Chapter 2
Dane
I forced my eyes open and realized, from the light sweeping into my bedroom, that it was already late morning. I sat up straight in bed with a jolt and that was when I noticed her sleeping beside me. Completely naked, with her back turned to me, all I could see was fiery red curls and I knew I didn’t remember her face.
I tried to be as quiet as possible as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. I was already late, and I didn’t need a conversation with a stranger to hold me back further. While I started picking up clothes off my bedroom floor, she moved. She must have heard me and slowly she turned to look at me.
Now I could see her face and still I didn’t recognize her. I had no recollection of the previous night and a dull throbbing ache at the back of my head was a steady reminder of the heavy drinking.
“Morning,” she said in a soft sultry voice as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Hey,” I said, while pulling my pants up. I needed to be in the shower, shaved and changed in the next five minutes if I was going to be able to salvage the situation. I really couldn’t stay and talk. The girl started straightening up, sliding up in the bed with a lazy grin on her face. She looked like she had a lot to say.
“I had fun last night,” she said and I smiled, while buttoning up my shirt. This was exactly the reason why I usually didn’t invite girls to my place. I had a rule of only sleeping with them at theirs or in neutral territory. Like a hotel room or something. Easier for me to make an exit.
“Yeah, me too but I have to go now,” I said and shrugged my shoulders apologetically. She had big green eyes to match her red curls and even with her makeup smudged, I could tell that she was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. I felt a movement in my pants, despite the hangover, which I tried to distract myself from.
“I forgot…the big shot banker has the world to save from financial crisis,” she said with a sexy drawl that I couldn’t pull myself away from. I laughed. If only she knew how much trouble I was in.
“I have to go…sorry,” I said and started walking backwards. I’d have to leave her in the room, skip the shower and make a run for it. Otherwise I was going to be horribly late without any excuse.
“Do you even know my name?” the girl asked and to my surprise, got on all fours on the bed. She wasn’t ashamed of her naked body, and frankly had no reason to be. Just watching her crawl towards me, made me almost change my mind. I nearly took off my clothes again and jumped back into bed with her. Wasn’t it already too bad to save now? What was this meeting going to achieve anyway?
“Dane?” when she said my name, I was snapped back to reality.
“Yeah, sorry…I really have to go,” I started backing away again.
“Do you remember my name?” she asked again and I cursed myself in my head. No, of course I didn’t remember her name. I didn’t even remember sleeping with her.
She was eyeing me playfully. She didn’t seem offended that I didn’t know her name. She didn’t care. Exactly my kinda woman.
“It’s Lily,” she said in a voice so sweet that it matched her name. I was crumbling, I was losing all my will to detach from her.
“I’m sorry, Lily. You’re lovely but I have to go,” I said and she straightened up. Her small rounded breasts bounced as she sat up and she placed her hands on her hips.
“Well, I don’t have to go anywhere,” she said and arched an eyebrow. I was so close to the door now. Just a few more steps and freedom…
“You can stay for as long as you want, Lily,” I bargained with her, which seemed to please her. She smiled at me and fell back on the mattress with a bounce.
“Good, because I had no plans to leave. I’ll be here when you get back, Dane Forsyth,” she said sultrily and I turned the knob on my bedroom door.
Outside, I almost knocked into Tina, my personal assistant. As always, Tina was right outside my door, with a coffee-to-go in one hand and my day’s schedule in the other.
“Good morning, Sir,” she greeted me in her usual formal, efficient voice.
“Morning, Tina. As you can see, I had a rough night. How late am I?” I said, while rushing towards the stairs. I was tucking my shirt into my pants on the way, while Tina followed me.
“You will be forty minutes late if you leave now, Sir,” she said, following me down the stairs. Her heels clicked against the marble steps while I ran in front of her.
“Shit!” I said aloud, to which as usual, Tina had no reaction.
At the front door of my house, I turned to grab the coffee from her hand and the sheet of paper she was holding out towards me.
“Thanks, Tina. You’re a star,” I said and she nodded her head. I realized then that I had never seen her smile. In the past four years that she had been my personal assistant, she had never made a joke or passed a comment or asked me any personal questions. She was the kind of PA who you could completely rely on, and I did.
“Also, will you please take care of the redhead upstairs? She plans on staying all day,” I said as I took one large swig of my coffee.
“Of course, Sir. I will see you in your office after I handle the situation here,” she said and I rushed outside to get into my chauffeur driven car.
xxx
When I walked into the boardroom, I checked the Rolex on my wrist. Tina was right. I was exactly forty-three minutes late and the meeting had already started. Without me.
I pushed open the glass door and everyone’s heads at the table turned to look at me.
“Oh, good, Dane, you’ve finally decided to join us,” Matthew Bradbury said with a dry smile on his face. He was looking me over, my day old stubble, the creased shirt I was wearing and I must have still been stinking of whiskey.
“Good morning, Matthew. It’s nice to see you too,” I said and walked to the empty chair at the other end of the long walnut table. A silence had descended in the room the moment I’d walked in, the kind of deathly silence I was well aware was caused by my presence. I knew everyone was watching me, and most especially Matthew. The guy who had mentored me, plucked me out from a sea of eager twenty-year olds, groomed me and finally given me a seat at this table. The very same man who now blamed our recent twenty-six million dollar loss on me.
“Working hard last night?” Matthew asked, as I settled myself into the chair. I looked up at him, met him straight in the eye challengingly and shrugged my shoulders.
“You know me, Matthew. You know I don’t have to work very hard to reap results. It comes naturally to me,” I said. Even though there were twelve other people at that table, it seemed like it was only Matthew and me in the room.
He had turned me into a scapegoat. I was the youngest board member, I was only twenty-nine, in a group of forty-somethings and I knew how Matthew’s mind worked. He assumed that I could recover. Even if he blamed it all on me, I would find a way to come back on top. The question was, was I willing to take a bullet for the firm?
Matthew cleared his throat and flipped a few pages in the file that was in front of him.
“Dane, we’ve been crunching some numbers and our analysts have presented us with a detailed report. It’s right there in front of you,” he said and indicated to the folder in front of me. I didn’t need to look at the report. It was going to tell me exactly what I’d told Matthew seven months ago. To pull out from the scheme. He hadn’t listened, and neither had the other board members.
“Tell me what you need to say, Matthew. Don’t sugar coat it,” I said through a clenched jaw. Our eyes met again, and a faint smile was lingering on Matthew’s face. We both knew what he was about to say.
He sighed and I sat back in the chair.
“Dane, it might be a good idea for you to take a break for a little while, from the firm,” he said and I stood up from my chair.
“You’re firing me for good advice?” I thundered, and realized that my own voice was ringing in my ears.
“Someone has to take the fall, Dane, and we all agreed that it has to be you,” Matthew said and tried to get the others to agree. But nobody else wanted to look at me. They all knew what they were doing. I was being thrown under the bus because they got greedy! Because they were the ones who hadn’t heeded my counsel.
“I have to take the fall because I’m the youngest one here? Or is it because the others will talk to the media and you know I wouldn’t betray you?” I growled and banged my fist on the table. The throbbing headache at the back of my skull was still there. Why had I even bothered to get out of bed for this? Matthew seemed unperturbed. Nothing much fazed him. His cool temperament were one of the many qualities he had as an ace financial consultant.
“Dane, you need to calm down,” he said in a smooth voice and I shook my head, glaring at him with narrowed eyes.
“You’re going to regret it Matthew, and when you do, I’ll be long gone. Your biggest hope should be that we don’t turn into competitors,” I said, and before he had the chance to say anything else, I had walked away.
I banged the door shut behind me as I walked down the hallway. I didn’t want to spend another second in this building. Matthew was taking the work that I loved, away from me. The place I’d dedicated eight years to. He was benching me for something I wasn’t even responsible for.
“Sir?” I heard Tina’s voice. She intercepted me in the hallway, just as I was entering the elevator. For the first time, even she looked distressed.
“I’m going back home, Tina. Is she gone?” I said and ran a hand through my hair. She had her brows crossed, but she nodded her head.
“It’s taken care of, Sir,” she said and looked like she was going to say something else. I stared at her for a few moments, wondering if she was actually going to say the words. Actually ask me if I was fired, but she didn’t.
“I want you to book me a quiet discreet room somewhere far from here. I need a vacation and I need it fast. Make the arrangements, Tina. I’m going to leave tomorrow,” I said just as the elevator arrived and the doors pinged open. When I walked in and turned to her, I could see the shock on her face.
“And you’re not coming with me. I need time away from everything and everyone,” I said and the doors closed on us. This was going to be my first vacation in eight years, and I was going to make full use of it. Matthew Bradbury could go to hell.