CHAPTER ONE
Five Years Later
Carrie
I looked around the new office. I’d never been here when my father-in-law had been CEO. It was… huge. “God. I had no idea it was so massive.”
Thatcher looked at me wryly. “That’s what she said,” he quipped.
I rolled my eyes but smiled.
“Come on. You left yourself wide open for that one.” He looked around the office. “Yeah. Dad never did anything halfway.”
“That’s for sure.” I couldn’t pretend that I would miss my father-in-law.
He’d only ever made me feel uncomfortable by staring at my body or treating me like I wasn’t good enough for his son.
So, I wasn’t sad he was gone. But I did feel bad for Thatcher.
Even though they’d never been close, he’d still lost his father.
“It feels too soon to be moving in here,” he said, walking over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and taking in the impressive view of downtown Buckhead, an affluent area in the northern part of Atlanta.
“It’s been several months,” I reminded him gently. “Your mom says the employees are starting to talk.” I’d never been on my mother-in-law’s side before, but even I’d seen that she had a point this time.
He sighed. “Yeah. I guess they are. If I don’t move in here, they’re going to start thinking I’m not really the new CEO.”
I walked around, taking in the surroundings. “You can always have it redecorated.”
“I’m definitely going to,” he said, moving pictures around on his massive new desk.
Workers had re-located all of Thatcher’s things to his dad’s office a few days ago, but he was still dragging his feet about working in there.
I peeked into a closed door, thinking it was a bathroom. Instead, my eyes widened when I saw a huge bedroom, complete with a king-sized bed made up with luxurious linens. A large bathroom with a shower and double sinks was located within the suite, as was a massive walk-in closet.
“Um… Thatcher?” I called.
I heard his footsteps approach, and then he sighed when he saw where I was. “You’re probably wondering why this bedroom is in the office, huh?”
I grinned at him. “You guessed it. My God. It’s nicer than ours, I think.”
“At least nicer than our guest rooms,” he agreed. “My dad had this installed for nights when he was too busy to leave the office.” He rolled his eyes. “That was code for when he wanted to fuck whatever mistress he was with at the time.”
“Gross,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “So, your mom knew whenever he stayed over it was because he was sleeping with some other woman?”
He nodded. “We all did.”
“That’s awful.” I looked up at him, standing on my toes to push the blond hair out of his eyes. “Is that why you didn’t want to move in here?”
He looked around, the muscles in his jaw clenching. “Yeah. I just... don’t ever want to be like him, you know?” He clasped me to him, hugging me tightly.
“You won’t be,” I assured him laying my head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. “You’re not made like him. You’re cut from a different cloth, Thatcher, seriously.” I put my hand on his face, and he leaned into it.
“I just hate what this office reminds me of,” he said quietly.
“I get that. It makes total sense. It’s just… the sooner you get in here, the sooner you can make it your own. You can make all new memories, and before you know it those bad memories will be far behind you.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said, practically pulling me out of the bedroom and closing the door behind us.
“I never want to be like him. Not ever. I think I’d rather die first than cause the kind of pain he inflicted on all of us, especially my mother.
” He looked at me. “I know she’s not the nicest person in the world, but he really did break her heart. ”
I believed it.
“You can get all new bed linens, or even have the bed removed. You know that, right? You’re completely in charge now.”
“I guess you’re right.”
He still sounded hesitant. “Thatch,” I said, putting my hand on his arm, “you need to make the transition. Bryce is trying to be nice about all of this, but you’re keeping him from moving into your office.”
His shoulders slumped. “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
Thatch’s brother Bryce was the director of marketing, and his sister Celia oversaw human resources.
They were the only two members of Thatcher’s family I actually liked.
Karen, his mom, fit the stereotype for a monster-in-law perfectly.
She hated me, and nothing I ever did or said would change that.
I’d accepted it long ago, but it still hurt.
His youngest sibling was his sister Olive. She was a spoiled nightmare who acted a lot like Karen. She hated me, too, and often tried to fix Thatcher up with her single girlfriends. Right in front of me. Needless to say, I wasn’t a big fan.
“I’ll give you some time to get things the way you want them on your desk,” I said. “I’ll just go see if Celia wants to grab a bite for lunch. Do you want me to bring anything back for you?”
“Depends on where you’re going,” he looked up with a wan smile.
I gave him a look. “I’d love to go to La Maison, but I’m waiting for my wonderful husband to take me there.” I was only half joking. I was dying to try the new French restaurant in Buckhead, but Thatcher had been too busy since its opening.
He walked over and pulled me in for a hug. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to take you soon, I promise.” He sat on the edge of his desk and pulled me between his legs, kissing me. Things started out innocently enough but quickly turned frantic.
I finally pulled away, gasping for breath. “If we don’t stop now, we’ll be christening that bedroom. Or you could bend me over the desk,” I suggested with a wink.
He groaned. “Oh God, that sounds good.” He squeezed my ass before spinning me around, pushing me over the desk, and flipping my skirt up.
I felt myself growing impossibly wet as he unzipped his pants and pushed my panties to one side. The next thing I knew, he’d thrust his thick, hard cock inside me until he was fully seated. I cried out, loving the impossibly full feeling.
“What is it, baby?” he asked jerking my hair back and kissing me.
“Fuck me, Thatcher,” I begged as I felt him growing even larger inside me.
He moved his hands to my hips. “Hold on,” he rasped. Then he started moving, pumping into me at a vicious pace, taking me roughly on the desk.
I cried out with each thrust, loving every minute of it. I came fast and hard, the intensity taking me by surprise. Just before I screamed with the pleasure of it, he covered my mouth, anticipating my reaction.
Shortly afterwards, he had to muffle his own passionate yell as he came.
He laid over the top of me, breathing hard, afterwards.
“That was… amazing,” I finally gasped out.
He chuckled darkly. “We’re already making new memories, aren’t we?”
“Definitely,” I grinned, turning around and trying to fix my appearance. “I think I need to freshen up in that bathroom,” I said, but he grabbed me.
“Don’t clean up that pussy,” he said in my ear. “I want you to think of me the rest of the day as I drip out of you.”
I groaned. “You know I love it when you talk like that. You’d better stop or we’ll be in that bed in the next five minutes.”
He looked tempted.
I kissed him once more and pulled away to take care of things in the restroom. Even though I loved Thatcher’s dirty talk, there was no way I was going to be uncomfortable all day.
“You know,” I said as I came back out, “I think I’ll just head home and grab some lunch with Blair, Sadie, and Melinda. I’ve got to get going on this Orchid Ball.”
I’d recently been named chairwoman of the Orchid Ball, the main fundraiser for the Indigo Falls Garden Club.
It was also the social event of the season.
It wouldn’t take place until the end of October, but it took months to plan.
I was under a lot of pressure to make it a huge success.
Part of the reason for that was that my mother had planned the Orchid Ball for the past two decades.
Living up to her tough standards would be almost impossible.
I knew. I’d been trying to live up to them for most of my life.
He kissed my forehead. “I’m so proud of you, baby. You’re going to make it perfect. I know it.”
“And you’ll help me some?” I knew I’d especially need help with getting items donated for the silent auction. With his business and personal contacts, we’d have the best items we’d ever had before.
“I’ll help you in any way that I can,” he said. “When have I ever let you down?”