My heart was beating fast, in both excitement and anxiety. I was going out today with Carlton to have dinner. Unless some of the time at his apartment counted, when he would cook for me and I’d cook for him, then we’d eat together, we were going out on our first official date tonight. The trip to the park didn’t count, either, because Sam was with us, and he’d be with his grandparents for tonight.I walked out the bathroom after a shower, wrapped in a towel. I didn’t know where Carlton would be taking me for dinner, so I just looked through my closet and picked my best outfit. I quickly dried up then pulled on the clothes. I had a pair of silver sandals with a bit of heel that I didn’t wear often, because I didn’t like shoes with heels. I thought I looked good in the mirror.My phone rang, and I hurried over to the bed to pick it up. It was Carlton calling. My heart skipped a beat.“Hello?”“Lexi? Can you let me know if you’re about ready so we can go? I’m waiting for you outside.”“O
I sat back on the desk in dad’s office. I wasn’t going to stay in for the whole day. Dad wasn’t in, either, but I could take a break from work after this, finally. If I’d thought everything that came before was difficult, I’d been so wrong. Investigating was one thing, but taking care of a problem I’d let get so big? Damn near impossible.I almost couldn’t believe I’d finally finished, but now, I was sure it wasn’t time for me to be in this office yet. Dad needed to come back, and I needed to do some more training before I could take over. After all, even if Alec was the one to do it all, because I was so caught up in my head, and in my own problems, I didn’t catch most of what he did, though I should have.Dad didn’t entirely agree with my decision, but he didn’t argue with me when I brought it up with him. Alec, for his part, was still running around the company like he owned the place, but thankfully, while I worked things out, he’d held back from creating trouble. I doubted it was
I should have been in school, but I was in my parents’ home instead. I’d decided to take a short break because morning sickness had kicked in, and I’d had to run out of class a couple times to find a bathroom so I could puke. Even if people wrote it off as a stomach bug, there were people that would put the clues together, and I didn’t want to be the subject of rumors.“Lexi?”“Coming Mom!”I washed my face in the bathroom, then went to the kitchen where Mom was cooking dinner. She looked like an older copy of me, only she was a couple inches taller than I was. She smiled over her shoulder at me as I walked into the kitchen.“Come here and tell me if there’s a smell that makes you sick.”I blushed. “Mom, you don’t have to go that far.”“My baby is going to have a baby! I’m super excited, but you need to take care of yourself. Finding out the foods that trigger your morning sickness, and what kind of foods you crave, will help you get through this phase immediately. I only had morning
CarltonI walked into the room, my twin brother Alec right on my heel. The rest of the board members were already waiting, since we were actually late, but no one said a thing about it. They all stood up as we joined them and took our positions. I took the seat at the head of the table and Alec took the seat to my right. Between us and the other attendees of this board meeting were several empty chairs, and I couldn’t help picturing a canyon separating us from them. The move was definitely deliberate.It was more than enough to know they weren’t happy. They weren’t expecting us to begin with, Dad was supposed to be sitting at this board meeting, but after he’d suffered a heart attack about a week ago, we had taken over for him, for now. He was hardly in the best of health to be handling the company, but since my brother and I were new to the company, we weren’t trusted. It was an unfortunate turn of events, but we all had to adjust to it at our own pace.Somehow, we had to get the bo
Shouldn’t they be out by now?I paced around not too far from the entrance to the conference room, constantly checking and waiting for the doors to open. The child in my arms squirmed, and I bounced him lightly, making soothing noises. I looked down at him, and he watched me back with eyes exactly like his dad’s and grandpa’s.The meeting ran longer than I thought it would. It was only supposed to last an hour, and I’d been inside for nearly thirty minutes before I had to leave. It had been two hours since the meeting started, and the door wasn’t opening yet. I was growing anxious.When were they going to come out? Earlier, the baby had been crying because he had a wet diaper, and I’d changed it. The secretary, Felicity, who I knew worked for Alec, had left me with the baby’s bag, but there wasn’t any snacks or baby food in there. I didn’t know the baby’s feeding schedule, but I did know children had to be fed several times a day, and since I didn’t see any baby food or snacks in the
Before Lexi could give me her reply, the door to my office opened, and I looked up with a frown. It was Felicity, and I felt annoyance seeing her standing right inside the door, fidgeting with her fingers in front of her as she looked at me with a look that was almost fearful.“Sir, I came to apologize for interrupting your meeting today,” she said nervously.I blew out a rough breath before trying to calm myself down. It was hard, trying not to glare at her, but she interrupted at the worst possible moment.“You look like you’re busy,” Lexi said, taking the chance for escape. “Please, just wait a moment. Can you sit down with Sam while I talk to her?”She hesitated, and inside, I felt triumphant, though I didn’t let it show. Sam was doing his part, reaching out for her while making insistent noises to be carried. I felt stupid for forgetting to pack his lunch after I fed him this morning, just before I left the house, but I’d been in a hurry. It seemed like it was a good thing, thou
I followed Carlton as we left his office, with him carrying his coat and the baby bag, and me holding Sam. Even though he’d slowed down his steps for me, I made sure to walk just behind him instead of beside him. Not only because I didn’t want the people we passed to get the wrong idea, but also because I found Carlton intimidating.Even when he smiled, it was hard not to think that way. He was my boss, he was a few years older, and his sudden interest in me made me nervous, even though I was really great with his son. I think I’d have handled it better if he’d just looked down on me and ignored me like Alec did, since I’d expected that ever since I heard he would be coming to the office.Carlton was stopped several times on his way by employees asking questions. Every time, he stopped and talked to them, but didn’t take even a minute before we were moving again. He hadn’t been in the office for long, maybe a week or even less, but he still commanded more trust from the staff when com
Lexi knew what I wanted from her–well, part of what I wanted from her–and it was obvious she wasn’t entirely on board with it. She hadn’t outright said no, though, and that was good enough for me.I took another sip of my black coffee, letting her have time to herself to think things through. I was confident I could convince her to take on the job, but I wanted her to do it willingly instead of through coercion, especially since I couldn’t say I wouldn’t get any ideas from hanging around her so much. I was attracted to her, I could admit to it. Seven years difference was a little more than I expected, but if anything happened later, I wanted this to be her decision or I’d just feel guilty for tricking her.My eyes never left her. She was obviously nervous, doing her best not to look directly at me for too long. Her eyes were either on her drink, on Sam, or flitting around the room, away from my general direction. I didn’t like that my presence made her so nervous, but she would get us