by Sophia Lynn
"We're home," she said, and together, they went upstairs.
THE END
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Chapter One
Amber
Amber Thomas took a deep breath, then a second and a third one, and then just for fun, she treated herself to a fourth.
Hey, at least air's still free, she thought wryly. It sure doesn't feel like anything else is.
That was a fact that she knew better than many people. On the tiny scavenged desk back home, the bills were piling up, and while she was able to keep the lights on and no one had missed any meals, that was something that could change at any time.
Amber had never imagined herself living this close to the line, but if she was honest, if her twenty-year-old self could have seen where she was at twenty-eight, well, honestly, she didn't know what she would have done.
Laughed, probably. Or cried. I still would have thought the kids were cute little monsters though.
Almost as if on cue, her phone chirped – have to remember to turn it off – and she smiled at the photos that came through from Eliza, along with a text.
Go get 'em, Mama, we're all rooting for you!
Her babysitter's photographic skills were what they normally were, which meant that most of the photos were of Eliza's thumb or blurs of motions where the kids had just been. She had thought they were fast little things at two and three, but that was nothing like what they were capable of now at age five, when it seemed as if they were never still.
Amber flicked through the photos, smiling at Jamie's mouth opened in a yell, at Bastian sitting with his picture book and Polly grinning up at the camera, her small chubby hand fisted in Eliza's skirt.
She took another deep breath.
I'm doing this for them, she thought resolutely. If I land this job, this is going to make all the difference.
The fact that she had even made it this far had been a fight. Fairchild Enterprises had a high bar for excellence and comparatively one of the best pay rates around, going right down to the people who washed the windows and mowed the lawns. Getting a position as the personal assistant for the head of finance would mean that she and the kids could move into a better place, and that meant that they would be at a better kindergarten when they started school in the fall.
Sometimes, she lay awake at night thinking about whether she was cursing them to a future of poverty and deprivation. When that happened, when she thought of all the things they didn't even know she couldn't give them yet, she went to their bedroom at night and listened to them sleep. Even in the dark, she could tell her darling triplets apart, and she would sync her breath up to one after the other.
It was her way of being with them, of reminding herself why she worked so many hours and why she had sunk her most of her insurance payout from her parents' deaths just a few years ago into getting them to this point. She told herself that her kids were her future, and she had to get them all where they were going.
Amber silenced her phone and set it aside, reminding herself to thank Eliza for sending the pictures. Others might have been distracted, but no matter where she was or what she was doing, being reminded of Polly, Bastian and Jamie would always be a good thing.
I'm going to do this. I am going to get this job whatever it takes, and we are going to be awesome.
She looked up when a woman in a perfect blue suit opened the door to the inner office and smiled at her.
“We're ready for you now, Mrs. Thomas.”
“It's Ms. Thomas, and thank you,” she said with a smile, rising to follow the woman in.
Outwardly she was calm, but inwardly, she was wondering if that had been a mark against her, if speaking up over something that could be addressed after she was hired was worth it.
You're over-thinking this, eyes on the prize, she thought, meeting her own gaze for a second in the reflection of the glass door.
She saw a short curvy woman in a sharp black suit that she had purchased from the thrift store just a few weeks ago. Against the black fabric her fair skin glowed, highlighting the splatter of freckles over her slightly snub nose and making her red hair gleam like fire in the braid that hung over her shoulder. The short kitten heels gave her a military bearing that she wasn't used to seeing, and when she smiled, she saw a confident, competent woman who was definitely going to get the job.
That feeling lasted straight through the interview itself with the woman who had brought her in and another one, older and gray-haired. They were relentless, asking her question after question, but Amber had prepared for that. She knew that Fairchild Enterprises maintained a tough no-nonsense sort of corporate culture, and she had been ready to brave the worst. She didn't let them rattle her, she had done her research, and maybe someday, she would be the one in their shoes, calling the shots and making the decisions.
Finally, some forty minutes after she had walked in, the women left to confer, and she had a break.
Well, I gave it my best shot, she thought, even if the idea didn't comfort her a great deal. They know what I can do, and if they decide that I'm not a good fit, then I'm really not.
She was just beginning to relax when the second woman opened the door again with a slight smile on her face.
“All right, come this way,” she said. “The head of finance, who you'll be working for directly, is unexpectedly available, and he'll be able to speak to you directly.”
“Oh!” Amber said in surprise, and she rose to her feet to follow the other woman.
This is good, she thought. This is really good. If he likes what I have to say, if he's happy with me, everything is going to change.
The woman escorted her up the glass elevator, past two security checkpoints and to a level of corporate luxury that Amber was unused to.
Hey, you have the education and the certifications to be here, she reminded herself. It doesn't matter that you're not used to the environment. You're not used to the environment yet. That's all.
The woman paused at a door at the end of the wide hall, knocking on it deferentially. After a moment, a low male voice called for them to come in, and she turned to Amber.
“Good luck,” she whispered, and Amber felt a surge of hope at the other woman's words.
I've got this, she thought.
It wasn't until she walked into the enormous corner office, brilliant with morning light from the tall windows that looked out over the city that she started to have an inkling of exactly what it was she had.
“I've heard good things about you. Marisa is impressed, and she's not an easy woman to impress.”
The moment she heard that voice clearly, something inside her stuttered and warmed in a way that was totally incompatible with a job interview. She had too much riding on everything to pay attention to anything like that, so she stuffed it into a dark box where she would deal with it later.
“I'm glad to hear that,” she said. “I was trying to be impressive.”
The man behind the desk shifted, and the light played around him. It was still a little too bright for her to make out his features, but they became clearer as he stood to approach her with his hand out.
“That's good to hear,” he said with a laugh, and it was the laugh that did it. The laugh sent a shiver up her back, made her feel as if something inside her had been set on fire, and instinctively, she took a step closer.
“You'll have to remind me what your name is,” Devon Fairchild was saying, “I'm afraid I—”
Their hands touched at the same time as Devon recognized her. Helplessly, Amber could see his handsome face – oh God, he was still so very handsome – go from cheerful interest into something a great deal more like shock.
Amber acted without thinking.
She spun on her toe, instinct overriding everything that told her she needed to stay and to stick out, that she needed this job more tha
n almost anything in the world. In that moment of blind overwhelmed panic, all she could think was that she could not be here, could not be with this man, could not be close to him, could not touch him—
Her shoes. It was her shoes that did her in. She didn’t wear high heels very often, and she had certainly never had cause to run in them before. One moment Amber was certain that she was going to gain the door, and the next her ankle turned underneath her, twisting almost gently and sending her sprawling towards the undoubtedly very expensive carpet.
Oh no, this is going to hurt, she had time to think, but then instead of the expected impact, she was looking up into Devon's impossibly pure gray eyes, clasped in his arms as he pulled her from disaster and back on her feet.
“Amber,” he whispered in shock, and for one brief and blinding moment, she forgot that he was the man who would never lose his cool, the one who had hurt her so much. All that mattered was that it was Devon, who had stolen her heart and made her think that he was there to stay. Devon who had given her—
Her thoughts were scrambled, and then when he lowered his head to hers, when his mouth captured her lips in his and the impassioned kiss carried her away, Amber thought they would never come back together again.
There was a small voice in the back of her head screaming about danger, but her heart, which for more than five years now had only had room for her babies, opened up in a shout she had thought she'd forgotten.
This was Devon, and there was no way in the world she would let him go now that she was in his arms again. Her hands fisted in his jacket, crumpling the expensive material, and she kissed him back as fiercely as he kissed her. For a moment, she thought that the power of the kiss was such that she was losing her balance, but then she realized she was simply being lifted into the air.
Amber was plenty curvy, and no one would ever call her light, but Devon scooped his hands under her thighs and lifted her up as easily as he would a feather pillow. One moment she was on her feet and clinging to him, and the next, she was sitting on his desk, looking out over the vast city skyline before Devon rose up and covered it, his hands coming down on her shoulders and pushing her down on the desk.
“Where have you been?” he asked, his voice hushed as he trailed desperate kisses over her jaw. “Amber, where the hell have you been?”
She whimpered as his lips found her ear, nibbling at the incredibly sensitive lobe in just the way she loved. All Amber wanted in the world right then was to forget about what had come before and to simply be with Devon in the moment. He was so good, they had been so good together, and it was only now, years after they had last seen each other, that she realized that she had never really stopped thinking about him.
Read the full story:
Triplet Babies for her Billionaire CEO
