Thawing the CEO: A Lesbian/Sapphic CEO Romance (CEO Series Book 9)

1. Vivian

“I’m heading out. You all have fun.”

“Come on, Ice Queen,” Jane teased. “Join us—have some fun for once.”

Vivian Sterling just laughed. “Maybe next time. You guys enjoy yourselves.”

A couple of her employees laughed along with her. Everyone knew that Vivian wouldn’t be joining them the next time. She was flattered that they liked her enough to keep trying to include her. Most people would jump at a chance to socialize during work time without their boss present—to be able to complain and gossip without her watching.

However, Vivian had worked for years to foster an environment where complaints were brought directly to her, and she did everything within her power to resolve them quickly. Happy employees meant a well-run business, and Vivian ran a fantastic business.

Vivian went home with a familiar sinking feeling in her stomach. This was the worst time of day—coming home alone, knowing that it was a full twelve hours before she could get up and start getting ready for work again.

She was almost at the elevator when Jane caught up with her.

“Vivian, wait.”

Vivian braced herself for more attempts to convince her to join the party, but thankfully that wasn’t what was on Jane’s mind. “You didn’t take any cake.” Jane handed her a napkin with a generous slice of chocolate cake wrapped inside. “You went to all the effort of having the bakery make such a fantastic cake for us. The least you can do is enjoy some of it.”

Jane did have a good point. She wasn’t going to risk staying for the party but taking a slice of cake home seemed safe enough.

“Thanks, Jane.” Vivian took the cake, holding it carefully so that she didn’t squash it. “You go enjoy the party now—you deserve it.”

“So do you. I know it was a team effort, but we never would have landed that investor if not for your leadership. If you’re not going to join us, I hope you’ll at least celebrate at home.”

“Don’t you worry about me. You just focus on having a good time. You’ve all worked hard on this deal, and you deserve a break.”

“Thanks, Vivian. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Vivian went to her car, putting the cake on the seat beside her before tossing her purse onto the back seat. She was dreading this evening in particular because she had let everyone finish two hours early to make time for the party. It was only three o’clock.

Fortunately, she had come prepared with a folder of paperwork she could do. It was the kind of thing Jane would usually handle, but Vivian needed to pass the time, and it never hurt to take some of the load off her assistant’s hardworking back.

Vivian was greeted at the door by a familiar meow.

“Hello, Smudges. Who’s a pretty kitty? Yes, you are. You are.”

Vivian reached down to pick him up, kissing his little nose as he purred contentedly. She didn’t need people in her life as long as she had Smudges. He was enough to fill the void within her, at least for the most part.

Cats were safer than people. People always came with drama that was bound to reflect back on her business when it blew up. Vivian had seen good businesses fail because their CEOs got emotional or unstable because of personal issues.

She wasn’t going to let that happen to her. Sterling Enterprises was everything to her. She’d built it from the ground up, just like her father had done with his business. Vivian came from a family of entrepreneurs and seemed to have inherited the family talent.

Sacrificing a personal life in favor of her business was a trade-off Vivian willingly made. And if it caused her chest to ache on days like today… Well, she was probably just fighting off some kind of chest infection.

Smudges meowed again, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“Yes, I know you’re hungry. Did you see, I’ve got cake? But none for you. Nope, no cake for Smudges. But I can give you a treat. Do you want a treat, my little boppikin?”

Smudges’ ears perked up. He knew the word treat.

He wriggled to get out of Vivian’s arms. She placed him on the ground before going to the cupboard and getting out one of the tuna-flavored treats.

She watched in satisfaction as Smudges devoured it. He would be licking the bowl for some time, so Vivian used the opportunity to put together a quick dinner. She didn’t often have time for anything elaborate. She had lived on takeout for many years until her cholesterol levels went on strike.

Now, she did her best to cook something healthy, though she was limited by time and energy. She often worked late, and the work took a lot out of her.

Vivian ate her hurried dinner and took the time to savor the cake afterward. The bakery really had done a great job. She made a mental note to leave them a good review. Positive feedback was just as important as constructive criticism, and Vivian made sure to be generous with her compliments when they were deserved.

She took small bites of her cake, wondering what her employees were talking about now. She doubted they were complaining about anything she wasn’t actively in the process of solving, but she did wonder idly about the gossip.

Over the years, there had been many rumors about her, about heartbreaks and missed opportunities for love. None of it was true, but that didn’t stop the stories from persisting.

Vivian didn’t let it bother her. She knew that her choice to avoid all personal entanglements—even friendships—was an unusual one. Others were bound to be curious about it. They didn’t understand why she seemed so cold, probably because Vivian had never explained it to anyone. She didn’t expect them to understand. It was better just to remain aloof and do her job.

In a recent survey from a local business magazine, Vivian’s company had rated as the top choice for employees in the state. Employee satisfaction was reported highly across the board.

Vivian chuckled as she remembered the interview. They had wanted to know how she did it, as though it was some big secret. It really wasn’t all that complicated. Offer good wages and benefits. Listen and react accordingly when people were unhappy. Give positive feedback and reward good work.

Her work attendance rates had improved twenty percent when Vivian had opened a small daycare for working parents with kids. The cost of the daycare was more than covered by the extra revenue they brought in without having to account for people being missing from work because they couldn’t find or afford babysitters.

Smudges was done with his treat and jumped lightly onto Vivian’s lap, purring like a little lawnmower. Vivian stroked him idly, toying with the idea of doing some team-building exercises in the next month.

There was some tension between Ruth and Nathan after an incident with Ruth’s files being moved to make more space on one of the computers. Vivian believed Nathan when he said he’d meant to copy and not delete her files, but Ruth was still furious.

Perhaps some team building would do them good. Or maybe she’d get them to sit down with HR and work out their differences.

Vivian grabbed a scrap of paper and started jotting down the potential pros and cons of HR counseling versus team building. She doubted Ruth or Nathan would be impressed if she made them do both, and she didn’t want to make them grumpy with her on top of being grumpy with each other.

Vivian drew out the pros and cons as long as she was able to, then sat down to do the paperwork she had brought home with her.

Smudges made things difficult, stretching out all over her papers, but Vivian didn’t mind the minor challenge. She did her best to work around him.

Finally, when it was late enough to justify going to bed, Vivian picked up Smudges and plonked him on the end of the bed, where he spent every night, guarding her from the dark.

Vivian slid under the covers and closed her eyes. With the stress of the deal they’d been working on for over a month removed, sleep came easily.

The next day, Vivian went into work feeling energized. With that large investor secured, they were ready to move onto the next phase of her long-term business plan. For the next couple of weeks, they would be focusing on market research and promotion, selling themselves to an even wider base of clients.

Vivian was usually early, but it wasn’t unusual for Jane to beat her to work, so she didn’t register anything off about seeing her assistant there when she arrived.

The moment Jane saw her, she leaped to her feet. “Vivian! I need to talk to you.”

“Of course. Why don’t we go into my office?” Jane was looking nervous, which made Vivian nervous in turn. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is great!” Jane beamed at her, though there was still an undertone of anxiety in her expression. “Brandon proposed!”

Vivian’s eyes flicked down to Jane’s hand, which was now boasting a sparkling new engagement ring.

“That’s amazing, Jane! Congratulations.” She knew that Jane and Brandon were pretty serious, despite the distance. She had been happy for Jane when Brandon had taken time off work to fly here from Spain, and she had given her a few extra days off to enjoy her time with him.

“Thanks. The thing is… well, we talked, and we don’t want to keep doing the long-distance thing. I’m moving back to Spain with him.”

Oh. That was a problem.

“Why not have him move here? I could help out with his moving costs and help get him a job here. I think my dad’s IT guy is retiring—he might be looking for someone new in the near future.”

“We did talk about him moving here. You know how much I love my job here, and it’ll be sad to lose it, but Brandon has his whole family in Spain. I mean, I have family here too, but just my parents, and we’re not that close. He has dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins. His two nieces are only six and he doesn’t want to miss their childhoods. He’s really tight with his family. I can’t ask him to leave them.”

That was unfortunately something Vivian couldn’t get around. She could try to convince Jane to stay, but that wouldn’t be fair. This was what Jane wanted, and Vivian wanted her to be happy.

“I understand. I’ll miss you, Jane. You’ve been an excellent assistant.”

“Thanks. I’ll miss you too, Vivian. I’ll make sure to line up a good replacement before I go.”

“I’d appreciate that. When are you planning on leaving?”

“I think a month should be enough time to get someone new in place and give them some training.”

“A month is very fair. Thank you.” Vivian’s policy for resignation was two weeks of notice, but she wasn’t surprised that Jane was going the extra mile, making sure she didn’t leave Vivian hanging.

It would be a blow, losing someone like Jane. Good assistants were hard to find, and Jane fit in perfectly with the other employees.

It wasn’t just finding someone good—it was finding someone good who also got along with everyone else Vivian employed. That was tricky and might take some trial and error.

Vivian did her best to focus on her work as usual and not her dismay at having the perfect workspace she had created here disrupted. She didn’t need to worry about sorting a replacement yet. Jane got the advertisements for the position out within hours, and she was busy combing through applications.

There were many of them—Vivian supposed she had that article about employee satisfaction to thank—and finding the gems among the rocks took some skill.

Fortunately, Jane was well up to the task and soon had a folder of five top potential candidates for Vivian to interview.

Vivian didn’t suppose it would be possible to get someone quite as good as Jane, but perhaps with some training, her replacement could learn to equal Jane’s efficiency and skill. Work ethic was something that couldn’t be learned. Finding someone who was willing to put in the work and had the right kind of personality was the most important thing.

You could train in skills if you weren’t afraid of hard work, but people who didn’t like to work typically didn’t change, and neither did non-cooperative personalities generally shift at all.

Jane knew all of this, of course, and picked accordingly. All Vivian had to do was interview the replacements. She wasn’t worried about the process, though she was still sad to be losing Jane. The hiring process, however, was something she’d done many times before.

How different could this time be?