Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
ADRIANNA
The alarm on my phone dings, signaling it’s time to get ready for the staff meeting, so I start to gather up my things. Two pens, a notebook, and my tablet. I prefer to take notes on my tablet, and while the battery is fully charged, I like to be prepared.
My phone rings, making me frown. When I see the caller is Elijah, I can’t help but groan.
Goddamn him. His timing is shit. Absolute shit.
“How can I help you, Mr. Samson?” I ask, as nicely as possible.
“Come into my office,” he demands before hanging up.
My eye twitches at his lack of saying please. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever met a man with Elijah’s level of entitlement.
Gathering my things, I take a few steps and let myself into his office.
“How can I help you, Mr. Samson?” I ask, trying to sound unbothered.
He frowns when he looks over at me. “You didn’t knock.”
Why would I knock when just seconds ago you demanded I come to your office?
“My apologies.” I fake smile. “Is there something I can do for you before I go to the staff meeting?”
He leans back in his chair and steeples his hands in front of his face. If he were any other man, I know my gaze would drop to his forearms that he has on display thanks to his sleeves being rolled up to his elbows.
“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Why wasn’t the staff meeting on my calendar?”
“I wasn’t aware that you would want to go to the staff meeting, sir,” I grit out, trying to keep my smile intact.
The corner of his eye twitches. “If it happens here, I want to be involved.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I didn’t realize. Mrs. Williamson never joined us, so I just assumed…”
“You know what they say about assuming…” he says, raising an eyebrow.
This motherfucker. I swear to God I might not make it to the end of the week without drugging his food so he has the shits. I’d do about anything to get him out of the office for just a few hours.
“What is on the meeting’s agenda?” he asks, pulling me out of my murder plot.
“Mr. Samson, there really is no reason for you to attend. The staff meeting is simply our way of checking in with everyone, seeing what they need, and seeing where they are on projects. If you would like, I could send you my detailed notes after it’s over.”
Take me up on the notes. Take me up on the…
“No,” he says, cutting off my inner pleading. “I know Mrs. Williamson let you handle everything here, but that’s not how I operate.”
The alarm goes off on my phone once again, only this time warning me that I have three minutes to get to the conference room.
“Well then, we best get to the conference room.”
Elijah stands and grabs his suit jacket. While he puts it on, I spin on my heel and leave him behind, rushing toward the room I set up earlier. When I step inside, I see that I am not, in fact, the first one in the room, making my heart sink.
Goddamn him.
If he hadn’t held me up, I could have greeted everyone with a friendly smile.
“Everything okay, Adrianna?” Boris from accounting asks.
“Yes, of course. Why?”
Boris shrugs. “You are never late.”
I offer him a brittle smile. “I got held up for a moment, but I’m here now.”
Others start to filter through the room, chatting as they take seats around the table. I sit down at the head of the table, where I always sit to lead the meetings. I scan the room and see that everyone has arrived except for Elijah.
Maybe he got caught up or changed his mind.
“All right, let’s get started, everyone,” I say brightly.
A throat clearing has me looking over at the door. Elijah stands in the doorframe, looking at me.
“I believe that’s my seat.”
“Yes, of course. Sorry, sir,” I mutter through clenched teeth.
I move one seat down from him and begin to readjust my tablet, notebook, and pens.
Elijah leans back in the chair and crosses his ankle over his leg. “Carry on. Pretend as if I’m not here.”
If you weren’t here, then you wouldn’t be in my chair, I think bitterly.
Everyone looks at me, and I paste on my smile.
“Boris, why don’t you start? Can you give me an update on accounting and the fundraising, please?” I ask as I reach for my tablet.
Boris jumps right in, and I begin taking notes, nodding when appropriate, but I find that I’m not as engaged as I should be, all because Elijah Samson is once again sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.
Do I understand that this is technically part of his job? Of course, but it’s also been mine for years. It feels like a slap to the face that suddenly I’m not trusted to keep things going.
Maybe I should just come forward and be honest with the Williamson brothers and tell them that I’m the one who’s been running everything while their mother has been absent.
I feel someone slap my legs and turn to look at Lori, who’s sitting next to me.
The room has fallen silent, and I realize that Boris is done with his update, so I call the next person, Quinn.
Again and again I repeat the process until everyone has spoken, given us an update, timelines, and letting us know if they need anything.
“All right, everyone, I think that’s all for today. I’ll be sending out notes on today’s meeting. If you would like anything added, just let me know,” I tell them when the meeting ends.
The room clears out, and I move to stand.
“Sit,” Elijah demands.
My jaw clenches, but I do as he said, and squeeze my hands together in my lap, under the table.
“Do you always let them run the meeting?”
“Excuse me?” I ask, shaking my head.
“Is this how things have always been done around here?” he presses.
“Yes, this is what has worked for us.”
“I think your definition of working and mine are different, Ms. Baker,” he murmurs.
I feel as if he just rubbed salt into my already open wound.
I fucking hate this man.
“Sir, with all due respect, we have a good thing going here. We all know our place and what’s expected of us. While it might not be up to your standards, that doesn’t mean it isn’t working.”
“We will see about that. You’re dismissed,” he says, waving his hand toward me.
I vividly picture grabbing his wrist and twisting it behind his back hard. I wouldn’t let go until he begged me to.
He clears his throat and raises a brow.
Quickly I gather up my shit and leave him behind in the conference room. I really, really dislike him, and I don’t know how much more I can take.
ELIJAH
“You made it,” Brantley says as he steps to the side.
“You make it sound like I was late,” I say as I hand him a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch.
“Only one?” He smirks, making me roll my eyes.
“Where is everyone?”
“Come on.”
I fall into step next to him, and when we step into the living room, I see that Mason and Max are already here.
“You’re late,” Mason quips.
I roll my eyes as I sit down in the chair across from him and Max.
Max looks as if he would rather be anywhere else than here, and it makes me smile.
The man is an introvert at his core, and because of his line of work, at the end of the day, he’s often peopled out.
He’s the exact opposite of his brother Mason, who thrives when surrounded by his peers.
“How are you two?” I ask as Brantley pours me a drink.
“I’m fucking fantastic, man. I have a beautiful woman at home who loves me and a kid I adore.” Mason smiles.
“Your happiness is concerning,” Brantley deadpans as he hands me a drink before sitting down.
“Don’t hate just because you are jealous.”
Brantley scoffs. “Please, being locked down to one woman for the rest of my life sounds like a nightmare.”
“Even if it was Chloe?” I hide my smile behind my glass.
Chloe is Olivia’s best friend and a handful. When Mason claimed his soul mate and their daughter, the hellion came along with them. A hellion who sets Brantley off and doesn’t swoon all over him. It drives him mad.
“That woman is a fucking nut. I don’t know why we let her hang around,” Brantley says with zero heat.
If there is one thing you need to know about Chloe, it’s that she has an obsession with serial killers and always knows when to make an inappropriate joke.
You honestly never know what’s going to come out of her mouth.
While most people might look down on her for giving zero fucks, that’s why I like her.
“No Chloe slander. You know how I feel about her and everything she did for Olivia when I wasn’t around,” Mason warns.
Mason and his wife Olivia had a one-night stand that resulted in the creation of their daughter, Arianna. Chloe was there through it all with Olivia for years while Mason had no idea he had a child out there.
Brantley rolls his eyes but bites his tongue.
“What’s going on over at The Williamson?” I ask, referring to the family hotel.
Ever since Mason took over for Max, there have been some growing pains.
He runs his people differently than Max does.
It’s bound to happen when you have two brothers who were always vying to have their independence.
Neither way is wrong, but when the employees are used to a certain environment, it can cause waves.
Trust me, I know. I’m dealing with it myself at the foundation.
“No complaints,” Mason says, and Max nods in agreement.
“Iris is happy, so I’m happy,” Max says.
Iris is his best friend and right hand when it comes to his life. She helped him run the hotel, and now she’s helping him run The Williamson Group. He would be lost without her.
“Are you ever going to make an honest woman out of her?” Brantley quips.
Max glares at him as we laugh. We all know it would take the end of the world happening to make them finally get together, and even then, it would be questionable.
My phone vibrates, and I pull it out of my pocket. I grunt when I see it’s an email from Adrianna detailing today’s meeting notes.
“Everything okay?” Mason asks.
I take a deep pull from my glass and shake my head as the alcohol slides down my throat. “She’s a goddamn menace,” I tell them.
Brantley groans, tossing his head back. “Not again. Whatever happened to guys’ night where we talked about sports and our latest one-night stand?”
“Pretty sure the only person who ever did that was you,” Max tells him.
“What did she do that was so bad this time?” Mason asks.
“She never put the staff meeting on my schedule. I only found out about it because I heard some guys talking about it in the restroom.” I shake my head.
“When I informed her I was going, she seemed put out over the idea that I wanted to know what the fuck was happening. Then, when I went to join, she was sitting at the head of the fucking table like she was in charge,” I spew.
Mason frowns as he drums his fingers on the arm of the couch, thinking.
“Maybe she is used to being in charge.” Max shrugs.
“What do you mean?” I ask, frowning.
“Maybe she was secretly running it this entire time,” Max says.
“Mom had too many control issues to give up her pride and joy,” Mason points out.
“She wasn’t there all the time, though. It would make sense that she would have someone else run staff meetings and such,” Max says.
“Possibly, but it’s Mom we are talking about.” Mason gives him a pointed look.
Max swirls his glass. “Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m right. There’s only one way to find out.”
“I’m not fucking asking her. It would go straight to her goddamn head. Especially when everyone already looks at her to judge what their reactions should be.”
“You know what you should do?” Brantley says.
“What?” I ask.
“Fuck her.” I open my mouth to say absolutely not, but he cuts me off. “Don’t even say you aren’t tempted. I’ve caught glimpses of her in the past. The girl is a bombshell and your type. Fucking her would solve all of your problems.”
He’s both wrong and right all at the same time.
Yes, Adrianna is exactly my type. When she stands next to me, the top of her head is level with my chin.
Her dark blond, light brown hair brushes just below her collarbone.
Her blue eyes suck me in. She’s gorgeous, and I would love to have her under me if she were anyone else, but we work together.
I have never and will never sleep with someone who works for me.
That’s just asking for trouble, and I’m not willing to risk it.
He waves his finger at me. “Ah, I see you’re considering it.”
“Is she attractive? Yes, but never, and I mean never, are she and I going to happen,” I tell him. “I can’t even stand hearing her voice. I don’t stick my dick in crazy like you, bro.”
“Eh, we will see. Now can we talk about anything, and I mean anything else?” Brantley says.
“How are the Foxes doing?” Mason asks, referring to Brantley’s professional hockey team.
While the guys start talking about sports, my mind drifts back to the woman with hair that’s not quite brown yet too dark to be blond and blue eyes. I have to find a way to get rid of her before I do something I’ll regret.