KADEN Standing in my dad’s office—my office—I looked out over the city below. Most of the buildings were obscured by low-hanging clouds, and the weather was gray and miserable, but it seemed fitting somehow.Today was my first day as CEO of Marx Inc. The papers were signed, the ink was dry, and since there were no disputes or objections filed to my stepping into Dad’s position, it was now official.While Ember and I had been in Florida, Scotty, who was now my assistant, had rearranged Dad’s office and gotten it ready for me. The mammoth desk was still in there, but so were all my screens, a new computer, two new monitors, and a color printer I didn’t have any use for.Scotty left Dad’s bar, sitting area, and conference table untouched, but he told me he could have any of it removed at any time. I told him not to worry about it. In a way, this would always be Dad’s office. I was only running it for him now.Besides, there was a good reason why Dad had each of those features in his off
Kaden “That’s good to know,” she replied, seemingly making a decision before opening the file and taking out a smallish, square wooden block. “I have a present for you.”She handed the wooden block over upside down. The clamps on the back of it hinted that it was a photo frame, but I wasn’t prepared for the photo it held. It was one of Dad and I fishing when I was a kid.A photo I both treasured and often resented for giving me hope that we might be like the dad and the kid in the photo again someday. A photo I knew was supposed to be tucked away deep in one of the drawers at my place. “Where did you find it?”“While I was packing your stuff the other day, I saw it in your drawer,” she admitted, a hopeful smile tugging at her lips. “I had it framed so it can go on your desk. I thought you might like to have the memory with you while you’re settling in this office.”“So you went through my stuff?” I arched a brow, trying but failing to sound incredulous and disappointed.Propping a ha
EMBERSo, this was what it felt like when everything went to hell in a handbasket. My heart sank so low during those moments in Kaden’s office after he told me to leave that it felt like it might be at the soles of my feet by the time I left.Tears stung my eyes, threatening to fall with every step I took. I kept my head down when I emerged from Kaden’s office, allowing my hair to form a protective curtain as I hurried to the staircase. I couldn’t face the elevator right now.There was always someone in there who wanted to talk to me about something, and if I opened my mouth, the lump in my throat was bound to disintegrate from the vibrations in my voice box, and I was sure to become a rambling, blubbering mess.Slamming my fists into the door leading to the staircase, I burst onto the concrete landing and sagged against the cool wall. Shit. An hour ago, Kaden and I had gotten to the office together, happy and in love and sated from a morning of me wishing him luck for his first day
EmberSuddenly, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The air in the stairwell seemed stale, like it didn’t have enough oxygen in it anymore. My throat went completely dry and scratchy, and my head started to swim.I couldn’t stay here any longer. Couldn’t stay in this building any longer, not knowing what I had done to Kaden. How much I had hurt him.I was finally choking on my own guilt, and it was cutting off my air supply. Drowning me.Grasping the steel railing beside me, I kicked off my shoes and carried them down as I ran down the stairs so fast I was practically sailing, flying down the last few steps of every flight. The flickering red signs indicating “Exit” taunted me, goaded me into believing I was about to escape when I wasn’t.After every flight came another one. And another one and another one. I just kept going, my chest growing tighter with every landing I left behind me. No amount of distance I was putting between us was making Kaden any less mad at me. It was like his fee
KADENMy head was spinning. I felt nauseous, my stomach twisting and turning as I tried to focus on the screen in front of me. I was trying to get everything with Ember out of my head and get some work done, but it was proving to be harder than I thought it would be.Despite everything, I still didn’t want to let my dad down. Sure, he told my girl he was dying and not me, but—“Fuck,” I muttered, dragging my hands through my hair. Again. I shuddered to think what I looked like by now. At least no one was bothering me.Scotty was keeping his distance, and most people would probably be leaving soon. They were giving me the day to get settled in, which was a fucking blessing since I had no idea how I would be able to handle meetings or making any big decisions today.I’d been so damn optimistic just this morning, determined to make this work no matter what. I was so damn sure I had this under control, that I was going to walk in as CEO and things would just fall in place.I was prepared
KadenShit. I even made her promise to stop avoiding me. I shoved her even deeper into the impossible corner she was already in. I made her look me in the eyes and sleep in my bed, even when she couldn’t do it, and now I was pissed at her for doing exactly that?I groaned out loud, bringing my forehead to my desk.As if Ryan could tell what I was thinking, he said, “She loves you, Kaden. She loves you more than anything in the world. You’re everything to her. Trust me when I tell you she never meant to hurt you. She was stuck in purgatory about this for weeks.”Lifting my head only enough to catch a glimpse of his eyes, I frowned. “Is this a big brother talk? Because I don’t think I can stomach one of those right now.”I really couldn’t bear to hear him tell me how much she loved me after the way I acted. Sure, I was shocked, and she shouldn’t have done what she did, but I honestly didn’t know what else I could have expected her to do under the circumstances.Even if she did, would sh
EMBERWhen Kaden’s lips crashed into mine, it was with such passion and fervor that a fresh wave of tears welled up behind my eyes. Different tears this time, happy tears. I couldn’t believe he was here, that he was in my arms and kissing me the way he was.An hour ago, I was convinced our relationship was toast. When I didn’t hear from Ryan, I thought the worst. I thought Kaden was so mad at me, he’d convinced Ryan he was right, and I was wrong. I thought Ryan wasn’t going to speak to me ever again either.I thought so many things, all of which were apparently wrong. It was hard to have faith in people when you felt as guilty and as badly as I did, though. In my defense, those weren’t feelings I had much experience with, and now that I’d felt them in their fullest glory, I had no intention of ever finding myself in a position like that ever again.From now on, I was going back to honesty. I still regretted the way I handled things with Mr. Marx, but I’d also learned from it. With Kad
KADEN“If you consider we only started putting this together for you last week, I think you’ll appreciate the growth you would already have seen if we’d started making these moves only a few days ago.” I was speaking to our new potential client, an older woman with her dyed black hair pulled back in a severe bun.She was the CEO of a hotel group that was starting to pop up everywhere. The company was only a few years old, but they were expanding at an impressive rate, and Ember and I both really wanted to sign her.“We can do great things together, Carol,” Ember added, clicking a button on the remote in her hand to move onto the next slide we had prepared for her. “Both our companies have shown exponential growth over the last six months, and together, I think we can keep that trajectory going.”I could feel Ember’s excitement coming off her in waves from where she was sitting next to me at a mahogany conference table at one of Carol’s group’s hotels. The group had two new boutique ho