Riding to Carter Publishing, my mind wanders to Yasmin, as it's been doing since we met last week. My wife's intense nagging seemed to be muffled by my thoughts of her. She seemed mature, intelligent, hardworking. She wasn't like my father's assistants, always touching me. Trying to grab my attention, fixing their outfits, ignoring my rejections towards them.

Desperate.

Yasmin seemed the very opposite, I doubt she had to do much to get male attention. Hell, a look would probably bring a man to his knees.

Why are we thinking of Yasmin, Logan?

I shake my head to rid the thoughts of her, business, Logan. Purely business.

My chauffeur, James, opens my door and tips his hat at me. I give him a quick thank you and head into the building. "Morning, Sophie." I nod at the receptionist, she giggles and waves at me.

"Morning, Mr. Carter!" A bit over enthusiastic, aren't we?

The elevator takes me up to the very top floor where my office is but I stop in place as I take a look at what's new. Instead of the long hall leading to my office at the end of the hallway, Mr. Carter has been moved upwards with & Miss Krämer below it.

What in the hell? My feet walk over the smooth granite floors and push the heavy brown door open. It's only been three days, how could they have changed this much that quickly?

My desk had been left in tact, but my bookshelf, extra suits, and stacks of papers have been moved and in their place, a z-line glass desk. My papers that used to be there were organized and resting neatly on my polished mahogany desk, my bookshelf was moved to my side of the room and my suits in the attached bathroom. My office was much like a second home, which my father knew. And probably couldn't wait to get his hands on the extra space and move her in here.

"Does this bother you?" I nearly jump a mile high at the sound of her voice behind me.

"Shit!" I curse and spin around to see her smiling slightly behind a large coffee mug.

"I didn't know you scared so easily. I'll keep that in mind." I had been standing sideways in the doorway and she slid past me, her body brushing last mine as she entered. I shivered slightly and blinked profusely. "I came in to see the same thing. Your father is really something, huh?"

She walks over to her desk and sits behind it. Her smooth leg crosses over the other and she sips her coffee while staring at me. "I don't bite, Mr. Carter." A moment after she says the words, her head tilts and she smiles. I had a scary feeling that she actually does bite.

I walk in and leave the door open. This just got very dangerous, she's dangerous. Especially in that black suit dress with the damn decorative buttons. Focus Logan. "Um... It's just going to take some getting used to, I apologize."

"So formal, you can relax. I'm not going to steal your thunder or anything. I hope you don't mind that I organized some of your things. The movers had them in a mess, pushed to the side. I put them in alphabetical order. And Jessica, I believe her name was, she came up and brought us our coffee." She points to the coffee on my desk.

I pull back my black leather desk chair, the wheels easily gliding over the shiny floors. I sit down and look over the labeled manila folders. I clear my throat and pick them up. "Thank you." I have to admit that I've been so busy trying to get to a stable place in working that organization slipped my mind.

"We have a meeting in about five minutes, it'll be about all the new titles and legal paperwork." I check my watch and read the time, five minutes until eight. "We can get going now if you want." I nod at her suggestion and stand up with my coffee, she walks out first and now I can really take in what she has on.

The material hugs her body closely as she moves, her black strappy heels clicking as she walks. Her dress ends just above her knee, I look away from her body and follow behind her to the elevators. She steps in and presses the fourteenth floor, where most of the meetings are held.

I stand about three feet from her, her sweet coconut scent making me jittery. Should've taken the damn stairs. I sneak a quick peek at her to find her eyes on my left hand.

"I didn't know you were married." I wish I could read her expression, it's like she always has the perfect poker face unless she allows you to see what she feels. She doesn't look disappointed nor happy as she studies the golden band. Impassive.

"May I?" She gestures towards my hand, a but too quickly I let her see my hand. She studies the ring with a small smile. "Did you pick it out or your wife?" Her dainty index finger brushes against mine, I try not to react.

"I- I picked it out." She looks up at me with a smile and places my hand back to my side gently. Her blue eyes searching my browns with slight curiosity.

"You have great taste then." The elevator dings and she steps out without missing a beat. Each of the elevators are supposed to hold up to two-thousand pounds. But I felt like I was suffocating with her next to me, was she making me feel this on purpose? Following her into the room, I ignore my stupid brain and deduce it all to simple attraction. That's all it is. Yasmin is a very att— Extremely attractive woman, and any man would feel the same in my shoes.

Right?

"Ah! Right on time, you two. Yasmin, dear, you look lovely. Good morning, son." My father greets us and pulls Yasmin's chair out for her. I sit across from her, next to my father who was at the head of the large, wooden conference table. Yasmin's parents walk in, Quinten sits next to Yasmin and Penelope sits next to me. She grins widely and greets me. I greet her back politely.

What is she so happy about?

"Now that we're all here, let's discuss titles. Quinten, Penelope and I have discussed whether we should change the name of this company. We all agreed to keep the names of each company. It will remain Carter Publishing Co. Books and Things will from now on, be connected with this publishing company. We all can agree that this was purely a money decision. The three of us will hold the CEO title. Quinten and Penelope will still be founders and chief executives of B.A.T. but my name has been added with theirs. Which I know is not very common. But it's possible, that's all that matters. Now the two of you will be Co-Presidents. Though, you'll be tasked with different job descriptions.

"Logan, you will be the Editor-in-Chief. You'll oversee all things visual, publication, ads, etc." He slides a thick packet towards me which I skim over. "Yasmin, you will be the Publisher, you oversee ad sales, marketing, etc. The reason I gave you these titles is because I know marketing and sales doesn't come as easy to you Logan, whereas Yasmin practically breathes numbers. And you will be the face of this company, on magazines. The ladies love your face, of course. I believe the two of you will easily thrive with your positions. In four days, we will have our big meeting with all the other execs to discuss the new changes." I see Yasmin look over her packet with a content look on her face.

"Do either of you have questions or thoughts you'd like to run by me?" Father looks around the room. No one says anything, he smiles. "Great, signatures on the very last page."

We both sign and I see everyone else's signatures above the bold line where I signed mine.

"This calls for a celebration! We will all be having a dinner tonight at Craft after work." Father claps his hands and stands. I notice Quinten speak softly in German to his daughter before clasping her shoulder. He then moves over to my father and they laugh softly at each other.

Yasmin walks in my direction but her mother stops her. This was the only time I'd seen Yasmin's face actually hold a grimace. She stares at her mother like her presence insults her. I try not to be nosy, but they are right next to me so...

"Congratulations, sweetheart. You earned it, honestly." She pushed a strand of her daughter's hair behind her hair and press hand to her cheek. Yasmin's eyes found mine and I pathetically dart them away from her.

Yasmin says nothing to her mother and takes her hand away from her face before sidestepping her like it never even happened. She places a smile back on her face that would've looked genuine had I not seen what just happened literally a five seconds ago. Her mother stands there for another moment before walking around the table to her husband with an identical forced smile.

Yasmin talks to my father quickly before walking up to me, "are you actually okay with the changes?" She stands only a foot away from me, leaning against the table.

"Um, yeah. I was a bit upset at first but I think the changes will make everything go smoothly. And I won't be so stressed out." Was I talking too much, is she bored? God, why is it hot in here?

"I feel the same. This will definitely be one for the news though, three CEO's for one company? Usually two is the max. I'm more interested in how the other executives will take it. We'll see Friday, I guess." I felt so content just listening to her talk which was such a contrast to listening to my wife talking about latest fashion tren—

Why am I making comparisons? Get it together, Logan.

"Yeah." I'm so fucking lame.

Yasmin just chuckles softly at my one word answer. "Better get back to work, yeah?" She nods her head towards the door.

I nod and gesture for her to go first.

"Oh! Son, Sarah will be at the dinner as well. I almost forgot to tell you. Have a great rest of the day, you two." I stiffen at my father's words.

Welp.

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