The office is busy, even though it’s almost seven p. m. by the time I get in from the airport. People are talking, researching, discussing. Everyone clearly knows about the fiasco now. And in the middle of it all is a stressed- looking Noah, who looks like he hasn’t sl ept since I left. He sees me and tilts his head toward the elevator. I nod in r eply and watch as he gently extricates himself from the people who surround him. I should never have gone away. The whole place is in a fucking frenzy. Even so, I’m very glad I did. Once we’re in the haven of my office, Noah closes the door and leans his back against it, letting out a de ep, exhausted groan. “Thank fuck you’re back.” He sits wearily on the leather couch. “I take it everyone knows?” I head straight to the bar, which is concealed in one of the cabinets that line one wall. It’s a clever design. There’s even an ice machine. I pour us both a whiskey on ice. We both fucking need it. “Yes,” he confirms. “There was a press leak, but we threatened to sue since an investigation hasn’t been confirmed yet and they pulled it. Colton and I held an employee meeting this morning to try to reassure everyone that we’re on top of things. We’re offering overtime and a generous bonus to anyone who finds anything we might be able to use. We wanted to wait for you but in the end decided to go ahead without you. We thought you’d be back yesterday. You weren’t answering your phone.” Noah is the best person I know. He’s loyal. He’s a genius at what he does. And he’s a genuinely good guy, with a cut-throat edge, especially when it comes to business. He also knows me very well. Through his exhaustion, he smirks. “She must have been something special.” I can’t help but relent at his expression. I sit in one of the leather chairs, clinking my glass against his. Despite everything, I feel like celebrating. “She fucking was.” “You definitely seem more relaxed, brother.” It’s true. And it’s a point of difference. I don’t want to compare Tex to Rylee in any way because there’s no comparison. But it’s glaringly obvious —not just to me, but to my brother—that Rylee had the opposite effect, and so have most of the other women I’ve been with in the past. Not that there have been hundreds. I’m not a player. Not because I’ve got holier-than-thou scruples, but more because I’ve been too busy and too distracted. Women always seem to fucking complicate things and cause more stress than they’re worth. I have never in my life fallen blissfully into any kind of relationship without immediately feeling trapped by it. Until now. Sex with Tex was—I’d never say this out loud—miraculous. I feel so fucking good. Almost happy, which isn’t something that shows up on my radar all that often. But where the fuck is she? Who the fuck is she? I’m a Type A billionaire CEO. And I can’t find the girl of my dreams— who’s real and who walked out on me—to save my goddamn life. I’ve spent every possible opportunity over the past eight hours googling like a maniac, following every possible lead I can think of. There were four companies from Dallas r epresented at the Emerging Into Investments conference. But none of them put photos of their employees online. So I wrote down the name of every female employee at each of the companies I could find and started stalking them. So far, no luck. I remembered overhearing Tex talking to someone named Sky when I sat down next to her at the bar. So I spent another hour googling people named Sky in Dallas. Basically, a ridiculous thing to do.
I found nothing. I’m starting to get the feeling Tex doesn’t live and work in Dallas. But I’m hardly going to lay all of this out to Noah. He’s got enough on his plate. “Let’s just say Hawaii is more beautiful than I remember it.” Noah smiles. “Good to hear.” He looks so exhausted. “I want you to go home and get some sle ep,” I tell him. “I just have a few more questions first.” “Fire away.” “Is there any chance we’ve got some idiot working for us who didn’t know what they were doing was illegal?” “It’s a possibility. But I’d say an unlikely one.” “Have we lost any clients?” “No. Only the Gleeson group has contacted us. But Colton and I decided to send an email. We want the information coming from us, instead of through hearsay. I cc’d you.” “Thank you.” Noah swirls the whiskey round in his glass before taking a long sip. “We have an email.” “An email?” “We’re trying to figure out whether it’s as incriminating as it looks. Some of the leaked information can be traced back to one of our company addresses.” My brain spins and I sit forward. “If we know it’s from one of our email addresses, surely that’s everything we need? Whose email was it?” “It’s been sent from one of our no-r eply addresses rather than a specific person’s.” “So whoever it was used our servers. It’s definitive.” “Yes. If someone had done it from a personal work account, it would be easy to track. But it wasn’t. We know it was sent from within the building. It has one of our IP addresses, it’s from our network... but the IT guys can’t trace it to a specific computer.” “Fuck.” I tip back the rest of my drink. “Can we at least tell who the information was sent to?” “Someone at Sanderson Fitzpatrick.” I blink at my brother, flicking through the Rolodex of clients in my brain. “We don’t deal with them.” “No, we don’t.” “Have they ever expressed an interest in working with us?” “Not to my knowledge, no. I spoke to the CEO directly. They’re looking into it. They’re in the middle of a merger but he agreed to meet with me as soon as he has time. He said he’d make it a priority.” “What a fucking mess. Do you have any gut feelings, Noah? What’s your hunch?” My brother is one of those people who’s eerily intuitive. “Between you and me? Probably the same as your hunch.” I run a hand over my jaw. “There’s only one person here that hates me enough to do something like this intentionally and out of spite. And believe me, the thought crossed my mind.” We both know I’m referring to Rylee. “But I don’t think she’d risk her career like this.” “I don’t either. Either way, we have nothing yet that could pin it on her.” I sigh de eply. “Go get some sle ep. Thanks for handling this shitshow, Noah. I appreciate it.” “Of course.” Noah drains his whiskey and runs his thumb along the cut- glass pattern. “So, are you going to see her again?” I hesitate, but this is Noah. The brother who’s not only my most trustworthy ally, but also the one who knows more about me than a therapist would, if I had one. “No.” “You should. It’s been a long time since you’ve looked this...” He waves a hand at me.
“This what?” “Normal.” “What do you mean, ‘normal’?” “Like you just got laid really, really well and you’re finally thinking about something other than your job.” Is it that obvious? I guess it is. “Yeah. It was a good night. We met at the bar and one thing led to another. The only problem is, when I woke up, the little minx was gone. And I don’t even know her fucking name. Or the name of her company. All I know is she’s originally from somewhere in Texas.” Noah almost smiles, but it’s sympathetic. “Shit. How can you not know her name?” “She had a Texan accent. I started calling her Tex and she never corrected me.” My brother is highly entertained by my anguish. “What did she call you?” I shake my head. “I’m not telling you that. Go home.” “No way. You have to tell me. I’m your favorite brother. And you owe me one.” I owe him a lot more than one. “Ace,” I admit. Noah laughs. A real laugh, and it’s almost worth the humiliation. And the regret, that I was such a fucking idiot that I let her slip through my fingers. At least I’ve lightened his mood. “Go home,” I tell him. “I don’t want to see you again until you’ve had at least eight hours.” Still laughing, Noah gets up to leave. “You should sle ep too. She obviously wore you out. You look exhausted. Sweet dreams, Ace.” “Fuck off.” More laughter as he shuts the door behind him. With Noah gone, I pour myself another whiskey. Alone in my office, I check a few emails, looking through the ones Noah cc’d me on. He and Colton have handled everything as well as they possibly could have. I’m grateful. And we still have time. I’ve made a point of not being the kind of boss my father was. He was king of his kingdom, with total control. When I set up Invested Enterprises, I knew that delegating would be a major part of my strategy. And it’s worked. It’s why IE has grown so quickly. My father k ept people in line through fear and manipulation and by scrutinizing their work so thoroughly that presenting new ideas to him was enough to send employees home sick with PTSD. There wasn’t much that was ever good enough for him. If it was, he gave his minions—and his four sons—a pat on the back before taking all the credit. I’m glad to say I am not my father. I go out of my way to recruit people who are at least as smart as I am. The company can only continue to thrive if the people around me are at the top of their game. I want experts and industry-leading pioneers working with me, helping make the vision I have for the company a reality. It’s their vision too. They all bust their asses. And they’re rewarded for it. We value loyalty. We compensate innovation. Honesty and integrity are things we seek out in the people we hire. Which is why the thought of one of them going behind my back is so fucking infuriating. Even so, I feel surprisingly calm. I’ll be methodical and I’ll deal with whatever I need to deal with. Tomorrow. For now, I allow myself to drift back to my obsession with the goddess I spent the night with. Did I dream her? I pull her little note out of my wallet. Ace, Thanks for an amazing night xx Tex Damn it, Tex. I scour once again through the list of women who work for the companies in Dallas that were at the conference, diving de eper into my research. I finally exhaust every single possibility. Okay, then: Houston. Her Texan twang was real. And strong. Which makes me think she still lives in Texas.
So, I start going through the four companies from Houston who had r epresentatives at the conference. I glance at the clock and it’s one a. m. Fuck. I’ve been poring over this shit for hours. It must be...8 p. m. in Hawaii. And midnight in Texas. Where are you, baby girl? She’s like a drug that was so damned good it turned me into an addict from my very first taste. My head is swimming with flashbacks. Of the way she looked when she kissed the head of my cock. Licking. How she gasped when I pushed inside her for the first time—and fuck, it was her very first time. I wish she’d told me that. I hope you’re okay, wherever you are. I could’ve taken care of you if you’d let me. I could take care of you now. My cock swells as I picture her, naked and gorgeous, spread out right here on my desk. Fuck, she tasted so fucking sweet. It takes all my effort not to loosen my belt and fist my cock. I scroll through the employee names of the first company in Houston. I’m encouraged to see they have photos of their people on the website. Eleanor Beatty, Vice President Veronica Stratton, Financial Strategist Janet Eames, Customer Relations They look like they’re each pushing sixty. Anyway, they’re not her. Not even close. The next name on the list doesn’t have a photo. Jasmine Flaherty, Finance Intern. Maybe that’s the job title they give they’re new graduates. So I start googling her name. There’s an Instagram page. The girl is round-faced with short red hair. Fuck. I’m losing my mind. I have more important things to think about right now than a nubile virgin—or at least she was yesterday, and how is it possible that was last night?—who had me wrapped around her pretty little finger at first glance. I try to imagine her life outside work and my head fills with a hypothetical Instagram feed with pictures of her in Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots, looking fucking adorable. Pull it together, Maddox. Usually I’d get my driver to take me home, but I gave him the night off, knowing I’d probably be working late. I grab a cab, staring out the windows into the dark streets. I hate that all I can think about is the dreamy little stranger who fucking ghosted me. She was beautiful in a way I’ve never seen before, or felt. Her thoughts were beautiful. Kind-hearted and aspirational, like she’d never had a mean- spirited emotion in her life. Her green eyes glimmered when she talked about something she was excited about. Every single thing about her was beautiful. Sexy and beguiling. Her face. Her voice. Her laughter. Her body—holy hell. She made me smile. She made me realize I don’t smile very often, because I spent the whole time I was with her grinning like a lovestruck fool. My Texan girl was beautiful all the way down to her soul. And now she’s gone. I take the elevator up to my two-story seventeenth-floor Park Avenue penthouse. I don’t bother turning the lights on. The city lights outside the wall of windows and the low lights that sense my presence are enough. Everything about the space is clean lines. Shiny black marble surfaces. Dark wood. Expansive windows to take in the New York skyline. This place is my sanctuary and it’s luxurious as fuck. No expense has been spared. There’s a large outdoor patio with a jacuzzi. Five bedrooms. A home office I hardly ever use. A state of the art gym. An Olympic-sized
pool on the fifth floor. Usually, as soon as I enter this space, it calms me. But tonight all I can do is compare it to the penthouse suite in Hawaii. The apartment feels empty. My brain is being hijacked by thoughts of tongue-fucking Tex on my deluxe couch. Taking her to bed and sliding my cock de ep inside her tight, perfect pussy until she’s spasming around me. Having no idea where she is or how I’m ever going to track her down is making me crazy. I want her more desperately than I’d like to admit. I think about the conversations we’d have, the ordinary things we’d do, like drinking coffee together or getting dressed up to go out for dinner. I’d take her to my favorite restaurant. Dancing, if she wanted to. Then I’d take her to bed and feast on her luscious body. And this time, I wouldn’t let her go. Most men would be losing sle ep over their company tanking, not a random stranger they sl ept with on a work trip. Exc ept she feels nothing like a stranger. I’ve never been in love before. Not once. Lust, sure, but it always fades out almost before it begins. Before morning, I’m always cured. No one has ever gotten under my skin like Tex has. I’ve never fucking pined for a woman like a goddamn puppy. There has to be some way to find her. It’s true that not all the Houston companies list their newer employees. Fuck it, I’ll hire a private investigator if I have to. It can’t be that hard. Maybe if I track her down and spend another night with her—or a week —I’ll get her out of my system. Nothing is ever as good in reality as it is in your head. Exc ept with her, it would be. I took something from her, something she’d been saving. Hell, no girl who looks like that gets to the age of 23 and is still a virgin unless she’s made a conscious decision to hold out. She would have had guys throwing themselves at her since puberty. But she waited. For what? Why? Why me? I mean, yes, our chemistry was off the charts, but was she really okay with losing her virginity to a complete stranger and then never seeing me again? For some reason, I really can’t handle that. I need to know she’s okay. And if I don’t find out soon, I’ll end up losing my fucking mind as well as my company.