Page 9 of Companion Required

Chapter Five

Kennedy

Nothing seemed to be going right that day.

In Kennedy’s absence, COO Sloan Williamson had rescheduled an important meeting without consulting him, one that now sat slap bang in the middle of his planned holiday. On the other hand, Sloan had been the one to orchestrate the whole merger with Cold Steel Security, something that made total sense on paper. Cold Steel remained one of the top five brand leaders in home security in the States and Canada, and had begun to branch out into the UK.

“Who asked for the change?”

“Giorgio Milletto,” said Erin, his marketing director.

So the CEO of CSS himself had requested the change. Interesting that he hadn’t contacted Kennedy directly. But if the merger went ahead—more of an acquisition for Grey Havens really—his company would consolidate their position as number one global security provider, even though CSS’ main focus was home security and they had only recently stepped into the corporate arena.

“I see.”

“We can’t ask them to reschedule again.”

“I know that, Erin. And we’re not going to.”

“Are you going to cancel your holiday?”

Many of his top managers continued to voice their concerns about him being away from the business for a whole month, even though he’d done so for the past seven or eight years. With Grey Havens being a family business, Kennedy worked tirelessly, early mornings and late nights, seven days a week, including public holidays. Sleeping three or four hours a night, he was essentially on-call twenty-four-seven. If he could not leave the company safely in the hands of his professional, well-paid, highly skilled and respected managers for a month, what the hell was the point in having them? In truth, he knew he’d created the problem himself, due to his tendency to micromanage his staff, adopting an outdated, paternalistic style of management. Of course they would always be nervous without him around, but then, wasn’t that how people grew? And if push came to shove, he was always at the end of a telephone line or an online conferencing system.

“No.”

“So will you dial in? From wherever you are? Surely they’ll have Wi-Fi?”

Of all his staff, Erin probably clung to him the most.

“You know that’s not an option. With something this important, I like to watch the faces of the people on the other side of the table, see the whites of their eyes, especially those who aren’t speaking. That is so important when we’re negotiating.”

“Skype?”

“Not the same.”

“Then what, boss?”

As though prompted, Sloan Williamson chose that moment to stride into the room. Kennedy had chosen him well. Charismatic in a movie star kind of way, he oozed confidence and sex appeal and had the staff at Grey Havens eating out of his hands. Singularly straight, at only forty, he was already working on marrying for a third time. Sometimes his good looks fooled those he did business with, beguiled them into believing that he had no business acumen. Not a mistake they ever made twice. If someone took the time to analyse his history, really scrutinised—and Kennedy had—they would discover a trail of broken businessmen along the way who had made the fateful error of underestimating him. Publicly, Kennedy’s management team presented a united front. Privately, Kennedy had a suspicion that Sloan wanted his job.

“Ah, Mr Chief Operating Officer. Your ears must be burning.”

Without missing a beat, the man propped his backside on the end of Kennedy’s desk and undid a button on his Armani suit jacket. Even though Kennedy could not deny the man’s attraction, his brand of slick handsomeness did absolutely nothing for him. Erin had a different reaction—she rose from her chair and beamed, her cheeks flushed, and gazed in awe as she clutched her folder against her bosom.

“My ears burn all the time. What have I done this time?”

“This meeting with CSS.”

“Ah yeah, sorry about that,” said Sloan, pushing a lock of blond hair back over one ear. “Milletto asked for the change.”

“So Erin said. Reason?”

“Didn’t say.” Sloan’s stare didn’t waver as he responded to Kennedy.

“Do I need to change my plans?”

“Up to you,” said Sloan with a shrug.

“Or can I rely on you to deliver the goods?”

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