Jenna greeted me with her usual, radiant smile, accepting the coffee I brought her every morning. It was always her second of the day. “I already have Shelton set up on the calendar suite, and I sent him a simple guide so he can input any clients he gets from now on.”
“Were there a lot?”
“Enough to keep him quite busy for the next two weeks, but I managed to tighten his schedule up so he gets finished early enough to enjoy his evenings.” Her eyes were twinkling, narrowed as she watched me over the lid of her coffee. The implication was clear, but it wasn’t like Jenna to be coy when she had a question. “How long?”
“Just over a week.”
“You move fast,” she teased without a hint of judgment.
“Wouldn’t you?”
“I checked his Instagram out. He is a cutie and driven. He reminds me a lot of you when you first started out.”
There wasn’t a shred of sarcasm in her voice, but for some reason, her words raised my hackles. Not Caine of the present. Young, naïve Caine who didn’t know how much the business would drain him. After years of pretending to be in a constant, unflappable state of optimism, the mere mention of the man everyone once thought I was made me feel like an imposter. I’d built my empire on a lie, and even though the world had moved onto the latest scandal, forgetting my gaffe in the BDSM club, nothing had changed for me. I was still tired of pretending, and even the thought of revamping my image seemed like more effort than it was worth.
“Jenna?”
“Yes, Caine.”
“What would you think about a do-over?”
“Of today?” She knitted her brows together and took another sip.
“No, I mean Crafted Image Media. What if we revamped the entire thing?” I was breathing hard, heart racing, not sure I would have the guts to say what I was thinking. Then I went for it. “What if we torched it all and just…stopped.”
Jenna’s eyebrows shot up. It was the first time I’d seen her calm exterior slip. “You can’t be serious. With everything you’ve worked so hard for, you want to just throw it all away?”
“Not throw it away. But stop while I’m on top. Wouldn’t that be the thing to do?”
“No,” she lamented, setting the cup down as she shot to her feet. A drop of coffee splashed out through the tiny hole in the top. “Caine, don’t do this. You’ve had a rough week, but it’s getting better. This time next week, no one will even remember that article. This is your legacy. Don’t let a bad week convince you it’s not.”
“I would give you a hefty severance, and Shelton needs an assistant.”
“I don’t want a severance, and I can run your calendar and Shelton’s without giving up my two-hour lunch break.”
This time, it was my eyebrow that raised. “Two hours?” I laughed.
She shrugged one shoulder, picked her coffee back up and plopped down into her chair. “Sometimes I take three hours, or I spread them out. It’s the curse of being efficient.”
“I guess,” I laughed. “I knew you were good, but-”
“You rarely come back after you leave for lunch or you would know that. With the website automated and all that, there really isn’t much to do.”
“Then why do you want me to keep going?”
“I love this job. I don’t want to learn to another boss. I get you, we work well together. That’s worth more than double whatever you would give me in severance. The world needs your message. Even if that bouncy, vibrant man on stage isn’t how you feel twenty-four seven, it’s still a big part of you. You can do this.”
“It’s draining the life out of me, Jenna.”
“It wasn’t until that article. Take a vacation or a leave of absence. But don’t give up all you’ve built. Not now.”
I stood there for a long time, eyes locked with Jenna’s, her words spinning in my head. “Is there time for me to take a vacation?”
“You have a couple small engagements next week, then almost a month before anything else is scheduled. It’s always slow this time of year.”
I sighed. Two weeks was a long time when my heart wasn’t in it. “I’ll consider it,” I said finally. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
She nodded, but her eyes still held the weight of her worry. The truth of my words was unmistakable.
I sat in my thick leather chair and leaned all the way back, eyes closed, head pounding. How had the day gone to shit already after such a great start? I put my feet up on my desk and reclined as far back as the chair allowed. I felt like I’d aged ten years since I’d woken up, and not even the sweet memories of Shelton squirming in the booth beside me the night before could lift my mood.
I didn’t realize I’d dozed off until my phone vibrated in my pocket. Jolting awake, I fumbled to unlock it, blinking away the fog that had slipped in. A quick glance at the clock readout showed I’d been asleep for nearly thirty minutes. I scoffed, then slid my finger across the scanner and unlocked the phone.
The message was from Shelton, thanking me for the roses and the contract. He was excited about tonight, and suddenly, so was I. I needed something to look forward to, and Shelton’s sweet innocence fit the bill.
Jenna fixed my schedule, so if you want me to come at four, I can, he texted while I was still reading his first message.
I’ll send a car, I responded, then I dropped the phone back into my pocket and left my office without ever turning the computer on.
“I’m going to take the rest of the week off,” I told Jenna. “You can work from home if you want, or you can post another away message and take a four-day weekend, too.”
“I’ll come into work,” she said. “My computer at home isn’t fast enough to tackle your schedule and Shelton’s.”
I nodded. “All right. Well, I won’t be in, so feel free to use the office account to buy yourself a second coffee and lunch.”
She winked, bright red lipstick framing her perfect teeth. “I always do.”
I chuckled and shook my head, then I waved to her and walked out the door.
Sitting in my car for a moment, I scrolled through the web browser until I found exactly what I was looking for. I clicked the order button, then I typed in Jenna’s home address and wrote a quick message on the virtual gift receipt. The confirmation number came through a few moments later, letting me know Jenna’s new, state-of-the-art computer system would be delivered to her address by the end of business Friday. It was the perfect surprise for the woman who’d helped make my career. I couldn’t wait to see her Monday morning.
But first, I had a long weekend and a young, eager consort to enjoy.
13
Shelton
I was standing on the master balcony, still completely naked. I opened the box that Caine handed me, my eyes growing wide at the expensive purple anal plug resting on the velvet lining on the bottom of the box. It was a little larger than the one I had at home, the tip narrow and rounded with a large flare in the middle, then it narrowed again before the base, which had a single, large rhinestone on the end. My heart skipped a beat and I bit my lip, not sure I could take such a wide plug. But I’d sat through dinner with a hard-on so bad that I was desperate for release, and Caine had made it clear that there would be no sex without prep.