His mouth twitches and then curves. “But you are. I’ll go first and take the heat.” He then sets me aside and opens the door, leaving me with the dire need to yank him back and lock it again. But I can’t, and I’m not sure what I could change if I did—in this moment, at least.
He exits to the alcove and mini lobby that is my desk area, and I immediately follow, my heart sinking as I find Brandon Senior with his feet propped up on my desk. “If you two are done,” he says, settling his feet on the ground, “we can get to work.” He stands and addresses Shane. “I’ll need an official legal document naming you as the acting CEO.”
“It was in your inbox, and Emily’s, an hour ago,” Shane says. “And I need a heads-up when it goes out, since my phone is going to start ringing.”
Senior looks at me, his eyes bloodshot, his complexion ruddy. “Send it.” He glances at Shane. “You have your heads-up.”
Shane inclines his head and starts to turn, but his father isn’t ready for him to escape. “No one rules this company but a Brandon. Do you understand me?”
“One hundred percent,” Shane confirms.
“You do whatever you have to do to keep it that way,” Senior orders.
“I need every piece of controlling ammunition on anyone you consider an enemy,” Shane responds.
Senior gives a sharp nod. “You’ll get it.”
“Before you leave,” Shane presses.
“Yes,” Senior agrees. “Before I leave.” He turns and walks into his office and calls out, “I need that magical tea, Ms. Stevens.”
And that’s when the breeze under my dress makes my eyes go wide. Oh God. I look at Shane and mouth, Panties. Do you have them?
He gives a silent laugh and shakes his head, pointing to the office, while I let out a silent scream of, No!!!!!
“Afraid so,” he says, smiling as he closes the small space between us. “You want to—”
“No,” I say, “and stop smiling. This is not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
“You go to your office. You have gotten me in enough trouble.”
He lets out a low, deep, sexy chuckle, kisses my forehead, and takes off walking, and I swear, he owns every inch of this building just by being here. He darn sure just proved he owns me, but now his father will too. I press my hands to my desk. At least Shane was smiling, but I really have not had enough sleep for the roller coaster ride that this day has been and it’s—I look at the clock—only eight fifteen. I straighten and hurry to the break room, warm up the tea, and then return to my workspace, pausing at the door of Senior’s office. Maybe the panties are under his desk and he will never notice. Maybe …
He starts hacking and it’s bad. Deep, vicious coughing, and I forget my panties. I rush into the office and find him leaning over his trashcan. I shut the door to offer him privacy, and then I’m across the room in an instant. Kneeling in front of him, I find myself staring in horror at the bloodstained tissues in his hand. It’s so much blood. So very much blood, and I can’t do anything but wait for the attack to end. Finally, he seems to wheeze and then pull in air. “Tea,” he murmurs, and I hand it to him.
He quickly drinks. “It’s hot. It’s good.” He tilts it back and takes a long swallow before scowling at me. “Why are you on your knees?”
“I—”
“Up. We have work to do.” He turns forward.
I stand and move to the front of his desk and blanch at the sight of my panties hanging from a pencil in the pencil holder.
“It appears I have new décor,” he says dryly, a rasp to his voice I think might be from the coughing attack. Or cancer. Or really, they are one in the same.
I snatch them up, and thank God I have a pocket in my dress, where I shove them. “Sorry. That was because … I was…” I purse my lips. “I should stop talking now and say nothing more.”
“Nothing,” he repeats flatly. “Frankly, Ms. Stevens, I hardly think your panties on my desk is nothing. Do you love him?”
The question takes me by surprise, but I do not miss a beat. “Yes. I do. I love him very much.”
“My wife used to have that look on her face when she spoke of me.”
I sit down in the chair. “She still does.”
“She’s fucking my best friend, Mike Rogers.”
“I know.”
“Of course you know. My son has a big mouth.”
“No. I saw them.”
“You saw them?”
“Yes,” I say. “I saw them.”
“Where? When?”
“Does it matter?”
“No,” he bites out. “No, it does not. She’s lying down for him. That’s what matters.”
My lips purse. “You do remember you’re with someone else too, right?”
“He was my best friend.”
The word “friend” is not one I expect from him, but he is vehement on this point, proving there is more to him than meets the eye.
“And my wife is most likely helping him take over my company, so don’t go throwing your moral high code on me. And don’t fucking do it to my son or you’ll get him killed. Go get that document to the stockholders and start with that bastard Mike. Call him and make sure he gets it.”
“I will,” I say, standing, and then walk toward the door.
“And, Ms. Stevens,” he says as I reach for the knob, “too many people are getting fucked in this office. Don’t let it happen again.”
Despite being aware of the fact that he’s lashing out, demoralizing me out of his own hurt and anger, I feel the blow of his words like a punch. I exit the office and shut the door, leaning against it, but it’s not my panties on my mind. It’s something else he said. Don’t go throwing your moral high code on me. And don’t fucking do it to my son or you’ll get him killed.
That’s what Shane thinks too. That’s why he didn’t come home last night, and I just don’t know what to do with that information or what I feel right now.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SHANE
I head through the lobby, the scent of Emily’s perfume on my skin, which is exactly what I wanted. Now every decision I make today will be made with that scent reminding me of her. Reminding me that one wrong move and I could lose her, be it by way of my enemies or my own choices. But at least if it’s from my own choices, she leaves me alive. As I reach the end of the hallway leading to my office and Derek’s, I glance to his closed door, his secretary giving me a snide glower. I wink at her, enjoying the confused look on her face and wondering how she’d feel knowing my brother probably fucks her after he’s been inside Teresa. And the minute Teresa finds out, Derek is dead. I wonder who’s fucking who in that meeting with Mike and Derek, and I’m betting on Mike. That’s not a good thing. This company is Brandon to the core, and it will stay that way.
Cutting left, I head toward my office, finding Jessica’s desk empty but my door open. I pass her workspace and enter mine right as she is about to exit. I stop and do a double take at her hair. “Who are you and what have you done with my secretary?”
“What were you thinking, Shane?! In your father’s office.”
“There’s the Jessica I know. There’s a designer purse with an unlimited price tag on it if you stop talking about this and keep my coffee cup filled today.” I walk around her and head to my desk, stepping behind it as she faces me. “And get ready. The entire board is going to call me today.”