Chapter 2

Raymond Ackermann the Sixth sat across from my desk, his spine as straight as if he had a broomstick up his butt as he chewed my ear off about a wedding I hadn't even handled. Under any other circumstances and with most other clients, I'd have told him to shove it where the sun didn't shine—provided he had space down there next to the broomstick.

It would've been a marvelous moment too. I imagined trumpets blaring and a parade being thrown in my honor because someone had finally stood up to this jackass, but these weren't any other circumstances and he wasn't any other client.

He was Raymond Ackermann—the Sixth, and he never let anyone forget it—and that meant that he was too important for me to piss him off so soon after taking over the company. His parents owned the largest chain of hardware stores in the country, and according to them, that meant that the whole damn thing had been built on the backs of the Ackermanns.

Absurd, I know, but such is the ego of his family.

"I was assured that my nuptials would be handled with highest degree of professionalism and care," he ranted. "Instead, what I got was delays, excuses, poorly trained waitstaff, and a power outage in the middle of my first dance."

Breathe, Serenity. Just breathe.

All of these things had happened before I'd taken over, but now that it was my company, it was my responsibility. "I'm deeply, truly sorry, Mr. Ackermann. You're absolutely correct. That is unacceptable. I'll launch a thorough investigation into what exactly happened that day and you'll receive my feedback as soon as I have anything."

"Did you really think you were up to this?" he sneered. "It was the highest profile wedding of the year and you people dropped the ball. Repeatedly."

"With all due respect, if I had handled it, it would've gone better," I said confidently.

He scowled at me. "That's yet to be seen, and at this rate, it's going to be an uphill battle. I'm going to smear this company p?—"

My stomach plummeted and my heart froze over. I'd seen this coming, but now that it was here, I was desperate to keep him from making good on his threats. There were already enough people who thought I was just some blonde bimbo who'd tripped and landed on a silver platter containing this company and so many other things.

None of them had any idea what I'd been through, how hard I'd fought, or how involved I'd always been behind the scenes. Well, my ex-husband had referred to it as behind the scenes. I thought of it more like him taking all the credit.

Mentally shaking myself back to the present, I inhaled deeply and fixed the asshole with my most calming smile. "That won't be necessary, Mr. Ackermann."

He scoffed. "Don't you dare tell me what's necessary, you?—"

"The way I see this," I said, speaking over him because he'd had his turn—for the last hour. I leaned forward and folded my arms gracefully on the glass top of my desk. "You can either make a fuss publicly, which is fine, but it would be tantamount to admitting that your big day was an epic failure, or you could let me make it up to you by offering you a function on the house. We'll call it a party to welcome you back after your honeymoon and it will go down without a hitch. It will smooth things over and it will be so amazing that no one will remember the hiccups at your wedding afterward."

It was going to cost me at least half a million dollars—of my own money—but that was a drop in the ocean compared to what I would lose if he made a big stink about it. I might not have had anything to do with his wedding, but I was willing to bet everything that it wouldn't be reported that way.

Ethan's name probably wouldn't even come up, and the story would be all about how I'd blundered my way through the highest profile wedding of the year because I'd had no business being in the industry in the first place. My dearest ex would be able to buy this place back for pennies on the dollar if that happened, and I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction—nor was I about to take the fall for something I hadn't done.

Raymond stared back at me for a long moment before he finally nodded. "A welcome-home party?"

"Yep." I smiled brightly. "It'll be one for the books. You have my word. It will erase every bad memory you have of your wedding day and it'll make you the talk of the town."

"It better." He shoved his chair back and narrowed his eyes, glaring at me down the length of his nose. "I'll speak to my wife and get back to you about a date."

"Excellent. In the meantime, I'll have my assistant send over our available slots for the rest of the year. Feel free to choose any one of those that suits you."

He glared for another beat, then spun on his heels and left. I had just long enough to let out a deep breath and pray that his wife would go along with this before my phone started ringing. I glanced at the screen, letting out a low groan when I saw that it was finance calling.

"This is Serenity," I said as I picked up. "What can I do for you, Ms. Kay?"

Only silence came from the other end of the line.

I frowned. "Ms. Kay? Are you there?"

"Yes." She cleared her throat. "I'm here, Ms. Halverson. I'm just surprised you remembered my name."

My heart melted a little bit. "Things are changing around here. Now, how can I help you?"

I felt like I'd been putting out fires since the moment I'd walked in here that first day after I'd been awarded the company. I'd barely had time to talk to anyone, hitting the ground running and continuing at a sprint for the couple months it had been since.

After approving the invoices on some major orders for a few of our upcoming events, I hung up with my liaison in the finance department and extinguished a few more fires before lunch. At noon on the dot, I got up, grabbed my purse, and hightailed it out of my office.

As I passed Amelia, my assistant, on the way out, I gave her a pleading look. "Hold my calls for the next couple hours, please."

"Lunch with Julie," she said, nodding as she smiled at me. "I've had it on your calendar for weeks. I'll buy you the time you need to catch up, but I'm afraid the most you can afford is literally a couple hours."

"Right," I said. "I'll be back at two. I promise."

Winking at her, I took off and strode quickly across the immaculately polished tile floors to the executive elevator. I didn't relax until I was in my car, the top was down, and I was cruising along the short stretch highway between my office and the restaurant my friend and I had agreed to meet at.

With the beach on one side and hills on the other, I finally allowed myself to breathe. In the rare moments I had to think, it was still hard to believe everything that had happened in the last year.

By the time I pulled up in front of the restaurant, I was still reeling, but thankfully, Julie had my back. She was already waiting, her light brown hair pulled up into a high, smooth ponytail and a couple of margaritas on the table in front of her.

I sat down, twisted my fingers around the stem of one glass, and immediately brought it to my lips. "You're an angel. I love you. How are you?"

She chuckled. "Both of those were actually mine, but sure. Have one."

Tasting the tangy lemon and tequila, I moaned and went straight back for another sip before I even acknowledged what she had said. "We shouldn't be day-drinking. I don't know about you, but my afternoon is jam-packed, and if yours isn't, then I'm sure your boss has a few things you could help her out with."

"Well, considering that it's my boss I'm doing the day-drinking with, I'm sure she'll understand." Julie pumped her eyebrows at me, then lifted her glass. I tapped mine against it. "To midday margaritas and finally getting to work together."

"I'll drink to that."

Julie had been my roommate in college and my best friend ever since. She also worked at the company I now owned, but contrary to what some thought, I hadn't appointed her because she was my friend. She was fantastic at her job and she knew everyone there was to know.

A straight-talking, loyal as fuck badass I'd poached from another wedding-coordination company, she had a guy for everything and I adored working with her. Unfortunately, we'd only just gotten our food when we were interrupted by the ringing of my phone.

I cringed as I looked at the screen. "I'm so sorry. It's Amelia. I asked her to hold my calls, so this must be important."

Julie waved a hand at me. "Don't sweat it. Just answer and get it over with."

I answered and pressed the device to my ear. Amelia didn't waste any time, barely saying hello. "I have Diana St. Clair on the line for you. I thought you might want to take it because it's, you know, Diana St. Clair."

I nodded. "Yeah. Of course. Thanks, Amelia."

"You got it."

A moment later, another voice came from the other end of the line. It was older with a more graceful elegance to it. I'd only spoken to Diana myself once, but I recognized that familiar lilt in her tone immediately.

"Serenity? Is that you, sweetheart?"

"It's me," I said, unable to help the smile that appeared on my lips. I hadn't even met her in person yet, but I already liked her. "Is something wrong? We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

"Most definitely," she said. "I just wanted to let you know that my son will be joining us. Dash is going to be helping me plan the wedding."

"That's so sweet," I said, meaning it. "I look forward to meeting the both of you."

"Excellent. Thank you, Serenity. See you tomorrow."

As I hung up the phone, Julie gave me a curious look. "What's so sweet?"

"One of the St. Clair boys is joining his mom for the meeting tomorrow. Apparently, he'll be helping her with the planning."

"Is it Dash?" she asked eagerly, nearly knocking over her drink as her hand shot out to reach for her phone. "I bet it's Dash. I wonder if he's said anything about it on his page yet."

"Yeah. Dash. That's the name she mentioned. Do you know him?"

She pursed her lips before rolling her eyes and quickly unlocking her phone, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "Found him. He's everywhere, so it's not like it's hard, but there he is."

She slid the device across the table for me to take a look. I glanced down to see a surprisingly attractive man on her screen. "That's Dash St. Clair. He's the CEO of St. Clair Weddings and Events. Which other son would she have been referring to? That's how I know him."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. Did you really not know, and if so, how did you miss it?"

I shrugged, still focused on his picture. With thick, chocolate brown hair cut in a fade with some nice length on top, a regal jaw line, and honey-gold eyes, the man was a stunner.

I kind of had to agree with her. How had I missed him?

Having been living in this world for a while now, I'd known of the St. Clair family and the tragedy that had killed William, his father, a few years ago. But I definitely hadn't known he looked like that.

In a charcoal suit that fit him too well to have been bought off a rack, he seemed tall in the picture, staring straight into the camera with an absolutely impenetrable gaze. He was clean-shaven, one hand slid halfway into his pocket as he walked a red carpet.

"Yeah. Yeah," Julie said, breaking into my thoughts. "I know he's cute, but he's a playboy, so keep your distance. There's no future there."

After my recent history with romance, it wasn't a future I was after, though. Maybe someday, I'd try it again, but for the moment, I'd be happy to just stare at the man all day long. As it happened, that was exactly what I would be doing starting tomorrow. As much as I could almost feel his cocky arrogance radiating even from just his picture, I was suddenly really looking forward to planning this wedding.

Nothing like a little bit of eye candy to brighten a girl's day.I knew it wasn't going to be easy working with a guy like him, who came from a family even older and more stinking rich than Raymond's, but as long as he looked as good doing it as he did in that picture, I was pretty sure I'd be able to get over it.

And maybe get under him.