Chapter 24

Work has gotten much better now that Kendra is gone. Word got around about how she acted. I knew I had to act quickly, so I set up a meeting with each shift the following day. I explained to them that while I have an open-door policy and will accommodate them when I can, I'm not a doormat. I also reiterated that certain behaviors would not be tolerated and that I might seem sweet, but I will fire them if needed.

Everyone took it well. Many of them came up to me afterward and told me that what Kendra did was wrong and I was right for firing her. It seems no one had lost any love for the girl.

Thank goodness.

It's been a week since then, but everything has been running smoothly.

That's why I'm surprised when Tristen comes up to me, a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Danielle called. She needs to see you in the conference room in the office. She said it's urgent."

I swallow hard. Of course it is. I knew I would have to face my aversion to that room sooner or later. I guess I secretly hoped the time would never come.

Seems like today is the day.

"Thanks, Tristen. No worries. I can handle it."

"I wish I could go in your place."

"I need to be professional. We both knew this day would come. I'll be okay."

"I'll be here if you need me."

"Thanks. You're a great friend."

Walking to the staff elevator,

I hold my head high.

I can do this.

Getting into the elevator, I pep talk myself the entire way up. When the doors finally open, I take a final deep breath and force a smile on my face.

When I get to the conference room, I'm confused. It's empty. My heart starts racing as I remember waiting here for Mason, only for his mother to come in.

"Breathe, it's going to be okay." I hear in my ear.

I spin, startled. Mason is standing in front of me, hands in his pockets.

"What are you doing here?"

"We have a meeting. Would you please step into the room, Ms. Knight?"

I do as he asks, my mind too busy trying to figure him out to panic.

"I thought we were keeping business and pleasure separate, Mason."

"Who said this isn't business?" he asks, shutting and locking the door.

"What are you doing? This is where we work."

He moves closer to me, pushing me back until my ass hits the edge of the table. Then he picks me up, setting me on it. Settling between my legs, he cups my cheeks.

"This room has such a bad memory for you. You love working here, but this will always be a sore spot for you. I don't want that. If I could, I would tear it down and plant something beautiful in its place. It's a building, though, and it's not even on the first floor. Instead, I'm going to have it repainted and redecorated. Have some different artwork put up. Buy a new table and chairs. Until then, though, I want to give you a better memory to think about when you come here."

My heart is thundering in my chest. "What kind of memory?"

He smirks at me. "One that will likely get me in trouble with you. Lie back."

He pushes me back until I'm lying on the table.

"I'm glad you wore the skirt," he murmurs as he starts kissing up my inner leg.

This morning when he suggested I wear my black skirt, I thought nothing of it. I did it because I thought he liked thinking of me in it. Now I see that I was set up.

"Someone will hear, Mase. This is so unprofessional."

He laughs. "Let them hear. I bet you'd like that. Do you like the idea of being caught? I know I do."

Then he rips my panties, leaving my core exposed.

"Better be thinking about how I'm about to eat this pussy. I'm going to enjoy every second of it too."

He leans in, pressing kisses to my pussy lips before he opens them up, swiping his tongue from the opening to my clit. It's such a weird sensation when all I can think about is the fact that my coworkers are on the other side of that door. That if any one of them were to try the door, it would be locked. They would wonder what was going on. Maybe even put their ear up to the door to listen.

Would they hear me moan?

One slips free as he begins to finger me while sucking on my clit. My back arches off the table, my body unwilling to stay still.

My hands naturally find their favorite place buried in Mason's hair. I pull and grind on his face, loving every moment until I come. He licks me through my orgasm before pulling back and standing.

"That is definitely something I will think about when I see this room now," I pant out.

"Oh, we aren't done yet. Turn over."

My eyes widen, but I do as he asks. I feel him flip my skirt up. Then I hear his zipper. I know I can look back at him, but each sound only heightens my desire. Not knowing what is going to come next is thrilling. Add that to the fact that I'm imagining someone on the other side of the door, and I feel like I am on another planet. My mind is focused on nothing, but Mason.

The condom wrapper ripping has me clenching as if he's already inside of me. Then I feel him notching at my entrance.

"You're going to come like a good girl all over my dick. Then every time you are in this room, you will think about how the CEO of this company fucked you right here at the end of the table. If you're lucky, I'll be the one standing up here talking so you can imagine how good my cock felt buried deep inside your wet, warm cunt. You'll be gushing for me. Then, at the end of the meeting, you'll come find me in my office and beg me to fuck you again and ease the need."

"Mason, fuck. I need it," I whimper.

"I know you do, Livvy. I'm going to give it to you, baby. Just remember, anyone could be listening while I fuck you here in the conference room at work. Can you keep quiet?"

He doesn't wait for me to answer. He slams into me, making the whole table move. I squeal before biting down on my arm to try to keep the sounds in.

It's useless, though. He sets a punishing pace. He's not playing with me today. He wants to get me off quickly. When I orgasm the first time, I think it's going to be over, but he fucks me through it, making me roll into a second orgasm.

He's relentless, not stopping until I'm no longer able to speak coherent sentences. My chest hurts from being pressed into the table, and I know I'll have bruises on my thighs, but I don't care.

When Mason finally comes, I'm so far out of it that he has to hold me for several minutes for me to recover.

I wince at how sore my pussy is. It feels well used, and I love it.

"The room will smell like sex. I'm sure everyone knows we were in here fucking," I say into the crook of his neck.

He chuckles against my ear. "I sent everyone home. We're the only ones on the floor right now. I told Max that if anyone came back, they would be fired on the spot."

"Max knows?" I cringe.

He runs his hand up and down my spine. "All he knows is that we were working through your trauma with the conference room. I didn't tell him how."

I let out a relieved sigh.

"Are you really going to change the whole room for me?"

He pulls back, kissing my lips. "Don't you get it yet, Liv? I would burn the world for you. You only need to ask."

At this moment, I know that Mason was meant for me and I for him.

He truly is my soulmate.

* * *

I don't think I have ever been as happy as I am right now. Even as a child, I don't think I ever knew true happiness. Not the way I feel when I see the smile on my daughter's face. Looking at the picture of the three of us on my desk, I can't help but feel like my heart is full.

I used to be a workaholic. I would spend all the time I could at the office. I've rarely been here past four most days now. I spend all my spare time with Olivia and Arianna. I feel bad though. Eli has taken up a lot of slack with The Williamson Group. Max has taken over everything at the hotel that I was supposed to do.

Honestly, I only show up here and answer some emails or take some calls. I have been in another world the past few months. I wouldn't trade it for anything, though.

A knock on my office door has me pulling my eyes from the framed photo I recently put on the corner of my desk. After Halloween, I printed the family photo of the three of us and framed it. I swear I spend more time looking at it than I do actually working nowadays.

"Hey. Come in," I tell Max as he stands at the open door.

He closes the door behind him before taking the seat on the other side of the desk.

"We need to talk."

"What's up?"

He cringes. "I'm going to just jump right into it. We need to talk about the future. What are your plans?"

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"Well, normally, you would have already been on to the next location at this point. Eli has been attending meetings around the country for you. I know there are some overseas that will be coming up. Have you thought about what you are going to do? While I love having you around, you can't stay here forever when you have a job to do."

My heart stops. I knew this day would come. I would need to make a decision about my future with my company. It's not fair for everyone if I keep ditching meetings and such for my family. Still, I can't imagine leaving them.

"Grandfather had the headquarters here when he ran things. I think I'm going to move them back here. Buy out a building and move everyone who wants to come. Anyone who wants to stay where they are will either receive a severance package or be offered another job if possible," I admit.

It had been on my mind, but that's the first time I spoke it out loud. I stare at Max, waiting for his response. I won't lie, I'm worried he will think I am encroaching on his territory.

After several moments, he smiles. "Good. I was hoping you would say that. I think you're making the right choice. Olivia and Arianna need you here with them. You don't want to make them move. Not with Olivia doing so great with her position here."

"You don't feel like I'm encroaching?"

He shakes his head. "Actually, I had an idea I wanted to run by you."

"Shoot."

"The Chief of Operations position has been open for a while. I was hoping maybe you'd let me take it on. I can take a lot of your out-of-state and out-of-country meetings. Iris would come with me as my executive assistant. That way you wouldn't have to miss as much with Liv and Ari."

My brother is a fucking saint. I offered him that position a year ago, but he didn't want it then. Said I could handle it without him. Now that he sees my priorities are elsewhere, he is stepping up.

"You want to give up the hotel? Father left it for you."

He shakes his head. "I'm not giving it up. I'm taking a step away. You will be here to put out any fires. Besides, the hotel mostly runs itself now that we've gotten it turned back around. Especially now with all the new people. It's going to be a transition, though, so I thought maybe we should give it some time and slowly give Olivia more responsibility. Eventually, I want her to run it."

I raise my eyebrows. "You're giving my girlfriend your hotel?"

He shrugs. "It's the family hotel. She's family."

"She will hate being handed anything," I muse as I lean back in my chair.

Max smirks. "I know, which is why I said we slowly give her the responsibilities until she is handling everything anyway."

"Smart. I agree, but only on two conditions."

"What?"

"You come back and visit often. Ari needs her uncle Max in her life."

"Obviously. I'll be here as much as I can."

"Good. Two, Iris can't be your executive assistant."

"Excuse me? She has been since the beginning. I'm not leaving her behind." He crosses his arms.

I secretly think he's in love with his so-called assistant, but that's not my business.

"She can't be because she is better than that, Max. If she goes, she gets an equally important position."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we create a position for her. Chief of whatever you want, but she is not your assistant. In fact, she deserves her own assistant."

His jaw clenches as he thinks it over. "Fine. I'll figure it out. Are you going to tell Olivia?"

"Not yet. I want her to settle in a little more. I'm trying to get her to agree to switch out day cares. She is stubborn. She doesn't see the point of paying more for day care when hers has done well for three years now."

"Why do you want to switch?" he asks.

"It's not that great. They aren't even working with Ari on her education. It's practically a glorified playground. They are understaffed and overcapacity. I just think Ari would be getting more out of a better day care."

"Sounds like a headache. Isn't she starting school soon too?"

I groan, rubbing my forehead. "Don't remind me. We got into an argument about that last night. She thinks public school will be fine, but I looked into the schools around here. None are up to my standards. Private school is the way to go. The problem is that Olivia refuses to let me pay for it. She wants to pay half of everything so that she is contributing. She wanted to pay half the mortgage even."

"You don't have a mortgage."

"I know. When I told her that, she said she was paying me something, so I better tell her a number before she looks up what a place like mine rents for."

"Fuck. What did you tell her?"

"I told her she could pay me a hundred dollars a month."

"Did she agree?"

"Fuck no. She then went and saw that homes in my area rent for thirty-four hundred a month and lost her shit. She tried to tell me that we couldn't afford to live there and then got pissed when I reminded her that I owned the place outright. We went in a few circles, but I finally agreed to take five hundred a month from her."

He shakes his head. "What are you doing with the money?"

"Putting it into Ari's trust."

He laughs. "Of course you are. Sounds like a headache."

"It is, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love them."

"I know you do. I'm happy for you, man."

"Thanks, brother. You'll find your one too."

He looks sullen for a moment. "Maybe I already have and I lost my shot."

"It will all work out. If it doesn't, then I'm here to watch you drink yourself stupid until you forget about it."

"Best big brother ever."

"Don't you forget it. Now get out of my office and get back to work. I want to get out of here at a decent time."

He laughs, heading to the door.

He stops before he opens it.

"Happiness looks good on you, brother."

Then he leaves as my eyes find that photograph again.

Happiness does look good on me.