Solid Stone Series Book 2

VIOLET

At six-thirty in the morning, Adam was already up and about. He leaned over the bed to plant a kiss on my forehead. “You were out like a light. Sleep well?”

I nodded, a sleepy smile on my face. He was freshly showered, dressed in a navy suit and a crisp, custom-made white shirt.

He was tying a dark-blue and silver tie around his neck. Even this simple act was sexy when he did it.

“I’ll get the coffee started while you get ready,” he said.

I nodded again, finally managing to swing my legs out from under the covers and sit up.

Downstairs, Adam was in his office. In the kitchen, he’d left me a cup of coffee and two slices of toast with peanut butter.

This was my usual weekday breakfast. The coffee smelled heavenly, and the toast was perfectly crispy—just the way I liked it.

I found him in his office, his eyes meeting mine as I stood in the doorway. I felt a familiar flutter in my stomach. Sometimes, I had to pinch myself to believe how lucky I was. How much I wanted him.

“You awake now?” he asked.

“Yes, the coffee did its magic. Are you almost ready?”

“In about ten minutes?”

“Okay, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

I returned to the kitchen and stared out at the backyard, wondering if he was going to miss this place.

“Let’s go,” he said, appearing behind me.

At the front door, he picked up our laptop bags, and we headed out to his car. It was a sunny September day.

“When will we know if we got the place?” I asked.

“Sometime this morning. I made it clear that I don’t want to wait.”

“Do you think we’ll get it?”

“Yes, I’ve made a very generous offer. I promised you I’d get it for you, and I will. I’ll call you once it’s accepted.” His voice was full of confidence.

“We should plan to move in this weekend. We’ll only need to pack clothes. I’ve asked for the furniture. Good call, sweetheart.” He glanced at me and smiled. “I’ll have Joyce go in and get anything else we need.”

He had everything under control. I remembered him telling me how he ran scenarios from beginning to end until he got what he wanted.

“That’s awesome,” I said, excitement bubbling up inside me. “I’d be lying if I said I could wait to get in there.”

Adam’s smile widened. We had arrived at my office, and I leaned over to kiss him before getting out of the car.

“Call me when you’re ready to leave,” he said. “I’ll be in meetings until about four-thirty.”

I turned back. “Why don’t I just meet you at your office at five?”

“Fine. Have a good day.”

I nodded and closed the car door.

***

As I settled in at my desk, my boss Paul stopped by to chat. He was always cheerful, but today he seemed even more so. Maybe because it was Friday.

“Good morning, any big plans this weekend?”

I remembered running into him with Adam one evening. I was glad he knew about us—it took some pressure off me, and he didn’t seem to mind at all.

I smiled. “Good morning. No, no big plans.” I didn’t want to discuss my potential move.

“The best weekends are usually spontaneous anyway.” Paul was about to retreat to his office when he paused. “So, what’s Adam really like? I mean personally? I’ve only ever seen the professional side of him.”

“He knows how to unwind after a long workweek.” It was the best I could come up with on the spot.

“That’s good. I hear he’s a pretty sharp investor too. I was reading about how he invested with some MIT students in a new app and how they just sold it for a fortune. He probably met them through his connections at Harvard.”

Holy shit, he went to Harvard? I didn’t know that or about the app. I tried to sound casual. “He’s a smart guy. I bet it was a lucrative deal. He doesn’t like taking big risks.”

I winced, remembering Adam telling me how love was too much of a risk for him. The word had a deeper meaning for me now. I quickly changed the subject. “What are you up to this weekend?”

Paul told me he was playing golf and having brunch with his family on Sunday. I was relieved to move on from the topic of Adam. I was definitely going to ask Adam about this investment.

Paul brought us back to work, motioning for me to follow him into his office and closing the door behind me.

“I’m hoping you can travel with me to Chicago the week after next. It’ll be good for you to see what you’ve been working on lately.”

“Sure, that makes sense. Is it a day trip or overnight?”

“I think one night would be enough.”

“Okay. It’ll be great to see the new offices.”

He nodded and opened the door for me. Back at my desk, I dove into work. At noon, I realized I hadn’t heard from Adam yet, so I sent him a text.

My phone rang shortly after. “Hi, sorry, I got sidetracked here,” said Adam, sounding rushed. “We got the place, and I left a message for Brenda to deliver the keys to you this afternoon at your office. Has she called you yet?”

“Oh, that’s great! No, but I was in a meeting with Paul until just now, so I’ll check my messages. I’m excited, aren’t you?”

“I will be once we’re in there this weekend. Oh, you’ll need to get a key to Joyce. Would you mind calling her and making arrangements so she can get in on Saturday morning? I have to go to another meeting now.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks, babe. I’ll see you later.” The line went dead.

I was beyond excited. I felt like I could bounce off the walls. I had a voicemail from Brenda saying she was going to drop off the keys.

I dialed Joyce right away, who promised to be there bright and early Saturday morning to clean and stock up on groceries.

She also asked if she should cook any meals for us. It was a weird question to answer, considering we hadn’t even met yet. I politely declined and thanked her before ending the call.

***

When I got to Adam’s office, Alice wasn’t at her desk. His office door was shut, so I took a seat in the waiting area. About ten minutes later, she showed up.

“Hey, Violet, how’s it going? His meeting is running a bit late. Let me check in with him.” Alice knocked softly on the door before opening it. “Mr. Stone, just a heads up. It’s almost five thirty.”

“We need five more minutes, thanks,” I heard Adam respond.

Alice nodded and closed the door gently. Turning back to me, she said, “Ha, ‘five minutes.’ That means ten.”

We shared a grin. Alice started to tidy up her desk, and I watched her set aside some folders. I sat quietly, scrolling through emails on my iPhone.

Ten minutes later, two men in their mid-thirties emerged from Adam’s office. Alice stood up to show them out.

Adam glanced over at me, and I could tell he’d had a long day of meetings and this one had run over. He smiled. “Come in.”

I followed him into his office. “How was your day?” I asked, giving him a light kiss on the lips.

“I’m so glad it’s Friday. I’m a bit jet-lagged. Luckily, I’m in town all of next week. The merger is now in the hands of the accountants, so I don’t have to travel as much. At least for a little while.”

“Oh, that’s good. I have you all week then. But, hey, at the new place, you’ll get home sooner.” I was smiling so much, my face hurt.

“Yes.” Adam grinned. “And the shorter commute was definitely a selling point. I have no doubt the new place is going to be great for us.”

His face turned serious for a moment before he smiled again, making me wonder what just crossed his mind.

He’s probably hiding some of his own excitement. It must be a guy thing, or maybe just an Adam thing. He was about to kiss me, but stopped when Alice knocked on the door.

“Come in, Alice. What do you have for me?”

She handed him three files and reminded him he had two conference calls over the weekend. As she was about to leave, she said to both of us, “Have a great weekend.”

“You too, Alice, thanks,” we both replied at the same time.

I grinned to myself. Adam shut down his laptop and put it in his bag. He kissed me before we left. It warmed me up.

“Let’s go out for dinner,” he suggested on the drive home.

“Home first or straight out?”

“I’d like to get out of this suit, so let’s go home and change.”

I ran my hand along his muscular thigh. “Mmm, I’d like you out of that suit too.”

He grinned. “Oh Violet, and to think you were a virgin, what, only four months ago now?”

“Yes. We’ve come a long way since then, haven’t we?”

“We certainly have, and I still can’t seem to get enough of you. It’s great we both feel so passionate about sex.”

“Yes, we definitely have that in common.” I grinned to myself.

He seemed quite relaxed, so I thought it was a good time to ask about the app. “Paul mentioned you invested with some MIT students,” I said casually. “Is that true? And did you go to Harvard?”

“News travels fast,” he replied calmly. “And yes, I went to Harvard. I did invest, and it was a lucrative investment. Nine figures. Is that what you wanted to know?”

My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe how nonchalant he was about it. “I was more interested in what type of investment makes that kind of a return, to be honest.”

“Almost two years ago, I was in Boston for business and ran into one of my former classmates. He was on my sailing team and still lives there.

“Anyway, we went for a drink, and he mentioned four last-year MIT students were working on an app for lawyers and doctors. They were looking for financial backing, so he thought I might be interested, given my profession.

“I like to have the facts first-hand, so I asked him to have them call me. Long story short, I returned to Boston a week later to learn more about what they were doing.

“They were working on two apps, the lawyer/doctor one and a fitness app with an associated device to track progress.” He looked over at me and must have seen I was extremely interested in this story.

He continued, “I was more interested in the fitness app because it would appeal to more people. Basically, a great sales opportunity and a solid platform to run it on is of high value to a buyer.

“So I offered to invest in them if they agreed to complete both apps and form a technology company.”

“I gather they agreed to it then?”

“Yes, they did, and it was actually the technology company that we sold, with both apps ready to market and some other prototypes they were working on.”

“So you brokered the deal?” I sat up straighter in my seat, feeling proud of him.

He laughed. “Yes, of course! With the limited choice between four students and me, they picked me as the front man.

“Joking aside, I had them right beside me through the entire process so that they would learn from it. Anyway, we sold the company and its ideas for a lot of money.”

I had to ask. “How much did you make from it?”

Now he looked like a Cheshire cat. “A great deal. As the only investor, I had a majority share. It really was a sound investment and enough to allow each of the students to retire if they want.”

“Wow, congratulations! Was there a reason you didn’t want to grow the tech company yourself?”

“I did mull it over, but my focus is on the law and expanding my firm on a global scale. I can’t afford to lose steam at this point.

“Sure, technology is a solid investment, but it’s not my forte. You know how I like to have a handle on things, and that includes having a deep understanding of what I’m involved in. But”—he takes a beat—“I didn’t just jump in for the cash.”

“Then what was it, if not for the money?”

“I found myself genuinely invested in the students and wanted to give them a leg up. There was something satisfying about nudging them out of their safe spaces and beyond what they thought they could achieve. That’s a lesson they’ll carry with them.”

A faint smile played on his lips, making me curious about the deeper implications of his words. I nodded, still in awe of the success of the deal.