The CEO (6 page)

“What?”

“You should wear your hair down like that all the time. It makes you look so—so fucking sexy,” he said as he moved from the love seat to my side.

He leaned forward, causing me to fall back on the couch, and slid his finger up and down the inside of my thighs. Positioning himself in between them, he leaned over to place a kiss on my lips, but didn’t. “Not yet,” he whispered in front of them. He climbed off of me and placed the blanket that had been draped across the back of the couch on me. I was so confused but too tired to think then.

The night had been insane, but also one of the best times I’d had in a while. Ryan was awesome to be around and I could really let my hair down with him. The sexual tension building between us was thick and although I didn’t usually fraternize with my interns, he was the exception.

“Here’s your coffee, just the way you like it Ms. Quinn. How are you feeling by the way?”

“I’m still a bit hungover.”

“Once you’re done with this cup, I’ll gladly bring you as many as you need.”

“Thanks.” I realized the more Ryan and I hung out, the more he grew on me. He was quickly turning into my wing man and I felt I had nothing to worry about.

I received official word later that day that the natural gas division would be starting the next week and it was all mine. I was in charge of creating a logo, researching and mapping out what cities would benefit from the conversion the most, and also choosing the name.

The phone rang, disturbing me mid thought. “Hello. Quinn National, She—”

“Eila, I need you!” Before I could finish my greeting, I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Kieran? What’s wrong?” My younger brother Kieran has called me Eila all of his life. When he was younger, he was unable to say Sheila, so I adopted the nick name and had it ever since.

“I got into some trouble and I may need you to bail me out.”

“No. You want out, call Dad!”

“I can’t! He’ll kill me.”

“Too bad, I told you to stop fucking with those drugs. Bye Kieran.”

If it had been my brother’s first offense, I may have felt sorry for him—but it wasn’t. I didn’t have the time or the money to waste on him right now. Once or twice a month, I received calls like this from jail, and since Dad was buddies with the chief, they always allowed him to make bail. It made me quite sick actually. I wished Dad would just teach him a lesson and leave him in there for at least a week, and maybe then he would quit being stupid.

The day had started off exciting and now he’d killed my mood. I put my Nat-Co files into the file cabinet and went to check on Ryan.

He was sitting in the conference room, typing away on his laptop, with his headphones plugged into his ears; I snuck up behind him and yanked them out of his ears. “Oops.”

“Hey! What the hell?”

“I ran out of coffee.” I said, carefully reaching over his lap with my torso and placing the cup down next to his laptop.

“I-I’ll get that for you, right away Ms. Quinn.”

“Thanks.”

There was an old abandoned building across the street from my office that had been for sale for quite some time. I’d had my eye on that ‘For Sale’ sign for as long as I could remember, and had finally decided to put an offer in for it a few weeks before. I already had the contractors at the ready, I just needed to get the building permit.

“Ms. Quinn,” Karen said over the intercom.

“Yes?”

“There is a Keith Lee here to see you.”

“Send him in please.”

A tall, mysterious looking male approached my office door. He wore an all black pinstripe suit, his head was clean-shaven, and his facial stubble was lined up perfectly with his jaw. “Ms. Quinn, I presume?”

The way he pronounced my name sent chills down spine. The deep rasp that escaped his mouth almost paralyzed me in my chair. “Yes, that’s me.”

He extended his hand out for a handshake, and then sat down in front of my desk. Something about him captivated me and I couldn’t look away. His green eyes demanded my full attention. “So, Sheila, you do know that I am the sole person standing between you and that property across the street, right?”

“No. I honestly have no idea who you are or what the fuck you are doing here.”

“Oh, I like you already. I’ll tell you what, let’s skip the small talk. What are you willing to do to get that building?”

“I’m willing to pay for it, like any normal person would!” I said, raising my voice.

“Aw, that’s too bad. I liked you, but Ashley Vaughn made a better offer.”

Ashley fucking Vaughn, a name I had hoped I wouldn’t have to hear again in this life time. She was the niece of my business associate Roger Vaughn and also my ex best friend. We had interned at my dad’s company all throughout high school and college together. I busted my ass and worked hard, while she tried to sleep her way to the top. Roger always covered for her, but my father never cut me any slack just because we were related; he wanted me to have morals.

Ashley was such a bitch and if she didn’t get her way, she’d cry and whine about it until she finally got what she wanted. She must have heard from her uncle that I was interested in buying that property and decided to sex it into her own greedy grasp. Ever since she found out she wasn’t getting a position in this company, she’d been out to get me. Anything that was important to me, that I needed or wanted, she tried to take.
I’ll be damned if I let her take this away from me.

“What do you have in mind, Keith?”

“Well, you are a pretty girl, I’m sure we can work something out,” he said with his eyes fixated on my cleavage.

I slowly stood to my feet and seductively walked over to him, placing my hands on his shoulders. I bent down to his ear. “I’ll tell you what, you can take me out on a date tonight, and we’ll discuss this further. Meet me here at eight p.m. tonight.” I kissed him on the cheek, knowing that would help seal the deal.

“I’ll be here.”

“Good. Now get out of my office.”

I stayed in the office all day until it was almost time for my date with Keith. I always left a change of clothes in the coat closet for these last minute outings. We had a private shower on the ground floor by the gym that was usually pretty empty around this time so I figured I wouldn’t be disturbed, but I locked the door anyway.

Eight o’clock arrived fast and I made my way to the lobby to wait for him. I would do almost anything to get that building, because it meant a lot to me.

Three years before it had been a huge event planning business. If you wanted a wedding, engagement, birthday, or corporate party, this was the place to go. Liam and I had planned to have our wedding and reception there, but shortly after I called off the engagement, the second floor caught on fire. The previous owners decided to skip town and never fixed it. My crew had already assessed the damage and decided to knock it down and rebuild it. But, in order to do that, I apparently had to go through Keith.

Thirty minutes later, Keith finally made his grand entrance. “Sorry I’m late. I got tied up at the office.”

“I’m sure you did, now where are we going?”

“Do you like seafood?”

“Yes.”

“Good, we’ll go down to Bob’s Crab Shack on the waterfront.” He grabbed my hand and walked me outside to his double-parked, all black Mercedes.

The view of the waterfront was beautiful. Bright white lights reflected off of it, illuminating the dark waters. We pulled in front of the ranch style building with a huge ugly crab on the front. The exterior looked old, dingy, and weather beaten. Keith opened the door for me and we were immediately greeted by the young hostess. She quickly informed us that there would be a slight delay in seating us because they were still cleaning out a few booths. It made me feel a little bit better about being here, knowing they thoroughly cleaned up after their guests.

I took a moment to look around and admire the scenery. The interior was completely lined with wood. Walls, floors, tables, even the built in bar was made of wood, but it did look up to date.

There were fishing poles, buoys, and all sorts of other sea themed décor hanging from the ceiling. Pictures of beer surrounded the wooden paneling above the bar and the strong smell of fish wafted through the air, causing my stomach to grumble. I hadn’t eaten much all day besides a banana and several cups of coffee.

The hostess, a brunette with pig tails, approached us with two menus in hand and escorted us to a booth by the window. “Kay will be with you shortly, enjoy.”

The place was very packed for a Wednesday evening. Waitresses in white shirts and black slacks branded with the crab logo were running everywhere trying to keep up. Finally, a tall blonde with pigtails greeted us, “I’m Kay and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.”

After briefly scoping the menu, I decided to order the shrimp and chips for my entrée and the boiled crab legs for an appetizer. “Wow, where are you going to put all of that,” Keith said sarcastically.

“That small amount of food was me being generous. If you prefer, I could order the entire left side of the menu.”

“No, no! That’s quite all right. I’ll have the fried haddock sandwich with fries and the same appetizer as her,” he said.

“Anything to drink?” she asked.

“I’ll have a Patrón margarita.” Keith gazed at me with his deep green eyes and then I ordered for him as well.

“Sheila, why do you want that burned, rundown building anyway? You could have any other property in this entire state, so what makes that one so special?”

“Well, if you want the truth, I was going to have my wedding reception there once upon a time.” I looked down at the ground, hoping I’d really sell that to him. I was in fact telling the truth, but I didn’t want him to know how much it
really
meant to me.

“I see, well Ashley, has no sentimental attachments to it, but her offer was still a bit better than yours.”

“Well after my margaritas kick in, I’m sure we can continue this party elsewhere.”