Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
My dad finally took me aside. He wasn’t okay with me becoming known as a serial dater, the knight who hadn’t vanquished the dragon, a bachelor playboy billionaire, or anything else. My dad likes to keep things as low key as possible where the media is concerned, so he didn’t like the frenzy that had surrounded me for the past couple of years. He gave me an ultimatum and told me to get my shit together or face the consequences.
He has no idea what his ultimatum spurred me to, and he also has no clue the toilet paper company we just bought happens to have one key employee on their payroll.
Facing my past at a therapist or something, meeting someone and settling down, getting my act together, and sucking it up because I’m a Deroy and that’s what we do was what my dad had in mind. What he did not have in mind was for me to face off with Rea the Fire Breathing Dragon, Destroyer of Men, and Breaker of Hearts. Am I here for revenge? Nah. That’s too petty a term for it. I’m here to lay the past to rest so I could move on.
How that’s going to play out, I’m not exactly sure.
Unfortunately, my steel armor falters for a second in front of Rea’s astonishing beauty. It doesn’t matter that she’s slightly unkempt, sweaty, flustered, and has a swollen cheek. No. Even though she does look like she just ran a triathlon prior to opening the door, she’s still every bit as beautiful as I remember. We’re the same age—thirty—but she hasn’t aged a day since that fateful one where she broke my heart.
Now, it might not be overly manly to admit to something like that, but fuck it, it’s true. Rea James broke my heart in the most broken way broken can be—pulverized, creamed, blasted to smithereens, shot to shit, razed, ground into the ground. All of them apply. I haven’t been shy about saying so, even though I’ve been careful never to use her name.
“Do you two know each other already?” Mike Burnstead, Rea’s current boss, gives us a suspicious once-over. He’s a middle-aged, balding, and overweight guy who’s heavily invested in the toilet paper business. As in, he truly believes in it.
Yeah, I really just took over a place that makes butt wipes. But there’s serious money in bathroom products. Even if it were not so, I’d make it that way because I have this habit of turning everything I touch into success. It’s part of the way I operate. I won’t accept failure. But right now, I don’t give a shit, no pun intended, about toilet paper or that industry or profit. This is just about Rea.
“No.” The word is smooth when it comes out of my mouth, and it books no argument and ends all protests.
Mike’s eyes don’t even narrow as he turns toward Rea and motions for her to have a seat. The table only has six chairs around it. I’m at the head, and Mike is two seats down. Rea stumbles over weakly, grabs a chair, and sinks into it. She’s visibly shaken.
What the heck is wrong with one side of her face? And how the hell does she still look as captivating as she did in college? It’s been eight years.
Rea brushes back a strand of sandy blonde hair and tucks it into the mess at the base of her neck. I can’t rightly call it a bun anymore, but I think that’s what it was at one point. Her jet blue eyes flicker to Mike’s face, and her hand visibly trembles, so she tucks it into her lap. She inhales sharply, her shapely breasts straining against a blouse that isn’t designed to show them off.
“Rea, I called you to this meeting because we both know you’re aiming for Senior Manager one day. You’ve invested your entire heart and soul into this company going on eight years now, and you know the ins and outs perfectly. So, I want you to meet our new CEO. We’ve been bought out.”
“Acquired,” I correct because that word is so much nicer. “We mean for this to be an opportunity for everyone here, not a shuffling through and getting rid of people sort of takeover. That’s not the kind of operation we run. No one has to be afraid for their job.”
“Yes, well, acquired then,” Mike corrects. “You’ve been here longer than almost anyone. You know the ropes, you rarely ever miss a day of work, and you put in countless hours of overtime. I couldn’t think of a better person to show Mr. Deroy around the place. Get him familiar with the company and go over anything and everything he wants to know.”
“I…” Rea clearly wants to argue, but it’s pretty obvious she has no game. Instead, she snaps her mouth shut without looking at me.