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“Get all the photos of Adam Cody taken out of the lobbies of the buildings, please.”
Her eyes widened and her eyebrows rose. Then her features cleared and she rose from her desk. “A word?” she suggested, pointing back into my office.
I raised an eyebrow at her but waved her into my office, where she stood and faced me behind the closed door.
“I won’t do that, sir.”
“Call me Oliver.”
“Oliver. I won’t take the pictures down.”
“I think you will.” I liked Pamela, but I didn’t like this, and my voice was icier than I’d meant it to be.
“Adam Cody cofounded this company.In honor of his memory, the least we can do is keep his picture up as a reminder of his contributions and his legacy.”
“Adam Cody was a fraud.”
She crossed her arms. “I won’t do it without a valid reason.”
“I could fire you,” I reminded her, though she knew I had no intention of doing so. “I could ask someone else. Rob’s secretary would just follow orders. Maybe I need a new secretary.”
“You told me you wanted a right hand. And here I am. Your father?—”
“He was not my father,” I interrupted, my mood darkening considerably.
She took a step forward and looked up at me, her eyes blazing. “Adam Cody raised you. He fed you, he clothed you, he sent you to school every day and paid your medical bills. I didn’t live in your house, so I don’t know, but I’m going to take a wild guess that maybe he and Sonja held you when you cried, told you stories at bedtime and kissed you good night. They probably calmed you when you were scared and taught you how to be a strong, capable leader. They instilled enough confidence in you—arrogance, maybe—to stand here today and order me to erase their memories. And I’m not going to do it.” Then in a softer voice she added, “I knew him, too, Oliver. For a long time.”
“It isn’t your call,” I said in a whisper, trying to push down the memories her words had brought surging back. My mother bending over me to kiss my forehead, my father teaching me to swim.
“Adam Cody was good to people here,” she said, her voice even and low. “You were not the only one to whom he acted as a father.”
I felt my eyes widen slightly as I wondered what the hell she was talking about. Her eyes had welled up and her face had reddened. There was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Fine. I’ll take care of it later,” I told her.
With a curt nod, she spun on her heel and left my office. And I sat down to think about what kind of man Adam Cody really was, the fury inside me draining until all I felt was the simmering sadness that had lived in me for the last few months. I still hated him.
But God, I missed him.
That afternoon I had just sat down with Rob when Pamela buzzed. “Holland O’Dell is hoping to speak with you?”
I tried to stop the wild grin from dashing across my face, and turned my head from the table so Rob wouldn’t see it. I’d asked Holland to pop up, but hadn’t expected her yet. I’d hoped to lay the groundwork first. “Send her in. Thanks, Pamela.”
A moment later, Holland walked through the door, and I stood up from the small round table where I’d been sitting across from Rob. I wished I knew what exactly it was about that girl, but the second I saw her, it was like every cell in my body vibrated. My dick twitched and my blood heated, and now—after what had transpired on her desk earlier this week or the stolen kisses I’d managed in the days that followed—I couldn’t stop the images that flitted throughmy mind. And those did nothing to help me regain control of myself. I waved Holland in and introduced her to Rob, but what I wanted to do was wave him out and nail her against the office door.
She wore a slim black pencil skirt and a soft blue blouse that showed her curves but still managed to be completely professional. Her hair was hanging in loose waves around her face, over her shoulders, just brushing the tops of her breasts. And those bright blue eyes were sharp and clear, and focused on my face as her perfect pink lips moved.
“Earth to Oliver,” she said, in a voice that told me she’d probably said something else that I’d completely missed because I’d been busy letting my mind wander over her generous curves.
“Right,” I said quickly, straightening my tie and gesturing to a chair next to Rob. “Let’s give Rob a quick rundown of the presentation we made to MLB, get him up to speed.”
Holland nodded, her eyes on my face. “I brought my laptop. I can pull up the presentation.”
“Sure,” I agreed.
Rob’s eyes hadn’t left Holland since she’d walked into the room, and I began to feel my blood heat for a totally different reason. Rob’s focus on her was complete. Whatever Holland had that pulled me to her, Rob felt it, too. And I didn’t like that at all.
“Do you mind if I stand?” Holland asked. “It’s easier for me to focus if I can walk a little.”
