Karri

She’d known he wouldn’t show. Known it deep down within her, on some level of certainty that couldn’t be explained. From the instant she’d suggested it, there had been no doubt in her mind that he was going to come up with some sort of reason as to why he’d been unable to make it. The truth would boil down to something like “I slept in” or “Umm, business,” or something. She’d just known it.

So why the hell are you disappointed?

Had she actually wanted him to show up? She’d never had a jogging partner before, so maybe the idea of having someone to drive her harder, to push her more, was appealing to her on some level? No, that wasn’t it. She was lying to herself if she said it wasn’t because she wanted to see him again.

That was it. Karri wanted to see Andrew again. There was something about his presence that just gelled with her. So there it was. She’d been looking forward to going on a run with him. Not talking to him and getting to know him. Just running in a peaceful silence like they had the day before. As if they’d just sort of…clicked.

She got out of her car, thoughts of Andrew still lingering on her mind. Was she developing a crush on the big shifter? It seemed unlikely that he would be interested in her that way. Every shifter she knew went after the thicker women. The ones with breasts and hips and curves. Things she didn’t possess. Even the strip club in town had altered the women it called in to work there, catering more toward shifter preferences, since they made up so much of their business. No, it was no secret anymore what type of women shifters preferred.

Karri wasn’t like them. She knew she had a face that many considered to be pretty, but she simply didn’t have any feminine wiles, or attributes, or whatever the hell people termed them. There was no way Andrew would be interested in her. Assuming that she was even interested in him!

Shaking her head to clear it, Karri set her focus on work. Andrew was gorgeous and yes, she hadn’t been able to get him off her mind all morning. But she refused to obsess over him, especially if that meant being distracted while at the office. She didn’t have time for that. If she screwed up, her dad would pull the company from her. Pushing open the front doors, she headed back to her office.

It didn’t take her long to realize something was up. Looking around, she tried to figure out what it was. Everyone was at their desks, in their offices, doing whatever they needed to be doing. Things were operating…smoothly. Almost too smoothly.

“Mike…” she said, leaning in to his office before she reached hers.

“Hey Karri. What’s up?”

She frowned. “I was going to ask you the same thing. It’s so peaceful…what’s going on? Is my father not in today?”

Mike almost immediately looked flustered. “Ah, um, no, he’s here. He’s definitely here.” The VP gave her an oddly strained smile.

“What’s going on?”

Mike held his look for a moment longer, then hunched forward in defeat. “He’s here, and, umm, he’s showing someone around.”

Karri frowned. There was more to it than that. “Who’s he showing around?” Her father inviting a potential client into the office to show them how they worked wasn’t all that unusual, though it wasn’t something he did regularly either. Why would that make Mike so uncomfortable?

“It’s Liam,” Mike said at last. “I’m sorry, Karri.”

“Liam?” she asked, stunned.

She wanted to ask why her father would be showing her younger half-brother around, but she didn’t need to. It was obvious. Anyone in the office would see why he was doing that, and they would also know what a calculated insult it was to her.

He was doing it to help groom him to take over instead of her. That was all it could be. Because of the argument that they’d had the day before, her father had taken the next step. She stood up straight, blinking several times as Mike tried to say things she didn’t care about hearing. Eventually Karri just waved him off and sort of wandered into her office, ignoring the open door across the hallway where she could see her father and Liam sitting in chairs discussing things between themselves.

She never made it, coming to a halt at her secretary’s desk.

“Hey Tina,” she said, dazed.

“Hi, Ms. Blaine,” came the formal reply.

Tina was a good person, but she’d never resorted to any sort of comfortable camaraderie that much of the rest of the office had adopted. Some days it irked Karri, but today she was too distracted to notice.

“Ms. Blaine, there’s a—”

Karri waved her off as she made a snap decision. Steeling herself against what she knew was likely about to happen, Karri turned and marched across the hallway, past Georgina’s desk and into her father’s office.

“Hi Father, Liam,” she said politely. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh nothing really,” her father said politely. He was always different when Liam was around. “Just showing Liam around, making sure he knows what’s going on. Just in case you decide not to take over from me eventually, I want him to be ready to step in in your place.” He smiled. “Like an insurance policy, you know?”

Karri forced a smile onto her face at the not-so-thinly veiled threat. “Oh, well, that’s probably smart. Not that I have any intentions of stepping aside though,” she said firmly, making her position clear.

Her father nodded, and they understood each other. Karri knew that for a long time he’d publicly said he was going to make her the next owner after he retired. He’d proclaimed it loud and wide…until she’d had a younger brother. By that point Karri was already ten and he’d said it to too many people to back down. To do so would be to embarrass himself amongst his peers and the business community. Karri was thankful that her father cared too much about such things, even if it was also the source of his attitude toward women, which resulted in much of the friction between them.

It was an odd frame of mind for her father to have adopted, but so far it had mostly worked in her favor when it came to her getting the company.

“Anyway, I have a lot of work to do,” she said. “Important work.” She smiled and left the office before her father could respond. She’d known for a long time when he was telling the truth, and when he was bullshitting. Right now, he was full of it. Bringing Liam in was no “insurance policy.” It was a reminder to her that if she pushed too hard he would swallow his pride and the damage it would do, and he’d announce that Liam would take over for him instead.

What he didn’t seem to realize, was that Liam was an idiot. A spoiled rich kid, he had no drive, no visible intelligence, or business sense. If her father put him in charge of the company, it would go belly up in no time, and all the people that they employed would lose their jobs. It was a disaster she couldn’t let happen.

Pushing open the door to her office, Karri came to an abrupt halt for the second time that day.

“Tina…” she called from the doorway.

“I tried to tell you, Ms. Blaine,” her secretary said, bustling up to stand next to her as the both of them eyed the room.

Her office was filled with flowers. Four different bouquets sat on her desk and the other table in the office.

“They arrived about half an hour ago. Maybe forty-five minutes now,” she corrected as Karri continued to stare.

Roses, daffodils and daisys, wildflowers she didn’t recognize and more.

“Who the hell sent them?” she asked. “I’m not expecting any flowers.”

“I don’t know.”

“Was there a card? A message? Anything?” she asked, leaning over to take in a deep breath, her nose filling with a dozen different aromas that instantly made her smile.

“Nothing at all,” Tina assured her.

Somewhere deep within her a spark of hope flared. A sliver, really, like the kind that slid into your finger and defied all the best tweezers to remove. So small and nearly undetectable, yet unignorable as well, it appeared. Could it have been Andrew that sent them? Perhaps as an apology for missing their morning jog?

No. Now you’re just stretching reality. You might want them to be from him, but the odds are they’re from someone else. Maybe from your dad, his way of making up for the fact that he’s giving the company to Liam.

That would be more appropriate, but she knew it wasn’t true. It was either Andrew’s way of apologizing, or she had a new mysterious admirer. Two in one week seemed highly unlikely, but Karri wasn’t willing to fully believe they were from Andrew either.

Glancing over her shoulder as her father came out of his office, she knew she’d have to make up some sort of excuse about the flowers. Maybe she’d taken up gardening or something. If he found out that she was receiving flowers—or any sort of attention from a shifter—he would likely disown her on the spot.

Not for the first time that day, month, year, or even decade she lamented his archaic mindset, though she understood his feelings toward the latter issue, even if she didn’t agree with them, thinking he was being stupid about it. Still, it was best that he didn’t know about Andrew.

There’s four bouquets of flowers in your office. He’s going to know.

Good point. She couldn’t avoid that. But he didn’t need to know that they were from a shifter.

“What’s this all about?” he asked, standing behind them. “Something wrong with your office, Karri? Do you need to move out of it?”

She almost snorted at the blatant suggestion that she vacate the office, ostensibly for Liam to then occupy it. No shame. Her father had no shame. Sometimes she forgot how much of a child he could be. He was acting ridiculous.

“Nothing is wrong with the office, Father,” she said, not bothering to hide all of her frustration. Without another word she moved into the office so that her father could see what had caused her and Tina to pause at the doorway.

“Did you take up gardening or something?” he asked, eying the flowers.

Karri rolled her eyes. Even she’d discarded that excuse as being so flimsy it wouldn’t stand up to anything. Especially considering she didn’t know half the flowers that were in the bouquets.

“No, Father.”

“Oh, a secret admirer then.”

“It would appear that way. There was no card attached.” The second the words left her mouth Karri realized they were a mistake.

“Do you know who they’re from?” he asked.

Karri had to lie to him now. If she said she didn’t know, then her father would go snooping. He would find the flower company that had sent them, and bribe or bully whomever he needed to until he found out who it was who sent them. That would be unacceptable.

Thinking fast, she came up with a plausible response that would both satisfy his curiosity, but also make him happy. “I believe they’re from Jacques,” she said, trying not to grimace. “We had an excellent time together the last time I visited Corbin Bay.”

Jacques owned a business that did a decent amount of work with them. Her father liked him a lot. He often went on about how Jacques had his life together, how he was the perfect match for her, that they would be an excellent pair. Personally, Karri thought Jacques was an arrogant asshole.

“Jacques? That’s fantastic!” he exclaimed. “I’m so happy for you, Karri.” He practically beamed. It pained her to know that he was excited over a lie, but she’d not seen him this proud of her since she graduated college with a 4.0 GPA. “I’m glad to see you’re coming to your senses and finally dating someone that has their life together, who has a plan.”

She almost vomited at her reply. “Yes Daddy, I’m trying.”

He gave her another look and then smiling to himself, headed off to do something. Probably find someone to yell at; he did that when he was happy. Or sad. Or bored. Or Angry. He yelled a lot.

Still, if it helped placate him about the day before and ensured he didn’t go snooping or anything, then she was happy. Though she didn’t recall saying that she and Jacques were dating. He’d assumed that.

I hope he doesn’t say anything to Jacques. That could get ugly.

Tina gave her a smile and got back to work, so Karri closed the door behind her, settling into her office chair, looking at the flowers once more. They were nice and everything, but they didn’t answer one crucial question.

Why had he sent them, instead of coming himself?