Page 11 of In Charge

Chapter 6

Robbie

I thought the morningwould never end. Maya and I stayed out way too late after we closed the deal with Bo Jensen. I still couldn’t believe it. We had dinner with—and now represented—the biggest star in the rock music industry. It was by far the coolest thing that ever happened to me, and I had Maya to thank for it.

That woman was going to be the death of me.

I really had only meant to take Maya out for one drink, but that drink turned into two bottles of wine and a hell of a lot of kissing. Putting her in a cab alone was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Neither of us wanted to go home alone.

When did I become the guy who walked away from an opportunity to have sex with a hot woman? She didn’t say the words, but I knew she wanted it just as much as I did. All I would’ve had to do was suggest a shared cab, and we would’ve ended up at her place or mine. But I didn’t.

Maya wasn’t just any woman. She deserved better than a one-night stand from the guy who wanted to tear apart the company she wanted to take over. Maya was the kind of woman to settle down with and she deserved better than a damaged guy like me. I’d never been in a serious relationship, and I didn’t know what one looked like. It wasn’t like my parents gave me a good example.

I’d dated my fair share of women, but I’d never found one that wanted more from me than my money or a good time. I thought I’d found one once when I was in college, but man, was I wrong. Sara and I dated for about three months, and I was smitten. And I felt like a damn fool when her true self was revealed to me. The day I went to confess my love to her, I overheard her talking to one of her girlfriends about how she finally won the jackpot. She had already decided how she was going to spend all my millions once she convinced me to tie the knot. I never saw her again after that day. And I never dated anyone seriously after that either.

But Maya had already made her own money, and if she was as smart as I assumed, she invested it well. With her success with PenTalent, she could be close to her own millions. If Maya Stone was by my side, it wouldn’t be for my money. It’d be because she wanted me. That, I trusted.

I tried to focus on work but all I could think about was running my tongue across Maya’s soft lips again. I had to get her out of my mind and focus on why I came here in the first place. To destroy my asshole father.

“Good morning, Robbie.” I looked up to find Maya leaning against the door frame with a smile on her face.

“Good morning to you, too.” I don’t know what surprised me more. The fact that she came to my office—it was usually me going to her—or that she called me Robbie. “Thank you for calling me Robbie. I like that much better.”

“Well, I figured since you kissed me senseless last night, the least I could do was call you by your name.” We both laughed. I could get use to flirtatious Maya. “Here, I finally filled this out and submitted it to IT. Sorry it took me so long.”

“What is it?” I took the piece of paper from her. She filed the paperwork with IT authorizing me access to everything. Every client file along with every single piece of dirt Dad buried for his clients, was now at my fingertips. “Thanks, I’d forgotten about this.”

The lie made me cringe. I hated lying to her and wished I’d just left it at thanks.

“At least now you’ll be able to study past accounts.” I looked up and she looked like she was studying me, trying to work herself into my mind to see what I was thinking. I suddenly felt self-conscience. I was prepared for her to call me out on something, but instead she smiled. “Do you want to grab lunch today?”

“I’d love to.” I sighed in relief.

“Great, come get me around noon.” Watching her saunter down the hall to her office was sexy as hell, and it took me a few minutes to clear my head enough so I could get back to work.

I turned back to my computer and checked the network files. Sure enough, I now had access to everything. I knew my father managed some serious elitist scum, but some of these buried secrets even shocked me. Accusations of rape, embezzlement, secret babies with mistresses, and one even suggested a murder cover-up. What the fuck?

Within a couple hours, I’d compiled enough dirt on a few key clients that the tabloids would pay a fortune for. All I had to do was release it to my friend, Jake, and he’d take care of the rest. Several incidents like that, and PenTalent’s clientele would start to lose their trust and take their business to another firm, and it would bury Dad.

I clenched the jump drive in my hand before I slipped it into my pocket. Now I had to decide how and when to leak it. But first, I wanted to see Maya. It was close to noon and I was ready for that lunch we discussed.

I shut down my computer and tidied up my desk. I grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair and headed for the door when Dad walked into my office.

“Robbie, my son. You got a minute?” I hated how he called me his son. He said it like it was some endearing name that I should be proud to hear, but it wasn’t. He barged in, walked past me, and took a seat in the chair opposite my desk. He didn’t look in my direction or acknowledge that I might have more important things to do. My ears started to burn which was a good indication my blood pressure spiked. He always expected me to drop whatever I was doing for him.

“I’m heading over to see Maya.” I put my jacket on, hoping he’d get the point and come back later.

“Ms. Stone can wait. I need to talk to you first, then we can go see her together.” Dad pointed to my chair, still refusing to look at me.

“I’m on my way out, Dad.”

“Sit. Let’s talk.”

If I walked out now, he’d likely follow me and raise hell just for the sake of being heard. Dad was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it. “Fine, what do you want?”

“Good job on closing the deal last night with that music star.” Dad didn’t show a single bit of emotion, and there was no inflection in his voice.

“I had little to do with that,” I said. “That was all Maya.”

---