by Nana Malone
I lifted a brow. “Do I write your check so to speak?”
“I—yes.”
“Do you follow my direction?”
“Well, yes, but—”
I didn’t let her finish. “So in essence if I told you I wanted to hire a purple unicorn for the accounting team tomorrow, whose decision is that to make?”
Her gaze narrowed and I could tell this was going to be painful for her to admit. “You, sir. But the way your father and I worked…”
Her voice trailed off when I clenched my jaw, communicating to her exactly what I thought of my father. “So, for the last six months have you been working for him or for me?”
“You, but as you were transitioning, your father and I felt that it would be easier if I still went to him for key decisions.”
Oh, did they?
“Well, lucky for you. I’m caught up. That ends now. If you have a problem with that, let’s go ahead and get you reassigned. In the meantime, Zia Barnes starts working here tomorrow. I’ll be giving her direct instructions.”
“I’ll just bet you will,” she muttered under her breath as she gave me a tight nod.
“It’s funny; I couldn’t hear your last comment.”
She gave me a forced smile that was more a baring of teeth. “I just said I’ll be of any service to you that you need with her.”
I gave her a smile that told her I’d heard her message loud and clear. She was Timothy Arlington’s person and she was just waiting for me to crash and burn. “Fantastic. I think we’ll all get along great. We’re all good here?”
Zia Barnes is going to eat her for dinner.
"Yes of course. You're the CEO, you can hire who you want."
"Thank you."
She nodded and backed out of the office. Before she even closed the door, Timothy Arlington barged in. "Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
I lifted my brows. "What do you mean?"
“You’re off book ,boy.”
I lifted my brow as I pushed to my feet. “You’ll have to refresh my memory. What’s your problem today?”
“You’ve been pulling all the financials for Inline? For what purpose? This deal has nothing to do with you. You just have to sit back and watch it happen.”
I couldn’t help it; I laughed. “Am I the only one who realizes I’m the CEO here? What's the problem dad?" I tried to inject unaffected disdain into my voice.
"What's the problem? You're running around here like you own the joint."
Again, I couldn't stifle a laugh. "Um, forgive me if I'm wrong, but don't I own the joint?"
He lifted a single brow. "Don't get cocky with me, boy. You and I both know that you're not qualified to run this place. And that was our agreement. When I put you in charge, I would still be running things. You’re simply not qualified."
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat. "Here is the thing. I've been thinking that since the Board ousted you and forced you to hire a replacement, maybe you shouldn't be running things after all. If my name is on the building, so to speak, and I’m responsible for all of it, what if I did my own thinking?"
His eyes went wide. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
I was. I was out of my whole damn mind. There were still pieces of this company I didn't understand, areas where I probably didn't have the full lay of the land, but I was getting caught up to speed quickly. Arlington Tech was one of the best tech conglomerates in the hemisphere. Far-reaching. But there were flagships that this company was built on. And if I focused there, where the bulk of our money came from, I might be able to hold down the fort until the real Derrick came back.
"What's the problem? That I'm actually taking an interest, or that I'm not doing as I'm told?"
"Both. We would both be perfectly fine if you were the same fuck-up you’ve always been. What has gotten into you? You think you can run things?"
"Well, the board seems to think I can run things. They gave me a vote of confidence last week."
"That's because they don't know you. You haven’t got the chops. Leave Inline Tech alone."
"Well, maybe you underestimate me." I spread my arms. "Isn't this what you wanted? I'm actually trying to do what's best for the company."
"You have always been concerned about your own self-interest. And that's who you are. You’ve never changed. Why would you start now?"
"Well, maybe if you actually give me a shot, if you could give me an opportunity to actually learn, I could do something good."
"So what, you're going to experiment with my company? Over my dead fucking body."
"The thing is Dad, it's already a done deal. I'm already sitting in this chair, not you."
He jabbed a finger toward my chest. "I swear to God you will fall into line."
I knew what the right response would be, but somehow I couldn't force myself to say it. I stared up into the face that was similar enough to mine to cause someone to do a double take.
I knew this man wasn't my father. I’d never actually met the bum, but there were pictures of him around the house. Mom said he'd been some kind of actor or something. She never gave me his name, but we had the same kind of gray eyes, same structure of the face, even if I didn't look exactly like him. Hell, he could have been Timothy Arlington's brother, for all I knew.
As he spoke, Arlington leaned in real close. "You will fall into line. I don't want any more fucking surprises. Stop trying to derail the Inline deal. Do you understand me?"
I nodded slowly. "Sorry, Dad. I'll run everything by you. But I’m still going to poke at the deal to make sure it’s air tight."
"Now is not the time to pretend to give a fuck. You can go back to your drinking and whoring. I prefer that version of you anyway."
"Why, because that version of me can be controlled? I'm pretty sure I told you, I didn't want this. But since you insisted that I have it, I'm actually going to do my job. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
His face flamed red, starting at his neck and spreading like an insidious virus until the tip of his ears went crimson. "Don't make me your enemy, son. It won't end well. This is my company, my legacy. I was too soft on you growing up. I won't make the same mistake twice. You fuck with this deal, and I will kill you with my bare fucking hands."
Fantastic. I’d made an enemy out of Timothy Arlington.
Zia…
I scowled at Derrick as I carried my bag out of Royal Elite. "So, you didn’t tell Ariel why we aren't a good match?"
He smirked down at me. I hated that he was able to look down on me. "I told her what I needed. I didn't have to explain why."
"You recognize Royal Elite is an established and respected agency, right? This isn't a game."
"What game? All you need to know is that you've been assigned to me, and your whole job means me staying alive, right?"
My brows lifted. "Didn’t you request me?"
"I didn’t. You were assigned. Karma’s cruel joke, I suppose. If you have seen the papers at all, you know I have a type. Petite. Brunette. Fit."
"You know this won't work."
"Well, it has to work. I gather from what I saw in the meeting with Ariel that you want to impress your boss. And I get it. She returned the lost princess. She saved the exiled prince. She's a badass. You don't want to look like an idiot in front of her."
I clamped my jaw shut. "Doing a good job is important to me, regardless of who my boss is. When I was finished packing my stuff, I did my own research on you, Lord Arlington. Up until now you’ve been content to party on yachts and screw anything that moves. Now you’re the big bad billionaire tech guru?"
He grinned down at me then. "Oh, come on now. I won’t screw anything that moves. I’m pretty sure I have standards. A quick glance at the internet told you all that?"
I shrugged. "You’d be amazed what you can learn. What was your deal on Saturday? Tell me why you were about to get in that car. Surely you know that would mean certain torture."
He shook hi
s head. “We’re not talking about that.” As we approached my car, he shook his head. "You're not driving."
I blinked at him. "Well, how are we going to get there?"
He inclined his head toward the black sedan at the edge of our long drive. With one nod from Derrick, the car turned in for us. As it approached, my brows lifted. It was a Maserati. Slick, black and elegant just like a panther. The driver pulled up and stepped out of the car, nodding at Derrick. "Mr. Arlington." Then he smiled down at me. "Miss Barnes."
I frowned. "How did you know my name?"
"That's Tim. It's his job to know. And while you were getting your things, I told him."
I rolled my eyes. "Look, I know you want to play fifty shades of billionaire or whatever. I'm not into that alpha bullshit. Let's just get this job done. I can drive my own car to wherever we'll be staying."
He exhaled deeply as if fighting exasperation. "You forget, we need to make this, us, look real, and this is how it will look real. My beautiful girlfriend, dressed to the nines, riding with me and not driving herself to wherever we’re going."
"You realize that's sexist, right? Why can't I drive you?"
He shrugged. "I didn't make the rules. I'm just well aware of the optics and public perception."
Tim took my bag to the trunk, and Derrick held the door open for me. I didn't really have much choice. I knew that Ariel was counting on me. The team was counting on me. At the end of the day, my loyalty was to them. So that meant getting my butt in gear and getting this job done, whether I liked the client or not.
This wasn't a man who was concerned for his safety. Or maybe he was all about the facade. But there was something about him that didn't quite jive with the cocky billionaire I’d read about. I just didn't know what it was yet.
I pressed myself up against the door, putting as much distance between Derrick and myself as possible. I could still feel it. That intense hum of connection between us that I had noticed at the wedding. But I could ignore that. I would ignore it.
He was playing some kind of game, and I was a pawn. So, I had to figure out what the hell was going on and quickly. Then I’d go to my team.
Another flash of teeth made him look every bit the rogue I'd read about. "You're a handful. I think I like you."
The car slowed through traffic and pulled off to the right. I glanced up. "Is this where you live? Is this your office building?"
There weren't many skyscrapers in the Winston Isles. Honestly, just a cluster of tech and financial institutions at the heart of what was called King's City. It only really encompassed a ten-block radius. Everywhere else, there were laws protecting the views, so beyond that cluster, there was nothing else so metropolitan. And Derrick Arlington owned the one we were staring at.
"This is where I live. The Penthouse."
I stared at him. "Of course. You recognize that you’re going to have to communicate with me better, right? I can't protect you if I don't know what we're doing and where we're going."
He frowned. "It’s not always going to be possible."
“I hate to break it to you, but you hired Royal Elite, which means you need to let me do my job."
He pursed his lips. "Fine. Lady Zia."
I rolled my eyes. "If you're not using your title, I'm not using mine."
His brows furrowed. "How did you become a King's Knight anyway?"
"It was a package deal. The team and I came with Ariel."
When I stepped out of the car, I was sorry I'd worn my blazer over my sundress. It was so damn hot. I shrugged it off and was glad my sundress had pockets so I could avoid wearing a holster.
We went around to Derrick's side of the car, and Tim held the door for him. When Derrick stepped out, he had a brilliant smile for me. He took my hand, and I had to resist the urge to shake him off. His lips twisted into a bemused smirk as he saw what I was doing. God, the guy was such a prick.
"Oh, ease up, Lady Zia, we're only going inside to the lobby. You only have to touch me for a matter of seconds."
"Thank God. But it's easier to do my job if my hands are free."
He pressed his lips tightly together then. He nodded and then threw an arm around me instead. If it was possible, that was worse. The movement brought me closer into contact with him. His smell, something musky and intoxicating, made me want to lean in and inhale. His warmth chased away the perpetual chill in my bones.
"Let's make this quick. The sooner we get the lay of the land and we can outline the perimeters, the sooner—"
From behind us, a voice called out, "Zia?"
Garrett.
My back stiffened. No. No, not now. I didn't need this now. I was not prepared. I didn't have a speech. Well, at least I looked good. But still... I tried to just keep moving because, yes, I was a coward, and I was looking for a pillar to hide behind. But Derrick, the turdface, stopped, forcing me to a halt.
His gaze was inquisitive. "Sweetheart, do you know him?"
I frowned up at him. "Sweetheart? What the—" And then it occurred to me. He'd seen me hide from Garrett at the wedding. He'd been watching. Those eyes on me that I'd only noticed later… Derrick Arlington was the reason for them. He'd seen me crawl between two pillars and legitimately hide from my ex-fiancé. Oh, this was the worst kind of hell. "Uh, yes."
Garrett approached with a smile. "I thought that was you. Did I see you at the wedding too? I was going to come over and say hello, but I didn't have an opportunity. I wanted you to meet my wife."
As he approached, he frowned. As if it had only just occurred to him that I was with someone. "Oh! Uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm Garrett."
Derrick glanced down at his hand and glanced down at me. And then he just nodded at him. "Derrick Arlington."
Garrett's eyes went wide. "You're Derrick Arlington? The billionaire? No shit."
Well, well. Garrett kept his hand out to shake, but Derrick just lifted a brow. I might not like him. He might be a pain in the ass, but in that moment, he was giving me life.
Garrett turned his attention back to me. "I must have missed you at the wedding. I was quite busy. I just wanted to say hi. It's been a long time."
"Yeah, I guess it has." And because I could, and because he had given me the platform to do it, I leaned into Derrick's side. "Sweetheart, we really need to go. I know you wanted to get back to the flat."
Derrick knew exactly what I was doing, and he was playing along. He pulled me closer to him. He leaned down, his lips approaching mine.
Holy hell, he was going to kiss me. Heat enveloped me, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. What was I supposed to do? He gave me one of those patented killer smirks, and swear to God my pussy clenched.
He leaned close, and I held my breath. He was going to kiss me. He really was. He was going to—
Instead of kissing me, he bypassed my lips and nuzzled my neck. His lips were a gentle graze as he… holy shit, was he smelling me? His thumb grazed over my cheek as he whispered into my skin. “Try to not to look like you want to punch me, and we’ll sell this better.”
It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real. But good luck telling my body that.
He pulled back, and sure enough, I had forgotten how to breathe.
I. Could. Not. Move.
Meanwhile, Garrett's brows furrowed. "You two are together?"
Derrick grinned and kept his gaze on mine. "Of course. She had this whole thing in her head about how she no longer wanted to date assholes. Then along I came and got lucky."
I should have stepped in to defuse the situation, but no. This was awesome. All kinds of awesome. Also, I was pretty sure my knees didn’t work anymore.
Garrett's brow really furrowed then. "Wait, how long have you two been together?"
I opened my mouth to answer but Derrick beat me to it. "Not long. But when I see what I want, I go after it. It happened so quickly. You know that spark… When something is right, you feel it. You know it in your bones. I couldn’t stay away from her. Zi
a, love, you're right, we do need to get going."
Garrett turned bright red then. "Zia, I—" He seemed to have forgotten anything he might have had to say and shook his head. And then he started again. “Well, maybe we can catch up soon. I know you're at the palace sometimes. Maybe look me up and give me a call. We can have lunch."
I shrugged. "Well, right now Derrick is keeping me quite busy, but if I'm at the palace and I have any time, I'll let you know."
Derrick grinned then. A grin that I'd started to associate with being his evil grin.
You’ve known the guy for like five minutes, and you can already tell which smiles he’s using.
"Oh, you know my cousin Sebastian?"
Garrett blinked again and then he bowed low. "My Lord, I didn't know."
Derrick waved his hand. "No, it's fine. I don't really use my title, ever. Too pretentious. And in the world of business, you can't stand on ceremony. Well, anyway, it was good to meet you."
And with that, Derrick led me inside, leaving my ex staring after us.
Theo…
In the car, Zia had sat as far away as she could from me without physically being outside.
But now she was close… so close. Her hair smelled like coconut and hibiscus. The skin on her bare neck was satiny soft. I couldn’t help but run my thumb over the softness of her cheek. Just that little motion was enough to make my head spin. Inhaling had been a big mistake.
Sniffing her was like getting a hit of my drug of choice.
Newsflash, asshole, stop touching her. She can bring the house of cards down around you.
I swallowed hard and released her, despite every nerve ending telling me to keep holding her tight.
I didn't know what the hell I was doing. It was okay to admit that, right? I couldn’t have her. After all, there was that little matter of me impersonating a local celebrity. Oh, and I'd taken over his life. Not a problem at all.
Get it together.
I had to get my mind right and never touch her again.
