Billionaire Erotic Romance Boxed Set: 7 Steamy Full-Length Novels (2 page)

“How nice of you to visit. What brings you here, and why have you commandeered my property?”

“You’re wrong on all counts, Miss Sharp,” Kenneth drawls, his voice thick with superiority. “This is neither nice nor a visit, and nothing here is your property. This magazine and this office are the property of Sandstone Ventures. Of course, if you had known that we wouldn’t need the added security.”

Kenneth is standing behind my desk, his meaty paws thumbing through folders he has pulled out of my drawers and placed all over. Red tags cover my computer, my file cabinet and even my lunchbox left over from yesterday. I pull at a tag to see the word “EVIDENCE” written across it.

“Evidence? Evidence of what?”

“I’m sure if you search your soul deep enough, you’ll figure it out,” Kenneth says. He talks to me like I’m three years old and it always sends me into a tailspin.

“Drop the act and tell me what is going on or get the hell out of my office.”

I hear the click of the office door as the security guard closes it, shutting out the prying eyes and ears of my entire staff. Mr. Allen reaches into his briefcase and brings out three legal sized manila folders, placing them in a line. The last folder is red.

“We’ve been watching Lynx for some time, Miss Sharp. Or, should I call you, ‘Miss Shark?’ That’s what your staff calls you. We saw it all over their inter-office instant messaging. We also saw some… shall we say… irregularities in the account management. We aren’t sure what we’re looking at yet, but if it’s anything serious you will be the first person we notify.”

“Irregularities? That’s bullshit. Where’s Mark? Why isn’t he here telling this to my face?”

I can see the gloating fire behind Kenneth’s eyes. “Mark is no longer in charge of your accounts. He turned all the necessary documentation over to Blake last week.”

Another news flash that hits me between the eyes.

“Why would he do that?” It’s like trying to put together a puzzle where none of the pieces match in any way. I’m drowning in new information and none of it makes any sense.

Stop. Calm down, Julia. Breathe. You need to think.

“Because Mark is in charge of functioning properties, and this magazine no longer meets the criteria. Blake is in charge of acquisitions, transfers, mergers and–in your case–closures.”

A surge of fury and something else, betrayal, clenches in my stomach.

“Closures? You’re closing Lynx? You can’t do that! I still own forty-nine percent of this company, damn it. You can’t just come in here with some bullshit charge and then shut us down! I have some time for legal recourse.” This can’t be happening.

Kenneth opens the first folder. “You’re right, Miss Sharp. Of course, you’re always right, aren’t you? Enclosed is a copy of the injunction barring Lynx Magazine from any independent publication, action or pursuit until the terms of closure are finalized. The magazine can function
only
under the direction of Blake Stone until your time for rejoinder is finished.”

I stare at the stack of legal nonsense in front of me. I need to sit down but the only chair in the room has a box filled with files in it. I grip the back to steady myself as Kenneth opens the second folder.

What? There’s more? I’m trying to clear my vision.

“What you see in this document is the closure of Lynx Magazine, and transfer of contracts, staff, projects in development and all resources to another of Sandstone’s properties.”

Kenneth smiles like a hungry alligator.

“Everything here, except for one element, will be transferred to Ladies World under the direction of Valerie James. And finally,” Kenneth clears his throat, smiling broadly as he opens the red folder. He pretends to offer it to me then pulls it back. The security guard has both my arms behind my back so he knew I couldn’t take it in the first place. “Well, I can see you’re upset. I’ll just read it.”

“Yes, please do,” I snarl.

“Julia Sharp, by executive order of Blake Stone, Co-President of Sandstone Ventures, due to the pending closure of Lynx and transfer of its resources to a magazine that already has an editor-in-chief, your position has been declared redundant and your services are no longer required. Pursuant to contract section V paragraph 3A–you are hereby terminated from your position.”

He hands the folder to a guard and sits down behind my desk while his superior smile still gleams. I look around the silent room, struggling to hold back the fire that I feel building up in the pit of my stomach. A loud throbbing noise fills my ears as I try to contain it. The flames build in intensity until they sear a hole through my chest, surging forth in an uncontrollable torrent.

“I built this company from nothing! This is my company.
I
landed those stories while eating ramen in a basement!
I
stalked those celebrities to get those interviews.
I
hustled my ass off to sign on those advertisers! And you think that Valerie James over at Ladies World will know what to do with it? You can’t just come in here with some trumped up bullshit and get rid of me!”

Kenneth nods and the guard starts tugging at my arm.

“These gentlemen will walk you to your car. Good day, Miss Sharp.”

I struggle against the guard’s grip, trying to get away. “This isn’t over, if you think it’s going to be that easy to take Lynx away from me, you’re wrong!”

I’m rushed through the door and look to see the entire staff, some with mouths hanging open, watching me being escorted from the building like a petty thief. The guards don’t let me go until I’ve been deposited in the front seat of my car.

I slam my hands against the steering wheel. What the hell just happened in there? Why was there no warning of this? It didn’t make any sense! Mark made no mention of this when I last saw him. Those goddamn wolves. Was this the plan all along? String me along with promises of independent governance and then send me out the door with some bullshit, so they could have Lynx to themselves?

No. It can’t end like this. Maybe it would’ve been better if we had gone bankrupt in 2008, I could have taken that. We would have fought the fair fight and lost. But this, this is something else.

I look at the red folder the guard gently placed in the passenger seat on top of my old mail and Daddy’s hospital bills. Shit. How am I going to pay for Glenvale now? There’s no way insurance is going to cover a private hospital like that. I feel the first hot tears begin to pour down my cheek. Daddy. I can’t lose him too. Not when I had missed so many of Mom’s last days because I was caring for my struggling company. No. I need to be strong for Dad.

I’m pretty sure Kenneth Allen is watching me from my own office window. I want to flip him off and drive out in a show of bravado, but I can’t seem to get my arms to move. I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles are white, imagining my hands around the throat of Kenneth.

The tears keep coming, one after another until I put my head on the steering wheel and collapse in a heap of breathy, heaving sobs.

Oh my god. What am I going to do?

Chapter 2

It’s hard to drive with tears, anger and confusion all taking turns steering your brain. Amazingly, I manage to get home in one piece. I go over and over everything that sleazeball attorney told me and can’t find anything I can use to make this go away. Some of it isn’t unexpected. I know Blake hates me, and favors supporting Ladies World because it’s bigger and older. I know Kenneth is a slimy henchman who will do anything to put Blake on top. I know at forty-nine percent, I am at their mercy.

I open a bottle of wine and pick at a salad for dinner. After cataloging the “knows”, I turn my attention to the things I don’t know and my anger begins to override the numbness of the shock. What are they looking for in my computer?

Why didn’t Mark tell me when he turned over my account? Why didn’t he call me? I thought Mark was supposed to be on my side! The questions build inside me until I’ve given a name to everything I don’t understand: Mark Stone.

With a fury, I grab my keys and get in the car. All I know is that Mark Stone better be working late, and he better have some damn good answers.

Sure enough, there’s only one light in the office on the 6th floor of the building holding Sandstone’s offices. It’s Mark’s. I blitz through the lobby past security, the memory of the former security guard causing my wrist to ache, and hit the elevator for the sixth floor. The nameplate informs me the Law Offices of Allen and Martinez are on floor five, but their windows were dark. I’m sure Kenneth and Blake are out having a cocktail, toasting to the end of my future. I practically jump through the elevator door when it opens and find myself in the front hallway of Sandstone.

I enter quietly and turn down the hall to his office. Opening the door to his outer office, I see a light coming through the crack of the door to his personal office. The secretary’s chair is empty, her desk neatly organized with manila folders of deals and financial sheets. The quiet methodical tapping of the keyboard drifts through the silent office, and I pause for a second.

I should go. I’m a wreck. I can’t let him see me like this. Mark is the one person in this whole company I want to respect me, and truthfully, I’ve always wanted him to be interested in me for a little more than work.

I pace in his outer office, listening to him working on his computer. A framed picture of Mark, Blake and their father hangs on the wall. They’re posing next to a large swordfish, on the deck of a white yacht, the leather seats visible in the background. The rich bastard was supposed to help me, but instead, he pushed me down, stabbed me in the back and left me bleeding all over his tidy account register.

I storm forward, pushing open the door.

His untied tie hangs around his neck, and his shirt sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. His sandy-brown hair and muscular chest give me a moment’s pause.

“Julia.” He looks up slowly as he sees me enter his office. “Are you okay?”

“Do you think I’m okay, Mark?”

“No,” he says somberly. “I’m sure you’re not. I’m sure it’s been a rough day.”

“A rough day? Is that what you call it?
A rough day
? Your firm closed down my office! Your lawyer humiliated me in front of my whole staff! You’ve taken away everything I ever had and will ever have. Yes, Mark, I’ve had a fucking rough day!”

“To be fair, Julia,” Mark says with his signature sense of accuracy and control. “Ken Allen is not my lawyer. He’s Blake’s.”

“Lynx was your account. The magazine was in your hands. Protecting it was your responsibility.”

“Why don’t you sit down?” He rises from his chair and walks around the desk. I can see my words have stung him. He’s not making eye contact. “There’s a lot here that you don’t understand.”

“Of course I don’t understand, Mark. I don’t understand why I’ve just lost my life’s work.” In my anger, the jabs turn mean and petty. “But you wouldn’t understand that, would you? Because this isn’t your life’s work, is it? No, it’s your Daddy’s life work. It was passed down to you and Blake to carry on the Stone dynasty. You’ve had everything given to you your entire life. All you’ve ever had to do was make Daddy happy.”

“That’s enough, Julia! Sit down.”

I know I’ve gone too far, but I can’t stop now.

“No! You sit down. I’m tired of taking orders from Sandstone executives. This is your fault, Mark. Yours!”

Mark opens his arms to try to catch or guide me into a chair, but I propel myself at him, hitting him in the chest with my fists. I feel my hands hit the solid muscle of his body, and I strike at him again and again. He catches my arms and pulls me close to him, close enough to catch his strong masculine scent of smoky cinnamon and leather. With his red, angry face inches away from me, he spits as he spews his defense in my face.

“Dammit, why do you have to be so stubborn, Julia? You think this helps? You think refusing to listen to anybody else but yourself is going to get your position back? Let me tell you something. Your ‘boobs of steel’ act where you play the tough broad breaking the glass ceiling with her bare hands isn’t what made you a success in this business. You’ve just been getting by with it, and now it’s pushed you right out the door. ”

I struggle against his arms, his words piercing holes into me.

“If anyone is to blame here, it’s
you
, Julia. I told you to stop going after Ladies World. I begged you to let your feud with Valerie go. I sent you memos and messages and warnings that we would always take the side of the big magazine over the upstart small one. But you wouldn’t listen. You had to pursue it. You had to fight. You had to win. Julia, you walked into
something way over your head, and you refused to listen to any advice!”

Overcome with emotion, my wrists still bound in his hands, I bring my foot up and kick him squarely in the shin.

“Bastard!” I scream at him and kick him a second time as he grimaces in pain.

His eyes turn to ice as he towers above me, locking me in his stare. I hear my heartbeat throbbing in my ears, wondering if I’d gone too far, wondering if he was right and I had just lost my only hope of figuring this mess out because I was too stubborn, too emotional, pushing away the only ally I’ve had since the buyout in a fit of rage. A silent flash passes between our eyes, and he grabs my shoulders with strong hands, holding me in place. The thought of escape flees my mind as he leans down and crashes his lips into mine.

I open my mouth to him, crushing my lips up against his for a moment, his rough tongue searching inside me, opening me in a way I never expected. How many times had I fantasized about the feel of those lips on mine? We find harmony for a second, and then my brain kicks back in. I bite his lip, and he jumps back.

He glares at me. Wrapping me up in his strong arms, he kisses me a second time. My body alternates between struggling and inviting. I slap at his back and arms, but then my lips follow his, pulling him closer and closer into me as all strength to resist dissipates into where our tongues entwine. He reaches down and pushes the papers off his desk, backing me into it. Still holding and kissing me, his hand shoots to my breast. My hand lifts to hit him once more but weakens into grabbing at his shirt. Then I start shaking him back and forth.