Chapter Nine
“Good morning. My name is—”
“Anastasia! It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the woman behind the desk says in a tone that’s way too perky for nine in the morning. “My name is Josie. I’m your dad’s and Julian’s assistant.”
She extends her hand, and I shake it, taking her in. She looks to be in her late thirties, maybe early forties. She’s dressed professionally with cute, thick, black-framed glasses perched on her nose. I check out her left hand and notice she doesn’t have a ring on her fourth finger.
“Nice to meet you,” I tell her, mentally noting that I need to be careful with what I do and say around her.
She might work for my dad and Julian, but everyone knows the COO actually runs the show, which means she really works for Julian, and as we established last night when the line was redrawn, he’s the enemy. She looks nice enough, but looks can be deceiving—Julian is the perfect example of that.
I’m not supposed to meet my dad until nine thirty for him to show me around, but I left early, needing to get out of that icy house. Julian was sitting at the table, drinking his coffee and scrolling on his phone, making it a point to ignore me. He hasn’t said a word to me since he compared me to a venomous spider and threatened to stomp on me.
On the way to work, I stopped at the coffee shop across the street and enjoyed a latte and a muffin and then walked over here, hoping to check things out on my own before my dad arrived. Security got me set up with an employee ID and badge, and then I was taken to HR, who had me sign a million papers before welcoming me to Kingston Limited.
“Your dad should be in at any moment. If you want to have a seat in his office, you can head back.” She points down the hall. “His door is on the left.”
“Thank you,” I tell her.
I’m heading toward his office when my phone pings with a text. I glance down at it to make sure it’s not my dad, telling me he’s running late, when I run into a wall. Well, not actually a wall. More like the very hard chest of my fake fiancé.
“I know you think the world revolves around you, but maybe you could watch where you’re walking,” he says, his glare cold enough to prevent those ice caps in Antarctica from melting.
“Maybe you ran into me,” I volley.
“Except I was standing in the doorway, unmoving,” he says dryly.
“Well, why would you do that?”
“Because I heard you out there and I figured I should probably join you since we’re engaged and in love,” he says, sarcasm dripping with each word. “C’mon. I’ll show you around.”
He engulfs my hand with his, and warmth spreads through me, thawing the ice and making me worried once again for global warming. The man shouldn’t have this effect on my body, especially since I know he’d probably stand by and watch me choke to death without lifting a finger to help me, but my body has felt his warmth, my lips have tasted him, his scent is already ingrained in my brain, and it’s so damn hard to separate what my body feels and what my brain knows.
“Your dad never gets here on time,” he says as he guides me down the hall. “Selene makes him breakfast every morning, and he strolls in around ten.”
It’s so crazy to think about my dad strolling in, let alone so late. He always woke up before the sun came up and worked until late every night. Mom would have to practically pry him away from his desk just to have dinner with us.
We step into a room that I recognize from when I was younger, only it’s been painted and updated.
“This is the break room.” He points at each item. “Fridge, espresso machine, tables to eat at it if you don’t want to eat in your office.”
“I used to eat in here when I was younger, when the conference rooms were being used.”
Memories of my mom packing me my lunch surface, but I push them back, not wanting to get emotional in front of Julian. The last thing I need is to show him any weakness.
“That’s right. I forgot you grew up here.” He glances at me.
“Yeah, we probably ran into each other and didn’t know it.”
“Not unless you were chilling in the mailroom. I was down there for four years, then an errand boy for another three …”
His implication of me starting damn near at the top doesn’t go unnoticed, but I ignore it because I might be new to this company, but I’ve worked hard, and had I applied here without being blood related to the owner, I would’ve gotten the position I’m in with ease.
“When did you start working for my dad?”
“He took me under his wing when I was twenty-five.”
“I stopped coming here when I was fourteen.” With our ten-year age difference, it makes sense I never met him.
“I remember,” he says. “Your dad wanted you to intern here, but you refused.”
“Yeah, by then, I resented his job for taking all his time.”
“Which is something I’ll always regret,” my dad says, making me spin around. “I hate that I didn’t see what I was doing to my family, that I refused to listen. I thought I could buy your love, and I learned the hard way that it’s not possible.”
I swallow down the lump of emotion clogging my airway and nod, incapable of saying anything. Because of my refusal to speak to him for years and then keeping him at arm’s length, he’s never apologized—he’s never been given the chance to apologize.
“I know you don’t understand why I’m so hell-bent on the way I would like the direction of the company to go, but it’s because of my mistakes. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to either of you.”
He glances from me to Julian, and it’s then, in the way he looks at him, that I see how much my dad cares for Julian. He’s not just his COO. He’s like a son to him.
“That’s not going to happen,” Julian says, his eyes locked on my dad’s. “I’ve been running the company successfully for the past seven years, and I have no problem implementing the changes you’d like.”
“I actually have some great ideas,” I add. “I’ve been doing research on corporate childcare, and I’d like to pitch my proposal to you once it’s finalized.”
Dad smiles. “That would be great, which leads me to my thoughts regarding both of you wanting to take over as CEO. After having conversations with a few other employees I was considering and them either not interested or not up for the task, it’s down to you two.” He darts his gaze between us. “Are you sure you’re okay with going up against one another for the position? Your relationship is new and?—”
“We’re sure,” I say despite the fact that Julian and I have barely spoken ten words to each other and none of them were regarding what would happen when I got the CEO position. “We’ve spoken at length and agreed there will be no hard feelings toward whoever gets it.” I thread my fingers through Julian’s to emphasize my point.
“And if you aren’t selected,” Dad says to me, “would you still like to work for Kingston?”
I never considered not getting the position, but now that he’s mentioning it, my first thought is yes. Now that I’m home, I want to stay. I want to get to know this new version of my dad and hopefully work through our issues so we can have a relationship again.
But then I glance at Julian, whose jaw is tight.
“If my fiancé will have me,” I say, half joking.
I glance up at him and flutter my lashes playfully, and his jaw untightens. And if I’m not mistaken, a hint of a smile quirks in the corner of his mouth. His small smile shouldn’t send butterflies fluttering through my belly, yet it does. I need to be careful because my body is clearly refusing to get on the same page with the rest of me.
“I’ll have to find my place here, like anyone else just hired,” I say to both of them when Julian doesn’t respond, “but if Kingston is a good fit and Julian’s okay with me staying on, I’d like to work for Kingston.” I glance at Julian, meeting his gaze. “It’s our family business.”
Julian clenches his jaw once again, understanding the words I’m not saying. He might be close with my dad, but at the end of the day, only one of us has the last name Kingston.
Breaking eye contact with him, I look back at my dad. “I’m not going anywhere regardless of the outcome.”
We have a long way to go to mend our relationship, but I’m done running from my past. I never should’ve stayed away as long as I did, and now that I’m home and it’s clear my dad has changed his ways, I don’t want to be stubborn and miss out on having a relationship with him. I thought I had many years with my mom, but I was wrong. Life can be taken from us at any moment.
A bright smile spreads across my dad’s face, and before I know what’s happening, he’s engulfing me in a hug. It’s the third time he’s hugged me since I’ve been back, and I don’t know how I went all these years without them.
“I love you, sweetie,” he murmurs. “And I’m so glad you’re finally home.”
When we separate, Dad clears his throat. “Okay then, instead of you working directly with the marketing department, I think it would be best if you work on this floor. I have an office for you that I had maintenance clean out last night. With me planning to announce my replacement at the end of the year, that only gives me less than six months to decide. To keep it fair, I’ve decided to see how you both handle the situations given to you, starting with Ronan Flynn.”
“The musician?” Julian asks as I try to figure out who that is.
Thanks to living in the UK, I’m put at a disadvantage regarding all things American.
“Yep,” Dad says. “Selene’s daughter, Ingrid, works for his record label. He’s been blowing up on the charts, and he’s a hometown boy, born and raised in Rosemary. After confirming he’s got a good reputation, I’d like to get him on board for a collaboration. Which is where you two come in.”
Dad crosses his arms over his chest and grins like he’s enjoying this way too much. “You’ll both present your ideas to the team on Friday.”
Julian chuckles. “Sounds good.” He leans over and kisses my cheek, shocking the hell out of me. “I’m going to head to my office to do some work. I’ll let you spend some time with your dad.”
I watch him saunter out, trying not to notice how nice his ass looks in his charcoal-gray pants, knowing this was strategic on his part so he can get a head start while I’m stuck here, hanging out with my dad. But that’s fine because his little bit of a head start isn’t going to mean shit when I present the better idea on Friday.
“All right, Anastasia,” Dad says, shaking me from my thoughts, “you ready to see your office?”
“More than ready.”