The Pretend Boyfriend 2 (Inhumanly Handsome, Humanly Flawed Alpha Male Erotic Romance) by Artemis Hunt Page B

up as Brian approaches.
    “Brian,” he says appreciatively. Hubert is gay and he always had an eye for pretty men. Having a gay PA is just one of Jefferson’s attempts to promote corporate diversity.
    “Hubert.”
    Brian is always polite to Hubert, though the man’s penetrating gaze disarms him. Hubert always undresses him mentally – running his eyes up and down Brian’s tall frame. Not that Brian is a homophobe. Far from it – but such frank sexual interest from another man is always a little disconcerting.
    “Your uncle is expecting you.”
    “That’s what the phone call is to prime him for.”
    “Step right in.”
    Brian pushes the doors open. His uncle’s office is designed to wow, to intimidate. Brian has never been easily intimidated. But today is different. Today is . . . well, today going to be humbling.
    Jefferson Morton is a huge man. His size has not been diminished by his fight against cancer. Now fully cured, he is larger than before. His shock of black hair – dyed – belies his true age. As the eldest son and patriarch of the family, he is almost seventy. He has single-handedly launched the Morton family into prominence, bringing them all up from the lower middle class immigrants they once were to become one of the wealthiest families in Chicago. The fact that most of his siblings and the children of his siblings are disappointing does not prohibit him from helping them.
    To an extent.
    He does not seem to want to forget his considerable family, however. The office is decorated with photos. Brian’s gaze slides over a medium-sized photo on a shelf behind his uncle’s chair. His father and mother pose with him as a five-year-old child in a studio shot. They appear happy. But of course, that was before his father started drinking and gambling heavily.
    Jefferson’s eyes are a vivid blue. “Sit down, Brian.”
    Brian pulls a chair and sits.
    “And what do I owe this unexpected visit?” his uncle says.
    Brian slides a document over his uncle’s handsome oak table, as wide as any found in a boardroom.
    He pulls in a deep breath.
    “I’ve come to put in my resignation as President and CEO of Vanguard.”
    His uncle’s gaze does not waver. “I was expecting it. You saved me the trouble of asking you to step down.”
    Brian shrugs. “Our clients were threatening to leave. The publicity is proving too hot for them to handle. I had no choice. It was the right thing to do.”
    Especially for a company he has helped build from scratch. He loves it too much to allow the hemorrhage. Especially one caused by him. So he has to amputate himself from the body before he can cause it irreparable harm.
    Vanguard is still his. But he would no longer pilot it – steer its daily planning and cycle. He would no longer come to his own office every day and hold strategic brainstorming meetings. Advertising is his pulse and lifeblood, and now he has to step away from doing what he loves best.
    It hurts.
    It hurts so much that it is a physical ache in his chest. But he would never tell his uncle this, of course.
    “Yes, it is the right thing to do. I’m glad you came to the same conclusion, Brian. I was afraid that your youth and pride prohibited you from thinking straight. You were always brilliant. But you’ve lacked the discipline required in true leadership. When I gave you the reins of Vanguard, I’ve always been certain that you would muck it up somehow with your constant carousing.”
    “What I do outside of Vanguard is none of anyone’s business.”
    “Unless the two worlds merge.”
    Brian knows it’s true. He doesn’t say anything.
    Now there’s that little thing about money. No one is going to hire him right away. At least, not unless this thing is cleared up. If it ever clears up. Otherwise, he is looking at a prison sentence. His money is almost entirely tied up in company stocks and in trust. Money he can’t touch easily.
    Whatever he has earned from Vanguard, he has plowed back into the