Page 33 of The Claiming Series: Collection 1
“Someone who’s got our backs,” Callum replies grimly. He switches his attention to the person on the other end of the line as they pick up. “Ash, it’s Cal. I’m going to need that information you’re holding for me.”
Chapter Nine
Callum
“So, let me get this straight. Your best friend, the one you told me owned a small construction business here in Houston, isAshton Stanton?” Lily demands, her eyebrows disappearing into her hairline.
“I never said small, but?—"
“As in,theAshton Stanton, one of the wealthiest men in the country and owner of Stanton Construction?”
“The same, although?—"
“And he owns ten percent of Rogen Technologies stock?” she cuts me off again.
I nod. “Yes, he does.”
“How do I not know this?” she asks in bewilderment. She paces at the foot of the king-size bed in my hotelroom, where I ushered her while I finished my phone call.
“Because no one knows apart from him and me. And now you. That’s how he wanted it,” I answer with a shrug. “Ash gave me my break. I pitched my new software to hundreds of companies when I started out, and he’s the only one who took a chance on a rookie like me. That was after my parents died. He agreed to finance me in exchange for ten percent of the company. Seemed like more than a fair deal. We worked closely to get the software off the ground, and we’ve been best friends ever since.”
“I still can’t believe it,” Lily says, shaking her head.
“When you told me what happened with Miller, I contacted Ash to see what he knew. I was pretty sure he must’ve crossed paths with him as they’re both in construction. I was right. Ash told me that Miller has a reputation for being handsy with his female employees. Apparently, a woman came forward a few years ago and accused him of sexual assault, but she later withdrew her allegations.”
Lily stares at me in horror. “Oh, God. Do you think he got to her somehow? Like he tried to with me?”
“I do. And so did Ash. He put a private investigator on it who found two more women whowere the victims of Miller Cooper’s unwanted attention, both ex-employees of Miller Corp. One was from ten years ago, and no one believed her. When these women heard about what happened to you, they agreed to come forward. Which means the police have no choice but to reopen the case against him. Ash is keeping the file from the private detective in a safe location, but he’s going to send me a copy. Who knows? Maybe more women will come forward once they hear he’s been arrested. And once Miller’s board of directors gets wind of his misdemeanors, they’ll throw him to the wolves. No way they’ll want a CEO with sexual abuse charges hanging over him.”
“So it’s over?” Lily whispers, her bottom lip trembling.
“It’s over, Angel,” I reassure her with a tender smile.
“Thank God!” she sobs, and her face crumbles as tears pour down her cheeks.
I scoop her up, and she clings to me, wrapping her legs around my hips. I carry her to the armchair next to the bed and sink down with her in my lap, much like I did a few days ago in my office.
I let her cry it out—all the stress of the last few days and months, until her tears eventually slow and stop.
“You know, you knocked me clean off my game the second I met you,” I murmur, resting my chin on the top of her head as she nestles against me. “My brain fell straight into my dick, but it took a detour through my heart. I knew right then I was hiring you.”
Lily looks up at me in surprise. “What if I’d been terrible at the job?”
I shrug. “Like I keep telling you, I’m a superb judge of character. I knew you were what I was looking for, Angel, and I don’t just mean professionally. You had me yearning for things I never even knew I wanted. Something meaningful. Something permanent. It should’ve freaked me the fuck out. But it didn’t. Still doesn’t. You’re all I’ve been able to think about, which is new for me. I’m no angel, unlike you,” I say with a wry smile, brushing a lock of hair off her face. “I sowed my fair share of wild oats in my teens and early twenties, but casual sex for its own sake lost its appeal years ago. I’ve been celibate for longer than I care to remember. The only thing I’ve fucked in recent years is the palm of my hand. And now I know why. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Fresh tears spill down Lily’s cheeks, and I use my thumbs to brush them away. She licks herlips nervously. “You made me a promise earlier. Do you remember?”
I nod. “I said the next time I kissed you, you’d be splayed out on my bed.”
“Well, I want you to know I’m totally on board with that, but you need to know something first,” she says, her already pink cheeks becoming even more flushed. “I’m not very experienced when it comes to men.”
My heart thumps heavily against my ribcage. “When you say you’re not very experienced?—"
“I’ve never been with a man, you know, intimately. Sexually. I’ve never slept with a man in the biblical sense. Never bumped uglies, gone horizontal jogging, or—oh, God, I hope you know what I mean because I’m dying on my ass here.”
I gape at her. “You’re a virgin?”
She nods, biting her lip.
