Page 2 of Lilly's Little Labor Day

She was gone.

He heard someone call his name, and it wasn’t the sweet, adorable voice he’d been listening to moments earlier.

His eyes opened. The crib was gone. Even more disappointing, the sweet, precious Little was still gone.

Turns out, he wasn’t in a nursery at all. He was in his office, high atop the skyscraper he owned, overlooking downtown Denver. He silently cursed himself for having nodded off. That wasn’t the way a CEO should behave.

Thankfully, his large, posh office chair was spun away from his desk, facing one of the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up three of the walls in the office. With the back of the chair to the door, there was a high probability that whoever was standing before his desk did not realize their boss had been sleeping.

Edward wasn’t sure if he’d actually called out for his babygirl, or if that had been part of the dream, too. He sure hoped no one had heard. It might be hard to explain. There wasn’t much he could do about it one way or another, though. And in reality, there was a good chance none of the employees would call him out even if they’d heard it or simply suspected he was asleep on the job. He was the boss. The head guy. The top man. He could do whatever he wanted.

Owning the company had its perks.

The deep voice called his name again. This time, Edward recognized it.

Lance Collins.

Oh great.

Edward cleared his throat and slowly began to spin his chair around to face his guest. If there was one employee who would dare give his boss crap about falling asleep—and calling out for an imaginary babygirl—it was Lance.

Edward brought his chair to a stop and flashed Lance a smile that concealed his annoyance. There was no love lost between the two men. They weren’t outright hostile in their interactions as that would be unprofessional on Edward’s part and unwise on Lance’s.

As the leader, Edward strived to create an equal opportunity for all employees, treating them with fairness. Even the ones he didn’t like.

And Lance Collins was definitely among the few Edward didn’t like.

Lance was a douche, but at least smart enough to know one should not piss off the guy who signs the paychecks. Not too bad, at least. He pushed more than most, but he never crossed the line.

Not yet.

Edward suspected that day was coming. Lance was a schemer. He’d make a move sooner or later.

“Good afternoon,” Edward said. “What can I do for you?”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Lance said.

There was that arrogant half-smirk.

Bastard.

Edward fought the urge to roll his eyes. “What can I help you with?”

“Did you have a chance to look over the proposal I sent over for our Pueblo branch?” Lance asked.

Edward nodded. “Some good stuff in there. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Do you think we’ll move forward with it?”

“Like I said, some good stuff, but a few things I’d like to tweak. I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. I sent it over to legal. They’re reviewing it and then we’ll sit down and talk. Sound good?”

It doesn’t matter if it sounds good or not, Edward thought, because that’s the way it is. No sense in rubbing the employee’s face in that, though. So, the CEO wisely kept that comment to himself.

Lance looked annoyed. He smacked his lips and shifted on his feet, as if trying to restrain himself.

He was a tall man, a bit on the lanky side, and his suit hung loosely in a few places. He had light brown hair, matching eyes, and thin lips. Despite his rather dull appearance, the man thought extremely highly of himself. The women around the office didn’t quite share his enthusiasm.

Of course, his arrogant attitude didn’t help matters, either.

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