He knew exactly what she meant. Logan Industries was his birthright. Something passed down through four generations of his maternal kin. It was the last connection he had to his late mama and her family. On most days Slade wished he could hand the worries of his family’s company to someone else. His heart was firmly planted on his horse ranch in Austin, but his body was shackled to an office in thecity.
There’d been so many times he’d thought to walk away, just let his father have it all. But then he knew if he did Bull would tarnish it the way he did everything else beautiful in hislife.
“Take it from me, darlin’, don’t let anyone steal your joy. If being the boss ain’t what you want, set yourselffree.”
She turned in his arms then, placing a gentle kiss on his lips, running a careful finger through his hair. “You make it sound so simple,Slade.”
“Itis.”
“I wish it were, but it’snot.”
“Let me ask you this. If you had a magic wand that could instantly take you away from this situation, allow you to give it all up in the snap of your fingers, would you useit?”
With no hesitation she whispered, “In aheartbeat.”
“Then there’s your answer. Let itgo.”
She leaned in and kissed him. Deepening it, allowing the tension in her body to bleed out with each press of her flesh against his. “I’m still not certain it’s as easy as you make it seem. But when you say it, I want it tobe.”
“If there’s ever any way I can help you make it simple, you call me, and I’ll do everything I can to make itso.”
She offered him a smile in return for his promise, and he suddenly felt like the wealthiest man in theworld.
“You know what is simple,Slade?”
He gave his head a briefshake.
“Forget what I said earlier about having to adult tomorrow. The decision to spend the night with you, that’s as easy and simple as itgets.”
* * *
Slade burrowed into the soft warmth pressed against him. The front of his chest, groin, and legs were on fire, and his sleep-drunk mind couldn’t immediately decipher why. The heat wasn’t burning him, so he figured it must be a good thing and snuggled closer to thesource.
As he was just about to doze off again, he heard the repetitive sound of a bird chirping. It was cute enough the first time, but as more moments passed the sound picked at his ability to reclaim his precioussleep.
Needing to shut it off, he turned away from the glorious heat he’d been wrapped up in. His body, instantly cold once he’d lost contact with the source of the inferno in his bed, shivered at the loss of heat. He slapped his uncoordinated palm around until it finally made contact with something that felt electronic in hishand.
He lifted it to his face and fought to open, then focus his eyes on what was in front of him. He was conscious enough to realize it was a phone he was looking at. He put it to his ear and said hello, but the sound still continued. He pulled it away from his ear and forced his eyes to focus on the shiny face. When he could see, there was a flashing message across the face of it thatread:
10am meeting w/Lori Harris of VC at OceanviewHotel
Re: SweetSadie’s
Dammit. Either his father or Lori had put this on his calendar and set that notification. Every alert he had was set to vibrate because Slade couldn’t stand the sound of cellphone notifications pinging all over the place. Being an executive for a company like Logan Industries, his phone was constantly going off. An audible alarm sounding incessantly throughout the day would drive himinsane.
He went to unlock the home screen and turn the sound off, but it kept denying him access. Just when he was ready to throw the thing across the room, he felt a warm hand snake over his arm and pull the device from his hand. Mandisa silenced the noise, looked at it for a minute with a single opened eye before tossing the now silent gadget back on thenightstand.
The slight press of comforting fingers drawing circles against his chest calmed Slade. The motion soothed him, lulled him back into the restful sleep the alarm had rudely pulled himfrom.
Slade slept until he heard a hard vibration against the nightstand and pulled himself up in bed. He didn’t have to wonder if Mandisa was still with him. Her lack of comforting heat against his skin alerted him to herabsence.
He picked up the phone to read the incoming text, a smile blooming across his face when he saw Mandisa’s name as the sender of themessage.
Sorry my phone wokeyou.
Had to leave to get ready formeeting.
Done by lunch. You wanna hanglater?
