Cali Stanton has one goal in life, being a doctor. She has spent the last two years helping the less fortunate in Africa. It’s a job she loves and intends to do for the foreseeable future. That is until she receives a call from her father saying he’s been injured and needs her back in Chicago. Less than a week later she finds herself behind her father’s desk at Stanton Enterprises, running the family business…something she never wanted to do. But how could she say no to her father when he insists that she is the only one he can trust?
Matthew Andersen and his brother, Jason, have spent the last two years managing security at Stanton Enterprises. However, someone is determined to take down the company and with it its acting CEO, Cali Stanton.
Cali and Matthew must work together to find out who is behind the threats to not only the company but to Cali herself while they fight their growing attraction for each other. Can they figure out the hidden threat before it’s too late?
Chapter 1
Cali Stanton gave her appearance one final appraisal
in the full-length mirror. It wasn’t an image she was used to. Not anymore, at
least.
She’d spent over an hour getting ready, making sure
her hair and makeup were just right before donning one of her new power
business suits. Normally she left her hair down or pulled it back into a
ponytail, but today, to give herself a more professional appearance, she’d
twisted her reddish-brown hair up off her neck and secured it on top of her
head with a clip that scraped against her scalp as she adjusted it.
To add to her tailored appearance, she slipped her
feet into a pair of three-inch black pumps. The saleswoman had assured her that
they would go well with her sleek black pantsuit, and they did. The fabric of
the suit hugged her curves and the heels made her legs look long and elegant.
Sighing, she ran a hand down the front of the suit.
“Ready or not, here I come.”
Cali grabbed her matching handbag from the bed and
made her way downstairs. Her father’s house was huge. It was a far cry from the
small dwellings she’d inhabited for the past two years in Africa with Doctors
Without Borders. The vast amount of extra space was taking a while to get used
to, even though she’d grown up here.
As she descended the large central staircase, Cali
could hear Jessie in the kitchen. Cali smiled as she thought of the older
woman. Jessie had been her dad’s housekeeper for over twenty years. She’d seen
Cali through the tough years after her mother’s death and stuck by her side
during her not so tame teenage years. Jessie was like a mother to Cali and she
was glad to have the older woman back in her life again.
Jessie glanced up when Cali entered the kitchen, and
smiled.
“Good morning.”
Taking an exaggerated step back, Jessie gave Cali a
thorough once-over before whistling her approval. “My, my. Don’t you look like
something this morning?”
Cali blushed. “Thank you.”
She walked over to the counter and took a seat.
Jessie placed Cali’s breakfast in front of her and once again she felt her love
for the older woman surge. She hadn’t asked Jessie to make her breakfast this
morning but she had anyway.
Digging in to her food, Cali asked, “You don’t think
it’s too much, do you?”
Jessie waved her comment away. “No, no, of course
not. But you will make a statement.
Maybe you can give some of those stuffy businessmen a run for their money.”
Cali laughed. “Somehow I doubt that. I’m just hoping
I’m able to hold things together until Dad’s well enough to come back.”
Jessie’s face became serious. “I don’t know what I’m
going to do with that man. He’s not twenty anymore.”
“I know,” Cali said. “I don’t know what possessed
him.”
“I’ll tell you what possessed him. He’s feeling his
age, that’s what. You came back just in time. It’s a midlife crisis or
something. Trying to learn to water ski at his age.” Jessie shook her head in
dismay.
Cali didn’t know how to respond, so she said
nothing. She agreed with Jessie. A midlife crisis was the most logical
conclusion because it wasn’t like her dad to be so adventurous.
Forty minutes later Cali stood outside Stanton
Enterprises. She took a deep breath and marched through the large glass doors
that led into the first floor lobby. Situated in the center of the room was a
massive reception desk. A smaller security station was nestled into the far
corner. Both desks had an occupant who looked up at her entrance.
Since it was already after nine in the morning, most
of her father’s employees were already at their desks working. That left the
large lobby area feeling even bigger and impersonal.
Her shoes clicked on the tile floor as she walked
toward the receptionist. The woman stood. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Cali plastered a smile on her face.
“Could you let Lisa Morgan know that Cali Stanton is here?”
Shock crossed the woman’s face a moment before she
went into action and reached for the phone. “Oh. Oh, yes. Of course.”
While the receptionist called Lisa, her father’s
assistant, Cali took another look around the lobby area. The office hadn’t
changed much over the years. In fact, the only thing she noticed beyond a fresh
coat of paint on the walls was the addition of several security cameras. Cali wondered
if that had anything to do with what her father had shared with her last night
over the phone. Not that he’d told her much, only that something was going on
and that his heads of security, Matthew and Jason, would fill her in.
The elevator doors opened and she pushed thoughts of
whatever mystery situation awaited her out of her mind. Her father’s assistant
glided elegantly into the lobby. Lisa made walking in four-inch heels look
easy. Her legs looked a mile long and her long brown hair curled against her
shoulders, bouncing with every step she took.
Lisa skipped the formalities and hugged Cali. “It’s
good to see you again.”
Cali returned the embrace. Over the years, she’d
gotten to know Lisa well. “Same here.”
Taking a step back, Lisa grinned and motioned toward
the elevators. “Shall we?”
They made their way up to the top floor where her
father’s office was located. Lisa gave her a brief tour and then left her alone
in her dad’s office. She sat down behind the imposing desk—the desk that would
be hers for the next three months—and tried to take it all in.
One week ago, she’d been standing over a tiny cot
examining a young boy with deep cuts covering his entire body. He’d been
unconscious when a group of villagers had brought him into the makeshift
hospital the night before. No one knew what had happened, so Cali and one of
the nurses cleaned the boy’s wounds and made sure he was comfortable. They were
watching him closely for any sign of infection.
She’d felt someone approach her from behind and
figured it was Rachael Michaels, one of her fellow doctors, so Cali hadn’t
turned around to look.
“How’s he doing?” Rachael asked.
“No fever, which is good, but he’s not out of the
woods yet.”
She came up beside her and placed a hand on Cali’s
shoulder. “I’ll finish up here. You have a call.”
Cali knew only one person would make an unscheduled
call to her in the middle of Africa—her father.
She stood and handed the wet towel she’d been using
to wash the young boy’s wounds to her colleague. The sun beat down on her as
she exited the small hut where the boy was being treated and trudged through
the heat over to the small rundown metal shack that housed the only working
phone. Chad, one of the locals, handed her the phone as soon as she entered.
“Thanks,” Cali said as she placed the grungy handset
that looked as if it had been around for at least thirty years to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Cali? Cali, honey, is that you?”
“Yes, Dad, it’s me. Is everything all right?”
“No, sweetheart, it’s not. I need you to come home.”
Cali collapsed into the beat-up wooden chair Chad
had recently vacated. “Come home? Dad, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”
He released a sigh followed by a low moan.
She’d been a doctor long enough to know that he was
in some level of pain. “Dad?”
“I kind of went and did something stupid.”
She tensed. “What did you do?”
He hesitated. “I went waterskiing with Henry.”
“You what?” Cali’s voice reverberated through the
small metal building.
“I know, I know. Stupid, right? Not something a man
my age should be doing. I’ve already heard it all from Jessie.”
Cali tried to tamp down the fear running through her
body. “What happened? Were you hurt?”
“Well . . .”
“Dad?”
Her father released another sigh followed by a more
pronounced moan. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she awaited his
response.
“I broke my hip and a couple of ribs. The doctors
say I’m going to be out of commission for about three months.”
“Oh, Dad.” Cali’s voice was laced with disapproval.
He pretended not to hear her. “So that’s why I need
you to come home. I need you to run the business while I’m away. Look after
things.”
“Dad . . .”
“Now listen to me, Cali. I know you’ve told me that
you don’t want to take over for me when I retire. And although I’m not happy
about that, I will respect your wishes. However, at the moment there are some
things going on and I would feel much better with someone I trust watching over
my interests.”
“What about Peter? I thought you were grooming him
to take over?” She was grasping at straws and she knew it, but the last thing
she wanted to do was travel halfway around the world to run her dad’s company.
Even if it would only be for three months.
“Peter is very good at what he does, and maybe
someday I’ll feel confident turning the business over to him, but he’s not
ready. He’s not family.” Her father paused. “You’re the only family I’ve got,
Cali. I need you for this. Only you.”
The guilt trip was working. “I don’t
know . . .”
Alvin Stanton turned on the charm. “Please? Your old
man needs you.”
Cali giggled.
Her father knew he’d won.
“How soon can you get here?” he asked.
She thought about it for a moment, going over the
logistics in her head. “I can get a ride into town tomorrow and catch the bus
from there. It will take me most of the day to reach the airport
so . . . I should be able to make it back to Chicago by Thursday
or Friday.”
“Call me when you have your flight information. I’ll
make sure someone picks you up from the airport.”
“Okay, Dad.” She arose from her seat, her mind going
to all the things she needed to get in order before she left the next day.
“Cali?”
“Yes?”
“I love you, sweetie.”
Her lips curled up into a soft smile. “I love you,
too, Dad.”
The phone on the desk buzzed, startling her. She
placed a calming hand on her chest and pushed the intercom button like Lisa
showed her. “Yes?”
“Matthew Andersen is here to see you.” Lisa’s voice
came through clear and confident.
“Who?” Cali asked.
“Mr. Andersen. Head of security.”
Well . . .
nothing like jumping in with both feet.
“Send him in.”
Cali stood and straightened her suit jacket. She
could do this.
The door opened and a man not much older than her
entered. He strolled confidently across the room and offered her his hand. The
most intriguing blue eyes she’d ever seen stared back at her.
She cleared her throat as her gaze drifted over his
dark hair and broad shoulders. “You must be Mr. Andersen.”
For a moment, she didn’t think he was going to
answer. “And you must be Ms. Stanton.”
They stood there for a moment, and the air around
them felt heavy and charged. She felt warmth rushing to her cheeks and looked
away.
Swiping her hand back, she attempted to collect
herself and hurried back behind the desk. It didn’t matter that she could still
feel the burn of his palm against her skin. Or that the way he seemed to own
that suit he was wearing reminded her how long it had been since she’d had a
man in her bed. She had a job to do and it didn’t include fooling around with
one of her father’s employees.
Cali cleared her throat. “Um . . .
why don’t you take a seat, Mr. Andersen?”
He lowered his tall frame into the offered chair.
She retook her own seat and placed both her hands in
her lap.
They sat in silence for several moments. He seemed
to be assessing her. For what, she had no idea, but Cali wasn’t sure she liked
it.
“My father said there were some things you needed to
discuss with me.” She attempted to sound as businesslike as possible.
“Yes.” He paused. “What did Alvin tell you?”
Cali tried not to let his brisk tone bother her.
“Not much. Just that he needed someone he could trust running his company right
now.” She gathered up her courage and leveled a look at him Cali saved for her most
difficult patients. “What’s going on?”
***
Matthew Andersen had seen pictures of Alvin’s
daughter before. Pictures of her when she was little and even one from when
she’d graduated from medical school. None of those had prepared him for the
woman sitting in front of him.
When security had called to let him know the boss’
daughter was here, he’d been dreading the encounter. Alvin had called him to
say that he wanted his daughter, Cali, to be brought up to speed on the current
situation. She had no idea what was going on—what she was walking into—and
Matthew didn’t have time to hold her hand. But that’s what he was going to have
to do because it was part of the job.
Of course, his brother Jason had blown off the
meeting in typical fashion. Jason didn’t like what he referred to as the ‘suit
and tie’ part of the job. He was much better with the hands-on aspects where
Matthew thrived on the technical and theoretical side of things. Jason
preferred to be out in the action, while Matthew liked to work alone.
As Matthew sat across from Cali Stanton he recalled
exactly what his brother had said when he’d gone to get him. “The last thing I
want to do this morning is entertain a pampered princess.”
Looking at her sitting across from him at her
father’s desk, Matthew wondered if his brother would have the same opinion upon
meeting her. Cali did have that air about her that said she came from money,
but there was also something else. An edge that he couldn’t quite explain. He’d
done his research on her and knew she was twenty-eight and had been working as
a doctor with Doctors Without Borders for the last two years. And while he knew
working outside the US had its challenges, he couldn’t imagine what she would
have seen for him to be getting such a vibe from her. But Matthew had learned
long ago to trust his instincts and something told him that she wasn’t a
pampered princess as his brother had suggested.
The black pantsuit she wore wasn’t any different
than what most of the other women in the office wore, but it had him struggling
not to squirm in his seat. Her jacket hugged her waist and had a V-neck that
plunged low enough to give a hint of the skin beneath. The reddish hair he
remembered from the pictures was pulled away from her face and into some fancy
hairdo that left a few stray curls caressing her face. He wanted to twirl the
hair around his finger and see if it was as soft as it looked.
Then there were her eyes. They were brown with a
hint of copper. He could easily get lost in them.
That thought brought him up short. This was his
boss’ daughter. His boss for the foreseeable future. He had no business
thinking about how soft her hair was or how easy it would be to slip her jacket
off her shoulders and . . .
Matthew shifted his focus to the window behind her in
an attempt to clear his thoughts. He had a job to do and, damn it, he was going
to do it.
For roughly the next hour, Matthew explained the
situation to her. She took it better than he thought she would. After all, it
wasn’t every day you found out people were threatening violence to you and your
company.
Cali listened closely to what he had to say,
stopping every now and then to ask for clarification. While he could see
concern in her eyes, he didn’t see panic. That impressed him. Although Matthew
understood why Alvin had wanted his daughter to run things in his absence, he
was aggravated with the old man as well. Being thrown into a situation like
this was no place for a woman like Cali Stanton. Once word got out that she was
running the company, Matthew had little doubt that the threats her father had
been receiving would transfer to her.
As Matthew left Alvin’s office, the danger
threatening his new boss bothered him more and more. It wasn’t often something
rattled him, but by the time he returned to his office, his frustration boiled
over. He slammed his door shut, marched over to his desk, and fell into his
chair.
Two knocks sounded on his door. Matthew ignored them.
He didn’t want to deal with anyone right now.
Unfortunately, his brother wasn’t known for leaving
well enough alone. Jason opened the door and gently closed it behind him.
Matthew leaned his head back and closed his eyes, willing his brother to go
away.
He should have known better.
“Meeting with the princess didn’t go well, I take
it?”
Matthew ran a hand over his head and met his
brother’s gaze. “Don’t call her that.”
His brother raised both eyebrows but didn’t comment
on Matthew’s outburst.
Matthew reached for his keyboard and logged in to
his e-mail, doing his best to ignore Jason’s scrutiny. “The meeting went as
well as could be expected. She didn’t have the slightest clue about what’s been
going on. I still can’t believe her father didn’t warn her.”
“Well, at least now she knows.”
“Yeah.” Matthew glanced down at a Post-It note on
his desk. “How are things looking for Friday?”
His brother hesitated. “Good. Everyone’s keeping
their ears to the ground. I’ll be notified if they hear something.”
Matthew nodded, pushed away from the desk, and
stood. “I’ll stop by your office later. I need to get the security clearance
finished for Ms. Stanton.”
Without waiting for Jason to grill him about his
unusual behavior, Matthew side-stepped his brother and strolled out the door.
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Welcome
to Serpent's Kiss (Serpent's Kiss 0.5)
Beth Davenport has no interest in getting involved with another man for the foreseeable future. To say her last relationship ended in disaster would be a colossal understatement. The only reason she agrees to put in an appearance at Serpent’s Kiss, a private kink club in downtown St. Louis, is because her best friend, Nicole, won’t quit nagging her. When she walks in the door that night, the last thing she expects to do is meet a man who will have her reconsidering her ban on men.
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