Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights)(7)

Frowning, I settle behind my desk, and I don’t know why, but suddenly my croissant sandwich isn’t feeling all that good in my stomach. I buzz her office. “Good morning, Meredith. Do you want coffee?”

“No. And hold my calls until I say otherwise.”

I sink back into my chair, really wishing I’d skipped breakfast. I juggle calls and two sales reps visits for products I know Meredith won’t buy. Nearly an hour has passed when my phone buzzes. “Can you come in my office, Danny?”

“Of course. Do you want coffee now?” I ask, not wanting to disappoint her. I know how she likes her coffee and how cranky she is when I forget it.

“No. Just come into my office.”

My heart starts to race. Was I wrong to think I had nothing to worry about? Did security pick up the feed of me going to Jensen’s room and it’s somehow become a problem? Did he find out I’m an employee and complain? No. No. That’s silly. What would he complain about? Me not f*cking him properly? Or… Oh God. What if he said I bribed him in some made-up story? He’s rich. I’m sure of it. Or worse, did Katie text something about her job or mine, or even Meredith, and he decided to get back at me by reporting it or me?

I inhale and close my hand around the doorknob. I’m going to get fired. That has to be what this is about. I exhale. It’s okay. I’m okay. I have money to survive. It just means med school will take longer. But no matter what, I’m not on the streets. The phone buzzes again and Meredith says, “Danny, where are you?”

Steeling myself for what is to come, I open the door and step inside the room. “Shut it,” she orders, and I do as she bids, turning to face her, shocked to find a man standing behind her massive walnut desk where she allows no one, not even me, his back to me as he stares out of the giant window framing Meredith. My entire body clenches with the certainty that he’s with security or the HR department, here to escort me out of the hotel. Wanting this over with, I force myself to walk toward Meredith, and while her long dark hair is as prim and proper as ever, her bold orange dress as stylish as expected, the strain on her face has aged her from fifty to sixty overnight.

I stop behind a leather visitor’s chair, my fingers curling in the back, waiting for her to speak. Several seconds tick by and her gray eyes meet mine, shocking me with what I find in hers, with the impossible. This fearless woman I’ve often disliked but always admired for her fearlessness is afraid.

“What’s wrong?” I whisper, as if that will keep the man behind us from hearing.

“The family is trying to vote me out as CEO. They’re short a critical vote.” She motions behind her. “Danny Woods, meet Jensen Miller, my nephew, and twenty percent stockholder of the company. They need his vote to remove me.”

At the name “Jensen,” I suck in air and wait as the man turns to face me, tall and dark, and as devastatingly handsome in a gray, custom-tailored suit as he had been the night before. In a few strides, he closes the distance between himself and Meredith to claim the spot directly beside her chair. And when those striking sea-green eyes of his collide with mine, and not for the first time, I think this man is about power and absolute confidence, but there is also a worldliness about him that exceeds his age. He is power. He is money and control and I have no idea why, but suddenly I am back in that hotel room and he is yanking my skirt up my hips, his breath warm on my neck and ear.

“Nephew?” I ask quickly, trying to jolt myself back to the present, and somehow I keep my voice steady when I’ve just realized that he has more than my cell phone. He has my panties. “You’re her nephew?”

“That’s right, Danny.” There is a heaviness to the way he says my name and those eyes, those intoxicating and unreadable green eyes, flicker with something I cannot name. “Nice to officially meet you, Danny.”

My spine stiffens slightly with the implication we have met before. That tells me Meredith does not know but could soon. It’s a subtle threat, manipulation at its best, and I call him on his threat, unwilling to play a game or remain here, a prisoner of a stupid mistake. “Officially?” I prod, daring him to speak up and tell all.

His eyes light with a tiny hint of amusement that is still somehow cold, where he’d been downright hot last night. “Meredith’s been telling me all about you the past hour.”

I narrow my eyes on him. “And why, exactly, is that?”

Meredith is quick to answer. “Jensen needs you to acquaint him with the staff and the properties.”

My gaze jerks to hers, my lips parted in silent shock. “Me? Why me?”

“You know the staff intimately,” she says. “They trust you and so do I.”

“Here at the corporate office but not at the other locations,” I argue, and even now, in this crazy situation, it’s impossible not to be flattered by her rare compliment. “We have a regional manager. She can—”

“She can’t know what’s happening,” Meredith states. “No one can but you.”

I look between the two of them, and I can’t help but wonder about Jensen’s motives, both last night and now, which is why I focus on Meredith. And isn’t she giving him the ammunition to take over in a literal way? She’s preparing him to step into her shoes. “Meredith,” I begin. “Can we have a word in private, please?”