boots. He towered over the table at six foot six, but he did not intimidate Kayla. Andrew Jackson owned Jax Cosmetics, which was one of their competitors. Up until the economy went bad, Adams Cosmetics had consistently beat Jax Cosmetics in sales in the Southeast.
Although a smaller operation than Adams Cosmetics, Jax Cosmetics was showing rapid signs of growth. If Andrew and his stepdaughter Monica, who ran the company, knew they were in trouble, who knew what shenanigans they would pull?
“I’m well, thank you, Andrew. Monica,” Kayla inclined her head to his stepdaughter standing beside him. Although she might seem mousy at five foot three in a black trouser suit with designer glasses and a simple ponytail, Monica was a she-devil. Kayla supposed she had to be aggressive given that Andrew had always wanted his son, Jasper, to run the company, so Monica constantly had to prove herself. Jasper wanted nothing to do with his father and his stepfamily and had gone to live with his mother when he was a young boy. No one had heard from or seen him since.
Kayla was thankful that her relationship with her father was totally different. “Can I do something for you, Andrew?” Kayla inquired.
“No.” Andrew shook his head. “I wanted to congratulate you. We weren’t able to make it to Tyler Perry’s premiere as we were in the South of France, but we heard that Adams Cosmetics might be starting a new fragrance line. That’s quite ambitious, given the state of the economy.”
“True, but with great risk comes the biggest reward,” Kayla responded.
“Good luck,” Monica replied. “You’ll need it.” She stalked away, and Andrew chuckled as he followed her to their table.
Kayla turned back around to face Michael. “See what we’re dealing with? They are waiting for us to fail. We have to strike now. I need you to set up those meetings immediately.”
“Will do.”
“Are you in a better mood than you were on Saturday?” Daniel asked when he ran into Ethan in the hallway of Graham International on Monday morning.
Ethan laughed. He had been rather perturbed about being interrupted when he was about to kiss Kayla. He’d been on the cusp of seeing exactly what it was he’d passed up all those years ago in the stables. Of course, now things were different. Kayla Adams was a grown woman, a woman that he desperately wanted in his bed.
“Yes, I am. Today is a new day.” As he’d drifted off to sleep, Ethan had determined to pull out all the stops to get Kayla.
“When you have that look in your eye, it’s usually one of two things—a business deal or a woman. Which is it?”
“It’s both,” Ethan answered. “I want Adams Cosmetics and I want Kayla Adams.”
“Since when?” Daniel asked. “As I recall, Kayla had a thing for you when she was younger, but I would imagine her schoolgirl crush is over.”
“I may not have given her the time of the day in the past, but I will now. And she is most definitely not a schoolgirl anymore,” Ethan replied, “which means she’s fair game.” Back then, he’d had to turn her down, because it wouldn’t have been right or legal, but now, there were no limits.
“So what are your plans?”
“Well, first I want you to place some calls and see how their quest to find potential investors is coming along, and then I want you to squash them. I want to be the only option, the only company that Adams Cosmetics can turn to.”
“You mean the only man Kayla can turn to.”
“That’s one and the same.”
“And how do you plan on breaking the ice between you and Ms. Adams?”
“I’m going to do what every man does when he’s trying to woo a woman. I’m going to ask her out on a date,” Ethan responded.
“I could kill you for the move you pulled at the premiere,” Kayla told Piper, plopping down on the bed in her best friend’s apartment after work. She’d arrived moments ago to help Piper pick out an outfit for her blind date after receiving an SOS text from Piper earlier that day.
“What move?” Piper asked innocently, even though she knew the move in question.
“You left me alone with Ethan Graham.”
“And?” Piper raised a brow and glanced at Kayla as she held up a pantsuit. “What was wrong with that? Didn’t you tell me years ago, after seeing the string of beautiful women Ethan dated, that you were over pining for him?”
“I know what I said. And I am not pining for him,” Kayla replied testily. “And that suit is godawful. This is a date, not a business meeting.” She snatched the ensemble out of Piper’s hand and handed her another option. “Try this on.”
Piper took the garment out of Kayla’s hand and slid it down her slender frame. “Are you saying you lied to your best friend of twenty years?” She held her chest as if crestfallen.
“No,” Kayla answered. She rose from the bed and zipped up the back of Piper’s dress. “It’s just that I thought I was over the man, but then…” Her voice trailed off as the image of Ethan’s lips slowly starting to descend on hers came to mind.
Piper turned around. “But what?”
Kayla plopped back down on the bed and was silent. She hated to admit it, but she had no choice. “He still gets to me.”
“Did something happen between you two when I left?”
Kayla nodded. “We almost kissed.”
“What do you mean almost?” Piper asked. “You either did or you didn’t.”
“Well…we were interrupted because another couple burst onto the terrace,” Kayla replied. “If they hadn’t, I would have acted like a teenager and made out with the man. I can’t believe this, Piper.” She jumped up. “Ethan was supposed to be in my past.”
“Sounds like you two have some unfinished business,” Piper mused. “Because clearly Ethan has tapped into some hidden desire you still have for him.”
“No!” Kayla shook her head. “I refuse to give in to some teenage fantasy. I’m a grown woman who is capable of controlling her emotions, and I have to do that.”
“Why?”
“Because…because I don’t trust Ethan Graham one bit. He knows Adams Cosmetics is in trouble and he’s ready to swoop in like the vulture his company is. I’ve heard what he’s done to smaller companies that have merged with Graham International. I refuse to let Adams Cosmetics be a casualty.”
“But don’t you need the capital Ethan could provide?”
“I need capital, but there are other investors,” Kayla replied. “And it’s just a matter of time before I convince one of them to invest in Adams Cosmetics.”
Kayla returned home to find the family had already gathered in the formal dining room for dinner.
“Kay, we didn’t think you were joining us, so we started without you,” her mother, Elizabeth, said as she entered.
“No worries, Mom.” Kayla kissed her cheek before taking a seat at the table next to Shane.
“Where were you?” Courtney asked.
“I was at Piper’s. She needed help choosing an outfit.”
“I’m surprised Piper would need help in that department.” Her father chuckled. “She seems to have a handle on…er…her personal sense of style.”
That was her father’s diplomatic way of saying Piper’s taste bordered on eccentric, but that was okay with Kayla. They’d been best friends for twenty years and there was no one she trusted more.
“It’s a blind date,” Kayla offered. “And