Free Stolen: Business or Pleasure (Contemporary Billionaire Romance) by Holly Rayner Page A

kissed me… yes, that’s all true. But I stopped it right away. I told her that it wasn’t going to happen and that I love you.”
     
    I wasn’t sure that I believed that. I wanted to, desperately. “So, she came here to start things up with you and you said no. Did she come here uninvited?”
     
    He looked nauseated as he said, “No. I invited her. But it had nothing to do with her and me getting together. She called me on Monday of last week. She started talking about an old merger that my father and hers had wanted. She said she wanted that too now that she was CEO. I told her that we were not looking to merge. She started making threats and knowing her the way that I do, I thought they were just idle ones.”
     
    “And how do you know her, Seth?”
     
    “I’m sorry? What do you mean?”
     
    “Just what I said. You said, ‘Knowing her the way I do.’ Do you know her intimately?”
     
    “Yeah Adele, I did. But that was way before you and only because our father’s pushed us into it…”
    “Your father says that she’d do anything to get you back.” I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I saw the look on his face and regretted saying it instantly.
     
    “My father? You spoke to my father about this?”
     
    “Yeah. I went out to see him because I needed to know the truth.”
     
    “And you didn’t think you could get that from me?”
     
    “Obviously I was right. You didn’t tell me any of this until I confronted you with it.”
     
    “Adele, that’s because to me, Liz is nothing. She’s a non-issue all-together. As far as the merger goes… I should have told you, I know that. You have been so suspicious and angry all the time lately at me that it was hard for me to talk to you, but mostly, I was hoping that I could fix it before I had to tell you. You cannot stand my father and he treats you like dirt. For you to be willing to face that instead of me, that makes me feel like we’re even worse off than I thought.”
     
    I hated to admit that he was right. I had been unapproachable lately. I wasn’t buying into that this was all my fault, but I did have to shoulder some of the blame. But this was my company too damn it! Something this important… “So what is happening with the merger?”
     
    He got up and went over to his desk. He handed me a manila envelope and said, “It’s now become a hostile takeover. I called an emergency meeting with the shareholders and executives for tomorrow morning.”
     
    “Oh my God!” I stood up. “You weren’t even going to tell me this?”
     
    “If you’re roommate didn’t tell you… I called your house after you left today. I knew you were gone because I went to talk to you in your office, about all of this. You chose to leave and go home and be with Grant rather than to talk to me and figure this mess out together. I am so sick of having to think about you being with that guy…”
     
    “Stop it! I am not with Grant! Once and for all you need to get that through your head. It’s insulting to me that you would keep insinuating that.”
     
    “Every time I turn around, you’re with him. You live with him. You see him every morning and every night… you tell him everything. You hardly talk to me at all, Adele. What was I supposed to think?”
     
    “I guess exactly what you think,” I said. “The same way I thought what I did about you and Liz. But you know what, Seth? This conversation about whose cheating on whom is juvenile when we have something as large as a pending takeover looming over our heads. We can’t lose this company! You risked that happening by taking this on yourself and not talking to me. That can’t happen.”
     
    He looked like he wanted to cry as he said, “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to see that I’m not just some spoiled rich kid that daddy handed a job to. I wanted a chance to prove to you that I’m a man that you can depend on. I wanted you to see how loyal I was to you and to this company! I