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“If we’ve accomplished this much in just the first four days of Hanukkah, imagine what we could do in double that time?”
She kissed him sweetly in the elevator – although the advantage of traveling thirty-six stories down afforded them some additional alone time, there were stops along the way.
“The Maccabees ain’t got nothing on us,” she murmured. “Well, maybe a little of that fighting spirit.”
By the time they reached the lobby, they were walking off a full elevator and herding through the lobby with an early bird crowd of tourists and the random businessperson rushing to finish whatever business had brought them into town before the Christmas break.
“Depending on how this goes today…any thought to extending your trip?” Nora asked, pausing far enough away from the revolving door so as not to get swept up in the tidal wave. “The city pretty much empties out on Christmas Day itself. At least, the places where the locals are. None of this,” she waved her hands to indicate Fifth Avenue, already jam-packed with people at the seven o’clock hour. “You could meet my Jew Crew…and we could catch a whole show, not just the intermission.”
Beck’s dimple was in full effect as he pulled her close, smiling down at her. “With you, I want the overture, the reprise, and everything in between.” He stole a kiss. “The medley.” Another kiss. “The curtain call.”Kiss.“As many terms as I can remember from high school drama club so I can keep doing this.”
“You forgot one.” She whispered into his mouth. “A big one.”
“The big standing O…vation?” His smile turned sly. “Not something I’ll soon forget.”
The memory of their shower together made her knees weak. “Encore, encore.”
She cupped the back of his neck and caught his top lip, turning his grin into a happy sigh as she kissed him, long and hard, one final time before heading home to change for her morning commute.
“Oh, and seeing as you’ve got your suit back…I’m instituting Ugly Holiday Sweater Monday in the office so I can wear yours. With pride.” She laughed and pushed through the revolving door before he could object.
* * *
Smiling, Alex turned to head back upstairs to suit up and gather his paperwork. Nora was zany, but exactly the right kind of zany.My kind. As he passed through the lobby, a slow clap of applause came from behind one of the huge pillars separating a posh seating area from the reception. But it was the voice that stopped him cold.
“Mazel, my boy. Gotta hand it to you…” His uncle came into view, shaking his head and winding down that irritating clap. “Shtuppingon the company card may be a Myers and Sons first. Didn’t think you had the balls.”
“First off. I changed the room to my personal card the minute I checked in.” Despite it being for business, the trip had turned very personal the minute he walked out of that office party with Nora. “And how I spend my time off is none of your business.”
He continued toward the elevator, livid. And here he thought he was only going to have to deal with one egomaniac today. This morning’s dealings with Hedstrom were going to be difficult enough without Uncle Marty inserting his righteous opinions. What was he even doing here?
“Ah, but it ismybusiness. Myers and Sons isminenow. Despite the little fool’s errand my father may have assigned you to make you feel included. And we’re the parent company of Britesmith. So isn’t it a bit incestuous that you climbed into bed with its C-suite sweetie?”
Alex slammed his hand on the UP button and tried to school his features for a non-reaction, but could feel the vein in his temple throb. His uncle picked right up on it.
“Do you think I’m stupid? You go silent on my texts, and the next thing I know, Drew is telling me you hooked up with some hot chick on some party yacht? I was on the next flight out after Shabbat ended.” He barely let a woman pushing a stroller off the lift before barreling in, continuing his tirade.
“And as if I wouldn’t recognize Ms. Ruben from all the press that attracted your grandfather to this pie-in-the-sky idea in the first place. Like we need Broadway and all its drama? Thankfully, Ron has been steering the ship away from – ”
“You really want to do this here?” Adrenaline surged through Alex. “Because I’d really rather get into the office and prove to you that schmuck is not steering anything – he’s capsizing the whole operation.”
Uncle Marty thrust a pinstriped-suited arm in front of Alex and pressed the button for the 50thfloor. Of course his room was higher. The bigger the number, the better, in Martin Myers’ opinion.
“The suburban offices are doing great, with practically no overhead.”
Alex pushed his own button. “No, the suburban offices are basically staffed by a temp agency, and Hedstrom is dumping those fees onto New York’s bottom line. He wants to get rid of the very thing that differentiates them. No loyalty, no quality.Thatis not a Myers brand.”
“And you want this girl to run the show?”
“I want her to stop taking the fall for him. Tell me he put a bug in your ear about her, and I tell you how I can blow down his whole house of cards. Side with him, and…I’ll still blow it down. But Myers and Sons will get dragged through the mud when he’s indicted.”
“So she strokes those big balls of yours and you believe any lie she tells you?” His uncle got close enough for Alex to see his nose hairs quiver. “Sit this one out,Alexi. Let the big boys play ball.”
Pull the alarm and punch him out…or walk off and don’t look back.
Alex didn’t need the devil or the angel deciding his next move. He just knew he had to get to Hedstrom before his uncle did.
* * *
