Ruthless In A Suit: Book Three Part 4

At least, that's what I tell myself so I don't throw her off the roof.

Julia, not knowing enough about Brenda to overlook her behavior, shoots her a look so full of venom I'm surprised Brenda doesn't drop dead on the spot. Then Julia disappears back down the stairs. I'm practically holding my breath waiting for what comes next.

Julia reappears, striding quickly and confidently down the makeshift aisle of chairs we hauled up from the conference room. We didn't need many, just enough for Brenda and Mr. Fallon, a couple of Cadence's friends from school, and Logan's parents. Logan is standing next to me, Oliver's leash in his hand, my dog clad in a bowtie of his own and sitting up straight like he knows the occasion calls for it.

And then there she is, standing at the top of the stairs. She's wearing a white silk dress that seems to melt around her like ink, long sleeved with a row of tiny, delicate b.u.t.tons starting at her elbow and ending at her wrist. The dress dips into a v-neck that reminds me of the yellow dress from Julia and Logan's wedding. Her hair is loose, the waves wild and blowing in the autumn breeze.

There's no music as she walks confidently towards me. We decided to keep the wedding as small and simple as possible, with only friends and family in attendance (and since I have no family, that kept the circle even smaller).

Having a musician felt like an intrusion, and playing something through a speaker felt cheap. So instead we listened to the rustle of the last of the autumn leaves on the trees, to the sounds of the city and traffic below, though I couldn't really hear any sound at all. Everything around me everyone disappears in that moment, except for Cadence.

She clutches her bouquet of red and orange and yellow roses, her eyes never leaving mine. At that moment I simply want to be alone with her. I want this to be our moment, and I don't want to share it with anyone.

But then Cadence stops next to me, she reaches for my hand, anchoring to her. And I realize that in our own way, we are alone.

This is still our moment.

This is our wedding and we're in it, just the two of us.

"Ok, well, I guess this is the part where I say 'dearly beloved,'" Logan says with an easy grin. We had him get ordained online to perform the wedding, again wanting no strangers present for the moment.

"No jokes, just get to the important part," I urge him, and he rolls his eyes. Julia huffs out a sigh, and I know I'm ruining whatever beautiful and romantic ceremony she wrote for him to perform. But like a good brother which is what Logan is to me he dutifully skips ahead to the vows.

"Do you, Levi, take Cadence, to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?"

"h.e.l.l yes," I say, and there are some rueful chuckles at my language.

But Cadence gets it. She smiles at me and her eyes are alight.

It's hard to believe that not long ago I thought Cadence was someone I had to take from, had to overcome to get what was mine, and yet here I am marrying her.

My crazy sick upbringing had me convinced she was my ruination when in reality Cadence has been my salvation.

Plain and simple.

And in this short time we've already been through the better and the worse, the rich and the poor. h.e.l.l, with my father, we've even been through the sickness and health. It feels like we've lived a lifetime together already, which makes our future together feel like that much more of a gift.

"And do you, Cadence, take Levi, to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?"

Cadence's smile is wide enough to rival the Charles River, and sparkles like the sun setting over the city. "I do," she says.

Before I know it, Logan is declaring us husband and wife. I don't even wait for his instruction before taking Cadence in my arms and dipping her for long, deep kiss. The crowd's polite applause quickly turns to hoots and hollers, with a scattering of whistles. Oliver joins in with a few hearty barks. And then it's over.

We stride back down the aisle arm in arm, taking the steps down two at a time. Soon we're in the attic, and I know we have only a moment in before everyone else begins streaming in behind us, so I grab her hands and pull her close, leaning in forehead to forehead.

"I'll never stop loving you," I tell her, hoping she can hear and feel and believe and know every word of it.

"Not ever," she replies, then gives me a soft kiss, her lips barely brushing mine.

And that's all we get before Logan and Julia, preceded by a bounding Oliver, appear into the room, the rest of the small crowd hot on their heels.

"Get moving, lovebirds. We've got a cake to cut," Julia says, ever the chair of the prom committee.

"Please tell me we don't have to do the feeding the cake thing," I plead, ready to be free of the pomp and circ.u.mstance of this day. I just want to be alone with Cadence.

"The faster you do what she says, the faster they all go home and you can get me out of this dress," Cadence whispers into my ear. The thought makes me hard, and it's all I can do not to hustle her off to our bedroom and say to h.e.l.l with all these people.

But Cadence is a good hostess, and so we head downstairs to what was once the den but is now the Cabot Ess.e.x Maxon law office conference room. We cut the cake and smile for photos and dance a few numbers to whatever Logan threw on the stereo. Cadence dances with her father, and I dance one with Brenda (who, for the duration of the song, manages to smile and act quite pleasant).

And when the party begins to wind down, I give Logan the eye. Despite serving as the officiant, he's still my best man, and it's his job to get me laid this evening.

"Alright, anyone who's up for a drink can meet us at the Pour House on Boylston, the rest of you are welcome to give your final wishes to the happy couple so that we can leave them to their lovely home."

Mr. Fallon appears before me to shake my hand and welcome me to the family a final time, with Brenda smiling serenely at his side in a way that makes me wonder if Julia didn't slip something into her champagne.

And when the last of them is finally gone (Oliver trotting after Logan and Julia, where he will be camping out for the night), Cadence collapses into my arms.

"I can't even imagine what that would have been like if we hadn't kept it small," she says, her fingers already walking their way down to my pants.

"Hey, calm yourself," I say, swatting her hand away. Then I bend down tuck an arm beneath her knees, sweeping her into my arms. "I've got to carry you over the threshold."

"Well by G.o.d be quick about it," she quips before kissing me again. "I don't want either of us to be clothed for very much longer."

CADENCE.

"Levi, Ms. Gonzalez is on line three, and you need to return the Fair Housing Project's call before close of business," I say, leaning against his office door jamb.

Levi looks up from the stack of files on his desk. His tie is missing in action, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. "Can you take a message from Ms. Gonzalez? I've only got " he glances at his watch, "s.h.i.t, give minutes before close. Tell her I'll call her back right after, if she's still available."

"Will do boss," I say, which always makes Levi laugh, because we both know that I run this place.

It took exactly two weeks after we got married for Levi to convince me to stop temping and come on as Cabot Ess.e.x Maxon's office manager.

Lord knows they needed one. After just a few months in business they already had a healthy slate of nonprofits they represented, the firm consulted with about a dozen more, and their list of pro bono clients was growing by the day.

Add in the fact that Levi had signed on to adjunct a cla.s.s at Boston University in the spring, and his schedule was about to get completely insane. Levi told me that he needed someone to manage both him and the business, and he said that he knew there was no one better than me for the job.

After all, he claimed I'd inspired him to do all of this to begin with.

The truth was, Levi knew that this was my kind of work.

I love running the office. It keeps my mind clear, so that when work's over, I can wander up into our attic studio and paint for until my heart's content.

In fact, I've been so productive in the last two months since we got married that I've already set up my first post-graduate show at a gallery in the South End near Logan and Julia's apartment.

But that's not all.

Soon after I came on to work with Levi, we discovered the added bonus of being together in the office all day...

We could easily disappear upstairs at lunchtime, and once, I even came into his office, shut the door, and fell to my knees beneath Levi's desk.

Even thinking about how amazing my life has been with Levi, still brings tears to my eyes. But then again, I am emotional lately, and for good reason.

I come back to the present as I consider our busy schedules.

"Don't forget, we're going to my parents' house for Christmas Eve tomorrow," I remind him.

"Is that when we're going to tell them?" Levi asks.

"If you want to," I say, crossing the office floor and perching on the edge of my desk. "I certainly don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep the secret."

"Well, eventually they're going to realize regardless," he says. "I mean, unless you're willing to lean in hard to the 'I just really like donuts' story. Of course, I even that jig is going to be up in July when we show up to their house with a baby."

"Ok, then we'll tell them tonight!" I reply, dissolving into laughter.

Levi kisses me, hard, and it feels like a reminder of his promise that he'll never stop loving me.

And then he runs his hand across my abdomen, which is still flat, given we only just discovered the pregnancy a few weeks ago. It came as a bit of a surprise, though one we were both more than happy to discover.

I was shocked and relieved to realize that Levi was excited to be a dad-but then I realized that nothing should really shock me anymore when it comes to my husband.

He's the most amazing person I've ever known.

And since discovering the news, he's taken to placing his hand on my belly and just grinning.

Once, I asked him what he was thinking when he does that.

Levi told me he was sending that baby the very same message he gave to its mother daily I will never stop loving you.

"Oh, and don't forget to call Fair Housing," I tell Levi now, pointedly, in that tone that says you better obey me or I'll make your life very difficult. It's the tone that's kept this firm running smoothly since I took the reins. "We need to stay on top of all of this."

"I'll never stop," he tells me, and his eyes are glimmering as he says it.

"Never, ever," I agree, and I turn and the tears are falling now. Happy tears.

Tears of pure joy.

I know I'm just emotional because of the baby.

Or maybe it's because I know what Levi says is true, and that sometimes his love fills me up and overflows, and the tears come.

I wipe the tears from my cheeks and get back to work. I'm smiling now, and I know I'll be smiling for a long time to come.

THE END.

We hope you enjoyed Ruthless In A Suit!

And now, keep reading for the FREE bonus content, Jackson (The Billionaire Croft Brothers, Book One)!

Bonus Content: Jackson (The Billionaire Croft Brothers, Book One) by Paige North

Jackson

I sit staring at the phone, my hand clenched in a fist over my mouth. I close my eyes and tell myself to get my s.h.i.t together. Do the usual, calm my breathing and remind myself that I can fight through this just like always.

A few seconds later, my eyes open again...and I'm still f.u.c.ked.

My father always knew how to push my b.u.t.tons, but after twenty-eight years of his s.h.i.t, I thought I'd learned to stay cool under his unrelenting pressure-and the pressures of Croft International. This business is all pressure, all the time. There is no room for any cracks or weaknesses.

But that phone call...

How could he?

After everything I've done to earn my place in this business? After all of my sacrifices?

It turns out the old man saved his best trick for last. Pulled the rug out from under me and then disappeared off the face of the earth, so he'd never have to answer for any of it.

I get up and stride across my expansive office to the bar tucked into custom-made walnut bookshelves. Toss a few cubes in a gla.s.s and pour three fingers worth of the scotch that is the same age as I am.

I take a deep gulp as I look out at the view from my office. The strong, smooth alcohol and serene view of the boats bobbing in the harbor are supposed to soothe me. Instead, all I feel is anger rising and rising, the image of my b.a.s.t.a.r.d father growing stronger. He's laughing from the grave where the dirt is still fresh, of that there is no doubt in my mind.

A grating buzz sounds from the phone.

"Mr. Croft? Your ten a.m. is here."

"Christ," I mutter. I push the intercom b.u.t.ton. "Sandra, I can't do it. You'll have to reschedule." I don't even remember what's on my calendar but at this moment I don't care. My only plan is to finish this scotch, then start on another.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Croft. But she says this is the third time-"

"d.a.m.n it, I said I'm busy!" I snap. What part of reschedule did she not understand? I throw back another drink, nearly draining the gla.s.s. It stings my throat but in a good way, like a rough ma.s.sage.

That should've been that, but then I hear some bulls.h.i.t outside my door.

"...I don't care what he said," a woman is saying, her voice smooth but insistent. "I'm not going to reschedule again, it's insulting."

The door flies open and a woman comes in, trailed by Sandra who is frantically chasing her.