Chapter 11
“Turns out the kraken isn’t the only thing getting released.” ~ Jeremy
Jeremy
I settle at the corner table in the bakery with my laptop. Since it’s not open today, Parker said I could work here.
Anything’s better than sitting in the loft trying to figure out where I went wrong with this app. I had such big hopes for Synq. The whole company of Apparoo does. And they’re all looking at me – waiting for me to pull it off, like I always do. Or always have done in the past.
This time is different. Every time I open my laptop, my chest tightens. My fingers hesitate. What if I can’t figure out this problem? What if this is the moment I drop the ball and everything falls apart?
I scowl when my telephone rings. I should have left it upstairs except the other board members freak out if they can’t reach me. Except Eli. He knows I don’t answer the phone when I’m in the zone.
Too bad I haven’t been in the zone for months now.
My scowl deepens when I notice who it is. Miranda. Miranda is Eli’s secretary, but she uses every excuse she can to contact me.
“What?” I bark into the phone.
“Jeremy.” She giggles in that high-pitched fake way women do when they want something from you.
The sound isn’t similar to the way Parker giggles. Happiness practically bursts from her when she giggles. Especially when she’s giggling because I have blue frosting on my shoes. The shoes are now ruined. Worth it.
“What do you want?” I growl. I have zero patience for Miranda. She’s hit on every member of the board at Apparoo. If Eli was in the office more often, she’d have been fired by now.
“Everyone’s wondering when you’ll be in the office again.” Instead of giggling, this time she uses a breathy voice. It doesn’t sound any more real than her laughter. I really should insist Eli fire her. It’s time.
I am sick and tired of women who will do anything in their power to ‘catch’ a rich husband. I’m not a fish. I’m not a thing you catch and play with. I’m a human being.
“I’ll be in the office when I’m in the office.”
“No fair.” Now she’s pouting. I know her well enough to imagine her lower lip jutting out in an attempt to be sexy. It’s not. “We miss you.”
“Miranda,” I growl. “I don’t have time for this.”
“I know. I know. You’re a busy man. You should make time for fun.”
I made time for fun this morning. Parker was panicking about finishing the gingerbread house before the deadline.
And I actually had fun helping her. It was inspiring watching her creation come to life.
I can honestly say I’ve never seen a mermaid or a pirate on a gingerbread house before but it worked.
She’s amazing. And sexy. If Parker was the one on the phone trying so obviously to seduce me, I wouldn’t hesitate. But the baker hates me. Ever since she found out I’m a billionaire, she’s made it perfectly obvious what she thinks of me and my money.
I wonder why she has an issue with money. I wonder how her skin feels. How would she react if I pulled her into my arms and kissed her?
My cock grows and hardens. It wants to know how it feels when buried deep inside her. The feeling is mutual.
“Jeremy!” Miranda shouts and my cock immediately deflates. It has no interest in a gold digger. “Are you listening to me?”
“No.”
“Don’t be rude.”
“I’m being honest. I told you I don’t have time for you. If you don’t have any real business with me, I’m hanging up.”
“The technical team wants the specs.”
“The specs for what?”
“They said you’d know.”
“Did they ask you to contact me?” I can’t imagine anyone from the technical team asking Miranda to reach out to me. She doesn’t deign to speak to them.
“Well, no, but I heard them talking.”
“You heard them talking?” The technical team is on a different floor from the executives. The floor has the best security money can buy. No one is stealing an idea from Apparoo. Not if I can help it.
“Kind of.”
“I’m hanging up now.” She starts to protest but I hit end call. And then I put my phone on ‘do not disturb’. Miranda is not on the list of names of people who can interrupt me when I need to work.
I throw my phone on the table and get back to work.
The door to the kitchen bangs open from outside but I ignore it. It’s probably Parker returning. Although the bakery is closed for the day, she said she’d be back after lunch to get an early start on the baking for tomorrow.
My stomach rumbles. I forgot all about lunch. I ignore it, too. I’m not going to finish coding this app if I stop working every time I’m distracted.
I concentrate on the lines of code as I try to find where I left off. The screen blurs in front of me. I yawn and rub my eyes. I’m tired, but I need to push through. But then my stomach rumbles again.
Crap. I’m not getting any work done until I’ve had a bite to eat. I think I have a protein bar in one of my bags. I’ll grab it and be back to work in less than five minutes.
I push to my feet and make my way to the kitchen.
“Stupid, idiotic people,” Parker mutters as she slams the door of the refrigerator shut.
She picks up her bakery tools and throws them in the sink. “They think they can tell me what to do?” She switches on the water, pours in some dishwashing liquid, and glares as the soapy water rises. “I’ll tell them what they can do.”
“Parker,” I call.
She whirls around with a scream. “Don’t make me release the kraken!”
I chuckle as I raise my hands. “Don’t release the kraken. It’s only me. Jeremy.”
She clutches her chest. “What are you doing sneaking up on me?”
“You must not have heard me over your fight with your spatulas.”
She narrows her eyes on me. “I am not fighting with my spatulas.”
“Okay.” I cross my arms over my chest and lean against her prep table. “What are you fighting with then? Is it the refrigerator? Or maybe your wooden spoon?”
“You’re not funny.”
I point to her. “But you’re not throwing daggers at me with your eyes anymore.”
“Oh, please. If I was throwing daggers at you with my eyes, you’d be laying on the floor bleeding out while I release the kraken to devour you.”
I gulp. “Devour me?”
“I can’t have your blood all over my floor. Health code violation.”
“You wouldn’t want to violate the health code. Murder is fine. But the health code is sacred.”
“Murder is totally fine when it’s justified.”
I lift an eyebrow. “And you’re justified in murdering me?”
“Not you. My parents.”
My brow wrinkles. “Your parents?”
“Yes.” She nods. “The man and woman who created me. Biologically speaking. Do you think children are delivered by storks? I hope you don’t expect me to give you the birds and the bees speech. I don’t have the patience today.”
“I do not need the birds and the bees speech.”
“Phew.” She runs the back of her hand over her forehead. “One less task for the day.”
“Your other task is to murder your parents?”
She scowls. “No one would blame me.”
“Why would no one blame you?”
Her hands fist at her hips, and a muscle in her jaw ticks. “Because they’re horrible people.”
I start to console her. They can’t be that bad. But I stop. I know exactly how bad parents can be. My parents are an excellent example of assholes who should have never procreated.
“What did they do?”
“What didn’t they do?” She flings her hands in the air and soapy water flies everywhere.
“They try to control me. They want free pies because they shouldn’t have to pay their daughter for her work.
But they don’t bother to frequent my bakery.
They’d rather go to some stupid chain coffee shop on the boardwalk than see me every day.
Oh, and I should totally quit the bakery and go work for Hudson at the resort. Me? Work for someone? Not happening.”
I can’t make heads or tails of what she’s saying. But I know better than to interrupt a woman when she’s mid rant. She’ll switch her anger to me faster than I can blink.
“And if I don’t want to work for Hudson, I should at least be in Paris baking at a patisserie. Because they spent way too much money on my education for me to work on this island. They should have told me they wouldn’t pay for my schooling if they were going to add strings afterwards.”
Her chest heaves up and down as she struggles for breath. Damn it. I can’t let her hyperventilate. I’m going in. Wish me luck.
I step closer and run a hand from her shoulder down to her wrist. I capture her wrist and rub my thumb against her pulse point. She gasps and I glance at her face. Her eyes are widened and her cheeks are flushed. She’s never been more beautiful than now.
“I’m going to kiss you,” I murmur.
She licks her lips and I moan.
“And I’m going to let you.”
Thank fuck. I meld my lips to hers. They’re as soft as I suspected. There’s no slick lipstick filled with fake chemicals. This is all Parker.
“Let me in,” I demand against her mouth.
She doesn’t hesitate and my tongue swoops into her mouth. She tastes of coffee and sugar with a hint of sea. I groan and dive deeper. My blood pulses in my veins as I attempt to memorize every inch of her mouth.
She clings to my shoulders and I wrap my arms around her waist and tug until her body slams into mine. I can feel her hard nipples poking at my chest. I want to taste those. I wrench my lips from hers before trailing kisses along her jaw. She drops her head back to give me more room.
I gather the material of her sweater and begin to—
My phone rings and I swear under my breath. “Sorry, I need to answer this.”
I make certain she’s steady on her feet before stepping away to answer my phone. Such bad timing. Another five minutes and I would have Parker stripped naked before me.
My cock presses against my zipper. Make that three minutes.