A Mess of a Man (Cruel & Beautiful #2)(63)

I head lower.

“Don’t worry. I can help you.” As I insert myself in between her thighs and kiss my way to that spot, she says. “Ooo. No. Um … look it’s no trouble at allllll.”

She forces me to pull back with a fistful of my hair. I give her a toothy grin.

“Twenty guests is a cake in the park. I mean a walk in the park.”

She frees me from her bond and I get back to work.

“I do this all the time. I have connections. I’ll work something outttt.”

Fucking her with my tongue is one of my all-time favorite things.

“No, your brother isn’t doing anything. He went to grab something to eat.”

I can’t help chuckle at that, especially since I’m actually feasting on my favorite thing.

“I’ll call you later. I’ll get your phone number from Ben.”

There’s a pause and I’m not sure if I’ve caused it or if my sister is talking her ear off. I get my answer when she stutters her next word.

“Ggiifftt.”

She’s close. I’m determined to make her scream while she’s on the phone.

“Maybe a trip?”

I stop, unable to hear Jenna’s response and say, “Dad will never go for that. He’ll say he’s too busy.”

Sam’s face morphs into annoyance. Seems like someone didn’t like that I stopped. She grabs my hair and pushes me back down where she wants me.

“True, your dad probably needs a rest. We’ll talk.”

She ends the call, but I go back to work and get her to the moon and back before we finally leave separately for work.

Although, my day started off pretty f*cking awesome, by noon, I’m sure I have scowl lines chiseled into my face. The bearish market is making my life miserable. Everyone is scrambling, trying to mitigate the effects of the down swing today for our penny-watchful clients.

Unfortunately for Lisa, she’s getting double the dose of my displeasure.

“Who in the office would have called Karen Spencer?” I ask.

Karen had wanted me to help her get her finances in order for the future, and I’d set her portfolio up, but since we were f*cking, I’d passed the torch to Jeff to handle her money so there wouldn’t be a conflict of interest.

“No one that I know of, Mr. Rhoades.”

My eyes narrow with her use of my surname.

“Is this because I wouldn’t sleep with you?” I stage whisper.

She starts to resemble a blackbird with her beady little eyes. “Even though I think you could do better, I have more integrity and respect for this company and my job to do something like that.”

I don’t know if she’s talking about Karen or Sam and don’t care to. I don’t want to be pissed off if she thinks Sam isn’t good enough for me.

“So no one called any of the clients that missed the meeting?”

Her face turns smug. “You should talk to your girlfriend. I personally gave her the list of contacts for the Sorry We Missed you letter that went out to all the clients that didn’t attend the event.”

I chew on that, not believing Sam would’ve called Karen. It doesn’t make sense, unless she doesn’t trust me. That thought rolls off me, as I don’t believe for one minute she would call Karen.

My day is made worse when I get called into Dad’s office.

“Close the door, Ben, and frost the glass.”

It’s unusual for him to request this. But I do as I am told.

Dad stands older but very much looking like the imposing man he was when I was a kid. I suddenly start to rethink my day and what I might have done wrong. He holds out his hand towards the small sofa and chair he has in his office. I sit on the sofa knowing Dad likes the high backed chair.

His chest rises and falls with aching slowness. “I got the statements from accounting and the bottom line is we didn’t make budget and we haven’t the last couple of quarters. I had high hopes you would do your part and bring in more high net worth clients from your days at JP Morgan Chase. Unless the real reason you left was due to performance.”

Caught by surprise, I think my jaw hangs there As the jab hits its mark. It doesn’t take a leap to see I haven’t lived up to his expectations.

“Despite that, we aren’t out of business. However our fee income continues to decline after the real estate bust a few years ago. The economy may have recovered, but not enough.”

Guilt weighs on me knowing I haven’t brought in the business I should have.

“So why did we just spend all that money on the employee event? We could have saved that.”

Dad sits forward, resting his arms on his knees while he clasps his hands. “This is a lesson you need to learn.”

“What’s that?” I ask, knowing better but feeling petulant.

“People and perception. If we appear weak, we will be eaten by the sharks. Not to mention all the employees who could jump ship. It’s an event we have every year and something the employees remember fondly. That’s the case Samantha brought up when talking over the budget in our follow up call.”

She’s impressed my father. Good for her.

“So what’s the plan?” I ask, the heavy burden of his words hanging in the air.

“Quarterly bonuses will be smaller and there will be grumbles about that. We need new business if we are to make the budget this quarter. I don’t want people like Mark and Jeff looking for new jobs.”