by Riker, Nikki
“Good. I like the sound of that.” I dropped my hands. “I’m not asking about your future because I want to pave it for you. That’s not the kind of woman you are. I know that. I just want you to know that I’m here to open doors for you. No matter what. In the last month, you’ve proven yourself highly intelligent and beyond valuable. Ron and everyone else in the damn company are cheering for you in the background.”
Her smile widened. “All right, but don’t let anything regarding our work situation change. I want to grow into an executive because I was smart enough and worked hard enough. Nothing else.”
We chatted about silly shit until the plane landed. After getting our luggage in the back of my Mercedes, we got in the car and drove back to the city.
“What’s going to happen now?” She reached over and slid her hand on top of mine. “Do we go back to pretending we’re just co-workers, or really that I’m your Director and you’re my boss?”
“At work? Yeah. You wanted that, and I get it. Outside of that? Fuck no. I didn’t invite you into my bed lightly last night. I don’t want to stop seeing you.”
“Me either.” She leaned over and pressed her forehead to my shoulder.
I leaned down and kissed the side of her face as we sat at a red light. “Let’s take it day by day. That work for you?”
“I’d rather think about it in terms of night by night.” The sexy, playful grin on her face had me wanting to call in sick for a month and spend it wrapped up with her.
“Naughty thing. It’s always the good girls you gotta worry about.”
We shared a laugh, and I lost a little more of my heart to her.
Chapter Sixteen
Skylar - Two Months Later
Krissy sat across the table from me at our favorite coffee shop, her eyes locked on me. "I'm so excited for you, Sky. It's about fucking time you felt like you found someone you could spend forever with."
I nodded. "I know. Somewhere along the line, I put my career in front of men, love, and relationships." I shrugged. "But the last two months with Kade have been bliss. We laugh, play, fuck, sing in the shower together." My eyes grew misty. "It's like he was made for me."
"Good. And what's the deal with the company? You guys still keeping that hidden from everyone? Your love affair." She batted her eyelashes playfully.
A chuckle left me. "Yeah. No one knows about us. I'm not sure when we'll let everyone in on the secret. I hate being in the office and not getting to reach for his hand and move closer to him in the elevator, but I think that's more about me."
"How so?" She picked up her coffee and blew on the hot liquid swirling in her over-sized cup.
"I don't want people to think that I got my next promotion because I'm sleeping with Kade."
"That's understandable, but we're not talking about just sleeping with the guy. You're in love with him." She took a sip of her coffee and growled. "Hot!"
"Blow on it more. Jeez." I reached out and took it from her to blow on it. "And you're right. It's still intensely lusty, but it's become love over the last few weeks, I think."
"Then people at the office are going to need to know. You're going to be wearing a ring before too long, I'm sure."
I handed her the cup back. "I don't know. Maybe we'll wait a few years and then talk about that stuff."
"You're almost thirty. You say that shit now, but I know you. You're going to push if the door even gets cracked open a little."
She was right, and we both knew it. Sickness raced through me, and I took a shallow breath. "Yeah, but maybe it'll be sooner than later."
"Oh yeah? Something happen?"
"Maybe." I glanced down at my hands and worked to scrape off the dark pink fingernail polish I'd just paid to have put on.
"Hey. Stop that." She reached out and cupped her hand over mine. "Talk to me. Whatever is going on, we'll figure it out."
I glanced up. "I took a pregnancy test this morning, and it was positive."
Her face went pale. "What?"
"Ugh! I know they're sometimes not really that trustworthy, so I grabbed another one. I was going to take it home after our coffee and do it again, but I need to get back to the office."
"Do it here. Now." She stood up and put her hand on her hip. "This isn't something to wait to find out. We need to know if we have great news to share."
"We don't have any news to share." I stood as my pulse spiked. "I'll do it later. I don't want to ruin our visit."
"You're not ruining anything. Get in there and do another test. Do you have to pee?"
The couple beside us glanced over, odd looks on their faces. It wasn't the first time we had been stared down for being unruly, and it most likely wouldn't be the last.
"Fine, I'll take it. Stay here." I grabbed my purse and walked to the bathroom.
"You want me to come with you?" Krissy called after me.
I ignored her. I already knew I was pregnant. My breasts hurt, my stomach was a mess, and I was having mood swings from hell. What I didn't know how to do was tell Kade. Would he be upset? Hurt? Angry?
The problem was that I couldn't remember a time that we'd made love in the last two months when we hadn't used a condom. Maybe one burst? Who knew. I was tired of trying to figure it out, and sooner or later, I was going to have to tell my perfect boyfriend who I was hiding from the world that we were going to be parents.
Tears burned my eyes as I walked into the single bathroom and locked the door behind me. I forced myself to take another test, and when it showed positive, my heart sank a little lower.
Not that I didn't want kids. I did, but not like this. I wanted to do all of the other stuff before having kids, like building a home and creating a solid marriage with Kade if that's where we were headed at all.
He'd just gotten himself really situated at the company.
A knock on the door caused me to jump and let out a sharp yelp. "Someone is in here."
"It's me. Let me in." Krissy.
I opened the door and showed her the stick. "It's positive. What am I going to do?" I tear dripped down my face. I wiped it away angrily.
"Yay! I'm going to be an aunt." She walked into the restroom with me and pulled me close before snatching the pee stick. "Let's clean this up, and you can show the daddy-to-be!"
"You sound way happier than I feel." I moved back and ignored her as she cleaned up the stupid stick. Only a real friend would do something so gross. I wasn't even sure if I'd do the same for her. The thought caused a chuckle to override my sadness. It wasn't about the baby. It was fear of losing Kade.
"I'm thrilled, Sky, and Kade will be too." She put the stick in my purse after wrapping it in tissue. "What are you worried about?"
"Ruining his life?" I sucked in a painful breath. "He's not really the family type, I don't think."
"He's adopted, right? Didn't you mention that?"
"Yes, but that's beside the point."
"No, it's not. It is the point. He's going to love this baby just like he loves you. Well, different than sexy love." She growled in frustration. "You know what I mean. Go tell him. Leave here now and tell him before you lose courage and don't do it."
"I'm going to do it, but I need to figure out what's best for all of us."
"Telling him is the answer." She opened the door, gave me a look and wrapped her arm tightly around my shoulders as I walked out. "You want me to go with you?"
"No. I'll text you when it's done." We abandoned our drinks and walked to our cars. A quick hug and I was on my way to the office.
Halfway there, the phone rang in the seat next to me. Kade.
I cleared my throat and took a breath, trying to steady myself. No fucking way I was telling him over the phone, but I didn't want him poking around in my emotions either. He was way too intuitive to ignore me sounding sad or upset.
"Hey, baby," I answered the phone.
"Where are you?" He sounded so damn good that it hurt. Would I ever get to the point of not being so affected by him?
I almost hoped not.
"Driving back to the office."
"Krissy doing okay?"
"Yeah. She says hi. She's wondering when we're going shopping for you again." I forced a laugh.
He chuckled. "Tell her I belong to one woman now. No showing off the goods to anyone but you."
"I like the sound of that." I turned down the main street in town. "I'll be there in a few minutes. You want me to stop by?"
"Of course I do, but I wanted to tell you that Ron is coming in shortly. He's putting in his retirement."
A mixture of excitement for Ron and sadness for myself rolled over me. "Oh. That sucks."
"Yeah, but heads-up... I'm giving you his role, Skylar. You deserve it. No one cares about the reputation of this company like you do. You bust your ass daily, and from what everyone in this building says, you have been busting it for the last few years."
"No." Ice water poured through my veins. No fucking way I was taking Ron's position. I'd only been there a few years, and yeah, my reputation spoke volumes with everyone at the company, but I was pregnant with Kade's baby.
"What do you mean no?" He laughed. "Yes. You deserve it. Come by and see me when you get here, Miss COO."
"Kade."
"I gotta run, Kitten. Come in here the second you arrive." He made a kissing sound and dropped the call.
Fuck. What in the world was I going to do? There was no happy ending in sight, at least not one I could think of.
Chapter Seventeen
Kade
"Ron." I glanced up to see who was knocking at my door. The conversation with Skylar a few minutes before had me wondering what in the world was going through my pretty girl's mind. How could she even think about turning down Ron's position? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone her age with her experience.
It had to be related to our relationship. I knew her concerns. I'd heard them a million times over the last few months. Where I wanted the world to know that she was mine, and would be forever, she wasn't ready for that.
Hands off at the office, and hands all over her at the house. That was the motto I lived by, but it tore at my character. I didn't want to walk around the office with women hitting on me subtly and guys inviting me out for beers after work when I needed to be home with her.
We'd move into something very domesticated within a short period of time, and my life was changing fast. My company was still first, but only by a small margin. I had no doubt in the next few months that I'd have sold everything I had for just one more night in her arms, tucked deep inside her sweet body.
"Hey, Kade. You doing okay?" My father's closest business companion reached out and offered me his hand. "I guess you got my retirement notice from HR?"
"Sadly enough, I did." I motioned for him to sit. "I hate to see you go, but I understand that it's that time in your life, and you've more than earned it."
"Well, thank you, son. I wanted to help you transition into Geo's role before I left, and where I thought that would take six months to a year if I was lucky, I was wrong. Three months in and you're already pushing us to new places that even your father might not have ventured. I'm damn proud of you, and I know Geo would be too." Ron glanced down at his hands and back up. "And the original owner of this place would have been knocked off his feet by your initiative. Well done."
"Thanks." I let out a puff of air and sank back in my chair. "I'm going to shoot straight with you. I couldn't have done any of this without Skylar and you."
"Speaking of our spitfire gal." He chuckled. "I know the two of you are in love. It's obvious. Now, it's none of my business, but —"
"We're seeing each other outside of the office. She doesn't want to mix business and pleasure, but I'm starting to disagree with her. I've given her two months to get used to us being together, but it's time to talk about it, to show the company that we belong to each other."
"I agree with that, but I understand her reasoning too. She's had to work harder than all of us put together to overcome the stigma of being a model. Where most people would love to get paid for being beautiful, I don't think that was ever Skylar's intent when she was a young woman. She's wickedly smart, and having people pay her attention for her looks pisses her off."
I nodded. "Don't I know it."
We shared a laugh.
"I know it's none of my business, Kade, but she is the best person for my job. She's been beside me since she got here, correcting, learning, struggling and succeeding beyond what any of us thought possible. Half the change in this place has been because of her. You're the future of this company. Both of you. Side by side."
"Hell yeah, we are." I sat up straight as truth lit up inside of me. "I never would have thought I could run a company this big and prestigious, but you guys made me step into that — especially her. I don't think she's going to come willingly though. She's terrified that everyone is going to look at her like she got her raise and promotion because she's my girlfriend, which is shit."
"It is shit, but I see her point." He pressed his hands together and rested his chin on his fingertips. "I don't know anyone in this company that would say a negative thing about her. Hell, half the people I mentioned my retirement to asked if she was taking my spot since she's been a mini-me all of these years, and honestly, I guess she has."
"She's perfect for the job. Help me talk her into taking it. I want her beside me in this company and at home. We're good for each other in both places."
A ding from the elevator behind Ron pulled us from our intense praise of Skylar.
She smiled and lifted her hand, looking far more timid than she needed to. She would be my wife in the next year if I could wait that long. The very thought caused my heart to swell. I didn't want the company at first due to fear of failing, and I didn't want a serious relationship because of fear of having my heart torn from my chest.
Here I sit with both, happier than I could have thought possible. Fuck fear.
"Can I come in?" She smiled as Ron got up and walked over to hug her.
"Hey, kiddo. You heard the news yet? I'm finally getting that boat and taking the misses out fishing every day." Ron pulled her into a hug as I walked around the desk.
I wanted the freedom to pull her close and kiss her gently, no matter who was there or watching. I'd have it soon, but not today.
"I’m so excited for you." She moved back and shifted to where she could see me. "But, I'm stupid levels of sad that you're leaving us."
"It'll be good. I hear Kade already has his next COO lined up." Ron smiled over at me.
I walked around and crossed my arms over my chest to keep from reaching her. Something was wrong.
"I sure do." I lifted my eyebrow at the look on her face. Had she been crying? "Hey. What's up? You look like something happened."
My eyes moved across her to quickly access if she were hurt.
"I'm good." She took a deep breath and blinked back tears. "I know this is going to make much sense, but I'm not taking the position."
"What? Why?" Ron started.
"Baby." I moved toward her. Fuck the fact that Ron was there.
She lifted her hands as her voice broke. I'd yet to see her get emotional other than the first night we made love, the night she let me take the gift of being the first and only man to open her body up.
"No," she whispered. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay." I nodded and kept my distance as my heart screamed for me to keep moving toward her. "Then keep your job as it is. We'll find someone else. No problem at all."
Ron spoke up. "Skylar. You're perfect for this. You know that everyone in this building would recognize that you got this job on your own. It's not because you're beautiful, though you are, kiddo. It's because you're brilliant, innovative, and you love this place."
She wiped at her tears. Fuck me for not doing it for her.
"I understand, but I don't want the position." She turned her attention toward me, and a little bit of the light in her
eyes dimmed. "And I'm leaving the company. I'm sorry for the short notice. I'll explain later."
"Sky." I moved toward her as she reached for Ron.
"I gotta go. Tell your wife good luck with the fish." She turned and jogged toward the elevator, leaving me in shock.
"Sky!" I yelled and followed her, but the door closed. "What the fuck just happened?"
"Something is wrong. Let me go talk to her. She's like family to me."
"She's like a wife to me." I turned to face him as I struggled to breathe. "She can't leave here, and was she saying goodbye to the company or me?"
"Hey. It's all good. Go to your next meeting and hold it together. I'll talk to her. I'll be back before the hour is up."
"Ron. I need to go after her."
"Trust me, son." He winked and walked toward the hallway to the employee elevator. "Your dad did. You can too."
I nodded, praying he was right. Trusting him with the company was one thing, but trusting him with the woman that had my heart in the palms of her hands was entirely different.
Money didn't mean shit. Family did.
Chapter Eighteen
Skylar
It took every ounce of courage inside of me to walk away and hit the button for the ground floor of the building. Even with Ron there, I wanted to run into Kade's arms. He meant more than all of the money or jobs or accomplishment in the world.
The sick look on his face told me that maybe he didn't feel the same. Maybe I'd made up all the long mornings of him holding me hostage in bed with his loving words and soft fingertips.
No. This wasn't about us and our love affair. It was about what was best for the company. Me taking Ron's spot would have made perfect sense if I hadn't stepped over the line with Kade, but I had, and I wasn't backing down. I needed to tell him that much, but I couldn't. My voice wasn't working, and my heart ached.
I loved my job so much. It was the new me, a new way to recover from being pimped out to every bathing suit maker and perfume creator. Never having been an extrovert, I struggled in my late teens and early twenties spending my life in the limelight. It was never the life I wanted to live.
