Chapter 4 #2
I want to reach across the table, grab his white shirt collar, yank his lips to mine, and grind my pussy against his lap.
That or slap him. But seeing him dethroned from being CEO will have to do.
Ryder Alexander may be one of the most attractive males on the planet, but he hurt me.
Though we were young, I haven’t gotten over the urge to make him hurt back.
If I don’t, no one will, and that massive ego will continue to conquer and destroy.
That’s not why I’m here, though. I’m here for a much deeper reason.
“Remember the last time we saw each other?” I ask Ryder.
“How could I forget?”
I nod. I thought so. He knows what a jerk he was to me, even after his family preyed upon mine.
Well, two can play at this game. All I care about is if he’s successfully chosen another CEO.
I want to ask, but not with Lee listening.
Though, when Lee spots a group of his friends playing volleyball on the beach and excuses himself, it’s my chance.
“I thought you were leaving,” Ryder says to me.
“I am. Don’t forget to call my assistant with your decision tonight. We need to get that press release out ASAP and have a solid contract for the new CEO. It can’t fall through.”
“Done,” he says.
“Miles accepted?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then, who?”
“I’ll tell you if you stay for another drink.”
I laugh bitterly, placing my purse on the table, ready to stand up. “It’s been a slice.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t care.” The way he looks at me, I wonder if he knows what’s going on with me. He couldn’t possibly know.
“Why would I care who saves your bacon? I get paid either way.” Though we never discussed a contract. I suggested we sign an NDA for his protection via email, and his response was that he trusted me. Not sure why.
“That so.” He leans back in his chair.
“Goodnight, Mr. Alexander. Enjoy your last evening as CEO,” I say.
“You think you’re hurting me? I never wanted to be CEO of this dusty company anyway. It was my father’s dream, and Miles was next in line. He’s been hiding out too long, and this was the perfect excuse to get my brother’s ass out of the woods.”
“Miles is considering leaving his rock?” Ryder’s handsome older brother’s solitary lifestyle was hard to understand.
Miles was as charming as Ryder in his own way and held an aura of power that made people gravitate toward him.
Though I knew he’d endured something serious.
It was a mystery to me—and everyone else—that he could live alone all these years.
“Not exactly.” Ryder sips on his Scotch.
Lee appears at the table, out of breath. “Where do you think you’re going, Charlie?”
“Yeah, where do you think you’re going, Charlie?” Ryder’s voice is a sexy drawl. His molten focus rakes me up and down. The visceral response it creates in me is an unwanted reaction.
I roll my eyes. Lee is still puffing. “My volleyball skills are not what they used to be. All the long hours this one subjects me to.” He nudges Ryder. “But don’t worry, boss. I love my job more than life itself.”
“I think you love life more than you think,” Ryder says.
“You’re right, I do. Please stay for one more, Charlie. Don’t leave me alone with this shark.” Lee hugs my arm.
“I think this one might be the shark.” Ryder tips his chin at me, sipping his drink. The scotch wets his full lips as his focus simmers, moving through me like falling dominoes.
“Stay, please,” Lee says, and it’s like I’m a wet rag with no bones in my body.
I’ve had enough of this. Ryder Alexander is flirting with me, probably just to exude his power.
Lee is tugging on my arm, and I’m too boneless to fight.
Or maybe not boneless. I’m afraid to leave Ryder alone.
I don’t trust him not to make everything worse.
“Please,” Ryder coos, his voice smooth as a cup of elephant dung coffee. Almost smooth enough to remember why I fell so hard for him in the first place, despite everything aching inside me.
Four servers show up at our table holding multiple plates of food.
One places a steak with the fattest prawns I’ve seen in front of me.
My mouth waters even though I’ve been nibbling.
My stomach is also queasy from seeing Ryder again.
He’s the one person who really got under my skin.
The one person who lacerated my heart. Yet, it only happened because I let it.
Heartbreak would never happen to me again.
Now, I’m a coldhearted executive fixing broken people in a broken world. And I am here for one reason alone.
“You can’t leave before we eat. That would be rude, even for you,” Lee says to me.
“Very rude.” Ryder’s eyes slit over his glass. Who are these two? They’re cute together in a weird way. Guilt creeps up my throat like a sickness. Lee might lose his job, but that’s not all that is weighing on me. I should really leave.
“Sit.” Lee squints at me.
“Fine.” I plop myself down and cut into a juicy steak.
However, I’m wondering about what Ryder said.
Was it that easy for him to pass up being a CEO, and what did he want for himself?
He’d inherited enough money never to have to work again, but surely, he wanted more.
I couldn’t imagine living without pressure, even when you had all the money in the world.
But when I look across the water and see the sailboats bobbing in the waves, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to be let adrift—to let open my sails and have the wind steer me like it once did with Ryder.
Like that’s a remote possibility. My freedom was flushed down the drain eight years ago when my father did business with the Alexanders.