Page 70 of Stella

I was so high up I was terrified of the fall.

Chapter20

Simon

Istared at the blinking computer screen, my eyes dry and grainy.

The tech company my father had inherited from his father was acquiring another small business, and the merger had been a nightmare of legal red tape.

It would have gone faster if I’d been willing to sack the all the former employees instead of bringing them on board, but I couldn’t do that. These people should be benefiting from the merger, not having their lives destroyed. But it meant mountains of paperwork to bring them on as employees.

In a few short hours, I would be free to drive up the coast. A long weekend with Stella would soothe my nerves.

Her scent lingered on my skin, and I tried not to drag my arm past my nose in order to catch a stronger smell. My office was cold and sterile, something that normally helped me to focus, but now it seemed barren, devoid of life.

My phone pinged with a text. When I checked it, I saw that it was Evan.

Don’t work all night. Long weekend is almost upon us.

I sighed. A few more spreadsheets and I would be done. I typed out the numbers, mostly from memory. Evan and Jerrick were already at Stella’s, and the three of them would probably have a three-way before I got there.

My heart pumped faster at the thought of walking in on the three of them in the middle of the act. I let out a long breath. Focus on work, not the thought of your lovers tangled around each other.

The last few weeks had been…perfect. Before, I was trying to juggle Ava with Jerrick and Evan and never coming up right. Someone was always unhappy.

Stella never made me feel like I had to choose between her and my pack. She never acted like they were accessories.

The four of us fit together in a way I had never experienced before, and I was terrified.

What if I messed things up? What if I couldn’t measure up?

Ava kept me jumping through hoops that I could never hit, but at least I knew what she wanted, what she needed.

I tried everything I could do to keep Stella happy, but she was so headstrong, so independent, sometimes I wondered if she needed us at all.

I pushed those thoughts away, and typed faster, trying to fill in the last of the numbers.

A short knock at the door, and my father walked in.

I clenched my teeth together. He looked around the office as though he’d never seen it before, as if he hadn’t occupied it for ten years before moving up in the company.

“Working late I see.” I ignored the note of approval in his voice. Dad was definitely old school, thinking that if you weren’t working sunup to sundown, you weren’t working hard enough.

He took a seat across from me. I glanced up. “I’m almost done with the Bergen accounts.”

“Excellent. You should be done with the Mannford accounts early.”

I swallowed some irritation. “No, they will be on time. I’m taking a long weekend, like I noted in my schedule planner.”

Dad frowned. “Yes but…”

I waited for him to finish. It was a tactic I’d learned long ago from Dad.

“It’s that omega.” Dad folded his hands together. “I was waiting for you to tire of her—"

“I’m not going to ‘tire’ of her,” I snapped, some alpha bark rising in my voice.

Instead of getting angry, like I thought he would, Dad looked smug. Never a good sign.

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