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I pulled out my phone and dialed my father’s number, though I really hated the idea of talking to him.
“James,” he said angrily.
“Who the fuck was working on that deal?”
“Branson,” he answered. “I can’t figure out what he was thinking.”
“Didn’t you look it over first?”
“Son, I’m running a billion dollar company. Do you really think I have time to look over every deal?”
“Well, you’d better start now. That deal is going to end up costing you money. One look at it and I knew it was a bad deal.”
“I’ve been running this company for—”
“Don’t you dare fucking lecture me about how long you’ve been the CEO. They wouldn’t be pushing you out if you were doing the job right.”
“You think you can run it better? You could be here now, but you were too much of a fucking snowflake. You had to have your vacation to deal with the fact that you were becoming a man.”
I scoffed at that. “Fuck off, old man. You know exactly why I got away. It was because of your manipulation that I even had to leave in the first place. Stop fucking arguing with me about who’s the better CEO. Go deal with Branson and see what you can do to save this deal before it sinks the fucking company.”
I hung up, pinching the bridge of my nose as I tried to calm down. I couldn’t go out there like this. Rose didn’t need to see this side of me. I only had a few more months with her and I wasn’t going to waste it on my father.
“Are you okay?”
I spun around, surprised that she entered and I didn’t hear her. “Fine. I was just wrapping up a phone call.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the doorframe. “It sounded pretty heated.”
“I’m sorry,” I offered immediately. “I’m just frustrated.”
“Do you need to stay home?”
“No, there’s nothing more I can do. I just…” I held up the phone, laughing at how ridiculous this all was. I didn’t even want anything to do with the company, yet here I was, getting angry over something that was out of my control. “What I need is to get out of here and forget about this.”
“I can definitely help with that,” she grinned, walking toward me and wrapping her arms around my neck. Her soft lips pressed to mine and my hand snaked up under her dress to rub against her heated core.
“Where are they?”
“Waiting outside. They thought you might need some space.”
“Should we make them wait a little longer?”
She bit her lip and stepped back. “I think I’ll makeyouwait. You know, since you left me alone with them.”
Looking her up and down, it was hard for me to let her walk out that door when she was dressed so scandalously. But I followed her out the door and tried not to think of all the ways she would tease me tonight.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived in the city at a bar and nightclub. It was nothing like the clubs in New York. With a relaxed atmosphere, it was more of a bar until around eleven when the lights went down and the music kicked up. We started out playing pool and ordered pizza. I found myself finally able to relax and forget about the clusterfuck my father started back home.
“So, what are you going to do when you finish the house,” Clarissa asked around a bite of her pizza.
My eyes flicked to Rose’s for just a moment. We hadn’t actually talked about anything in the future, and it was best to leave it that way.
“Clarissa,” Shane shook his head.
“What? It’s not like I’m asking him to give up state secrets.” She leaned toward me, lowering her voice. “Are you really in the CIA? Is that why you’re down here? You’re really investigating something, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Clarissa. I’m in the CIA investigating the treatment of starfish.”
