17. Lucian
17
LUCIAN
“ O h fuck. God, yes… give it to me…” Ivy’s nails sank into my back, her other hand running through my wet hair. “You feel so fucking good inside me…”
I knew what she meant. It felt heavenly inside her. Better than I could ever remember feeling. I had been with so many nameless, faceless women who may as well have been from the same cookie cutter. All the same—hot and willing, but nothing special.
Not her. Not this. Moving inside her with the shower beating down on us, we were lost in each other for these last few moments before we had to break the spell that somehow wound itself around us last night at dinner.
Waking up with her this morning felt so right, and I wished we could call out and spend the day together. I didn’t want it to end.
But it would, and it was about to once my balls lifted and a familiar tingle stirred at the base of my spine. “Come inside me,” she moaned, moving with me. “I’m on the pill. I need to feel all of you deep inside me.”
Fuck, yes. I was already close to coming when her invitation pushed me closer than ever. But I needed more. I needed to sink myself so deep she’d feel me tomorrow.
I pinned her to the tile with my body, thrusting faster, harder, determined to bury myself to the hilt and grinding that little bit more. The head of my cock nudged at her cervix, and she gasped, letting out a pleasure-filled whimper. Feeling every inch of her without any barriers was more than I could have ever fantasized about and had me rushing to the end, giving myself over to the mind-blowing sensation. She clamped down around me and shouted her release, the sound echoing off the walls and the glass door.
It was a rush, letting myself go, burying myself deep so she could milk me, and feeling every ripple with no barrier between us. I buried my face in her neck, breathing hard, coming back to my senses while she trembled and whimpered.
“I can think of worse ways to start a day.” I kissed her as I withdrew, noticing the slight touch of regret when I did. What was she doing to me?
There wasn’t any time to think about that. Thanks to our quickie, we were running late, not that I minded. “Don’t worry,” I reminded her once we finished washing up and stepped out of the stall to dry off. “I won’t get mad if you’re late today.”
“Thanks a lot, but I won’t be.” Still, though she sounded confident, she frowned. “Great. I’m gonna leave here in a cocktail dress at seven-thirty in the morning. What’s that going to look like?”
With a grin, I said, “It’s going to look like you had a good time, Poison. I’ll send you home in my car and have you dropped off at the office too.”
She paused in the act of collecting her clothes. “We can’t do that. Maybe to go home, but not to go to the office. What if somebody saw?”
I doubted anyone would notice Ivy climbing out of the back of a Rolls-Royce Ghost and somehow connect her to me, but I decided to let it go. “Whatever makes you comfortable. You’d better get moving, not that I want to let you go.”
There was something bittersweet about kissing her goodbye once she was dressed, her wet hair pulled back in a ponytail, and her face makeup-free, unlike last night. She would have laughed and rolled her eyes if I told her she looked better than she did when she climbed out of the limousine, but it was the truth. She had never been more beautiful.
I knew what was happening. There was no point in denying it as I shaved and got dressed. I was falling for her. It was unexpected, to say the least, and no one could’ve been more surprised than me. That didn’t change the way I craved her day in and day out. Not her body alone, her smell, or her taste, but Ivy herself. She was poison, after all, like the strongest heroin corrupting my system. It didn’t seem like I would ever shake her.
I didn’t think I wanted to.
It was Wednesday morning, and there was no time to waste. I would already be a few minutes late for my breakfast meeting with Dad at eight, but it wouldn’t kill him to wait. I wasn’t in any hurry to see him after his performance in my office. I could only hope he had calmed down for both our sakes as I headed out to the attached garage and got behind the wheel of my spare car, a Rolls-Royce Spectre.
It took a lot to get me to drive myself anywhere when I had a perfectly good driver who needed to earn his salary, but then he was already working. And Ivy was worth it.
Goddamn, when did I fall for her? I hadn’t been paying attention, but it was getting increasingly obvious she was becoming part of me. I didn’t know how to navigate this—I had never been here before. How could I know she felt the same way? Would I have to ask my cousin, Colton, for his advice, being married and on the verge of fatherhood and whatnot?
No, something tells me it’s the kind of thing I’ll have to figure out on my own. The thought sent chills across my skin.
A thought that was still on my mind by the time I reached Dad’s office. “Thank you for keeping me waiting,” he announced when I walked in.
So that was the way it would be.
“I’m eight minutes late,” I pointed out, grabbing food from the tray delivered earlier. Today, it was breakfast wraps and fresh fruit. “I hope you didn’t call the police to report me missing.”
He grunted behind me. “All right, let’s save the smart-ass comments for a day when I have the time. There’s something we need to discuss this morning.”
Turning, I asked, “Don’t we always have things to discuss? I hope it’s not about my personal life this time.”
He ignored my quip. “It’s time to start thinning the herd.”
His choice of words made me stop halfway to the table where he waited. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, the redundancies we discussed weeks ago. I’ve discussed it with the heads of the other divisions, and they understand we need to make decisions on who stays and who goes. It’s been long enough since the buyout for that to be established.”
There went the rest of my good mood. The redundancies. Had I forgotten about them, or did I simply not want to think about them? Either way, I had lost sight of where this was going. “I see,” I choked out, taking a seat and looking down at food I was suddenly not hungry enough to eat.
Was Ivy one of them? No, Dad had told me she wouldn’t be. Or had he? I took my time sipping my coffee, trying to claw the memory back. Had he confirmed anything either way?
“So?” he prompted, finishing a wedge of pineapple like a man without a care in the world. “I’m going to need your list.”
“My list?”
Rolling his eyes, he sighed, “Lucian. I’m not in the mood to play games. Yes, your list. You are the vice president of the digital media division. These are your people. Who can we cut free?” The nightmare got worse. When he explained it, it made sense. Of course, I would be the one to handle this. But how was I supposed to do it?
“Being a leader isn’t all about being everybody’s friend. There are times when decisions need to be made for the sake of the company.” He softly snorted while I stared out the window, struggling to grasp what was in front of me. “Don’t worry, they’ll receive severance benefits. We can afford to be generous, especially considering the boom in ad revenue you’ve brought in.”
“They brought it in,” I replied without thinking. “If we’ve brought in this new revenue, why not expand the division to include everybody?”
Normally, his exasperated sigh would have made my blood pressure skyrocket. I was too far past the point of shock for it to register now. “Here’s a business tip,” he explained in his patented condescending tone. “When your revenue goes up, the idea is for profits to follow suit. What’s the point of keeping everybody on the payroll indefinitely other than wasting money and drowning in inefficiency?”
I barely heard him, gazing out over the skyline but seeing none of it. Instead, I saw people laughing at the lodge, dancing during the party, chatting over coffee at Ivy’s desk.
Ivy. This was going to fucking destroy her, to stand back and watch her friends being laid off with no warning. “How am I going to tell them?” I whispered, dread filling me along with a lot of guilt.
“How will you tell them… or how will you tell her?”
There was a healthy dose of suspicion in his voice, but I dismissed it. I had bigger things to worry about than his suspicious nature. What, was it that unthinkable, caring about a colleague? “I’m sure Ivy will be upset if that’s who you mean.”
“Upset to lose her job? I’m sure she will be.”
There had been times in my life when I would have sworn my brain rebooted like a computer. When I heard something so shocking, I couldn’t react or even absorb it at first—most recently when Colton announced Rose’s pregnancy at their engagement party. That was a real brain reboot moment.
It was nothing compared to this, almost choking on my spit as I turned back toward Dad. He had the audacity to blink at me, blank-faced. “What?” he asked. “Obviously, she would have to go. She taught you a great deal, and she will be rewarded for it, trust me, especially because she made it possible for you to take control of your team. I’ll always be grateful to her for that.”
It was all wrong, but things were always going to be this way. I let myself forget, was all. Or maybe I wanted to forget. In the end, it didn’t matter. I was in much too deep for this to only be a matter of business.
How could I tell him? Desperation started bubbling in my chest. “We can’t keep her on?” I asked, rubbing my sweaty palms against my thighs. “She has such a good way with people, and everyone on the team respects her.”
“Are you looking for an assistant?” he asked, tipping his head to the side. “Because you will need one now that you’re stepping fully into your position.”
“Dad, how can we ask a former vice president to work as an assistant?”
I knew I was in trouble when he set his coffee aside and folded his hands on the table. “Why don’t we get down to business?” he suggested. “I’m through fucking around with you. I know where you were last night. I know who you were with last night. And there will never be a better time to get that girl out of this company because she is not the sort of girl you need to become involved with.”
For the second time in minutes, I had another brain cataclysm. Normally, I would have broken my back to hide my shock and dismay. There wasn’t much I hated more than letting him know he got to me.
There was no pretending now, with the edges of my vision going red. “You would go that far to meddle in my life?”
“You think I wouldn’t have you followed after your performance lately? Thumbing your nose at me, embarrassing your mother, giving our friends a reason to gossip. Do you know me at all, Lucian?”
I couldn’t make sense of anything he was saying, thanks to the screaming in my head. “You followed me?”
He had to scoff, the bastard. “I had you followed. At my age, I don’t have the stamina to keep up with you. I know you were out. I know who you were out with, and it’s not happening. She’s taught you what you needed to learn, and it’s time for her to go along with the others we don’t need.” And that was it. The great Connor Diamond had made up his mind. To hell with the rest of us.
“How can you do this?” I asked in disbelief.
“How can I make decisions for the best outcome of my company?”
My teeth gritted, I growled, “How can you treat people like they don’t matter?”
“Oh, don’t give me that.” He waved a dismissive hand, scoffing. “You’re only saying this to go against me.”
“You would think that because you think everything I do revolves around you and our family name. Ivy cannot afford to lose this job. I am not letting her go.” Was I only talking about the job? I couldn’t tell. Did it matter?
He leaned back in the chair, head cocked to the side. “Are you listening to yourself? Do you know how this sounds?”
With my teeth bared in a snarl, I didn’t care to hide anymore. I grunted out, “I. Am not. Letting her go.”
“Then you will find a job elsewhere because we do not need her.”
Was it his choice of words or the cold way he delivered them? Regardless, a switch flipped in my head. That was all it took for everything to change. “You know what? That’s a great idea.” I stood, buttoning my jacket. “Thank you.”
“What? What’s a great idea?”
“A new job. Because I want nothing to do with this one.”
He clicked his tongue like he was disappointed. “All right, enough bullshit. You don’t want me to call your bluff, son.”
“Frankly, I wish you would. If Ivy goes, so do I. She is the only reason I’ve been able to do a damn thing. And as for her ‘not being the right kind of woman,’” I continued, making air quotes with my fingers. “You couldn’t be more wrong. At your age, shouldn’t you know there’s more to a person than the family they were born into? Or how much money is in their trust fund? Are you that shallow?”
The funny thing was, it hadn’t been that long ago since I felt that way—considering myself better than the people working for me or laughing off the idea of sharing a hotel room with one of them, never imagining what their lives were like outside the office. Not until Ivy had opened my eyes and revealed the sort of boss and man I wanted to be.
It was my turn to scoff at him, backing away. “You can take this job, this company, and your goddamn precious legacy and shove them up your self-righteous ass. I’m gone.”
“You are not,” he insisted as I turned away, marching to the door.
“I am. I’ve never wanted this in the first place.”
“You have a responsibility to this company as one of its vice presidents. You will not storm out of here in a huff unless you don’t care about the trust fund I could easily revoke.”
My trust. He was threatening my trust, cutting me off.
What a shame we hadn’t stayed in bed this morning.
“What are you saying?” I asked, my back to him while I stared out at the cubicles and the people arriving for the day.
“I’m saying you will provide a list by close of business tomorrow. On it will be the names of who we’re letting go at the end of the day on Friday.” I didn’t need to see his face to know he wore a triumphant smirk. “We already have the benefits packages put together and only need the names.”
“Not Ivy,” I warned. “I’m not letting her go.”
His soft laughter followed me out of the room. “We’ll see about that.”
He had me by the balls, and there was nothing I could do about it unless I wanted to start my life from scratch. Even without that to consider, walking out would cause an enormous scandal. As much as I would’ve loved to see Dad’s head explode over negative press, I didn’t love the idea of being hounded in the media my family didn’t control. It would break Mom’s heart too.
What about Ivy’s heart? How could I face her now?
It was still well before nine, meaning her desk was empty. Still getting ready, probably, after ducking out of my place in last night’s dress. I decided to hole up in my office, the glass frosted for privacy’s sake, while I worked like hell to find a way out of this disaster.
If there was a way out.