NINETEEN

Jack and Mark barely spoke a word to each other all morning. Mark had been on the phone when he’d let Jack into his villa. And Jack hadn’t looked up from the email he’d been typing as he crossed the foyer towards the dining room table. They’d set up a makeshift office the day before, their computers, files, and coffee cups scattered all over the surface. With a few rocks glasses tossed in for good measure.

As the morning had waned, they’d taken occasional breaks from the flurry of phone calls and emails to compare notes and strategies. But it wasn’t until after noon that they finally settled at the table to figure out just how screwed they really were.

“He has Hudson in the wings, ready to step in as soon as the vote is over.”

“Yeah, Conner heard the same thing from Jacobs’ office,” Mark nodded his head in agreement. “And he heard a rumor about Carson.”

“Philip Carson? Fuck, really?” Jack had run into him on one of his recent trips to New York and he cringed to think of the chauvinistic shit having anything to do with their company.

“Really,” Mark’s lips thinned. “Conner is still trying to confirm it, but all signs point to it being true.”

“He really wants to humiliate us, doesn’t he?”

“At this point it’s hard to think otherwise.” Mark’s attention drifted from Jack’s face to the midday sun breaking against the ocean below them. His gaze fixed somewhere on the horizon, he continued, “Has Janine been able to figure out which positions Max is going to put them in?”

“She has a good idea, but nothing concrete.”

“Which means….”

“Yup, pretty much.”

Mark released a chain of curses before pushing his chair back. Standing, the forgotten coffee cups rattled in their saucers as his thighs bumped the table.

“Might be time to let housekeeping come in, clear some of this up.” Jack ran a quick glance over the wrinkled shirt and shorts that Mark was wearing; they looked suspiciously similar to the ones he’d had on the day before. “And maybe take a second to grab a shower and a change of clothes?”

“What, and let us forget that everything has gone completely to shit? No,” Mark shook his head rapidly, “if our lives are going to hell we may as well look the part. You’re already well on your way. Figured I might as well catch up.”

Jack dragged his fingers through his hair. He didn’t need a mirror – or Mark – to confirm that he looked as ragged as he felt. The peace he’d found during his few hours of sleep with Sadie had been severely weakened by their conversation this morning. And whatever sliver had survived had been killed by the bad news that kept pouring in from their assistants. He was exhausted, frustrated, and fucking pissed. Not particularly in that order.

Jack leaned back in his chair and let his lids drift shut for a second. “We don’t have a lot of options left, Mark. Max has enough votes to move Hudson and Carson in. Hannity and McKenzie let it slip that he’s using that McArthur deal as the foundation for the no-confidence vote.”

“Which is total bullshit, by the way.”

“You don’t have to tell me. It was one-hundred-percent above board. We did our due diligence. We should have seen returns almost triple the size of the investment. There was no way we could’ve known that the software prototype had been leaked to their biggest competitor.”

Jack thought back to how quickly that acquisition had gone south. D&A International had bought a smaller company that had developed innovative software that would streamline internal operation systems for multi-platform corporations. A many-tiered profit and loss system that would help D&A’s clients identify which divisions needed to improve performance to offset the losses in others. It wasn’t the concept that had been so innovative, but the scale. And Mark and Jack had busted their asses to secure McArthur and their proprietary software before anyone else. Until they found out, the day after the deal was completed, that McArthur’s biggest competitor had already released suspiciously similar technology, complete with the improvements that Mark and Jack had bandied about during one of their brainstorming sessions.

They had been furious when they’d found out, but everyone on the McArthur team had sworn the leak couldn’t have come from them. And though it took some convincing, Mark and Jack had finally conceded that it had just been really fucking bad luck. Which was a hard pitch to the board, but they’d survived it and moved on. But as the series of events cascaded through Jack’s caffeine-fueled brain, an eerie picture was forming that he hadn’t been able to see before.

“Mark…?” His friend looked at him blankly before returning his gaze to the window. “Mark!” Mark jumped at Jack’s shout.

“Fuck! What?”

“The McArthur deal.”

“I heard you the first time. Uncle Max is using it as the final nail in our coffin.”

“No. Not that.” His head spinning with details and dates, Jack slowly rose from the table and joined Mark at the window. “How much do you know about Philip Carson?”

Perplexed, Mark shrugged a shoulder. “Just the basics. He and Uncle Max met at Wharton. Landed a job at the family firm after graduation. Old school. Very wedded to the ‘boys will be boys’ philosophy. A huge fan of misogyny and nepotism, all the way. Considered by most to be a well-rounded, top-tier asshole.”

“And…” Jack prodded, amazed and embarrassed that it had taken them this long to work out the connection.

“And the guy that my uncle has waiting in the wings to take your job?”

Jack gave Mark a small shove. “You’ve either not had enough coffee or too much. No, think about it. Philip Carson has been sitting on the board of GSC for the past ten years. And GSC happens to be the parent company of….”

“Oh, fuck.” Jack saw the light of comprehension strike Mark. “The parent company of Global Solutions, McArthur’s largest competitor.”

“And the company that screwed us over by releasing what was essentially our software.”

The men looked at each other for a minute, unspoken questions and answers flying between them. But as they mentally ticked off the details of everything that happened, the solution to their immediate problem began to form.

Mark grabbed his phone from where he’d left it on the table at the same time Jack clicked his laptop back to life.

“I’ll get Jacobs on the phone,” Mark confirmed as the line was already ringing.

“I’ll get ahold of McKenzie. And I’ll sic Janine on Hannity.” Jack glanced down at his watch. “We have seven hours.”

Jack heard Mark talk to Jacobs’ assistant before being put on hold while she hunted him down. “We just need one of them, Mark. One is enough to sway the vote.”

Mark leveled a hard stare at him. “We need all three, Jack. We don’t know what else Uncle Max has up his sleeve. He intends to fuck us. Hard. He’s been planning it from the beginning. If we’re going to get anywhere close to salvaging this, we need all three.”

Mark was right. They had no idea what other tricks Max had tucked away. Cursing him under his breath, Jack let all of his other worries – Sadie, what he was feeling for her, what she might not be feeling for him – fall to the back of his mind as he forced all of his attention to saving their careers.

***

Sadie and Lizzie had run through the details of the next several weeks – Sadie’s travel schedule, the client meetings, the important deadlines – but Lizzie was ignoring all of her attempts to get off the phone.

“I think we’re all set now,” Sadie said for what felt like the tenth time in as many minutes. “You should have everything you need to be covered until I get back.”

“Until you get back?”

Sadie was impressed that Lizzie kept her voice calm as she parroted her words back.

“Yes. Until I get back. Before I left Trina told me that if the event went well I could stay down here for a mini vacation. She sent me an email this morning. Mr. Donovan gave her a ring last night, told her he’s thrilled by how everything’s turned out. So she’s given me a few extra days. And I’m going to take them.”

“You are going to stay there. For a few extra days. On a mini vacation.” Lizzie tone was flat, almost robotic.

“That’s what I said.”

“Right. Because that’s totally normal. You always take a mini vacation once an event wraps.” Lizzie’s voice was pure sarcasm.

Sadie chuckled. She rarely hung out once an event was over. Almost never, in fact. Once the client was on their way home and her own bags were packed, she was typically on the first flight out. It used to surprise Lizzie, how fast Sadie would bolt once the work was done. The hotels they stayed in were nice. Luxurious, usually. Often with deluxe spas and four-star restaurants. And Trina was generous in letting them snag an extra day here and there to enjoy an exotic location or some well-earned R&R. But Sadie never took them. She would always go straight home, head down, mind already working through the next program.

So she understood why Lizzie was amazed that for the first time ever, Sadie was staying.

“He’s going to be there.”

Sadie was running the tip of her finger across a small snag in the bedspread, over and over, wondering if she and Jack were responsible for it. “What’s that?” She didn’t bother pretending she’d been paying attention.

“Jack. Avery. Is going to be there. Through the weekend.”

Sadie stayed silent, trying to slip the loose thread back where it belonged.

“You had me double-check his reservation, Sadie. I know he will be there.”

“Yes.”

“And that has nothing to do with why you are staying?”

“No.”

“You know you’re a shit liar, right?”

 “I do, yes. Thanks for pointing it out. Though I don’t know what that has to do with our conversation.”

“Sadie!” There it was, Lizzie’s stern mother tone. Not even Sadie’s own parents spoke to her like that anymore.

“Lizzie,” Sadie let a hint of hardness infuse her own voice, “I don’t know why you have a problem with this. I’m entitled to a few days off. I’ve given you all of the information you need to handle things while I’m gone. And Trina – my boss – has approved my vacation time. Practically insisted I take it, in fact. So there’s no need to keep talking about it.”

“But that’s the thing, Sadie. We haven’t talked about it. At least not the right part of it.”

Sadie narrowed her eyes, for the first time ever truly hating how detail oriented her assistant was.

“That’s because there is nothing to say.”

“Really. That’s the line you’re sticking with?”

Sadie released a sigh and let silence stretch between them.

“Sadie, please.” Lizzie’s voice was softer, almost pleading. And Sadie instantly felt awful because she recognized the tone. It was the exact same one she’d just used when cautioning Grace against getting too caught up with Jasper. Shit.

“You can’t tell a soul, Lizzie.” Sadie closed her eyes as she heard her assistant release a small gasp. She felt a flush of shame sweep across her. This was the exact moment she’d been dreading. The one where her real life and her fantasy one collided.

“What have you done, Sadie?”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like I’ve just committed some sort of horrible sin.”

“Haven’t you?”

“No!” Sadie’s response was immediate. And loud. “No, Lizzie. I haven’t. A mistake, maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Ok, probably.” Sadie tugged at the end of her ponytail where it trailed across her shoulder. “Definitely. But it’s hardly a capital offense. We’re adults. Consenting ones.”

“You know that isn’t the point.”

“But shouldn’t it be?” Sadie could hardly believe what she was saying. She, who had spent a significant amount of time that very morning explaining to Jack why they couldn’t continue seeing each other. Sleeping with each other. Now she was trying to convince her assistant – and herself – the complete opposite.

“In a perfect world, yes. It would be the point, Sadie.” Lizzie’s voice was calm but had an edge of steel. “But you know how this will look. How it will play out.”

Sadie squeezed her eyes shut, the collateral damage clear in her mind.

“How do you think this will work, Sadie?” When she didn’t respond, Lizzie continued. “You sex away your weekend with Jack Avery, co-founder and EVP of your largest client. A man who is not only notoriously handsome, but notoriously charming. And no-tor-ious-ly fond of women. But, there you are, on your own little exotic getaway, wrapped up in each other and all sorts of sweaty bed sheets.”

“Lizzie!” Sadie cut her off, hating how torrid it all sounded coming out of her friend’s mouth. “It isn’t….”

“I’m not finished,” Lizzie interrupted. “So, the weekend ends, you return to your everyday life. Which currently includes another three events for D&A International for this calendar year, and god knows how many after that.

“Then what? You live in D.C. He lives in San Francisco. You spend what very little free time you have flying across the country to see each other, squeezing date nights in between your crazy travel schedule and his product launches? Or you save it all up and hide yourselves away at the next D&A event, pretending that neither of you have a million other things you should be doing? And that everyone doesn’t know that you are screwing each other?”

“God, Lizzie. That sounds…awful,” Sadie felt ill just thinking about it.

“That’s just the logistics, Sadie! Something that you’re an expert in. So, say your relationship, if that’s what we’re calling it, is able to survive all that – the distance, the travel, the schedules, his playboy reputation. You still have the whispers. The rumors. That you’re screwing Jack to keep your client happy. To keep their business. There isn’t a good way to look at it, Sadie. You either come off as part of a package deal, one of the perks: event planning with a side of ass. Or, it comes across as you exchanging sexual favors for Jack’s continued business.”

“That is so fucked up, Lizzie,” Sadie could barely get the words out around the bile crawling up her throat.

“Agreed. Completely. But you do not have the upper hand here. For all of your foresight and planning and trouble shooting you have to know that, Sadie.”

“I do, Lizzie. I swear to god, I understand. But…,” Sadie didn’t know what to say to convince her friend that it wasn’t – it couldn’t – be as bad as she was making it out to be.

“But what, Sadie? This is all assuming that Trina doesn’t fire you the second she finds out. And, Christ!” Lizzie’s frustration was palpable through the phone. “I don’t even know how you avoid that happening.”

Sadie’s head was beginning to pound and she pressed the heel of her hand into the bridge of her nose, hoping to hold back the headache. Which she knew was going to be impossible. “Which part?”

“What, the finding out or the firing? That’s easy. She’s going to find out. No doubt about it. That woman is practically omniscient, especially when it comes to her business and her clients. As for the firing part? Well, I really don’t know, Sadie. Trina likes you. Which has been obvious from the first day I joined the firm. She knows – we all know – that you’re great at your job. You work hard, bring in great clients, keep them happy, and still manage to not be a raging bitch.” Sadie coughed at Lizzie’s bluntness. “At least, like, ninety-seven-percent of the time.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“This is an honest space, my friend. Just telling you the truth.” Lizzie’s voice lost the hint of humor it had taken on briefly. “So, keeping with that theme… we both know it doesn’t matter how much Trina likes you. If she thinks you are a liability, you’re gone. Which you can’t argue with, because that is exactly how you would handle it if you were in her shoes.”

“Yes,” Sadie mumbled. She was past feeling like a scolded child and had moved fully into mortified disaster territory.     

“Yes?” Lizzie wasn’t about to let her get off so easily.

“Yes, that’s how Trina would handle it. How I would handle it.”

“So you’re coming back.” Lizzie wasn’t asking.

Sadie started to nod, her lips curling to force out the word “yes,” when she stopped. From the corner of her eye she caught a flutter of movement. Ignoring Lizzie’s rambling on the other end of the phone, she crossed to the desk and pulled out the loose piece of paper that was rustling in the breeze from her ceiling fan. The second her fingers touched it she knew what it was. She didn’t need to run her eyes over the boldly curved words to know what they said. 

To watch your face … To feel the heat of your skin … My mind will not give it up, Sadie. The thought of you … stand there with me. And acknowledge just how breathtaking it is.

“No.”

“What?” Lizzie’s ramblings about flights and sedans back from the airport ended with a screech.

“I’m not coming back. I’m staying the weekend. Like I said.”

“You have got to be effing kidding me….”

“Lizzie, that is enough.” Sadie was done being scolded. For fuck’s sake. She was absolutely certain that anyone else would have fired Lizzie for talking to them like that. Then again, she was not currently occupying the moral high ground. So she hauled back her anger and continued more calmly. “I’m not discounting what you’ve said. Quite the opposite. I’m taking it all seriously. Everything you’ve said is true. Especially if it plays out that way. But….”

“But what?”

Sadie ignored the question, her mind – and maybe a little bit of her heart – latching on to the conversation they’d had the day before. “Have you heard anything more about D&A International’s potential restructuring?”

“Shit, Sadie…,”

Sadie knew by Lizzie’s tone that her assistant understood exactly what she was getting at. “Well, have you?”

“Nothing concrete, no.”

“That does imply something, though, Lizzie. Out with it.”

Sadie could practically hear the grimace stretch across Lizzie’s face before the woman answered, “I was talking with Janine today. Earlier. About some of the ground work for their next event…”

“Yes, yes,” Sadie waved her hand in impatience.

“Yes, well, Janine mentioned something about an unexpected meeting of D&A International’s board. And how she’d tried to talk Jack into coming back in time to be there in person, but he’d refused.”

“When’s the meeting?”

“Tonight.”

“Tonight?” Sadie’s heart tripped as she thought about what Jack had said, that he was leaving. In the sudden rush of panic that hit her, Sadie realized that she hadn’t heard from or spoken to him all day, not since he’d left for Mark’s room. Maybe he’d changed his mind. But, no. She hauled in a steadying breath. He had explained what he’d meant – that he was supposed to meet Mark. In his villa. Not that he was leaving the island.

“Lizzie, hold on a second.” Sadie brought the phone down from her ear and, without ending the call, quickly scrolled through her emails and texts. Nothing from Jack. But nothing from Grace or Peter, either. And if Jack had left the hotel – or the island – they would have told her.

“So…,” Sadie quickly worked through the various implications of what Lizzie was telling her. “Janine said it was an unexpected board meeting?”

“Emergency, actually. Was the word she used.”

Sadie felt unease ripple through her. Forcing her brain to focus, she ticked off the details with Lizzie. “You are telling me that D&A’s board is having an emergency meeting tonight and that Jack refused to go back to New York to be there in person.”

“Yes.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Christ, Sadie. I don’t know. You’re the one who’s letting him put his tongue down your throat. Surely that makes you better qualified to know the answer than me.”

Sadie would have told off Lizzie, but she was too busy formulating possible explanations for why Jack was still on the island.

This is not about you, Sadie. This is not about you. She forced herself to dismiss the truly ridiculous idea that Jack Avery would even remotely consider jeopardizing his company – and his position in it – for her. Sadie knew he liked her. A lot. He’d been clear about that. But despite everything he’d said to her, had done with her over the past few days, Sadie knew that he was not staying behind for her. And she cursed the sharp stab of distress that she felt at the thought.

“It must not make a difference,” Sadie muttered.

“What was that?”

“Jack. And Mark.” When she’d checked her messages, she hadn’t seen anything from the hotel or Conner about Mark departing unexpectedly either. Which meant that he too was still at the Seven Winds. “Them not going back to New York. It means that whatever is happening, it doesn’t make a difference where they are.”

“Which means that…”

“That whatever is happening is outside of their control, Lizzie. Which means it’s big. Because the entire company is under their control. So if they aren’t needed….”

“Then someone else is doing the controlling.”    

Jesus. What was going on? Sadie knew, obviously, that Jack was dealing with something difficult. Something important enough to warrant him and Mark holing themselves up in the villa and missing entire days of events scheduled with their executive team. But this? Sadie couldn’t quite wrap her head around all of the implications, but she was starting to understand that whatever was going on was on a scale much larger than she’d guessed.

Lizzie was still talking. Going on about trying to get a few more details from Janine. Maybe even charming some from Conner. He did have a soft spot for her, after all. But Sadie wasn’t listening. She was trying to work through the barrage of emotions that were hitting her from all directions.

Comprehension about why Jack had been tense over the past few days, why his emotions had been running so high earlier that morning.

Concern about what this would mean for D&A International. 

Concern, she was embarrassed to admit, about what it would mean for her own business. The fallout from losing a client of that size could be hugely detrimental to her and her position at Trina’s firm.

Worry, on a level Sadie was only just starting to get used to, about Jack. How he was feeling, coping. How stressed he must be at the possibility of losing something so important to him.

And, the most damning of all, hope. Amongst the swirl of questions and consequences, Sadie was most shaken by the fact that deep down she actually felt hope. Hope that, if she and Lizzie were right and Jack and Mark’s positions at D&A International were under threat, he would no longer be her client. And all of the reasons why she needed to stay away from him would suddenly disappear.

Great. So, on top of potentially committing career suicide and pissing off one of your closest friends, you’re also an awful person. Because it took just that simple glimmer, that glimpse of opportunity for her to realize that she wouldn’t be heartbroken if Jack no longer had D&A International. Because that would mean that she could have him instead.

“Sadie!” Lizzie’s shout broke Sadie from her reverie.

“What?!” Sadie shouted back.

“Agg, you don’t have to be so loud. I can hear you just fine.”   

“You did it first.”

“Only because you were ignoring me.”

Sadie wanted to retort with “I wasn’t,” but that would only devolve the conversation further into kindergarten territory. “Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“I’m sure you were….”

“Lizzie, as enjoyable as this little chat has been I do actually have work to do. So if you have anything else you want to talk about, spit it out.”

“This. This is why.”

Sadie was a split second from screaming in frustration. Or drinking an entire bottle of wine in one sitting. “Why-what?”

“This is exactly why Trina would have to fire you. You…we. We know too much about our clients, Sadie. We don’t even know the details of what is going on with D&A International, but we can still guess at far more than we should. Which is why there are rules. And which is why, if you break them, you’ll be done.”

“I know,” Sadie spoke clearly even if her voice was low, refusing to admit defeat.

“So you keep saying,” was Lizzie’s only reply before she finally disconnected the call.