ROMANCE: BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The CEO's Game (CEO Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance) (New Adult Romance Short Stories) (7 page)

Chapter 6

Sadie woke up in the morning and snuck downstairs while Cedric was still snoring. She got her clothes off the back porch by the hot tub where she'd left them and got dressed. Sneaking out of his house quietly she left to go home and clean up so she could go to work.

She intended to pretend nothing happened last night. She had her one night of a hot fantasy with a man she didn't think she'd ever truly be able to have. If her father found out she got intimately involved with Cedric, he'd probably kill her. Her father hated Cedric and she hadn't even told him she'd taken this job to help with his medical bills.

Feeling like an idiot for giving in to her attraction to him, she started to cry on her way home. She liked him, he made her laugh and smile, and his playboy flirty ways were so obnoxious they were almost comical. She knew she couldn't ask him to be a different man, but she couldn't settle for less than the love she'd seen between her father and step mother before she died.

She wanted that kind of love and devotion in a partner, and she knew Cedric didn't seem to have the ability to do it. If she got involved beyond a single night, he'd break her heart and probably not look back.

When she got into the shower and cleaned herself up, she realized how good it had been with him. She knew she'd hold him as her standard for all future sex partners and wondered if she'd find someone as good as he was. She knew she was probably feeling mourning over something she couldn’t have and that's why she was feeling so down about everything right now, but she had to be realistic.

Getting ready for work she drove to the office and walked in. She held her head high and ignored the women who stopped to stare at her like she was a freak. She didn't care what they thought, she was here to do a job, and that was what she was going to do.

When she got to Cedric's office he was already sitting in there.

His eyes were dark and she swore she saw a flash of hurt in them when he looked at her before his face became blank and he put on his normal playboy looking grin.

"I missed you this morning." Cedric told her looking a little like he was pouting.

Sadie shook her head, "I told you, it was a onetime thing. Let's focus on our job here."

Cedric made a face that showed his displeasure clearly, but didn't say anything more about the night they'd spent together.

"Fine, I want you to make a list of everyone in our office upstairs who is actually qualified to keep their job, or is worth keeping around because of how long they've been here. I will go over it and fire everyone else and you can start interviewing replacements for them." Cedric informed her shocking her to the core.

"Okay..." She said blinking at him. This wasn't expected. She wondered why the sudden change of heart.

Seeing the expression on her face prompted Cedric to explain himself. "I realized that I can make a lot more money with competent staff. You made a compelling argument. I can get staff that can actually do their job, and the couple of women I will keep around I can use to wine and dine my male clients, a secret weapon of sorts. I have a couple in mind who I think will be ideal for a different position within the company if we keep them off the phones." He explained.

Sadie wanted to ask him if he planned to keep being involved with them personally, but refrained. It wasn't supposed to be any of her business.

"Are you going to pick the ones you want to let go and fire them?" Sadie asked him so she understand exactly what he wanted her to do.

"Nope. I will go through your assessment and add my notes, but you get to do the firing once I decide who to let go and who to keep. Each person we fire should get at least three months wages so they have time to find a new job. I pride myself on taking care of my girls, and I can't just fire them without making sure they have time to get something else." Cedric explained.

Sadie nodded. "Okay, I will get started on that right away. Is there anything else I you need me to do?"

"Yes, I also want you to find me a realtor. I want to sell my house, and if we do hire new people, we may also need to sell this building and relocate to a larger location. I've been in the process of buying out another IT company, and if I merge the businesses, we'll need more office space." Cedric explained. "This has been in the works for a while, it was why I was trying to hire a competent assistant. I needed to make changes around here and decide if I wanted to push my business forward, or just stay in the comfortable bubble we've had for the last few years."

Sadie beamed at the subtle complement he'd given her, and smiled at him. "I'll do my best to please you."

Cedric grinned at her and winked. "I know you will."

"Cedric!" Sadie said, blushing. "Behave yourself, I told you--"

Cedric interrupted her, "I know you did, but I'm not going to change everything, which means you get stuck with my flirting."

Sadie stared at him and held the tablet she had tighter to her chest and didn't say anything.

"All employee records are in the basement in the back room behind the IT computers. You can start there to put your information together, and after we rehire staff, you'll be in charge of getting everything into a computer based system. I want to go paperless after this." Cedric told her, then paused before adding, "And, you have my permission to delegate that task if you find someone you trust to do a good job with it."

Sadie nodded, feeling relieved.

She turned to leave to go to the basement, but Cedric stood and walked over, shutting the door with one hand blocking her way.

"One last thing Sadie, what we had last night, I'm not willing to let it go just yet. I know you want a one night stand, but I won't give up on you. What I feel for you isn't one night stand material. I won't take no for an answer and I will get what I want. You've been warned." Cedric told her, he dipped his head until he almost brushed his lips against hers and then stepped back, leaving Sadie feeling disappointed he didn't kiss her.

Breathing hard, her heart pounding in her chest Sadie quickly walked away refusing to look back at his office, her stomach in knots.

Despite her misgivings about everything, the shiver that went up her spine when he promised her he wasn't done chasing after her left her secretly thrilled. She knew it wasn't something she should allow to happen, but her feelings for him left her making stupid, risky, irrational decisions.

Chapter 7

A few weeks later, Sadie had gotten the list approved and was slowly starting to bring each woman back into her own personal office that Cedric had finally assigned to her. She had already fired five of the eleven girls she was going to let go. Keeping three for PR type jobs, the rest had to go.

"You stupid bitch, you have no right to fire me." Valerie glared at her, looking like she wanted to reach out and slap Sadie in the face.

"I'm sorry, but this is your official letter of dismissal, with Cedric's signature. You will get three months pay, and a continuation of medical coverage for up to six months to give you time to get a new job and benefits." Sadie told her, ignoring the name calling. So far, almost all of them had insulted her, raged, cried, or called her names. They didn't take kindly to being fired after their cushy job disappeared from underneath their feet.

"I hope you get sick and die." The girl said, snatching the letter from her hand and left the office in a rush. The rest of the women knew what was coming, and they had no idea who would stay and who would get fired. They'd already told one of the three women they were keeping their job was changing, but they still had one. They were trying to keep it on the down low, but the women talked and there wasn't much Sadie could do about it.

Sadie got up and intended to call the next girl in when she felt sick to her stomach, she opened her mouth and realized she was going to hurl. She rushed to the bathroom and reached the toilet just in time to puke.

After a few minutes of dry heaving, she felt better and got up and splashed her face with some water and took some deep breaths.

She went back out and called in the next person. It took all day but she'd managed to get through all of the women they were firing, and then explained to the other two why they were getting to keep their job.

Sadie went to tell Cedric the job was finished, and that she'd start going through resumes and setting up job interviews.

She walked into his office and smelled his take out that he had on his desk for lunch and felt the urge to throw up again. She ran over and dropped to her knees by his waste basket and started dry heaving again.

"Sadie, are you okay?" Cedric said, seeming concerned for her health.

He'd been dropping hints, asking her out, and flirting with her since their conversation a few weeks ago. Sadie kept saying no, but he wasn't giving up. Sadie was flattered, but she was trying to stick to her guns and keep their relationship professional.

"I'm fine, I think. The smell of your lunch made me feel a little sick to my stomach." She told him and then handed him the tablet with all the updated information and resumes she'd picked up to show him.

"What is this?" Cedric asked.

"These are the resumes I've selected from what looks best to worst for the initial interviews for the positions we need to fill. I also will do a review and go interview the employees of the company we are taking over to see who's worth keeping and who we should let go when we complete the merger, and the real estate agent we hired has found a bigger building in a central location for a good price for you to go look at later today." Sadie informed him.

"Sadie, you've become absolutely invaluable to me after such a short time, I don't know what I would do without you." Cedric told her honestly. He stared at her with an expression on his face that made Sadie almost feel guilty.

Sadie smiled at him and nodded. "Let me know when you're done reviewing that and I'll start making the phone calls to setup all the interviews." She told him.

"Sounds good to me." He said starting to read and go through the files on the tablet. "I'll email you my thoughts on each applicant before I go, just text me where the real estate person plans on meeting me."

"Sure." Sadie said and then high tailed it out of his office before she dry heaved again from the smell of his lunch. Realizing that once she got some water into her and ate a couple of dry crackers something was wrong with her.

Thinking back to when her last period was, she realized she hadn't had one in a few weeks.

Crap.

No, this wasn't possible. Sadie sat in her office stunned. She knew in her gut that she was but knowing she needed to be sure, she texted Cedric and told him she was taking her lunch break and would be back in an hour. Driving to the nearest pharmacy, she bought a pregnancy test and used their bathroom.

Peeing on the stick she didn't even want to look at it. She set it on the edge of the sink and stared at her phone for three minutes, forcing herself not look at it.

When the three minutes were up, she picked up the digital test and when the word "Pregnant" was bright and clear she dropped it on the floor and panicked for a minute.

This was the last thing she needed. Cedric was going to kill her. She blamed herself. She'd been drinking, he'd been drinking and they hadn't been careful.

Oh, God, she was such an idiot. She was a responsible adult, she should have known better.  She wasn't normally sexually active, so she hadn't been on birth control pills. Cedric must have assumed she had been, because he hadn't been careful either.

Picking up the test and shoving it into her purse, she drove with dread back to the office. She sat in her car and stared up at the office window for a few minutes before getting the nerve to go up there and tell him.

He had a right to know.

Walking with a knot in her throat, she went upstairs and knocked on Cedric's office door.

"Come in." He said and Sadie saw he was writing on his laptop while scrolling through the tablet he'd set on his desk next to it.

"Cedric?" She asked him, the urge to run away overwhelmed her for a moment but she took a deep breath and forced herself to walk into the room.

"Are you okay Sadie?" Cedric looked up and noticed how pale she looked and saw her hands shaking.

"There's something I need to tell you," She started to say.

Cedric jumped to his feet, "You better not be telling me you quit."

"No, I don't plan on quitting, but I have something you need to know." She told him and reached into her purse and pulled out the test. She tossed it to him and waited for the reaction.

Cedric stared down at it and then did the thing she least expected. He started to laugh.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, shocked by his reaction.

Looking up, he grinned at her. "Absolutely. I'd been trying to figure out how I was going to force you to give me another chance. I'm assuming since you told me, you didn't plan on aborting, which means you're stuck with me. Go out with me tonight?"

Sadie stared at him in shock. No, abortion had never crossed her mind, but then again, she hadn't had time to process anything either yet.

"Go out with you tonight?"

"Yes, no stress, you don't have to come home with me, let’s have a nice relaxed meal and we can talk about our future." Cedric walked over to her and put his hand to her cheek, the other hand still holding the test. "The reason I made changes to this office is because of you Sadie, if you haven't noticed I haven't gone home with any other women since that night we spent together, nor have I had any sexual relations with any other woman. You deserve better, and I'm willing to try and be the man you need if you'll meet me half way. We deserve to be happy."

"Do you love me?" Sadie asked him bluntly, knowing if he said yes her heart would become involved and she didn't want it broken by him.

"I could, if you gave me a chance." Cedric told her honestly. "I promise not to lie to you, even if you don't like what I have to say. I'm fine with the baby. I always figured I'd have kids someday, with my prolific ways, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now, but I'm glad it's with you."

Sadie looked at him and then back at the test in his hand.

"Okay. We can have dinner tonight and talk. I'm willing to give us a chance." Sadie said, her heart pounding and when he pressed his lips to hers, she realized that no matter how much she might fight her feelings for him, she couldn't force them to go away.

She had noticed the changes in him over the last few weeks, and realized that maybe this new Cedric was worth the risk of a little pain and heartache.

He had a glint of satisfaction in his eyes when he broke the kiss and pulled back.

"I'm not going to let you go Sadie. I'll be here for you, and I promise that my philandering days are over. I need more than quantity to make me happy, life is about quality, and you are the quality I was missing in my life." He told her and cupped her cheek with one hand.

Sadie still had reservations, but she nodded at him, wanting to believe him.

When she walked back to her office to finish her day’s worth of work, she realized that maybe this would be okay. By the end of the day, she'd worked through the emotions about giving him a chance, though she'd have a long ways to go with dealing with the pregnancy.

Going home and getting ready for dinner that night, she went there to meet him with a light heart and the hope for a good future.

She believed him, and for now, that was enough.