Seduce Me (Austin Singles 1)

I held mine back. “What I need to know is if there is a legal way you can get me out of this marriage clause.”

Looking away, I could see he was hiding something from me.

“What do you know that you’re not telling me?” I demanded.

Mitchell looked at Marge and then turned his gaze towards me. “Ricker is having you followed.”

My mouth dropped open. “What in the fuck?”

“Charleston!” Marge gasped.

“Oh, for the love of all that’s good and holy, Marge. It’s just the three of us.” Turning back to Mitchell, I opened and closed my hands a number of times before placing them flat on the table.

“Why is he having me followed?”

His brow lifted. “Why do you think? He’s reported back to a few on the board that you’re dating someone you’ve known for a number of years and that things seem to be … serious.”

I stood. “He’s crossed both a personal and a professional line, and I will not allow this man to invade my privacy.”

I was fuming. How dare that son of a bitch think he can get away with this. But right then a lightbulb went off.

“Wait a minute, what if we could use this against him?” I asked.

“We could probably find some legal reason for letting Ricker go, if you want to take it that far.”

An evil grin spread over my face. “Fire Ricker? That would make my world, but that still doesn’t take care of my dear granddaddy’s little twist he has for me. Unless we can find some sort of legal loophole around the bylaws, I still need to get married and the months are ticking away.”

Marge’s watch went off with a reminder. She stood and made her way out of the room.

Sighing, I stood and walked over to the large window.

“Mitchell, I need the truth from you.”

I could feel his eyes on me. “We can fight, Charleston, but it will take longer than you have. You’ll be removed as CEO while the legal proceedings go on. You still have majority stock and a say-so. Just not in the day-to-day operations.”

Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. The last few weeks I’d spent with Tucker had only shown me that this wasn’t the life I thought I wanted. Hell, a part of me deep inside always knew that I wasn’t this person, wasn’t the head of a huge company. I wanted more out of my life and Tucker made me realize that with every minute I spent in his arms.

But I’d made a promise to my father that I’d run the company, and I was damn good at it.

“I’m sure I want to do this.”

I heard him stand and soon felt him next to me.

“You could step down as CEO and appoint someone else. You’ll still be a very rich woman and retain your stock portion and your vote in the company.”

The breath I blew out hit the window. “The company wouldn’t go in the direction it should though. I had so many plans, so many places I wanted to take this company. Yet …”

My arms wrapped around my stomach, and for the first time in my life I felt like I was going to lose my composure in a boardroom.

“Yet, this isn’t what you want?”

I chewed on my lip for a moment before looking back at one of my father’s best friends.

“Do you see your family much, Mitchell?”

Sadness swept over his face.

“Not like I want to but, Charleston, you can still have a family. You can still run this company and be a wife and mother. Women do it all the time.”