Page 80 of Threaded Lies

“I knew we’d see eye to eye on this.”

“Is this over?” Rhett asks and stands up. Chad starts to also, but thinks better of it after a quick glance at Holden.

“For now. Yes. But this will be a weekly meeting. Make sure to be here and next time, leave your shitty attitude at the door.” Holden’s voice is ice-cold toward my brother but when he turns to address the rest of the room, his smile warms. “Thank you for your patience. I’m sorry you had to see that but as you can all attest, change for many of us can be … hard. Moving forward…”

Holden continues his meeting with the managers and explaining the new corporate structure outlined in my contract.

I can feel the weight of Chad’s stare on me, but my thoughts keep going back to yesterday. To the man speaking and how very different the corporate version is from the one who carried me to my bed and held me all night long.

The same man who bought me a congratulatory succulent because it was strong and could weather a storm.

The same man who just looked over at me, met my eyes, and made my heart tumble a little further in my chest.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Rowan

“Audrey?” I call out.

She’s the last person I want to talk to right now and yet, when Audrey summons you, you go. No one risks the wrath of disobeying her.

“Audrey?” I peek my head in her office and find it with the blinds closed and the lights off.

That’s weird. I check my watch. It is the time she asked me to meet her.

“In here, Rowan,” Holden calls me from his office across the way.

I enter his office and hook my thumb over my shoulder. “Audrey called me.”

“Shut the door,” he says.

“But—”

“She asked you in here for me before she left. It’s just us.” He rises from his seat. “Shut. The. Door.”

You’ll know.

Damn. He was right. I know.

I shut the door at my back and turn the lock for good measure, noticing the blinds on the windows toward the office hall have already been drawn shut.

“Take off your panties.”

“Excuse me?” I fake a protest but damn if his words don’t make me instantly wet.

“This is CEO 101.”

“CEO 101, huh?”

“Yes. Today we are working on skills that every CEO has needed at one time or another in their career.”

“And my panties being off helps with this how?” I toy with the hem of my skirt. Thank god I wore one of my usuals, one that’s short but flowy.

“No.” He takes a step to the side of his chair and spins it to face me. “You sitting like a boss in the chair, getting pleasured, makes you a CEO.”

“Oh.” I gulp the sound out.

“Take. Off. Your. Panties,” he orders and damn if I don’t obey.