“You want to know what I think?” she asks, crawling over to me and lounging across my chest.
“There are lots of things that I always want to do with you,” I say.
She laughs. “I know, but seriously, Michael. I think you’re both right.”
“Oh?”
“Jack’s right that you guys need to adapt. Things are changing quickly and you might have to be more nimble in your planning in order to keep up with the smaller start-ups that are taking more risks in order to one-up you. But, by the same token,” she’s straddling me now, “you founded the company by finding a niche that needed filling. You’ve got loyal customers and a solid base. Customers like what is familiar to them. And besides,” she says, eyes sparkling, “old things can be beautiful too.”
I roll over, reversing our positions. “Are you calling me old?”
Her laugh rings out clearly throughout the room. “If that’s the only thing you took from what I said, you really are going senile.”
“Senile at thirty-five,” I say, leaning in to kiss her. “That is a cruel fate.”
These kisses are soft, a slow burn that’s definitely leading somewhere. I trace my tongue across her lips, silently asking them to open, and they do. Our mouths are dancing together, gathering heat and strength, and when I pull away we’re both a little short of breath. “I do understand what you said, though, and I agree. It’s one of the reasons I don’t want to sell the company. We built it and I’m not ready to let it go to someone who won’t necessarily do what’s best for it.”
“Wait,” she says, pressing her hands against my chest. “Who wants to buy you out?”
“Those investors that you were sent to seduce. Anderson Financial. We got an offer a couple days after the bar.”
Cora shakes her head. “I didn’t know. Is that what Jack was talking about while I was…you know.” She waggles her eyebrows.
“Yes, he’s been trying to corner me, to have a meeting about it, but I don’t want to meet. He wants to take the offer, and I don’t. Besides, I’ve been having too much fun doing other things to focus on it.”
“It has been very fun.”
“Has been or will continue to be?” I ask.
Her body stills under mine, and there’s no trace of playfulness there now. “Continue to be. I’m here for as long as you want me to be.”
“That may be a long time,” I warn her. There’s an ache in my chest that I don’t recognize, and I try to ignore it. Instead, I kiss her again, and show her exactly how I mean to spend our last evening of the weekend.
9
I manage to put Jack off in the morning, and make a note to myself to get Ellen a very, very nice gift for all the interference she’s been running for me lately. But near lunchtime, I see him storming down the hall towards my office, and I know that there’s nothing that I can do about it now. We’re having this meeting whether I want to or not.
This time Jack doesn’t explode into my office, he stalks. Which is far more dangerous. Loud Jack is able to be reasoned with and controlled. Cold, angry Jack is something that’s terrifying and that people should hope they never see. I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen him this way, and now he’s there. I can see it.
I walk to the bar in my office and pour myself a small drink. It looks like I’m going to need one very shortly. Jack closes the door quietly and comes to stand in front of me. “Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“Is it true that you’ve been seeing my daughter behind my back?”
My stomach goes into freefall, and I know that my face instantly gives me away. I’m used to controlling my face—to concealing surprise—but this was the last thing I expected him to say. “What?”
He scoffs. “Did you really think you could take her to The Palace and no one there would see you and tell me?”
I had hoped. “You hate The Palace, Jack.”
“Yes, I do. It’s overpriced garbage, but other people do, and I make sure that the wait staff loves me wherever I go. You know that.”
It’s true, Jack can be one of the most charming people I know. Combine that with good tips, and you get remembered. Only one problem. “How would the wait staff of The Palace know that Cora was your daughter?”
Jack stiffens and looks down his nose at me. “Why are you changing the subject? Does it really matter how I found out? I found out.”
“What if I told you I took her out to dinner simply as a mentor.”
“Then I say that’s bullshit,” Jack explodes, his voice echoing off the walls. “You were seen not only having dinner at The Palace, but sharing multiple kisses with my daughter.”
It’s true. Something Cora did to her lips that night made them irresistible—aside from the fact that she’s an amazing kisser. I couldn’t help myself. I clear my throat, trying to see a way through this. “What are you more angry about?” I ask him. “That I kissed your daughter or that I didn’t tell you about it?”
“Both, and more, Michael. We’re in a critical juncture of our business, and you’ve been distracted. Now I realize it’s because you’ve been screwing around with Cora. I’m done with you dictating to me what we’re going to do with this company when you clearly can’t see what’s best for it.”
I knock back the half-shot of whiskey that I poured myself. “What exactly are you going to do?” I ask him. “We have equal stakes in the company, so it’s not like you can just have your way. I’m not selling.”
“Oh,” he says with a sinister laugh. “You will.”
“No, I won’t.”
Jack brushes past me and pours himself a drink. “You will because it’s your only choice. You will sign those papers tomorrow, or I’ll leak to the media that you sexually assaulted Cora. No one will ever work with you again. I’m giving you the chance to do the right thing.”
I suddenly feel nauseous. “Where is this coming from, Jack? When did it get so bad between us that you’d want this? Even though we want different things for the company, I thought you were still my friend.”
He finishes his drink in one go, even though it was a much larger drink than mine. “Let’s face it. Business partners can never be true friends. There’s too much that gets in the way. You have a day to think about what I said, and if the papers aren’t signed by noon tomorrow, I’m going to have the story of my poor, innocent daughter, the billionaire’s intern who had no choice but to submit to his demands. It’ll be on the front page of every newspaper and gossip rag in the country.”
“You would really do that? You would put Cora through hell just so that you can get your way with me?”
“If I have to.”
“Don’t do this, Jack,” I say to his retreating back. “We can still work this out, find a way to move forward with the company in a way we both want.”
“I think that’s what you’re not getting. I don’t want to.” His oily smile almost makes me vomit.
How did this happen? How did everything turn over so quickly? There are those moments when you realize how fragile everything in your life is, and this is one of them. All I did was take the woman I love on a date. One date! And now everything is in ashes.
My brain shudders to a stop. The woman I love? I thought about her as the woman I love. Holy shit, I do love her. I love her enough that I can’t let this happen. My reputation is one thing—I could disappear with the money I have and never have to see another reporter. But Cora doesn’t deserve to be branded a victim when she’s not. This would destroy her, and I can’t have that happen.
Just last night I told her that I didn’t want to sell the company, but I’ll do it for her. The fact that I’m being blackmailed makes me sick to my stomach, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Jack doesn’t bluff, and I know that probably even right now he’s having Liz gather the phone numbers of the most prominent journalists in Houston and possibly the national news organizations. He’ll be ready to follow through if I don’t do what he asks.
Rock, hard place. Anger spikes through me, hot and violent. This isn’t what is supposed to happen. I’ve worked hard, harder than I ever thought possible on this company. My company. Jack’s company. Our company. I didn’t devote this much of my life to just let it go. I hear the snapping sound from my fist connecting with the wall before I even register that I’ve done it, or the pain that comes swiftly afterward.
I sigh, and pour myself another drink, and then I use it to ice my knuckles.
This morning when I came into the office, I was feeling so optimistic about working out a path for the company, and now there’s nothing. I have to find a way to try to get out of it, and I know that I’ll spend the entire day trying. But the dread in my stomach tells me what I so desperately don’t want to know—there is no way out of this.
10
I’m staring out the window at the view when Cora comes into my office later. “Michael, I need to talk to you about something. It’s important.” Even though I register her words, I barely notice that she’s there until she touches my shoulder and I jump. “Wow,” she says, “you’re never jumpy. Is something wrong?”
Yes, everything is wrong. Absolutely everything. But I can’t tell her that. It’s not fair to her. Knowing that someone is using her for blackmail would be a terrible thing to hear, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her. I know I’m going to though, I have to. I have to hurt her in order to protect her.
I know Jack all too well. Even if I sign the papers, there’s a chance he’ll go to the papers anyway and spread that story just to make sure I can never make a move to take the company back without him. Cora being attached to me would connect her to that. Her name would be dragged through the mud along with mine and make her senior year hell. I can’t have that. She didn’t do anything wrong by choosing to be with me.
“Michael,” she says, and I realize that I’ve just been standing here, saying nothing.
I clear my throat. “Unfortunately, I have some bad news.”