Guarding Colton's Secrets
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Addison Fox
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18
Chapter 1
Chase Colton stared at the men and women assembled around his boardroom table bright and early Monday morning and braced himself for the inevitable. “As I shared in my email when I called this meeting, my focus as the new CEO of Colton Properties is transparency. No questions are off-limits.”
He saw a few eyebrows raised at that last bit, but resolved it would be the truth.
His legal counsel was already leaning in, the man’s voice low, his lips barely moving. “Sir, I’m not sure that’s the best course of action.”
Ignoring Tim’s concerned visage, Chase addressed the table even more determined than when everyone had filed into the room. “Transparency. Accountability. Honesty. It’s how I’m running Colton Properties moving forward. So, please—” he extended his hands “—feel free to ask me what’s on your mind.”
“I’m sorry about your father, Chase.” As first comments went, it was something of a softball, but he appreciated the warm smile that creased Sonja Rodriguez’s face. His head of marketing was a gem on any day, but the clear support from such a senior member of the team was encouraging. “I’m sure I speak for us all when I say you have our sympathies on Robert’s passing.”
It had been a little over three months and Chase was still getting used to the idea that his father was dead. Robert Colton had been a force in life, both as a parent and as a real-estate maven in their growing corner of Idaho, Owl Creek. Both aspects of his father’s life affected Chase equally, as his son and as the recognized heir apparent to the leadership and management of Colton Properties.
“Thank you, Sonja. It’s been a difficult few months. My father cast a very long shadow in life.”
“Would that long shadow have anything to do with the siblings you didn’t know about?” The question seemed to hold the deliberate air of a challenge. Clint Roebuck, their lead property scout, liked to play big man whenever he could—but it also made him the perfect person to ask the question. Everyone else in the room was dying to know the same, but Clint’s pugnacious tone would hopefully make the rest of the crowd sympathize with Chase.
“It’s true that since my father’s death my brothers and sisters and I have discovered a half brother and half sister. We’re dealing with that as a family.”
“And we’re dealing with it as a business,” Clint pressed. “You can’t tell me that if someone wakes up one day and finds out they’re related to a bigwig like Robert Colton they don’t want a piece of his empire?”
Chase had walked into this aware it wouldn’t be easy, but Clint’s taunting tone was like sandpaper over the raw feelings he hadn’t yet dealt with.
Feelings he wasn’t sure he ever would.
Keep cool, Colton.
“While my family is working through equitable division of assets for my additional siblings, the succession plans for Colton Properties have been in place for a long time. I’ve worked at the company since getting out of college and am the best Colton for the job.”
“But your newly discovered siblings could make things difficult. Here. For us.”
“Clint,” Sonja hissed. “I think Chase has been pretty clear on next steps for the business.”
Clint looked about to argue when their office manager, Althea, wheeled in replacements for their coffee service. A table full of eyes stared longingly at the refreshed carafes and Chase figured it was as good a time as any to take a break. There’d be more questions—it was inevitable—but the break for coffee and another round of pastries off the sideboard would give people more time to loosen up and figure out how to frame those questions that might be difficult.
“Why don’t we get fresh cups of coffee and a bit more breakfast and we can pick back up in fifteen?”
The dismissal provided the bell for round one and people quickly stood, their quiet murmurs filling the room as they moved toward the refreshed coffee. Although he was itching to go to his office to mentally regroup, Chase stayed in the conference room, talking to various folks and deftly ignoring Tim’s efforts to catch his eye, no doubt to quietly tell him all the reasons why this meeting was a bad idea.
He leaned in when Sonja walked over to him, her dark brown gaze warm as she laid a hand on his arm. “Days like this show us what we’re made of.” She tilted her head toward the rest of the room. “It shows others, too. People do understand this is a difficult time for you and your family, and that you’re doing your best.”
“People who aren’t Clint, you mean.” He kept his tone even and his smile easy, but the resentment spiked hard in Chase’s gut all the same.
“Even he’d admit in the moments when he wasn’t trying to be the biggest jerk in the room that you’re dealing with a lot.”
“I can handle it.”
Sonja assessed him, her fathomless dark eyes seeming to see far more than Chase was comfortable sharing. “I recognize I’m a woman of a certain age,” she began. Before he could dismiss her reference, she waved a hand. “Both my kids are now married and having children of their own. It’s a good place to be, Chase. Welcoming the next generation. It makes the decisions of the prior generation seem less dire.”
“Decisions?” Chase asked. “Isn’t that just a nice word for sins?”
“I’ll stick with decisions. But you have to know I’m right. Finding someone and settling down would go a long way toward making this—” she gestured to the room at large “—feel less all-consuming.”
“I’m my own man, Sonja. My father’s behavior isn’t about me. And the romance dance isn’t for me, either. It never has been.”
It was a fact his family knew—hell, the whole office knew—and, Chase admitted, it was the excuse he gave every woman he dated. He wasn’t the marrying kind. Not anymore, after surviving a divorce in his late twenties that had decimated him. He just wasn’t cut out for forever with someone else. Colton Properties was his life and he liked it that way.
Besides, having a partner wouldn’t have made any of the fallout from his father’s secret life any easier.
Sonja looked about to argue when Chase glanced pointedly at the sideboard. They’d held back a few paces from the line to keep their conversation private, but as a spot opened up, he gestured her toward it. “Please, go ahead and refuel.”
She did as he asked, obviously recognizing the space wasn’t conducive to their conversation, and Chase took another moment to refocus and consider his next move. He dated and enjoyed the company of women, and that was as far as it went. His focus—his full focus—needed to be on business.
This staff meeting was scheduled for an hour and then he’d planned a few one-on-ones with key members of his leadership team later that afternoon to go through even more specifics. While the succession plans for him to become CEO had been in place for some time, there were still the realities of his father’s will. Luckily, the early feedback from Nathan and Sarah, his half siblings, was that they had no interest in being involved in Colton Properties.
But a secret family was a big deal, and so was the passing of a company’s owner, no matter how well prepared or codified the man’s wishes had been. Chase had spent his life training for the day when he’d take over as CEO and he couldn’t afford to lose focus or let his personal shock and grief cloud what was best for the company.
He had a room full of people depending on him.
A room that suddenly seemed to shrink as a woman rushed in, her hair flying behind her as she ran smack into him.
His first thought as he suddenly held an armful of woman was how glad he was that his coffee cup was still empty.
His second thought barely qualified as one, as sheer instinct and a shocking swell of desire hit him with the force of a wrecking ball. Full, rounded breasts pressed against his chest, the delicious scents of vanilla and almond filled his senses and the softest skin he’d ever felt filled his palms.
It was only as the woman lifted her head, her deep brown eyes going wide, that Chase felt the first stirrings of real concern.
He could have unhanded her.
Should have stepped back and let her go.
So why was he still standing here, his arms wrapped tight around her, even though her slight frame seemed steady?
Sloan Presley reveled in the strong, muscled arms that still held her and briefly considered faking a faint to ensure he didn’t let go.
Which was ridiculous in the extreme.
Ridiculous, yet deeply tempting.
A temptation she nearly succumbed to when she realized she and the tall, sexy man still wrapped around her had the full focus of a room full of interested gazes.
How had she gotten herself into this?
She mentally tallied her mess of a morning. An overnight power outage had kicked her bedside alarm out of commission so that she’d only had the clanging of her mobile from across the room. Then she’d had to clean up after her sick cat just as she was about to race out the door, already late. And then, the oddly impossible parking situation when she’d pulled up to the building in downtown Owl Creek.
She eyed the man who held her. “You don’t look like Arthur Ryan, the owner of Ryan Partners Marketing.”
“Who do I look like?” His green eyes crinkled at the corners and Sloan couldn’t deny the man’s appeal. Mischief lit up that gaze, only adding to the temptation factor, along with full lips that even now twitched with humor.
“Not the man I met on an introductory video call.”
“That might be because Arthur Ryan has office space in the building next door. We share the parking lot out back. I helped him find that space myself when his firm grew large enough to upsize.”
Sloan finally found the will to extricate herself, both because those arms had grown far too comfortable and, well, hello. Room full of interested people watching them with collectively bated breath.
“This isn’t Ryan Partners Marketing?”
Those eyes did more of that sexy crinkling. “No, ma’am, it’s not.”
“Which means I’m not only now monumentally late for a prospective client meeting, but I’ve managed to be late and directionally challenged, all with an audience.”
Mr. Sexy Smile glanced at the rest of the people assembled in the room before he shrugged his broad shoulders. “Afraid so.”
“This isn’t happening.” Sloan barely avoided the small, squeaky moan that threatened to spill out.
“Again, I’m afraid to have to tell you that it is.”
“May I use a private area to make a call? I need to reach out to Arthur and make my apologies. Hopefully, he’ll still agree to see me.”
“Chase, why don’t you let this woman use your office and give her some privacy for what will likely be a difficult call? Arthur Ryan’s a tough cookie.” Sloan glanced at the kind face peeping out from behind the man, a broad smile on her face. “In fact, why don’t you take her there yourself.”
Mr. Sexy shot a strange glance, clearly fraught with something, at the woman before turning his attention back to her.
“Chase, is it?”
“Chase Colton,” he said and extended his hand. “And you’re at my family’s company. Colton Properties.”
“Sloan Presley.” Sloan took it, his large palm engulfing her. Warmth ran up and down her arm as their gazes met once more, that vivid, vibrant green drawing her in. “I can see you’re in the middle of something. I really am so sorry to disturb.”
“Nonsense,” the kind woman behind Chase chimed in once more. “We were taking a quick breakfast break. Another five minutes won’t hurt anyone. Go on and make your call in Chase’s office.”
“Yes. My call.” Sloan nodded, dropping his hand as she willed herself back into the moment. A moment where she was not just late for a client meeting, but now the object of attention for nearly two dozen people. “I need to make that.”
“I’ll walk you to my office.”
Chase Colton gestured her back into the hallway she’d not even looked at as she’d rushed in. If she had, Sloan now realized, she’d have seen the large sign dominating the wall behind the front desk declaring that this was the office of Colton Properties.
Her hand still tingled—hell, all of her still tingled—as she followed him down the hallway, his long strides eating up the distance. Her initial impression of a big man was accurate, but as she took in the lines of his body, she could see that he had the firm, lean strength of a swimmer, with wide shoulders tapering down to slim hips.
And a high, firm butt that was impossible not to admire as his black slacks pulled taut against his body as he walked.
Get. It. Together.
The refrain in her head kept time with her footsteps as the two of them wove toward the back of the office. Since his last name was on that sign she’d ignored in the lobby, it would stand to reason his office was something big and cushy, overlooking Owl Creek from some wide-windowed corner of the building.
“I am sorry to interrupt your meeting.”
For the first time she saw a flicker of stress underneath that warm smile. “It can keep for a few minutes. Especially since our office manager just refilled the coffee.”
“Those pastries did smell good. Even in my dazed haste I could smell the gloriously distinct scents of yeast and sugar.”
“We’ll see that you get one on your way out.”
“I didn’t mean—” Sloan broke off. Did it matter? “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“Of course.”
He gestured toward the phone. “Feel free to make your call.”
She stood there, inside the wide, cavernous office that carried all the trappings of power, yet felt strangely empty. As if the man who worked there—the man she watched even now, while also trying not to gape at just how attractive he was—was somehow absent from the place.
Like no matter how much time he spent here, it wasn’t quite his.
Which, Sloan supposed, was why she was here, wasn’t it?
“Mind if I close the door?”
He nodded. “Be my guest.”
She was closer to the exit, so she crossed the few feet to close the thick wood door, scanning the hallway to confirm it was empty. When she heard the firm snick of the latch catching, Sloan turned back to Mr. Sexy, her gaze direct.
“Okay, Colton. I think we convinced them.”
Chase watched as the slim woman standing inside his now-closed office transformed before his very eyes. The haphazard, rushed form who’d collided with him inside the office conference room, running on adrenaline and the fear she’d missed a meeting, had vanished.
In its place was a force of nature. That slim frame that looked willowy and soft grew, somehow, steel straightening her frame.
“You think so?”
“I know so. The entire room watched what was going on. You did a good job with the moony eyes, too.”
For reasons he couldn’t name, that stung a bit. “You did a decent job yourself.”
“Just like we planned.”
And they had planned it, hadn’t they? In a series of calls he’d taken from his home office, on his own personal communications devices, unwilling to bring this anywhere near Colton Properties.
The calls had left him frustrated at his next move, even as he knew it was inevitable. Which was why he’d hired one Sloan Presley, founder, owner and chief hacker at SecuritKey, who’d come highly recommended by his cousin Max. Max’s FBI work had put him in contact with Sloan on several different projects and she fit the bill for what Chase needed: an independent party who could do some discreet hacking into the Colton Properties network and servers to ensure no one else was doing anything nefarious.
They’d hatched the meet-cute ruse because his bachelor status was widely known around Colton Properties and, even more widely, throughout Owl Creek. He’d never been great at relationships—a fact he’d proved spectacularly with his first wife—and after divorcing he’d sworn off ever attempting marriage again. But he’d also spent his adult life being told he only needed to find the right woman to fall head over heels.
Hadn’t Sonja hinted at that very point in the conference room?
Which made this the best approach to keep his questions about threats to Colton Properties under the radar. People would be so focused on the idea he’d found a girlfriend they’d have no reason to question her presence or the time she spent with him. Subterfuge, yes, but they’d never have pulled it off if he’d simply hired her as an employee.
So when Sloan had questioned him about the job and whom he was trying to avoid—and the answer to that question was basically everyone, family included—they’d hatched the girlfriend plot. He hated lying to his loved ones, but since the news of his father’s double life, he’d come to realize there wasn’t anyone he could really trust.
“So much for transparency, accountability and honesty,” Chase muttered. He thought he’d said it low enough, which made Sloan’s raised eyebrows that much more pointed.
“You’re battling a hidden force, Chase. One who can destroy your business and all you’ve built. Root out that dishonesty and you can go back to running the business however you’d like.”
She was right. He knew that and he knew what he had to do to preserve his company. But when had life gotten so complicated? And how, in a matter of months, had his father’s betrayals changed the way he thought about his family?
Even as he recognized they had in every possible way.
He was the oldest, damn it. It was his job to look out for his siblings. To protect his mother. And now, he was staring at a life of lies, churning through every conversation he could ever remember with his father, trying to find a shred of truth.
All while the answers remained elusive.
His mother’s sister, Jessie, had run off, leaving her husband and four children, vanishing as if she’d never been. His Uncle Buck and his cousins had been devastated, trying to rebuild their lives after that horrific betrayal. They’d done a decent job of it, only to find since Robert’s death that Jessie was not only very much alive, but also had been living a secret life with his father and the two children they’d had.
It was mind-boggling, Chase acknowledged, with the additional layers of grief, anger and deep-seated betrayal fighting for top of the heap of the emotional damage at any given moment.
It was that fact that continued to resonate deep within him, forcing his hand with the decision to reach out to SecuritKey’s owner. Sloan Presley was just what he needed. A neutral third party under a signed confidentiality agreement.
He looked at her now, still positioned on the opposite side of his office. That spine of steel hadn’t wavered, but it was the rest of the woman that really drew him in. Long hair settled around her face in soft, curly waves, those compelling, deep brown eyes alert and sharp. Her skin was a pretty shade of light brown that his fingers itched to trace, her long arms drawing his gaze in the short-sleeved, conservative blouse.
There was something about the woman that was captivating.
Which was the very last thing he needed to worry about right now.
So he’d ignore those sparks of attraction and force himself to forget the feel of her when she’d been wrapped tight in his arms.
They had work to do.
“We fooled them, Chase.”
“No doubt about it.” He nodded. “That was an award-winning performance.”
“Then let’s get to work.”
