“Do you even have a ticket?” I fumed.
“Do you?”
“I’m a plus one.”
“You slept your way to a ticket and all those clothes and nice jewelry!” she argued. “Don’t act like you’re better than me.”
“You need to leave,” I said flatly. I refused to let her cause a scene. What would Owen think? He wouldn’t want to be around me anymore once he realized Amber was a permanent fixture in my life, I was sure of that.
64
Owen
Ihad a couple surprises planned for Holly for after the party. Since she was currently occupied, I went to a side hallway to make a call and make sure everything was on schedule. That was when Sloane pounced.
“Owen!” she exclaimed. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pressed her mouth to mine, kissing me passionately. I tried to push her off, hoping no one saw. Sloane had her teeth sunk into my bottom lip and her hand shoved down my pants. It was a struggle trying to untangle her.
Tears pricked in her eyes as soon as I shoved her off me. “You don’t understand. I love you. We’re perfect together!”
“I’m with Holly,” I asserted.
“You can’t be serious,” she spat. “Holly is nothing. She’s homeless. She's failing as a baker. She has no career goals or aspirations. She’s just using you for your money.”
“She does have goals,” I countered.
“What, a sex food line?” Sloane sneered. “You and I belong together. I'm the type of woman a man like you should be with.” She must have realized she was sounding unhinged, because she calmed her features. “Darling Owen,” she said, sliding her hands back up my chest.
“I’m not doing this anymore. You can keep spiraling into delusions with my mother, but stay away from me,” I warned.
Holly looked slightly flustered when I found her again.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“Fine!” she said. She grabbed a glass of champagne from a server and all but chugged it. “I think they're going to announce the rankings.”
The search committee assembled on the stage. Sloane sauntered to the front of the group and looked straight at me. Evan Harrington, whose hedge fund ownedTechBizandVanity Rag, approached the lectern and leaned over to smile into the microphone. “Merry Christmas! Thanks for coming out.”
Now there was a man I felt sorry for. He was engaged to a woman possibly even crazier and nastier than Sloane. Apparently she had even made him sell all of his cars. Evan's situation was dire, and he wasn’t even married yet. No, I would much rather wake up to Holly every day. I leaned over and kissed her.
She squeezed my hand. “I'm so nervous!”
“It’s just a petty pissing contest between CEOs,” I whispered in her ear. “At the end of the day, it's not that important.”
“You're talking to someone whose life goal is to win a Christmas bake-off. I live for petty contests.”
Evan pulled a piece of paper out of a large envelope. “We have the rankings in. Please, before you all start calling your hitmen, remember I did not make any decisions,” Evan said, earning a laugh from the crowd.
“Just to remind everyone, the rankings were determined by a combination of interviews with employees, surveys of existing employees, an inventory of the activities each firm has been engaged in over the year, and then our wonderful committee’s work in visiting each company and getting a feel for the businesses’ cultures and values. That being said, for the last couple of years, Holbrook Enterprises has dominated. However, now there’s a new reindeer at the head of the pack!”
Everyone groaned.
“And that reindeer is Quantum Cyber. Some of the comments from employees were as follows: 'Coolest CEO, literally.' And yes, Owen, I did pay money to see you dunked in a tank of ice water. It's shocking that you’re still alive and with us today. Now, we don’t do trophies, because that’s weird, but you get bragging rights and your picture on the cover of next month's issue. So don’t eat too many sweets over the holidays, eh, Owen?”
“You did it!” Holly gushed, applauding. She rose onto her toes to kiss me.
“Thanks to you!”
“I wondered what your secret sauce was,” Grant Holbrook said, swaggering over to me, hand outstretched. “Now I see it’s her. Holly, you ever want to come work for me, just let me know. You already have a fan club in my house.”
