“Did he tell you what happened?” I climbed in bed, planning to go to sleep when the call was done.
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you what he said?”
She sighed. “I know what he thinks about this. My question to you is, is this man worth hurting the relationship you have with your father? It’s hurting him that you’re choosing the other man.”
I wondered if she knew about the baby. “Have you introduced my father to your father?”
There was a pause on the end of the line.
“If he decided my father was too old for you, would you leave my father?”
“It’s not the same. I’m older.”
Fuck you, Karen. I wasn’t a child. “Karen, I appreciate what you’re doing, but this rift isn’t on me. It’s on my father.”
“This man betrayed him. Has a reputation—”
“I love him and he loves me. Why doesn’t that count for anything?”
“You’re still young, Leah. You’re about to finish school and set out on your life. You shouldn’t tie yourself down so young. Especially with a man that took advantage of you and betrayed your father.”
Of course she’d think that. All she had was my father’s side of the story. “Until the other night, my father liked him. A lot. Wished him to find love and happiness like my father had found with you. Now he’s scum of the earth?”
“It’s different when it’s your daughter.”
“What about the baby?” I hadn’t wanted to share that information, but couldn’t help but wonder if that would change her tone.
“Baby?”
“My father didn’t share that tidbit with you? I’m pregnant with Sebastian’s baby. Maybe you and my father should stop being so focused on my father’s fragile emotions and instead consider what is best for the baby, since neither of you care about what I want or need.”
“Leah—”
I was done with the call and hung up. For a moment I considered that my actions were immature, but they already thought I was too young, so what did it matter?
I was getting ready to turn off my phone, when another call came in.
“Niall?”
“Hey Hammond.”
“What’s up?” I wondered if he’d heard something about the job.
“So, I guess Cox wasn’t a father figure after all, huh?”
Ut-oh. “What do you mean?”
“You were the intern we heard rumors about. I should have guessed by the way he acted around you.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Listen, I don’t care about your sex life, but I do care about my job.”
“Is he firing you?” I couldn’t imagine what for.
“I’m not the one about to be fired. The board is meeting tomorrow and rumor is that Cox will be removed as CEO.”
“No!”
“Yep. I don’t know what’s going on or if you two are a thing, but if you have any pull with your father, perhaps you can intervene since he’s the one spearheading this coup.”
Could my father be that vindictive? “What time is the meeting?”
“Ten. He’s planning to fight, but you never know how these things will go. I’m surprised you didn’t know.”
I hadn’t spoken to my father, and Sebastian apparently felt I didn’t need to know. “Thanks again, Niall.”
I immediately went to my father’s apartment, but he wasn’t in. Was he hiding from me? I called Sebastian, but the call went to voicemail.
The two of them could try to dictate my life, but they’d fail. I pulled out my most professional suit, hoping the board would see me as a grown woman even if my father didn’t. I wasn’t going to let Sebastian face this alone. I hated that he thought he needed to.
I turned off my phone, and slid down into my sheets, hoping that my father wouldn’t succeed in taking the company away from Sebastian. I pushed away my fears of what would happen with me and Sebastian if my father succeeded.
30
Sebastian
Being away from Leah was torture. As much as I cared for Valerie, I hadn’t ever missed her when we apart. Not like this.
It was especially worse knowing she was upset with me. All I wanted was to make sure I wasn’t the cause of a permanent estrangement with her father. I hoped that if she could reconnect, and with a little time, he’d come around. Until then, I felt I owed to the both of them to give them the time they needed.
However, by Thursday morning, it was clear to me that Henry wasn’t ever going to come around. In fact, he planned to punish me, if the emergency board meeting he’d called was any indication. Thank goodness the other board members pushed for the meeting to be on Friday when I was back in the office. Otherwise, Henry would have had me ousted already.
As I rode the elevator up to my office Friday morning, I worked to get my game face on. I meant it when I told Leah “fuck ’em” about my board not being happy with our relationship. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to let them take my company from me without a fight. Would I choose Leah over Sensual Delights? Yes. That knowledge scared the shit out of me. It wasn’t easy to put my entire life in her hands. But on the other hand, it was clear that Leah offered me so much more than my business. I’d tried to avoid it, but the truth was, I wanted love and happiness, and Leah was the one to give me that.
“Mr. Cox, your department heads are all in your office,” my secretary said as I exited the elevator. “The board members will be here in an hour.” I could see the concern in her eyes.
I smiled hoping to lessen her worry. “Thank you.” I entered my office for the impromptu meeting I’d scheduled the night before when I realized Henry’s intentions. I’d contacted all my department heads and my lawyer to meet me before the meeting. The one person I hadn’t told was Leah. She’d looked so tired when I’d last seen her and with her finals and problem with her dad, I didn’t want to add to her stress.
“Good morning everyone.”
“Is it true?” Craig asked first thing.
I took my place behind my desk. “Everyone sit down, and I’ll explain.”
Everyone sat but Craig.
“It is true that I’m in a relationship with Leah Hammond, who until last week was an intern here.”
There was a gasp of surprise. A few heads shook, and Craig muttered, “Fuck.”
“However, despite how some people may depict this relationship, it’s not sordid. I love her. I plan to make a life with her.” If she’ll still have me. “Right now, though, I’m focused on making sure her father doesn’t oust me from my position of CEO. So I need updated reports on where we stand in all departments.”
Craig was in the middle of delivering his report, when my door opened and my lawyer walked in. I let Craig finish and added the file with his written report to the stack on my desk. I thanked them for their hard work and dismissed them so I could review my options and put in some safeguards to protect my assets and financial future. The board could fire me, but I still had a significant financial stake in the company.
Armed and prepared as much as possible with such short notice, I entered the board room.
Henry stood at the opposite end of the table. I tried to muster up the anger and resentment as he prepared to fire me, but all I could feel was guilt. I’d betrayed him and now had come between him and his daughter.
The rest of the board filed in. Their faces were grim as they took their seats. No doubt Henry had poisoned them against me. But I didn’t get where I was in business by being a pussy. Valerie was right; I needed to use my big ass balls.
Since Henry called this meeting, I sat ready to take the verbal lashing he prepared.
He launched into his diatribe, using words like perversion and vulgar to describe me and my sexual habits.
At one point, Mari Anderson, who’d been on the board since the business had grown large enough to need one, interrupted him. “Henry, if you have a moral issue with sex, I have to wonder why you’re on the board.”
“I don’t have a moral issue with sex. I have an issue of Cox fucking interns in his office.”
There was an audible gasp from the other eight members of the board at Henry’s choice of words.
“It’s legal liability that this company can’t afford. It’s our job to protect the company and the brand.”
“I’m not sure Cox having sex will hurt the brand,” Joe Wallace said. “Again, this is a company built on sex.”
“He’s right about the legal risk,” Steve Callender said. “She could sue for sexual harassment or there could be a question of how she earned her grade.”
I ground my teeth together at that statement.
“I did not sleep with Sebastian for a good grade,” Leah’s voice carried loud and clear across the room. “You really think I’d prostitute myself for a grade, dad?”
I closed my eyes as the board realized that Henry’s daughter was the intern I’d been with. Until that moment, he’d just cursed me for sleeping with an intern. I was surprised he hadn’t said anything, but then I realized that by doing so, his actions would look like a personal vendetta.
“Leah, this is a private board meeting,” Henry said.
She glared at her father, then at me, and back to her father. “I don’t know why the men in my life think they can make decisions about me without me here.”
“This isn’t about you.”
“The hell it isn’t. What you decide today will impact me, so yes, it is about me.”
I stood. “Ladies and gentlemen, can I have a moment?”
“I say we vote,” Henry said.
“Henry, we haven’t heard Sebastian’s side,” Mari said.
Henry’s jaw clenched. “He hasn’t denied it.”
“If you could give me a minute, I do have a defense planned. I think I’ve earned the right to respond before you toss me from my own company.”
“Yes, of course,” Mari said.
I guided Leah out the door to the hall. “What are you doing here?”
“Why did I have to hear about this meeting from Niall?”
My jaw tensed. “I didn’t want to put more stress on you. Between your finals, the fight with your father, and the baby—”
“You’re not my father either, Sebastian. I might only be twenty three, but I’m not an idiot or a delicate flower. I don’t need your protection.” She motioned her finger between the two of us. “This is a fifty-fifty deal.”
“This is my fight, Leah.”
She studied me for a moment and then nodded. “That doesn’t mean I can’t be here to support you.”
I blew out a breath. “I didn’t want to put you in a position to take sides.”
Her blue eyes softened. “I appreciate you’re looking out for me, but this is my fight too. You said you’d fight for what you wanted and fuck ’em if they didn’t like it.”
My lips twitched upward. “I did.”
“Well, I’ve got big ass balls too Sebastian. I want to fight for what I want too.”
I cradled her cheek in my hand. “I don’t deserve you.”
“We’ll deal with that sentiment once this is done.” She hugged me. “I’ve missed you. Now, let's go save your company.”
I held her for a moment, drawing strength from her conviction and feeling awe in her belief in me.
When we re-entered the board room, I gave Leah my seat. As fierce as she acted, I could see the toll the situation was taking. She looked pale and tired.
I stood next to her. “Thank you. If I may, I have prepared a statement.”
“By all means, let's hear how you’ll justify having sex with an intern in your office,” Henry scoffed.
“Henry is right. I crossed the line. I knew I was putting my job and my friendship at risk, and I did it anyway. I don’t regret it. The only thing I regret is hurting Henry. The thing is, I don’t remember signing anything that said I had to sacrifice my happiness for this company. I love Leah. This isn’t a sordid affair as Henry seems to think it is.”
“What about the others?” Henry said. “How do we know there won’t be more?”
I stared at the man who’d been my friend. Who knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t the man my reputation indicated. “There haven’t been nor will there be others.”
“Oh please. Everyone knows your office is equipped to test your products.”
I inhaled a breath for strength. “Until Leah, the only other person I tested products within there was my deceased wife.”
I felt Leah’s hand on my thigh as I stood next to her. I patted her hand and then pulled my paperwork in front of me.
“Except for Henry, I imagine the rest of the board is more interested in protecting the company. I understand that having a relationship with an intern doesn’t look good in your eyes, but before you let me go, I should point out some business issues, since that should be a part of your consideration.”
I opened the folder on my desk. “First, I want to point out that I’m the face of the brand. Ousting me could hurt the brand, and therefore the bottom line.”
“Since when is your face on the brand?” Henry demanded.
I shook my head at the irony of Niall’s joke photos to me being the thing that could save my ass. “The marketing department has been testing some ads that include me in the promotion of a new toy we recently released.”
I passed out copies of the two ads, one of me shirtless in the gym and the other in tuxedo taken at a charity event three months ago, to the board members. I’d known Niall had taken them because he liked to send me photos with lewd captions as a joke. I had no idea he’d used them to test in marketing.
“The ads have a ten percent higher response rate than our other ads. Sales of dildos and male enhancement items from those ads are also higher.”
Leah laughed. “Women buy because they want you and men buy because they want to be you.”
“That’s what Craig said.” It was a little embarrassing, but if it helped me keep my job, I’d have to give him and Niall a raise.
“The brand stays with the company,” Henry argued.
I shook my head. “Not in this case. I didn’t agree to have my image used and therefore Sensual Delights doesn’t own it. I’ve already asked them to pull the ad.”
“We can find someone else to be the face of the brand. There are plenty of other men that can sell sex toys.”
Leah took a breath, and I expected she was about to lash out. I put my hand on her shoulder.
“There’s one more thing. I’m about to finalize a deal to export Sensual Delight products to France. This deal has the potential to increase revenues by five million in the next year. This deal is not done yet though, and if I were to be fired, I’m certain the people in France would be concerned and walk away.”
Henry’s jaw clenched.
“Five million is a lot,” Joe said, looking over the other paper I handed out showing the projections of the deal.
“And clearly Leah isn’t going to sue us.”
“Sebastian didn’t sign off on my internship either. So, I didn’t sleep with him for my grade,” she glared at Henry.
Henry stood. “Well, I can see where this is going. I’ll have my resignation from the board to you this afternoon.”
“Henry. Please. Your counsel is important to me. So is your friendship.”
“You should have thought about that before you slept with my daughter.” He strode out of the room.
I leaned over and whispered to Leah. “You should go talk to him.”
She shook her head. “He’s pretty clear.”
“You can’t give up on him. He needs you by his side as much as I do.”
She gave me a warm smile and nodded. I squeezed her hand and then watched her as she walked out.
Then I turned back to the board. “If I still have a job, I have a lot of work to do.”
“You still have a job, Sebastian. But if we get wind of more risky behavior, we will take action,” Mari sa
id.
“I understand.”
31
Leah
I wasn’t able to catch my dad, so I headed to his apartment to wait for him. While I waited, I’d called Sebastian and was relieved when he said he still had his company.
My father got home several hours later looking like he’d had a few martinis too many.
“Are you drunk?”
“Why are you here, Leah? You made your choice.”
I closed my eyes and willed for strength. “Dad, my choice is to have both you and Sebastian in my life. You’re the one making that hard.”
“He was my best friend. I helped him become the success he is, and how does he repay me? He fucks my daughter.” He headed to the bar and poured another drink.
“Now who’s being vulgar?”
“What’s vulgar is the things he’s probably done to you. To my baby.”
“I’m not your baby.” I took the drink from his hand. “I’m your grown daughter. I’m going to make some coffee and then we’re going to sort this out.”
“I can’t Leah.” He walked over and sagged on the couch. “He lied to me. He betrayed me.”
“And he hates that he’s done that, dad.” I went into the kitchen and brewed a cup of coffee.
“He should let you go.”
“How come what I want doesn’t matter to anyone?” I handed him the cup of coffee.
“You’re too young to know what you want.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not true.”
“Things change. I thought I was in love in my twenties, but it wasn’t until I met your mom that I really knew what love was.”
“Love doesn’t have a timetable, dad. Karen is in her thirties; am I supposed to wait until then? Sebastian is forty, do I need to wait until then?”
“He didn’t wait for you. He had a wife. I don’t think he loved her.”
“I don’t think that marriage was based on love, dad.”
“That makes it worse. How can you be sure he loves you?” I worked hard to sympathize with my father’s feelings of betray and concern for me. I wished he’d give me the same courtesy.
“Because he told me he did. Because he shows me he does.”
Beautiful Mistakes: Contemporary Romance Boxset Books 1-4 Page 37
