The front door squeaked and the three of them looked over, the room sinking into silence. Despite her deciding Taylor was a-okay, Merina half expected the younger woman to make a tearful entrance. Instead, it was Alex, in navy shorts and a tight gray T-shirt, huffing and puffing like he'd run a mile. Or ten.
Big Crane was in amazing shape. Merina thought about adding "for an older guy," but he was in amazing shape for any guy. Rounded shoulders that reminded her of Reese's and thick, muscular thighs that echoed Tag's build. Her eyes perused the tattoos on the side of his arm, a black pictorial faded because of his tan and likely the age of the ink. Woven in the pattern, she made out the words semper fi.
He left the door open and Rhona, his PA, stepped in behind him, dressed in pink pants and a matching pink hoodie. Her blond hair had a natural gray streak running from the front of her ponytail to the back. The look suited her.
"I'm going to grab a shower," she told Alex, touching his shoulder before slipping her hand away. "Morning, everyone," she said with a smile before taking the stairs.
Had no one noticed that Alex's PA had a thing for her employer? Reese and Tag were fascinated with the contents of the refrigerator, paying their father no mind. Alex paced into the room and pulled the earbuds from his ears. He disconnected them from his phone, tapping the screen as his breathing regulated.
Tag offered a green smoothie in a plastic bottle, and Alex accepted, cracking the lid and taking several deep swallows.
"Good run?" Reese asked his father, defecting from his plan to drink something other than coffee and grabbing a fresh mug.
"Yeah. Rhona pushes me."
That wasn't all Rhona wanted to do with him.
"I have news," Alex said, setting his smoothie on the counter.
Her mind caught up in the love story she was currently writing in her head, Merina waited for him to announce that he and Rhona were running off to the Bahamas to tie the knot.
"Bob called me while I was jogging and told me the board is not interested in any new candidates for CEO."
The room went silent. Reese, in sweats and a T-shirt, leaned one hand against the counter, the other white-knuckling his coffee mug.
"Congratulations, son. They're naming you next week."
Next week.
"Well done. To both of you," Alex added, dipping his chin in Merina's direction and pairing it with a wink.
She blinked as she tried to sort the feelings rushing through her. Dread paired with a visual of sand running through an hourglass. She'd thought she and Reese had time, but now that he was being named CEO, did that mean things between them were…over?
"Nice fucking work." Tag broke the silence first, clapping his brother hard on the back.
Reese didn't say anything for a few seconds, eyes staring unseeing at the floor in front of him. Then he smiled. Genuine and unfettered, joy burst from him and encompassed the room.
Merina wanted to wrap her arms around him and share in the moment, but she didn't quite fit in the huddle of Crane men. This was their celebration.
In a fatherly show of affection, Alex cupped Reese's face and bumped his forehead with his own. Tag's laughter followed. Reese absolutely beamed.
Before Merina started feeling shut out completely, Reese shot that beaming smile over to her and held her eyes for a very long time.
She returned it, feeling included and, despite the feeling of running out of time, proud.
Chapter 16
CRANE HOTELS NAMES REESE CRANE CEO.
The headline in the Tribune wasn't as splashy as what the gossip rags had been writing about him, but that large black print may well have been a golden road leading straight to heaven.
The board had taken nearly as long to announce as it took them to reach the damn decision. It'd been two weeks since his father told him the news and the article appeared in the paper just today.
He'd been desperate when he'd concocted the idea of marrying Merina. Fully prepared to prove to the board he could settle down and be viewed as responsible enough to run the company he'd already been running at his father's side for years. Six months, and he knew he could convince them.
But it didn't take that long.
Because he and Merina delivered Oscar-worthy performances? Or because of something much scarier: They were no longer performing.
The article was full of encouraging phrases like Alex Crane's eldest son was born for this and Naysayers will now be forced to take a backseat and watch, and Reese's personal favorite, a unanimous decision by the board of directors. Still, the win felt bittersweet. Even paired with an ass-kissing quote by Frank and Lilith praising Reese's hard work, which he couldn't have imagined her saying unless she had a loaded gun to her head.
The bittersweet part was that he'd arrived at CEO sooner than expected, and it was the right thing to do to sign over the hotel to Merina and quietly divorce. The board may have taken their sweet time announcing who was CEO, and Reese knew why. They didn't want a ripple of doubt on the surface of their decision. They were a careful and proud bunch, representing stockholders who were twitchy. A divorce, especially a quiet one, would not throw them into a search for Reese's replacement. Hell, at this point, Reese doubted anything short of a scandal involving him and a few farm animals would threaten his position.
But he didn't want a divorce. Not yet. He preferred to stick to the original plan—the six-month plan. His being appointed to CEO was accelerated, yes, but no reason to cut things short prematurely with Merina.
Because you aren't ready to let her go.
He frowned down at the article that should have him popping champagne.
He didn't like the feeling uncertain. Merina staying had never been permanent—not for her, not for him. He had everything he wanted…everything he needed.
His phone pinged, reminding him of a lunch with the president of Strategies, who wanted to upgrade every keycard entry in every Crane Hotel across the country. It was Reese's first big decision as head of this company, and despite the potentially bland content—keycards didn't exactly turn him on—he was jazzed.
This was it.
Everything he'd wanted for nearly a decade, here for the execution. He turned his focus to his upcoming meeting and mentally curbed thoughts of Merina and his marriage. This was his destiny. His legacy.