Undeniably His

by Amanda Chayse

  He runs his hand through his mussed hair. “The point is, with your help, Annabelle, I’m taking this company back and bringing it back to its roots.” His eyes narrow in on my face. “Call it a coup, or a takeover, or whatever you want, but you’re going to help me.” Kalin presses his fingers over his jaw, while he angles his head down. “This will be our company, Annabelle. And there’s not a goddamn thing they can do about it.” Lifting his head, his eyes meet mine. “If you will help me.”

  “This is really overwhelming, Kalin. I don’t know what to say.” I take a deep sigh, taking it all in.

  “There are just a couple of conditions.”

  “Just a couple? They must be big.” I smile weakly.

  “You could say that.” His tone steadies into a lower pitch. “In the beginning, you do exactly as I say. You follow my lead, and you concur with everything I do. The board will try all kinds of tricks and even bribes to get you to vote with them. Until you learn what’s going on, you follow my lead. Your loyalty is important to me, Annabelle. It’s important to the company, and it’s important to the employees. Do you agree?”

  “Yes.” I fold my arms and ponder the magnitude of all this. “I just can’t believe it. What’s the second thing?”

  “This is a legal contract that transfers ownership of private stock from me to you. The transfer will be recorded on the corporate books. The problem is that the Board of Directors has the right to acquire all stock from another stockholder before anyone else. It’s called a right of first refusal, which means they have the right to buy the shares first, or refuse them first. Of course they would buy them to retain control of the company. But there is one more thing, Annabelle.”

  “One more thing?”

  “Yes, the most important one.” Kalin folds his lips in and paces around. “You may want to take a drink.”

  “That bad?”

  “I guess it depends on how you look at it.” His eyes roam the space in front of him and then lift to mine.

  “Tell me, Kalin. What is it?”

  “There are only two ways to get around this particular contract. I can only transfer shares to a current equity holder—someone who already owns part of the company. That would mean the very assholes who tried to take control.” Kalin glances at me. “Or an immediate family member. I don’t have any immediate family.”

  “I don’t understand.” I furrow my brows at him.

  “The contract defines an immediate family member as a child, grandchild, parent, brother, sister, or…”

  “Or what, Kalin?” He hesitates, and I browse through the contract, trying to find exactly what’s going on.

  “Kalin, or what?” My eyes return to him.

  Kalin glides his hand over the nape of his neck, glancing down momentarily. “I hope you feel the same way about me as I feel toward you, Annabelle.”

  “What the fuck is going on, Kalin?”

  “The contract stipulates that shares can only be transferred to immediate family, which would include my spouse.”

  My eyes shift in front of me as I process the meaning of his words. Suddenly, my eyes widen, and my mouth falls open.

  Chapter Seven

  “Are you fucking kidding me, Kalin? I know you cannot be talking about me. Are you?”

  “Of course. That’s why you have the contract.”

  “Holy hell! When the fuck did you plan on telling me all this?”

  Kalin rubs his face and eyes. “I’m telling you now.”

  “So we’re supposed to have a shotgun wedding in Vegas, and then I can save the company with you? Is that what this is all about? What the fuck were you thinking, Kalin?”

  “I wanted to tell you what I was thinking, what I was feeling.”

  “You were just using me.”

  “I wasn’t using you. I was really looking for…”

  “I don’t want to hear it, Kalin. All this wining and dining and earth-shattering sex was for one reason. You were using me.”

  “I wasn’t using you, Annabelle.”

  “What do you call it, then? You have a goddamn contract for me to sign saying only a spouse can help her hubby take control of the company. What comes next, the divorce?”

  “Annabelle, that’s not fair. I was looking for someone I can trust.”

  “The question isn’t can you trust me, Kalin. The question is can I trust you. I want to go home.”

  “Annabelle, please, just calm down.”

  “I won’t calm down. I want to go home. Take me home.”

  “As you wish. I’m sorry, Annabelle. I didn’t mean to upset you. I shouldn’t have sprung this on you so fast and suddenly. I realize it must be overwhelming.”

  “That has got to be the understatement of the year. Not to mention I would be the highest-paid whore in New York City.”

  “Whoa. That is not it at all. That is not what this is about.”

  “How does a divorce affect the agreement, Kalin? Do you get to keep all of the money and your precious stock, and then dump me back to where you found me?” I grimace.

  “On the contrary, you hold all the cards. You get to keep the shares. That’s just it. I’m risking more than you are. You are the one who can leave and take the money. I have no say in the matter. The shareholder agreement only states that if you decide to sell, the current shareholders get a first shot at buying your shares so they can maintain their interests in the company. They have first right of refusal, as the lawyers call it. So yes, you can sell your shares, take the money and run, and leave me hanging high and dry.”

  Kalin steps toward me. His eyes come down on me in a plea as he places his large hands over my shoulders. “I need you, Annabelle. I trust you. Will you trust me?”

  I cannot look at him like this. My heart melts when I look into his vulnerable, pleading eyes. “I have to have some time to think about this. This is all so overwhelming.” My shoulders curl in the strong grasp of his hands, and I close my eyes and breathe. “I thought I was getting a marketing assistant job just to pay my rent and boost my career, and you want me to be a co-owner with you in one of the largest advertising companies in the world. If that wasn’t enough, you want me to take the shares as your spouse?”

  “I understand. It sounds crazy…when you say it like that,” Kalin snorts.

  “You’re impossible,” I pout, banging my fists on his broad shoulders. I turn away, wondering if this was all part of some conniving plan. “So all the romance, all the amazing sex—all of this was to coax me into marrying you to pull a fast one on the board?”

  “You know I don’t do anything fast.” Kalin flashes me his sexy smile. I feel my heart beat, but I resist his lure.

  “This is not funny, Kalin. This is my life.” My brows knit.

  “Baby, you don’t think I’ve thought about this…about us? Do you think I would marry you just to get control of the company?”

  “I don’t know anymore.”

  Kalin rubs his face and rests his finger over his eyebrow, glancing down. “It’s true that I had a plan to find a spouse to transfer the shares.” Kalin picks his head up to look me in the eyes. “But I would not hire an employee that I would not hesitate to fire if they did not meet my standards. How much more diligent would I be looking for a wife? When I saw you in that office, Annabelle, I knew I’d found her. You looked so beautiful, and all I needed to do was spend time with you to confirm what I was feeling.”

  “How would you know that? You don’t know me that well.”

  “Is love supposed to take a long time?”

  “Longer than three weeks,” I pout.

  “According to whom? Who determines that?”

  “Don’t give me that psychobabble, Kalin. There could be things about me you don’t like. I get impatient, I eat when I’m stressed, and I’ll give you the silent treatment when I’m mad.”

  “Thanks for the warning.”

  “What if you find something about me you don’t like?”

  “Don’t worry. HR
is running a background check.” He snickers. “Even then, I don’t much care. I know who you are, Annabelle.”

  “This is a two-way street, Kalin. What if there’s something about you I don’t like? You’re assuming I would just marry you? Are you assuming I love you? How does that work?”

  “You can’t tell me what we’ve shared is something less.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been in love. Certainly I had no deadline to find out.”

  Kalin exhales. “You can walk away and never see me again. But I don’t want you to. Is that really so hard to believe, with or without the money?”

  “I don’t know, Kalin. I feel something between us too, but this is really heavy. I need to think. I need to talk to Lia. My life has gone from not being able to pay the rent, and never being in love, to being swept up by you, with a few hundred million dollars thrown in. My head is spinning.”

  “I am sorry for springing this all on you, Annabelle. I know it’s a lot to take in. Please try and put the money aside for now, and think about us.”

  Kalin clasps my hand. “In all honesty, I was not expecting to find you, Annabelle. I was expecting to lose the company. When you walked into my life, all of that changed. The company is secondary to that. It’s important…yes. I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t. But it’s not as important as you.”

  My eyes moisten at his words, and I turn my head to hide my eyes from him. “I don’t know if I can believe you, Kalin. I don’t know what’s real anymore. It all seems so convenient.”

  Kalin lifts my chin, and searches my eyes. “What’s real is in your heart, Annabelle. Sometimes it’s right in front of you.” He moves his mouth over mine. I’m immediately aware of how my body responds to him with desire and want and certainty, clashing with the clouds of doubt and fear in my mind. The familiar surges move through my body as he pulls me into the warmth of his embrace. I’m in a prison of his hold, my body wanting him, but my mind confused and untrusting.

  I take a deep breath and break away from him. “No. I have to clear my head, Kalin. I have to get away from here and have some time to think…to get back to my normal life.”

  “Don’t let this get in the way of what we have, Annabelle. Please tell me that I can see you again.”

  “I want to see you, Kalin.” I glance away, wondering if I am about to lose him. “But not with deadlines and marriage contracts and shareholder agreements and rights and all this other stuff. Just us. The way it was.” I fight back tears as I gaze up at him.

  “I know, Annabelle. But this is my life right now.”

  “Then I can’t promise anything. I have to go,” I murmur.

  I walk toward the door and Kalin steps beside me and covers my hand with his.

  “No undue influence, Kalin.” I wrench my hand away from his grasp. “I want a few days to think, without physical contact, and without your master seduction techniques.”

  Kalin’s deep and pleasant laugh rings through me. “Master seduction techniques?”

  “Yes,” I insist. “Don’t think I don’t know. I would be naive to think you don’t use your advertising and marketing techniques to manipulate others to get what you want,” I snap.

  Kalin bites his lip and looks away, holding back a grin. “It works for product placement, business deals, and even one-night stands, Annabelle. I don’t think it’s a good plan for marriage,” he sniffs. He reaches for my hand again and I take it away.

  “No undue influence, Kalin. I’m serious.”

  He leads me out of the yacht to the green fields swaying in the summer breeze. A girl could get used to this. I inhale the fresh air that fills my lungs and lifts my spirits. I’m already feeling better. Dammit, Kalin. No undue influence.

  Kalin walks next to me in the luxury of the green field, and places his arm gently around me. I spin away from his embrace. He winces momentarily.

  “Can I ask you something?” I say.

  “Sure, Annabelle. Anything,” he says, with those big brown eyes sweeping over my face.

  “Have you asked others? I mean, have you had other girls?”

  “There have been other girls, but I haven’t dropped this on them,” he smiles. You’re the first. And the last.”

  I glance at him and frown. “The last.”

  “That’s right. I doubt I’ll meet someone like you. And by this summer.”

  “So there is a deadline,” I exclaim.

  “There is a time frame for this to work the way I want. But by far you’re the most important ingredient, Annabelle. I would not be doing this had I not met you. I was looking. But I didn’t think…”

  “You were searching for your future spouse during a job interview?”

  “I was on the lookout.” He smiles. “The job interviews were rather standard fare. Until I saw you.”

  Kalin enters the house from the back, tidies up a bit, switches on some security device, and walks me out the front door.

  “Why do you keep the contract on the boat?”

  “Because anyone up to no good will think it’s in the house. Please don’t mention what we discussed, by the way. At least not the details of the contract.”

  I bite my lip and frown at him.

  “You understand?”

  “Yes. Can I discuss this with my friend, Lia?”

  “Yes, just not…everything. No one can know about the contract. Keep the rest between yourselves.”

  “Okay,” I agree eagerly.

  He folds his lips and smiles, which dimples his face. “I like spending time with you Annabelle. I’m sorry about all the complications. I prefer it just be us. But this is my life.”

  “I know.”

  “Good.”

  We make our way back to the city. Kalin accelerates the bike, and thoughts of wealth, power, greed, corporate coups, raw passion, and earth-moving sex flash through my mind as I watch the white strips of paint dividing the lanes whiz by. My mind is jumbled, mixed, and ambivalent, caught between the routine world I know and the new adventurous, titillating world of Kalin Davis. My mind and my body clash between the two worlds. My mind craves the old and familiar, and my body craves the excitement and adventure of this new world.

  Kalin coasts into the apartment drive. He unfastens my helmet, lifts me up and sets me on the ground. Lia steps outside like a worried mother. Her face is so consoling and familiar. “Thank God you’re back alive,” she smiles.

  Kalin smiles at her and returns his gaze to me. “I want to see you again, Annabelle.”

  “I need some time, Kalin. I need to be away from you, at least for a while.”

  “Take good care of her, Miss Marzella.”

  “Thanks for bringing her back in one piece on that thing,” she quips.

  That adorable half grin curves the side of his mouth.

  “Bye, Kalin,” I say with a sheepish grin. He reaches for my hand and pulls me to him, planting a soft and sweet kiss on my lips. I pull away from him, fighting my body again.

  Kalin flattens his lips together and nods slightly. “Soon.” He swings his long leg over the seat, revs up the motorbike, flips the stand up with his foot, and skids out of the drive and onto the road. I cross my arms and watch him disappear into the traffic ahead. My heart beats dully in my chest, and I stare ahead with a slack expression. I briefly rub my eyes before turning to Lia. I run up to her and hug her, and she smiles at me.

  “What’s gotten into you?” she asks.

  “Can’t a girl hug her best friend without being interrogated?”

  “He didn’t try anything weird, did he? Whips, paddles? Hahh! Riding crops?” she says, wide eyed and mouth open.

  “Stop it, Lia. He’s not into anything weird. As far as I can tell,” I add with a tentative smile. “But what he does do, he does very well.” I grin.

  “Oh, do tell girlfriend,” she says with her eyes aglow.

  “I don’t know where to begin.” I shrug.

  Lia opens the door and we walk into the apartment. The p
lace I left before my life changed completely, when everything was so ordinary.

  Chapter Eight

  I knew Lia was going to put me through her cross examination, and I had no idea where to start. I didn’t even know if I could start anywhere. Didn’t Kalin tell me I couldn’t talk about his outlandish contract anyway?

  Lia grabs my hand and sits me down on the couch. “You can start by telling me where he whisked you off to?”

  I stare down at my fingers and swallow.

  “Stop stalling, girl.” She smiles.

  “The Hamptons. Southampton, to be exact.”

  “Oh, my God.” Lia hits me hard on my shoulder.

  “Ow! That hurt.”

  “Oh, cry me a river! You went to the Hamptons?”

  “Yeah. He’s got a house there.”

  “Another house? Look at you, girl!”

  I give her a small smile, and I can’t help think about how simple our lives used to be before I met Kalin. Even then, it was hard but it wasn’t like this. Now I’m faced with these life-changing decisions, and probably more if I walk into Kalin Davis’s world. I take in Lia’s bright and happy face, and I think about how everything can change so suddenly. I needed her advice, and yet I’m not supposed to talk about this? I can’t talk to anyone? What am I supposed to do?

  “So he took you to his Hampton hideaway.” She gives me a suggestive smile.

  “It’s kind of like a retreat. He has an office in the house, heated swimming pool, tennis court, and private beach access. You should see it, Lia. It’s just beautiful.”

  “So you did it in the Hampton house?”

  I shake my head at her. She has such a one-track mind, but it’s endearing and part of what makes Lia so lovable. Yes, the sex is absolutely earth-shaking incredible, but there’s more to Kalin Davis than I can ever tell her. Or maybe I just wish I could have Kalin without his complex life.

  “Don’t lie to me, Belle. I can see it written all over your face.”

  “We didn’t do it in his Hampton hideaway, Lia.” I glance down with a coy smile. “We did it in his yacht on the bay.”