I shouldn't be texting in a meeting. I definitely shouldn't be texting the sexiest woman in the world about her ass and "other assets". She'd stopped responding about half an hour ago after one last message that she was "hopping in the shower" and I hadn't for the life of me, been able to think about anything but said shower since. Something was wrong with me. Seriously, insanely wrong with me. I'd been sitting in this room listening to Arthur Silver, Danny Abadìa, and everyone else on the board pick apart Valencia's budget for the last two hours and had hardly been able to focus on a single bit of it. Not that it mattered. She was doing a fine job of defending her work on her own with minimal input from me. But this was going on long enough and I was becoming frustrated in an entirely different way from the way my wife had begun.

"Enough," I said suddenly and Danny stopped in the middle of his question, turning to me in surprise.

I hadn't spoken loudly. I hadn't needed to. I'd said so little the past two hours that I imagined they had forgotten I was there. But I was here. And I was running out of patience for the men who made it their mission to constantly question both the work of my employees as well as of me. I rose slowly at the table, leaning over and bracing myself with both hands on the cool glass.

"Why don't we dispense with the bullshit?" I asked and the board members all raised their eyebrows, looking around at each other in apparent shock, as if they didn't know exactly what I was talking about. I stood up straight, striding to the front of the room, buttoning my jacket as I went and gesturing for Valencia to take a seat. She did so, relieved. "For months now, you have called me into this room nearly every day for hours at a time to discuss the same numbers, the same budgets, the same projections, over and over and over again. I understand that you all have a stake in this company, that you have all invested heavily in our ventures and feel a personal attachment to them. That's good. It means this matters to you. But it matters to me too, maybe even more than it does to you. I will remind you that I own this company, that I built it from the ground up, from nothing. Retribution was my idea. Expanding into virtual reality was my idea. Every successful venture we have ever had was my idea, worked on tirelessly by people like Valencia and Nate. And yet, you question us. Constantly, questioning us. So much questioning that we cannot work on ventures like new games and advancing technology because we are stuck in these bullshit meets making you feel better about the waves we're making in the industry. I appreciate the capital that you have contributed, the attention that you've brought to our products. But you signed onto this company because you believed in it, because you believed in me. So let me do what I do and get the fuck out of my way."

I finished, standing up straight and fixing my tie, waiting for the explosion to come. Valencia's jaw was dropped, Nate was grinning like a fool, Danny's face was bright red, and everyone at the table was staring at me in open shock. But then, someone started clapping. My eyes snapped to Arthur Silver who was grinning from ear to ear as he rose, clapping and chuckling. The other board members glanced at one another uncertainly before standing as well, joining in on the applause. I watched them warily.

"There he is," Arthur announced, voice booming over the noise of the room. "There's the Lucas Vega I know. Dogged and determined. It's nice to have you back, son."

I stared at him in surprise. Danny huffed and stood, grabbing his legal pad and storming from the room. A few of the board members followed him. I watched them go.

"I just lost a couple of investors, didn't I?" I asked Arthur in hushed tones.

"Sure did," he answered, though his tone was pleasant, light. "But Danny Abadìa isn't as much of a big shot as he thinks and the sales from Retribution 2 will cover the cost of them pulling out."

The other board members were filing out now as well, nodding at me in a friendly manner as they went. Apparently, Arthur had somehow called the meeting to an end. Valencia and Nate were locked in conversation but I followed Arthur from the boardroom, striding down the hall together towards my office.

"I thought I might lose a lot more," I admitted.

"But you said what you said anyway," Arthur replied.

"It needed to be said. I don't have time to run the operations of this company while having my schedule held hostage by its board of directors."

"Too true."

"Of which, you are one, by the way. But you didn't seem to object my telling you to get out of my way."

"Ah, get the fuck out of your way, I believe is how you put it."

I smiled and shook my head.

"Danny has been trying to increase his hold on Denodado for years now. He's made strides in that mission. Getting his own office in the building only made him more insistent. And you gave him that," Arthur reminded me. I sighed.

"I still feel like I owe Danny. I'll probably always feel that way. But I won't allow him to impede the progress of my company."

"And you shouldn't. It's about time you finally said something. I was getting tired of all those meetings myself. Would much rather be at home, collecting my dividends while spending time with my wife. Something you can relate to now, I imagine."

He raised a brow and I smiled again.

"That," I started, considering how to phrase what I was about to say, "may be a contributing factor to my wanting a bit more time away from the board."

"Ah, to be young again."

I chuckled as we came to a stop in front of the elevators.

"I'll talk to the other board members, see if I can convince them that the little stand you took in there was a good thing, not a bad," Arthur told me. "You talk to Danny."

I nodded and watched him step onto the elevator.

"And bring the wife over for dinner sometime," he added with a smile. "Tiffany loved meeting her."

I nodded, shaking his hand before he left. Then I headed to my office to attempt to come down from this adrenaline high and get some work done. The only way I could, however, was to tell Trudy to hold my calls, turn my phone off and sit down at my computer. For hours, I worked uninterrupted. Then there was a knock on my door and I looked up to see Nate and Valencia entering. Valencia shut the door behind her as Nate made himself comfortable in the armchair across from my desk.

"Boss man, that was the most badass thing I've ever seen," he told me, clearly referring to my display in the board meeting earlier.

"As a woman, I'll say that was the hottest thing I've ever seen. We should have taken a video and sent it to your wife. Guaranteed, she would have ridden all the way here to jump your bones."

I sighed and sat back in my chair, looking over them both.

"So this is how we talk to one another now?" I asked, trying my best to affect superior disappointment but I couldn't wipe the grin off of my face. It felt good to finally say what I meant and to have it validated by people whose work I actually respected.

Nate and Valencia exchanged a look and then shrugged.

"You're coming to the club tonight, hanging out with us after hours, so I figured that means you're one of us now, boss man," Nate told me. I just smiled and shook my head.

"I guess so," I agreed.

"I have to admit," Valencia started. "I didn't take you as a clubbing kind of guy."

"This company means a lot to me," I explained. "I became its CEO at a very young age. I thought that meant that I had to be stoic, distance myself from my employees so they recognized my authority, never mix business with pleasure. But I recognize now that I can be respected and liked. The two are not mutually exclusive. Well, maybe they are with Danny Abadìa."

"Have you talked to him?" Nate asked.

"No," I answered with a sigh. "I will tomorrow. Tonight, I don't want to think about any of this shit."

Nate and Valencia smiled.

"Then let's go," Nate said, rising from his chair. "It's almost eight, pm, boss man. Better get home and get ready if you're going to meet us out tonight."

"It's eight?" I asked. "Shit."

I powered on my phone as Nate and Valencia chuckled and left my office, promising to see me tonight. As expected, I had over a dozen missed calls and even more text messages. Mostly from board members, Danny in particular. But one name mattered more than the rest. A missed call from Piper and one text from her afterwards.

Guess you're busy. It's no big deal. But we were wondering when and where we're going.

"Shit," I muttered, already dialing as I threw my things into my briefcase and headed for the door. I waved goodbye to Trudy just as Piper's voice rang out from the other end of the line.

"Estranged husband, indeed," she mused and I couldn't help but smile at the sound of her voice as I hopped on the elevator. "I was beginning to think you'd had enough and made a run for the border."

"I'm so sorry. I turned my phone off to focus on work and lost track of time. But I'm on my way now. I'll just need to change and then we can head out."

"No sweat. We're all ready to go and making daiquiris so no rush."

I chuckled.

"You know, you're supposed to drink at the club, not necessarily before, right?" I asked.

"Hm, you don't know Leah," she replied. I smiled as I headed into the limo via the door that Kevin was holding open for me.

"I'll see you soon."

"See you soon."

I hung up and settled in for the ride home.

Upon arrival, I emerged from the limo still checking my emails. I walked through the foyer and down the hall in time to see Connor carrying a bowl of pretzels outside, yelling something about "if you skinny bitches don't eat, this alcohol will go straight to your head and I'm not holding either of your hair back again". I shook my head and chuckled as I headed for my room. I undressed as quickly as I could before throwing on a pair of black jeans and a form hugging beige tee shirt. I debated on the jacket for a minute but tossed it to the side, deciding it was too formal. I was sliding my feet into the least formal shoes I owned when Piper strolling in and I stopped breathing.

She was wearing a pale pink dress with a deep neckline cut straight to the navel so that her cleavage was on display in a way that I'd never seen before. At the waist, it became tight, clinging to her skin all the way to mid thigh. She wore golden stilettos that matched her dangling gold earrings and long golden necklace that drew attention to her breasts, as if it was needed. Her makeup was natural but smoky in a way that made her eyes pop. Her lips were a pale pink that matched her dress and her hair was piled on top of her head with little tendrils cascading down the sides of her face. I couldn't stop staring at her.

"See something you like?" She asked with a grin from the doorway.

"Oh, yes," I told her, nodding as I stood from the bench and approached her. I made an obvious motion in the direction of her breasts as I stared down at them. "Two things, actually."

I reached for her, wrapping one arm around her waist and letting a finger trail up her exposed skin, gently cupping a breast when I reached them.

"You were right to remind me of these," I whispered in her ear, feeling her hair against my lips as I did. "I haven't paid them nearly enough attention."

"You're an ass man," she said. I pulled back and looked down at her, brows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" I asked.

"Leah says that every guy is either an ass man or a boobs man. It's what they prefer, what they like the most. You're an ass man."

"I'm a Piper man," I corrected her, poking her nose with a finger and smiling. "But you do have a fantastic ass."

"If the two of you are done, I believe it's time to leave?" Leah called down the hall, the sound of her heels clicking against the tile of the foyer as she and Connor strode toward the door. I smiled down at Piper and leaned in once more, whispering the promise against her ear that I hoped she would be thinking about all night long.

"Words cannot express how beautiful I think you look. So I'll show you tonight."