by Lexi Blake
“I’m not trying to buy your company, Mr. Clannahan. That’s what Glendale will end up doing no matter what they choose to call it. I’m offering a partnership. We’ve got products and services we need to move into the European market. You give us everything we need to work in that part of the world and we can do the same here for you in the States. I can not offer you the kind of money Glendale can upfront. If what you want to do is sell your company to a massive American conglomerate, take the cash and retire, then we should end this meeting now.”
“I’m not ready to retire and I’ve got two boys who want to carry on for us,” Padraig said, his face turning a shade of red.
Yes, she had him now. “But if you want a partnership that could benefit both of us, then take a look at my proposal. The money isn’t upfront and it isn’t guaranteed. But if we work hard there’s a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow and I am going to make sure you get a nice portion of it. First though, I’m going to need for you to hire at least five more full-time positions on your end and Slaten will pay those salaries.”
She saw the moment the gentlemen decided to take her seriously. The brothers shared a long look and then moved to open the proposal books in front of them.
The Clannahans believed in their community. They’d raised themselves up from poverty, become wildly successful, and yet they still lived in the town they’d grown up in. They were the patrons of their people, generating jobs and putting local kids through college. They believed in their town, their country, and that was what Glendale didn’t understand.
“Five full-time positions?” Seamus put on his reading glasses. “Is that what you said?”
“Yes, five in the beginning, but if my projections are correct, we’ll double that in the next three years. I’ve also brought in my security liaison to explain how we’re going to upgrade your cyber security.”
“We’ve had problems with that,” Padraig said with a sigh. “I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about it and we’ve been lax. I don’t understand all those young people they bring in to do the jobs. It’s all gibberish to me.”
They were on the hook. She could feel it. Now it was time for her ace in the hole to reel them in. She smiled and turned to the stunning man on her left. “Let me introduce our VP of security, Liam O’Donnell.”
Liam O’Donnell was a gorgeous dark-haired man in his mid thirties. He could have been a model or an actor, but he’d joined the Irish military and then had done work for G2, Irish intelligence, and now was a senior member of the McKay-Taggart team. He was also her new VP of security. It was a job he already did, as McKay-Taggart handled her security and he was her liaison, but now he had an office and everything. He wouldn’t be leaving his primary job, but he would be handling Clannahan and taking a nice-sized cut of the profits on the backend as his salary.
She had to hope it worked.
“O’Donnell?” Padraig asked.
“Straight out of Dublin,” O’Donnell said, holding his hand out.
Padraig shook his hand and then Seamus greeted him. When they sat back down, both men were serious.
“I think we should talk,” Padraig said.
“Definitely,” Seamus agreed. “I want to hear about this plan.”
“If you’ll turn to page fifteen, I think I can explain everything to you in plain language,” O’Donnell said, beginning his portion of the meeting.
Plain language? He was speaking their language.
Amy sat back, comfortable that she was going to win this round.
Three hours later, she grinned up at O’Donnell. “Li, you’re worth every penny I’m going to spend on you over the next few years.”
He winked her way. “I’ll make sure of it. I think I’ll enjoy this side job. I’ve avoided going back to Ireland for years. Now all I can think of is showing my wife and son how beautiful my country is. Unfortunately, my McKay-Taggart work never takes me back there. This will be good for me.”
“Ian Taggart isn’t worried I’ll lure you to the corporate side?” She’d offered him a full-time position. She still kind of hoped he would take it some day. He would be an incredible asset.
“Never,” he swore with a smile. “I’m more than happy to do this on a limited basis, but my heart’s in McKay-Taggart. Oh, I’ll eventually move more into management over there and let the youngsters take the bullets, but I love solving a good mystery. Keeps a man on his feet. Still, you call me when you have any trouble at all. Erin or I will come running. Well, Erin doesn’t run a lot these days. She kind of waddles but I don’t ever mention that to her because she still enjoys shooting people. Pregnancy hasn’t taken the violence out of that girl one bit, I tell you.”
Erin Argent was in the same Lamaze class as her sister. She was also Liam’s partner at MT. The pretty redhead was intimidating even at eight months pregnant.
“I’ll let you know and I’ll make sure everything is first class for you and Aidan and Avery when you go out to Clannahan next month.” She still couldn’t believe it was all done. She had their signatures on the contract and Glendale could bite her ass.
She was partying tonight after class. She was taking her Dom out for drinks and dancing and then some kinky sex back at his place. Definitely his place, though, since she’d discovered he was a mattress hog and required the California king to be comfy.
All around her the news was getting out. Employees were smiling and the relief was almost palpable.
Liam walked with her toward her office. “They’re all thrilled with you, Amy. Don’t be too surprised if they start uncorking the champagne I might have brought.”
She couldn’t help but smile. The man was an optimist. “You brought a case of champagne?”
“Always. If we hadn’t won them over, it would have been conciliatory champagne. As it is, now it’s celebratory.”
Sure enough she heard a cork pop and someone turned on the music. They wouldn’t be getting much done this afternoon, but she was all right with that. They deserved a party. It had been a stressful year and they could relax.
Maybe she would call Flynn and have him come over. She wanted him to meet her friends and coworkers. For weeks she’d kept him out of this part of her life, but now she wanted him here with her.
“Perhaps you and your new man can join us when we go. I think it would be good for everyone involved if you came out for that first tour with me,” Liam was saying as they rounded the corner to her office. “I hear you’ve made a real connection with Mitch’s younger brother.”
And there was the stupid smile she couldn’t seem to get rid of. “Flynn is incredible. I don’t know what mojo Kai works but he did an amazing job when he put the two of us together. But I have to start trying to call him John. I can’t keep calling my boyfriend by his last name.”
“I thought Flynn was his middle name.”
“No. It’s John Flynn. He doesn’t have the same last name as Mitch because Mitch’s mother wasn’t married to their dad. He says everyone calls him Flynn because he likes his last name more than John. I’ll be honest I like Flynn more than John. John makes me think of John Adler and I mostly want to strangle that guy.” She gave her assistant a wave. “Hey, Val. I thought you would be out on the floor partying. We got it. Don’t look so glum.”
Val was the only person in the office who wasn’t wearing a goofy grin. “You have a delivery in your office. It’s from your father.”
Now she lost her smile. “Did he serve me with more papers? Just send them to legal. I don’t even want to look at them today.”
Val shook her head. “I don’t think legal needs to see it. I opened it. I’m sorry I opened it. I want you to know it’s not your fault. It’s on your desk. I didn’t want anyone else to see it. They might get the wrong idea.”
The wrong idea? About what? Her heart clenched and she strode through the doors to her office. What the hell had he done now?
“Amy? Do I need to take a look at it? If it’s got something to do with the lawsuit, I
might need to see it.” Liam followed her in.
She frowned down because it was a bunch of black and white pictures of her and Flynn. It looked like someone had been following them around. There was a picture of her holding his hand as he led her out of a restaurant. There was one of her smiling as she got into his car. There were several of them walking into Flynn’s building.
“Why would he think anyone would care about pictures of me with my boyfriend?” She flipped through them. It looked like he’d also left a note at the bottom of the pile.
“Because I got a bad feeling your boyfriend’s been lying to you.” Liam stared down at the pictures. “I didn’t think anything about it. I don’t know a lot about Flynn, but I’m putting it together now. How much access has he had to your computer?”
She held the letter in her hand, but she looked up at Liam. “What? Why would you ask that?”
Liam pulled out his phone. “Erin, I need you to get me a report on John Flynn Adler. I think there’s likely a junior in there. Yes, I’m talking about Mitch’s brother. He’s been running some kind of a scam on Amy Slaten. I need everything you can find on the bastard. No. It’s not a conflict of interest. Amy’s our client. If Mitch has a problem with it, we can discuss it later. As a matter of fact, I’ll likely have that discussion with him whether he likes it or not. Get back to me as soon as you can. Slaten might have a leak we need to plug and fast.”
It seemed as if the temperature in the room dropped by ten degrees. John Flynn Adler? “His name is John Flynn. He’s not…there’s no way.”
Liam had to be wrong. Flynn was a coder. He wrote software. He didn’t run a company. He sure as hell didn’t run Glendale. That guy was out in California. He definitely wasn’t Flynn. Though her Flynn had admitted to moving out here recently.
He wouldn’t do that to her. He cared about her.
He’d shown up at her place the night before a big meeting. He’d never been to her place except to pick her up or drop her off, but yesterday he’d insisted on spending the night. He’d put her to bed and he could have done anything he’d wanted to. She wasn’t good with computers, but he was a master. He could easily have gotten into her system and found out what she was doing. He would likely have thought he had more time because no one signed a deal within hours of a proposal. He would have sent all the information back to his company and they would try to counter her.
But he wouldn’t do that because he wasn’t John Adler. He couldn’t be.
“I’m going to take care of this,” Liam assured her. “I need to take your laptop and get it to Adam. We need to see if he’s been in your system. Did you ever bring him here to the office?”
She shook her head, completely numb. All day long she’d had a delicious ache in her backside. She hadn’t minded because it reminded her of Flynn and how he’d taken her and given to her.
Had it all been an act? She’d told him last night all about the company and all about what she was going through. How could he not know who she was?
That was it. He didn’t know. She hadn’t known. And she’d started out using her married name. That was it. She breathed a deep sigh of relief. He was confused.
But she’d told him the night before. She’d told him she was Amy Slaten and her company was Slaten Industries and he hadn’t blinked an eye.
He hadn’t stopped and shaken his head and asked her to say it again. He hadn’t said anything. They’d talked about Glendale and John Adler, Jr. He hadn’t explained that they were talking about him.
“Are you all right?” Liam asked.
No. She wasn’t all right. She was numb. Totally numb. That was good. It was far better than screaming and crying. She wasn’t going to do that. “I’m fine. A little surprised.”
“This could all be a mistake, you know.”
But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Not after she’d told him outright. It was funny really. She’d always hated her last name until he’d called her Ms. Lyndon and she’d realized she wanted to hear it from Flynn’s lips. When he’d called her Ms. Slaten, it hadn’t been so bad.
She glanced down at the note her father had left her.
How will the board feel when they find out you’ve been sleeping with the enemy? When I’m done filling them all in, they’ll call for a vote. Especially after they hear the rumor that you’re about to be investigated by the FTC. Sometimes, dear daughter, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. See you in a few weeks.
Liam’s phone trilled but she didn’t truly hear it or the conversation that took place. All she could hear was the way Flynn said her name and how crazy he was about her.
All lies.
“Amy? You went pale,” Liam said. “Erin’s on her way over with Adam. We’re going to fix this. I promise. There’s nothing he could have done that we can’t fix.”
Oh, but there was no fixing what he’d done to her.
She nodded. “Of course.”
She sat down and went back to work. Years of pretending had taught her how to look perfectly placid on the outside while she was dying on the inside.
Plans. Her father had them. Flynn had them. It was time to make a few of her own.
* * * *
“So we can get it done?” Flynn asked, looking over at his brother.
The afternoon sun flooded in, illuminating the stacks of papers, reports, and binders filled with corporate law that Mitch had been using all day to try to get Flynn out of the mess he found himself in.
After he’d dropped Amy off, he’d called his brother and they’d been holed up in Flynn’s condo ever since.
He had to find a way to make this right. He had to or he would lose her and suddenly losing her seemed like the end of the fucking world. Not getting to hold her, to cuddle with her and comfort her seemed like a black hole of an existence.
God, he hadn’t realized how much he loved her until he’d realized he could lose her.
Mitch rubbed a spot on his forehead as though trying to stave off a headache. “We can do it but it’s going to cost you and you’ll very likely have to go back to California during the transition.”
He hadn’t thought about that. If he ousted Hamilton, he would have to run the company until he could find another CEO.
Mitch had gone over all the pros and cons of getting rid of their rogue CEO. Naturally he’d done it in the most sarcastic way possible. He’d made a list.
Cons—probable stock devaluation, employee and customer unrest, possible lawsuit
Pros—Flynn’s dick might not get left in the cold
Yeah, his brother was a giver.
“I can find another CEO very quickly.” He still had the candidates from the last search on speed dial. One of them would do.
Mitch turned serious eyes on him. “You’re playing fast and loose with a lot of people’s jobs, Flynn. I know this sounds insane since you’re doing this all for her, but Amy Slaten would never do this.”
“I wouldn’t want her to.” He didn’t like how Mitch’s words were making him feel. He hadn’t wanted any of this responsibility. He’d never liked management, wasn’t suited for it at all. “Amy’s better than I am. She’s good at her job. She gives a damn, which is precisely why I can’t allow my CEO to try to ruin her.”
Mitch groaned. “He’s not trying to ruin her. He’s playing hardball. She’ll counter punch and the game will go on. It’s the way business works. Hamilton isn’t doing anything a thousand CEOs haven’t done before.”
“She wouldn’t do it.” He knew it deep down. Amy wouldn’t play fast and loose with her morality. She would be forthright and she would play fair.
“I agree with you, but I can also assure you that lighting a torch to Glendale won’t fix the situation. Sit her down. Explain what happened. Hell, tell her what Hamilton did and help her come up with a way to maneuver out of the trap. There’s a reason he wants her out. She’s a much better executive than her father ever thought of being. Hamilton’s scared of her.”
He should be. She wa
s smart and determined. All she really needed was the right support. A man who would stand beside her and make sure she knew she was loved.
That was the job he wanted. He wanted to be the man behind the woman. He could do the work he was passionate about and ensure Amy had a happy home to return to each night because she would bear the burden of running the business.
One big business.
His employees deserved the very best CEO he could give them. They deserved her.
“What are the ramifications of merging Glendale with Slaten?” Flynn heard himself asking.
Mitch’s head fell back and he groaned, though it wasn’t an unhappy sound. “He learns. Thank god. The ramifications are you become way less of an asshole, the company gets an amazing leader, and I don’t have to worry that Will is going to murder me. So yes, that is what we should start talking about doing.”
Flynn breathed a deep sigh of relief. The answer had been staring him in the face the whole time. Amy was a brilliant executive who cared deeply about her company and employees.
Could she care about his, too? Could she make it hers?
“I’m going to run some numbers and see where the redundancies would fall.” It was the first time Mitch had smiled all day. “You were actually planning an expansion so I’m hoping we wouldn’t lose any jobs in a merger, simply shift employees around and let older employees choose very nice early retirement packages if they like.”
“She has to say yes.”
“Convince her,” Mitch shot back. “She doesn’t have to marry you. This is about what’s best for both companies. Naturally you’ll also have to have a very close working relationship with her, and if that leads to more intimacy and eventually marriage, then good all around.”
“You’re a manipulative bastard, Mitch. And way more romantic than I gave you credit for.” It could work. He would sit her down, explain the situation and give her the solution. She might be a little angry at first, but she had a good head on her shoulders. It would be all right.
There was a chime that let him know someone with a code was coming up. Only a few people had the code to his private elevator and he wasn’t set to pick up Amy for a few hours.
