Page 31 of A Forbidden Spring
Living in airport terminals and working every minute of the day was akin to breathing. But all that had stopped the second Wren had glanced in my direction. I no longer want to work from sunup to sundown or plan my next meeting while sitting in the current one.
She’s changed me, and looking around the bustling city with the honking horns and high-rise buildings, I know with every beat of my heart that I never want to go back to this life.
Dialing my father’s number for the second time this morning, I swallow a retort when he answers with a clippedhello.
“I’m headed to the office.”
“I’m not there. There was anissuewith your brother that needed to be addressed—a misunderstanding with one of the staff.”
Of fucking course.
Because my asshole brother couldn’t be bothered to be a decent human being—all he had to do was accept one of themanyhandouts he’d received and work his ass off like the rest of us.
“The only reason I’m in New York was because you said you’d be here.”
“I know, but this couldn’t be helped.” He sighs. “I have five minutes now; I’ll just tell you the good news in this shitstorm.” I hold my breath because undoubtedly we no longer share the same interpretation of the phrasegood news.“I’ve got Marco slated to take over the Wintervale account, so as promised, you’ll be able to hand that off in the next couple of weeks and head to Colorado as planned.”
“As much as I appreciate that, I don’t want to go to Colorado. Things have changed, and I want Wintervale to be my home base.”
Silence radiates from the other end of the line, so much so that I fear the call has dropped.
“Merrick, I need to go take care of something. We’ll talk about this more later, but the Colorado account is yours. I won’t let you throw your career away on…whateverit is you’ve found in Montana.”
“Dad—”
“I’ll talk to you later. Your brother is a fucking pain?—”
The line goes dead, and it’s all I can do not to throw my phone out the window and into the street. Has it always been like this? Why didn’t I notice how dysfunctional we all actually are?
I let the questions flit through my mind as we drive through the city that I thought could never be topped.
Money, bars, women, all at my fingertips—anything I desired and more than I could imagine. But a couple of months in a rural town in nowhere Montana has rearranged my blueprint for success.
For happiness.
My father might think it’s a mistake to stay, but I know with every ounce of my being that this thing with Wren is real, and there’s no account in the world that could take me away from her.
I just hope my father will see that too.
18
WREN
MERRICK: If I die during this meeting just know your tits are the best I’ve ever seen
WREN: Is it weird I’m flattered?
MERRICK: No that’s the point
WREN: Also aren’t you supposed to be paying attention in that meeting?
MERRICK: I’d much rather have you bent over my desk right now
WREN: You are supposed to be FOCUSED
MERRICK: Yeah, focused on how you look spread wide for me, your pussy glistening and begging for my dick
WREN: I. AM. AT. WORK.
