This guy could offer me the moon, and I'd hand it right back. Never in a million years did I expect to run into the biggest crush of my childhood. But, of course, I have. And I'm reporting to him at the new company I landed a big-time job at. Arrogant. Hot as hell. Total jackass. Why he's still single is no mystery to me. He's not willing to settle down. He's always been that way, and as far as I'm concerned, he always will be. But, boy, is he beautiful to look at. Every part of me screams "run" as my insides turn to mush. No. Not me too... Not again. I should be immune by now. I know him far too well to fall into this hopeless pit of adoration again. But maybe there's a way around it. It's his power that drives me over the edge of insanity. If I were the boss instead of him, I'd hold all the cards. Good thing I'm always up for a challenge. Funnily enough, this guy thinks he's going to score. He might have to redefine what getting lucky looks like after me. At least, that's the plan.
KADEN
There was no place better to be during the fall season than New York City. I'd experienced fall at Harvard, in Texas, and in too many other states and countries to bother mentioning. Growing up as the son of a Fortune 250 company owner, I had traveled a lot.
The traveling made me uniquely qualified to make the sweeping statement that there was no place better to experience the season than right here in the city I'd called home for the last five years, and planned to call home for the next fifty-at least.
Once the next fifty years were done and I was seventy-seven, then perhaps the allure of retiring to Florida would become too much for me to handle, and I'd move. But for now? New York was stuck with me.
Whatever arguments could be made for any other city in the world during fall, New York kicked their ass. The weather was cool enough to drink proper beer again, not that watered-down shit I hosed my insides with during summer. I could drink whiskey neat without it being warm and making me look like a total idiot. The mosquitoes were finally gone, and the fall concert scene was fucking brilliant. It was goodbye to the golden-oldies arena tours, and hello to the greats.
And yet, none of those things mattered right now because I was stuck inside one of the sixty-something-story skyscrapers that formed the skyline of my beloved city, and I was about to fire an incompetent fuck for being, well, an incompetent fuck.
The fuck ranted on and on. "I've done everything you've asked me to do. I've done more than you've asked of me, actually. Half the shit I do isn't even near my job description."
I turned away from the view outside my fifty-eighth-story office window calmly, and I arched an eyebrow. "Really? You're arguing that you've done everything I asked of you? You think you've done more than I expected?"
I picked up a thin stack of paper files from my desk and looked him square in his weaselly eyes as I dropped them back onto it one by one. "Jefferson, you forgot to make the trade. Khartoum, you lost the client two million because you didn't do your homework. Collins, you know what you did to Collins."
The investment banker I was berating worked at my dad's firm-my firm one day. His name was John, but incompetent fuck worked just fine.
He heaved out an exasperated sigh, his hands flying to his hair. "Those kinds of things happen. If I didn't have to-"
I lifted a hand, frowning so hard that the line between my eyebrows felt like the Grand Canyon. "Are you actually trying to make excuses? And did I hear you right? These kinds of things happen? Because they don't. Not on my watch."
"If I wasn't doing the work of five people, it wouldn't have happened," he insisted stubbornly. "You can't expect us to work eighty hours a week and not make mistakes."
I scoffed, shaking my head. "I work more than eighty hours a week, and you don't see me making mistakes like that."
"Well congratu-fucking-lations, Kaden. But I'm not you. I didn't grow up in this game. I'm doing the best I can, but realistically, it's not feasible to do everything you expect me to do."
"More excuses." I flicked my wrist, fighting to stay calm. "You're not performing how I expect anyone on my team to be performing. That's it. End of story. I'm not interested in excuses."
"Look, you're focusing on my mistakes only. I've done some good work here. Think about it. I landed the Donnelly account, I got Smith out of that bind with the SEC, and I made Parker five bar." Frustration came off him in waves.
Christ. If the guy wanted a cookie for doing his job on Donnelly and Parker, he came to the wrong place. As for the other thing... "Smith wouldn't have been in a bind with the Securities and Exchange Commission if it wasn't for you. All you did was pick up the phone to call your investigator friend to clear up a misunderstanding you caused."
His shoulders slumped, hatred burning in his dull brown eyes as he clenched his fists. Aggravation was written all over him. It might as well have been stamped on his forehead. "You're wrong. That wasn't my fault. What do you know about it, anyway? You weren't even there. You were probably off partying with your billionaire boys' club friends on a yacht somewhere."
"There is no club," I shot back calmly, tempted to roll my eyes. If this idiot thought he was going to get a rise out of me by insinuating I was nothing but a rich party boy, he was going to be disappointed.
I'd been dealing with shit like that all my life. It rolled off me like water from a duck's back. I knew that I kept my head down and I worked hard, just like I always had. I didn't have anything to prove to anyone, John included.
"I wasn't there because I was doing what you should have been doing in the first place. Working. I heard about every single thing that went down with the SEC. Who do you think drew up the reports?" I pointed my thumb at myself. "Me. I drew them up because you went missing for two days after."
"I was sick," he protested loudly, throwing his hands out to his sides.
"You were hiding," I retorted, turning my back on him to look out over the city once more. His face was begging for a punch, so it was best I didn't look at him right that minute. "Now, I'm not looking for any more excuses. If you want to keep working here, give me one good reason to keep you on."
There. Human resources would be proud. I was doing a stellar job pretending I hadn't already made up my mind that he was about to get fired, no matter what he said. The reality was that he just wasn't Marx Incorporated material.
Our people couldn't be afraid of working the hours we did. They couldn't cower in a corner after they fucked up, feigning illness, and they definitely couldn't come to me with bullshit excuses. John had done all of those things on several occasions, and I was over it.
He also complained regularly and loudly. I didn't like complainers. Toughen the fuck up. That was my motto. Complaining wouldn't get you anywhere in life. You had to grab life by the proverbial balls and squeeze every last drop out of it. John didn't have the grab or the squeeze in him, which made this an easy decision for me.
He cleared his throat behind me, but I didn't turn around. I was bored of this. It was midday, and the city outside was thrumming with an energy I couldn't feel from all the way up here. I was desperate to get down onto the streets for just a couple of minutes to grab lunch and a coffee.
Chapter 1 Fired
03/05/2024
Chapter 2 The Old Man
03/05/2024
Chapter 3 Packing Up
03/05/2024
Chapter 4 We'll Do Great Things
03/05/2024
Chapter 5 Catching Up with Ryan
03/05/2024
Chapter 6 Typical Woman
03/05/2024
Chapter 7 Happy Birthday
03/05/2024
Chapter 8 No Word From Him
03/05/2024
Chapter 9 Introductions
03/05/2024
Chapter 10 Who Is She
03/05/2024
Chapter 11 I Know Him
09/05/2024
Chapter 12 My Brother's Best Friend
09/05/2024
Chapter 13 Recognition
09/05/2024
Chapter 14 What Did I Say
09/05/2024
Chapter 15 Dropping In
09/05/2024
Chapter 16 Love You, Too
09/05/2024
Chapter 17 I Need You
09/05/2024
Chapter 18 Daydreaming
09/05/2024
Chapter 19 Getting to Him
09/05/2024
Chapter 20 All Done
09/05/2024
Chapter 21 Kissing Her
09/05/2024
Chapter 22 Playing Games
09/05/2024
Chapter 23 On His Knees
09/05/2024
Chapter 24 Sneak Attack
09/05/2024
Chapter 25 Win the War
09/05/2024
Chapter 26 Fixing It Up
09/05/2024
Chapter 27 Telling Them Off
09/05/2024
Chapter 28 Blowing Off Steam
09/05/2024
Chapter 29 Not There For Her
09/05/2024
Chapter 30 Meeting Hank
09/05/2024
Chapter 31 Even Better News
09/05/2024
Chapter 32 Busted
09/05/2024
Chapter 33 Sharp
09/05/2024
Chapter 34 Disrobing
09/05/2024
Chapter 35 Just the Beginning
09/05/2024
Chapter 36 Take Me
09/05/2024
Chapter 37 With My Teeth
09/05/2024
Chapter 38 Moans
09/05/2024
Chapter 39 Morning After
09/05/2024
Chapter 40 Temporary Distraction
09/05/2024
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