina, and Christina ignores her when they’re in public. I’m surprised Flor’s husband hasn’t figured it out yet.”

  “Do I want to know how you know?”

  “Christina and I are very close,” Cedar said. “And you know nothing about this.”

  “Obviously.” Ellis shook his head in disbelief. So, the mayor’s wife was fucking Christina Smith-Harrison. How did the mayor not know, though? That wasn’t the kind of thing that Ellis thought someone wouldn’t be able to figure out. Apparently some people were dumber than he thought they were. “We should have some sort of signal so you can tell me if I’m talking to someone I shouldn’t be or something,” he said.

  He didn’t want to admit it to Cedar, but he was nervous. Very, very nervous. This wasn’t a random party, or even a showing at the gallery. This was a party of her friends. Which was infinitely more terrifying than any party or meeting he had gone to. Because these were the people who Cedar would listen to. And if he fucked up, he was done.