The CEO (23 page)

As much as I hated to admit it, I did need to grieve my brother’s death. After work, I drove to Oak Monuments Cemetery with a fresh bundle of flowers to set in front of his headstone.

I ran my hand over the grooved marble and stared at the engraved quote on the front.
Beloved son and adored brother.

I did adore him, but I was also disappointed in him. We had been so close when we were younger, but the older we became, the more our lives went down two completely different paths; mine was business, and his was drugs.

I kneeled down into the cold dirt and placed the white lilies in front of his stone. “Kieran, I’m so sorry this happened to you. You know I still blame myself for not answering the phone that night. I lost track of what was more important. If I had taken your warning seriously, you might still be here with me.” A tear rolled down my cheek and onto the dirt below. I felt a cool chill roll by my neck and knew it was my brother reaching out. “I know. I love you, too.”

It was less than a week before the launch of my new event planning business. Shannon and I had been bickering back and forth over a name. I wanted something catchy and she wanted something that represented our relationship—I was pretty sure “Bitch to Bitch” wouldn’t be a good business name. Honestly, the name was the least of my concerns; I just wanted her to run an effective business and not fuck me over.

After three excruciating hours, we finally came to a mutual consensus on the name: “Sister to Sister Event Planning”. It was catchy and at that point I would have agreed to almost anything just to get her to shut the hell up about it. Everything else was also finalized and prepared to run smoothly.

“Sheila, which dress should I wear?” Shannon yelled from behind the fitting room door.

“I don’t know, the pink one I guess,” I huffed.

We’ve been in the Custom Chic Boutique for over an hour and the launch event was later that night. I still hadn’t even finalized my own outfit yet.

She finally opened the door and looked like a runway model. Her pink dress was fitted at the hips and flared open in the front from the thigh down. Rhinestones encrusted the bodice and made her look like a million dollar princess. She was glowing from head to toe in it. “That’s the one. I have got to go now.”

I ran out to the parking lot. I rushed home to dig through my closet and narrowed my choices down to two.

After a nice relaxing bath, I stared at my options on the bed and chose to wear my sheer top with black embroidered flowering over the breasts, paired with a knee length satin skirt that had two rows of ruffles stitched across the front, and my black pumps with a silver flower embellishment on the side.

I pinned my hair back into a nice French roll and applied simple make up to my face before heading out the door.

I pulled up in front of the building and it definitely looked like a red carpet event. The valet opened my door and led me to the sidewalk before parking my car for me. A red carpet was literally stretched from the sidewalk to the front entrance door. There were velvet ropes holding the press and ticket holders back until we officially opened at eight o’clock.

“Ms. Quinn, Ms. Quinn, what inspired you to host this beautiful event at this revamped building?” a news reporter questioned.

“You’re going to need to talk to Shannon Quinn. She was the one responsible for breathing life back into this old place.”

“Ms. Quinn, Ms. Quinn, you look gorgeous tonight. Are you here alone?”

I glared at the nosey reporter and kept walking to the door. Two huge bouncers in all black uniforms with the word staff etched on the front of their shirts opened the door and escorted me inside.

Purple, white, and black spot lights were swirling around the room and then landed right in the middle of the wooden dance floor where I was standing. “What do you think, sis?”

“I’d tell you if these bright lights weren’t blinding me, Christ!”

“Sorry.” She turned them off and after my eyes adjusted I was able to look around the place. She’d been able to transform the old office space into an open party zone.

Two long rectangular tables stretched from the wall to the top of the dance floor, draped in purple and white tablecloths with matching centerpieces with onyx stones surrounding the base. She had managed to get two chandeliers placed on each end of the building too. She’d also knocked down the back walls to really open the place up right in front of the elevator. “It’s beautiful Shannon.”

She ran over to me and pulled me by my arm. “Wait ‘til you see upstairs!”

When my sister was in her element, she shined. She was a nice, fun, bubbly person and an actual
pleasure
to be around.

We took the elevator to the second floor and she made me close my eyes until we got there. “Open them.”

The second floor was even more gorgeous than the first. The same decorations were in place, but there were mini cooking stations with chairs surrounding them and extra seating in the back. The offices were still intact and decorated to accommodate people. I also saw pamphlets with the company logo printed and scattered everywhere. Scented flowers also decorated the floor, giving it a more elegant feel.

“Open the doors, Francisco!” she shouted through her head set to the bouncer below.

It’s show time.

As we arrived back on the first floor a few deliveries were still being made as the guests rushed in, including raw food and flowers.

Shit I hope he didn’t decide to personally show up too.

Several hours later, after endless mingling and countless interviews, the event was starting to dwindle down. I went to the bathroom after my last interview to freshen up and take a breather. I applied a fresh coat of lip stick and powdered my face. I heard the door creak open behind me and who I saw behind me was the one person I
hadn’t wanted to see that night.

“Li—” He ran over to me and grabbed the back of my neck, forcefully pushing his lips against mine, trying to penetrate my mouth with his tongue. He hiked my skirt and sat me on the edge of the sink.
He slid my panties to the side and ran his fingers over my clit, then dipped a finger inside. I could feel myself getting wet and hated that he still had that power over my body. He removed his hand from my depths and unbuckled his pants, pumping his cock a few times before he entered me.

There was a fire, a deep intensity in his gray eyes. I felt like he was trying to reclaim me as his.

I grabbed the back of his neck as my pussy tightened around him, grasping every ounce of pleasure from it. A loud moan escaped my lips as my body quivered, begging to release. He slowed down, just as I was giving in, to torture me for a moment longer before regaining his pace. I couldn’t hold it back any longer and as he rubbed up against my clit, I lost it. I felt like my body was his puppet and he had control of its strings.

He freed me from his grasp after he came inside of me and tucked himself back in his pants. “I missed you too,” he said with a sly grin.

“Liam, listen. You’ll always be important to me. I shared some of the best times and the worst times of my life with you, but I just can’t do this again. The hell you caused me isn’t something I can easily forgive and forget. I need to be alone…all alone.”

He grabbed my arm. “Sheila?” He said staring into my eyes deeply, looking for something that was no longer there. “I’m different now, can’t you see that? We’re both different.”

“Exactly,” I said as I slid my skirt back down my thighs. “Good bye, Liam.”

I met up with Shannon outside and told her I was leaving a little early to head home.

The event had been a huge success and was talked about on every local news station. It was even printed on the front page of competing newspapers.

Shannon texted me in the morning to tell me that she was booked solid for the next two months with new clients and to thank me.

Liam had called me several times later in the night and I was pretty sure he showed up at my place a few times, but I meant what I said. I really couldn’t go down that road with him again. The feelings just weren’t there, no matter how
hard
he fucked me or
where
he fucked me.

I could still feel the soreness from him, but it didn’t change anything. There was only one person I had my sights on now and that was Justin. He had something useful and I needed to do whatever it took to wrap him around my finger to get it.

As I got ready for work, I texted him to meet for dinner around seven tonight. He agreed only if he could choose the place, which was fine with me.
I’ll play along with his games for now.