by Lexi Blake
“You got him voted out?”
“Sort of. I might have had a private investigator follow him around until he broke his own morality clause. I might have had the whole thing taped and I might have shown it as the video reel at my wedding. Which was also for business purposes. When I married Frankie, he got stock and a voting share at Slaten and I got one in his family’s company when I took his name. We took down our parents in a two-week period.”
She was mean. Why did that get him hot? “Your father was that bad?”
“He was planning on selling the company and using the sale as a way of screwing the employees not only out of their jobs but out of their pensions. When my grandfather ran Slaten, he offered pensions, and we’ve still got about fifty older employees who stand to come into theirs in the next few years, and a hundred or so retired employees who would have found themselves totally screwed over. My father made some shady legal maneuvers a few years back. While they could have fought it, he would have money-whipped them. I had a lawyer attached to McKay-Taggart look at everything before I took over and he pointed out all the ways my father intended to screw our employees. I grew up with a bunch of them. I worked at Slaten every summer and they took care of me. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him do that to the company my grandfather worked so hard to build.”
“Mitch?”
She nodded. “Yeah. The lawyer’s name was Mitch Bradford. I wanted to hire him full time, but apparently I can’t afford him.”
“He’s my brother.” Finally a bit of the truth. It felt good.
“Will told me,” she admitted. “He said you and Mitch are half brothers and you haven’t known each other very long.”
That was good old Mitch. He likely hadn’t said much more about him to Will. The man was Mitch’s best friend, but Mitch wasn’t a talker. They played a lot of pick-up basketball and regularly watched football games and barbecued, but Mitch had likely never talked about Glendale with his friend. He wondered if Mitch would consider it attorney-client privilege since Mitch served as Flynn’s personal attorney.
“I have a younger brother too. I think I’ve mentioned him. Chase.”
“I like how you smile when you talk about him,” she said quietly.
“He’s a good kid. My stepmom, Chase’s biological mother, died of breast cancer and then Dad got sick. My own precious mother couldn’t be bothered with us. I kind of raised him the last couple of years and he’s turned out great.” Once he’d gotten Chase away from the bad influence of bullies and kids who thought drugs were better than therapy.
Her expression soured. “Another reason you might not want to see me again after tonight. I didn’t think about the fact that you had a younger brother. He probably looks up to you.”
“I hope so. Amy, come out and say what you need to say.” He was getting anxious. What was she getting at?
“My father knows about Sanctum and he’s going to use it to tell the board I’m immoral and therefore incapable of being CEO.”
He had to laugh. “Morality has zero to do with being a great CEO. I can promise you that or half of the CEOs on the Fortune 500 would be out of a job.”
She shook her head. “He’ll take it to the press and I’ll become the female CEO who likes to get spanked. And before you laugh again, it’s different for a woman in power and you know it.”
He sobered a bit. “I do, but I think you’re overreacting. You’re allowed to have a private life.”
“Not in my family I’m not. You need to think about this. He’s suing me already. I didn’t think about the fact that you could end up getting dragged into it. What will your brothers think? They could ask you all kinds of questions. The press could get hold of the story. You could lose your job. God, I don’t even want to think about what could happen if Glendale gets wind of it. They’ll use it against all of us.”
He stilled. “Glendale.”
Her jaw went stubborn. “It’s a rival firm. Normally I would tell you not to worry about them. I thought when John Sr. died and I took over Slaten that it would be over, but his son turned out to be just as bad as he ever was. He hates me.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t.” He didn’t want her to think that for a second.
She shook her head. “Trust me. The man is horrible. He might be worse than his father. His CEO informed me yesterday that he’s planning on siccing the FTC on me if I don’t back away from a company he wants. He says he’s got an informant who’s willing to testify I’ve been manipulating stock. I don’t put it past that man to invent evidence.”
“What?” He hadn’t authorized anything like that. What the hell was Curt doing?
“It won’t work. I’m still meeting with them. Tomorrow, in fact. I need that company. If I can’t get them to sign on, I’m probably not going to have a job next week. So I need you to seriously think about continuing on with me. I know I should quit the training program.”
That wasn’t happening. He needed to figure out what the hell his CEO was doing and correct it. If that meant giving Amy and Slaten the Clannahan deal, then that was what he would do.
He would do it. Huh. It was easy when he didn’t think about it, when he allowed his instinct to rule. He knew exactly what he would do. He would give her what she needed without question.
Maybe then she would see he wasn’t as bad as his father.
“Absolutely not.” He put a little Dom tone behind that command.
“I can’t risk putting Sanctum in a bad position.” She shook her head as though making up her mind. “Everyone has been so kind to me. Maybe when it all shakes out in a few months I can try again.”
He reached out and dragged her back to his side of the couch, hauling her close. “You are not quitting anything and if you think for a second this scares me off, you’re wrong. It makes me mad, but it doesn’t make me want to bail on you.”
It made him want to protect her. Unfortunately, it looked like she needed protection from his own company.
She wrapped her arms around him and settled her head on his chest. “What will your family think? You have to consider them, Flynn. And your employer.”
“My family is all pretty much at Sanctum with the exception of Chase and my nephew. And Chase knows I’m a pervert. He’s always known.” He smoothed her hair back. “As for work, I’d like to see them try to get rid of me. This is nothing I want you to worry about. You have a big meeting tomorrow. I want you to rest. Don’t worry about anything. It’s going to be fine, pet. You do your best and the rest is going to work itself out.”
“I don’t know about that,” she murmured.
He soothed a hand down her back. The blanket had come off but she seemed fine. He let his hand run the length of her spine. “It will. Can I stay here with you tonight?”
She hugged him. “I would love that.”
He was getting addicted to waking up with her, sleeping with her, doing everything with her. “I don’t want to be anywhere else. And I’ll be there for you tomorrow no matter what happens in that meeting. I’ll be there and we can sit down and talk.”
“Or you can help me pack up my office.”
He actually liked that she was being so open with him. She usually pulled an invisible cloak around herself and shut down when it came to work. But she could tell him anything. He could hold her and let her cry or be afraid or angry.
“I don’t think it’s going to come to that.” He would make sure of it.
She was quiet for a moment and after a while he noticed her breathing had settled into a rhythm. She’d fallen asleep right on his chest, her arms around him.
God, she was beautiful. The thought that he could lose her was an actual ache in his body. She was the one. He hadn’t thought there really was a one, but Amy Slaten proved him wrong.
He eased up, shifting her in his arms. Her eyes opened.
“Go back to sleep,” he said gently as he stood up.
“You make me feel almost small when you pick me up,” she sai
d with a yawn.
“You are small compared to me.” He moved back to her bedroom.
He settled her into her too small for the both of them bed. It was probably a queen, but he took up a lot of space. He wanted her at his place, in his bed and in his shower and humming in his kitchen while she made breakfast.
Theirs. It could be theirs. He would let her do whatever she wanted with it as long as she stayed with him.
He kissed her on the forehead, but she was already back to sleep.
He had a call to make. Flynn strode back into the living room so he wouldn’t disturb her. Luckily, the man he was calling was on West Coast time. He also took his time answering. Curt picked up on the fourth ring.
“Hey, Flynn, how’s it going out in Dallas?” In the background it sounded like Curt was at a party of some kind, or perhaps he’d walked out of a crowded restaurant.
He wasn’t going to waste time on small talk. “I need you to tell Clannahan that the deal’s off.”
It sounded as though Curt had moved farther from the noise. “Excuse me?”
He was springing this on him without any warning. Flynn tried to slow down. “I’ve changed my mind about the Clannahan deal. I don’t want the company anymore. We haven’t signed anything yet so it should be easy to call off the deal.”
“Call off the deal? I’m not calling off the deal, Flynn. We need that company as a base to distribute the software around the world.”
“The German company would work just as well.” They’d looked at several international firms that could handle their distribution.
“The German company is twice the outlay of cash,” Curt pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter. We’ve got plenty and we’ll have more when the code’s done.”
There was a pause over the line. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that you’re sleeping with Amy Slaten?”
“What?” He hadn’t expected to hear those words.
“You’re sleeping with the enemy, Flynn. Did you think I wouldn’t hear about that?”
“I’m wondering how the fuck you know about that.”
“I know because I keep track of the major players in my organization. You’re too important to Glendale to not keep watch over. You do understand that she’s playing you, right? You can’t possibly be that naïve.”
He didn’t like the idea that someone had been spying on him. “Do you have a private eye watching me or something?”
“I don’t need one. I send enough people out to Dallas to get your signature on things that they can tell me who you’re sleeping with. You take her out all the time and she’s gotten very cozy in your building. You’ve let her into your place? Where you keep the code? I thought you were smarter that that.”
“She doesn’t care about the code. She has no idea who the hell I am.”
A huff came over the line. “Don’t be ridiculous. Look, I’ve been indulgent so far, but I’m certainly not going to let a company that can do us good get away because your girlfriend gave you a blow job or something.”
Anger welled inside him. No one got to talk about her like she was some kind of easy lay. No one. “You’re fired.”
“You can’t fire me,” he replied. “Not like that and I can assure you I have more sway over your board than you do right now. You’re the playboy who couldn’t care less about this company or managing it properly. You want to be left alone with your code. Well, this is you getting left alone with your code. You didn’t want the responsibility, this is what that looks like, Flynn. And let me tell you something. Your girl isn’t as squeaky clean as she looks. The way her father tells it, she’s the one behind all the recent spying. Hell, she’s apparently been playing fast and loose with her stock.”
So that’s where it had come from. At one point, Flynn might have stopped to investigate, but he didn’t need to do that anymore. “Her father is using you. He’s trying to get his job back.”
“From what I can tell he probably deserves it. Hell, I don’t know. I don’t care. After they lose Clannahan and I explain to several big business reporters exactly what that means, their stock is going to tank and I’ll swoop in, buy it for a song, and break the fucker into pieces. Your father would be proud. He always hated Slaten.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind.” It would kill her to lose that company. She’d sacrificed for it, worked her ass off. “Don’t even try to finalize that deal. I’ll block you.”
“You can certainly try, but you’ll find unless the board drops me, you’re in a bind for the terms of my contract. Like I said, I’ve been indulgent, but now I’m going to do my job and that’s making the absolute most money I can possibly make whatever it takes. I’ve got a party to get back to. Why don’t you go and write some more code, Flynn? Leave the business to the men who know how to get it done.”
The line went dead and Flynn thought about getting on the first plane to California, finding that fucker and throttling him.
“Hey, are you okay?”
He turned and Amy was standing in the doorway, a sheet wrapped around her. She looked sleepy and the slightest bit worried.
She had the meeting of a lifetime in the morning and there was nothing he could do tonight to fix things for her. Mitch would already be asleep and he turned off the phones after ten so nothing would wake up the baby.
He moved to her. The morning would be soon enough to find a way out.
“I’m fine, pet. Let’s get to bed.” He kissed her, promising himself that no matter what, he would find a way to save her company.
Then he would find a way to get her to forgive him.
Chapter Eight
Amy took a deep breath and stepped into the room. It was show time and there was nothing else to do but lay her cards on the table and hope they played out.
Padraig Clannahan and his older brother, Seamus, were dressed in perfectly pressed suits, both looking like men ready to do business. Their suits were pristine, but their demeanors were much more casual. Neither had even glanced at the proposal she’d given them. They were more interested in the tea she’d served. She knew they weren’t exactly taking her seriously, but she meant to change that.
She shook their hands as the conference room filled up. Her lawyer was present along with a few of her senior team members. And the newest team member, the one whose office was mostly for show, but he would definitely be collecting a paycheck if this worked out. She would owe him big time.
“Gentlemen, I hope your flight was satisfactory.”
Padraig was in his fifties, a silver fox of a man. He gave her a winning smile as he sat back. “It was perfectly lovely, Ms. Slaten. I thank you for taking such good care of two old Irishmen.”
Seamus shook his head. “Speak for yerself, brother. I’m not old at all, darlin’. But I did very much appreciate the excellent whiskey, and the coddle was better than me mum used to make. Very surprised to have that served. Airplane food is usually soggy pasta or overdone beef.”
Coddle was a traditional Irish pork dish and Sean Taggart had taught the chef Slaten used on their corporate jet how to make it just right. It was the Clannahan brothers’ favorite dish. A fact she’d learned because she’d done her homework. She’d wanted those Irishmen in a good mood when they got off the plane.
“I thought a bit of home would make you feel comfortable.”
“It was much appreciated.” Padraig sent his brother a stare. “The other ones thought we would like all those green things and that uncooked fish.”
Ah, California cuisine. It looked like Glendale had tried to wow them with sushi and kale. She’d learned a long time ago that proving she could cater to a client’s likes was far better than shoving her own at them.
Seamus didn’t take the bait. He turned Amy’s way. “As much as we love good food, we need to talk about business. You’ve proven yourself to be a damn fine hostess, and I appreciate that, but you have to know we’ve talked to Glendale.”
“Of course.” She wa
s pleased her voice sounded so even, professional. She’d woken up and Flynn had coffee waiting for her. He’d kissed her senseless and promised her everything would be okay.
She wasn’t sure she believed him, but he’d given her strength.
He would be there when she called him this evening. He’d dropped her off so she could go over her notes. She was going to call him and he would pour her a glass of wine and she would cuddle with him. Win or lose at least she would have Flynn.
“I expected that Glendale would contact you. We often have the same interests.” And they liked to take anything Slaten wanted.
“They have a software product they want us to distribute,” Padraig explained. “From a very up and coming young coder. They’ve convinced us the software he’s developing is going to be very big.”
She was sure they did. “Yes, I assume they want to give you a small piece of the pie.”
He nodded. “We’ve talked about a percentage.”
It would be small. Glendale was arrogant. It was a function of their size. They rarely had to think about truly sending anything but cash down the pipeline. The truth was a small but powerful family company like Clannahan sometimes had different priorities. Sometimes money wasn’t as big a factor as it seemed to be.
She’d researched them enough to know that was true for the two men sitting across from her.
“How many Irish workers are they willing to employ?”
Seamus frowned. “They only want us to handle distribution.”
“That’s what I suspected. Have they offered to buy you out? Are you aware the last three companies they purchased were absorbed by Glendale and within a few years they ceased to exist as entities?”
Padraig put up a hand to stop her. “We talked about that. They’ve given us their word that we’ll still function on our own.”
“Yes, I’m sure they’ll promise you that, but they won’t put it in writing.”
Seamus’s eyes narrowed. “You will?”
