Page 28 of Selfish Suit (Steamy Latte Reads Collection #1)

THE CEO

DOMINIC

S kittles broke our all-time client signing record.

They signed the preliminary agreement less than ten minutes after walking out of the boardroom. Not only that, but they agreed to a ten-year contract.

That’s practically unheard of in this digital era, and a true mark of trust and belief.

The champagne bottles are now popping in the presentation room, sending bubbles everywhere, and although I should be making a speech and congratulating the team on the success, I can’t stop thinking about Ivy.

Not the part where she presented flawlessly or the way she nailed the messaging without needing a single edit—it's the way she smiled at me as I slipped out of the room.

It was like she was forcing it.

Maybe I’m imagining this shit…

Ready to lure her up here with me, I slip out of the deal room and up to my office.

“Your dinner is on me all week, so I suggest you pick some good places.” Braxton tosses a manila folder on my desk. “In the meantime, the legal team is waiting on your signature.”

“There’s no way they hammered out the post-deal print that fast.”

“Of course they didn’t.” He shrugs. “That’s Miss Locke’s erasure file, where you acknowledge that she was a temporary executive hire, but now you have no use for her employment here.”

“She just helped land the biggest client we’ve had in years.”

“And now you’ll reward her by firing her with a very generous exit package.” He pulls a pen from his jacket and holds it out to me. “That was the deal, remember?”

“No.” I lean back in my chair. “You said end of the month.”

“And that’s at the end of this week.”

I say nothing.

Braxton stands there, waiting.

I glance down at Ivy’s name and suddenly picture her face—mouth open, breathless, pressed up against the glass wall of my shower.

“There’s a reason I run this company,” I say, setting the file aside. “And not you.”

“It’s the same reason why I have hiring and firing privileges.” He signs the contract and sighs. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it, but this is just covering our tracks anyway.”

“I’m planning to do it, Braxton. I would just like to do it in a respectable way.”

“After you already slept with her?”

I don’t answer that.

“Anyway—” He stuffs the signed contract into his breast pocket. “Thank God Miss Locke is smarter than you because she already quit, and she didn’t flinch when I asked her to sign a few more NDAs.”

“What?”

I glance at my phone. That’s not what our last text messages say or convey at all…

“She turned in her resignation this morning,” Braxton says, “effective the moment the final pitch is completed.”

“She blindsided me with this bullshit?” I ask. “She didn’t even think to tell me?”

“So there are some feelings there?” He eyes me. “It’s more than just sex?”

“No.”

“None at all?”

“None.”

“You wouldn’t care if you found out she was dating someone else by next week?”

“I…” I clench my jaw, and he sits across from me. “Ask me something else.”

“Fine with me,” he says. “Can you remain here at headquarters for the evening to continue the celebration, so you won’t rush home to try to see her?”

“Actually, I just forgot I left something at home.” I stand to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”

“She’s gone, Dominic.” He shakes his head. “She’s been slowly moving stuff out all week.”

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew.” He scoffs. “Please accept the silly little fling for what it was—I think—and then go back to being your selfish self, please. It’s driving me fucking nuts…”