Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (31 page)

Ethan arrives at his downtown office the
next morning more than an hour late and feeling extremely out of
sorts. Already agitated, he waits in traffic trying to turn into
the parking garage and looks up to see the silver haired woman
standing out front of the rustic little storefront. His eyes skim
across the front of the building, reading the sign in the window.
Eva Storm – Psychic. Well that explains a lot. Now he knows for
certain that she’s off her nut. She stares at him, making him feel
uneasy while he waits to make his turn. Great. As if he isn’t
stressed out enough. He parks, and then with a quick pace makes his
way to the elevator, continually looking over his shoulder
expecting to find her there.

Forgoing his usual morning flirt with
Hannah, he heads straight to his office without stopping to talk to
anyone. Dropping his bag heavily on the floor beside his desk he
sits, feeling like a first class asshole for leaving Olivia crying.
Ten minutes later John finds him still sitting in that exact spot,
staring out the window and looking crestfallen. Closing the door
behind him, he walks to the desk and puts a coffee down in front of
him. “Thought you might need that.”

“Thanks.” He makes a face at its potent
taste and grimaces as he swallows.

Almost forgetting, John reaches into his
pocket. “Oh, and these, apparently, are for you.” Ethan isn’t quite
sure what to make of it when John drops the small rolled up ball of
fabric on the desk in front of him.

He glances up at John as he unfolds Olivia’s
panties and holds them up by the corners. “Sweet Jesus.” He
grumbles as he crumples them up and quickly dashes them into his
bottom desk drawer. The last thing he needs before his conference
call is his dick to get hard, thinking about how good it felt to be
deep inside her with nothing between them.

John fights a smile. “Interesting
night?”

Ethan puts his hands over his face and leans
forward resting his elbows on the desk, his voice muffled through
his fingers. “You have no idea. And NO, I don’t want to talk about
it. Just dial my father’s office and let’s get that over with.”

John dials the number and hits the speaker
option on the phone so they can both listen. After entering the
four-digit code the automated attendant announces that they will
now be joined in the conference. Voices are already engaged in a
conversation when the connection is made. “Ethan is that you that’s
just joined? This is Ian Walsh.”

“Yes, I’m here.” Ethan looks over at John
and shrugs his shoulders. He’s not surprised that his father has
left it to someone else to do the communicating and it’s only
natural that person is his brother-in- law. “How’s McKenna?” Ethan
asks, trying to lighten the mood.

“She’s well. She misses you. And Kaylie is
going right out of her mind with you gone.”

Ethan feels homesick for his family and he
can’t wait to put this whole mess behind so that he can resume his
position from the head office in Ireland. He wants to go home. Ian
quickly steers the conversation back to business and takes full
control of the meeting. “We’ve been talking about the Artemis
Project.”

Ethan’s muscles tense, feeling he’s about to
be blindsided. “I’ve skimmed through the latest update. We’re way
behind schedule. What’s the delay?”

Ian clears his throat in a nervous gesture.
“The design and manufacturing engineers are having problems with
the criteria set out by the physician you have working on the
project.”

Ethan sits back in his chair. “Ok, so there
must be a solution. The technology is available, why can’t we apply
it to our prototype?”

A young, quiet voice speaks up. “Sir, this
is James, one of the engineers working on this project. The problem
is that in order to meet the specifications Dr. Cameron has set
out, we need to apply several different types of technology. We’re
having problems trying to integrate them all with the same
software. We keep testing but the failure rate is still extremely
high.”

A firm commanding voice impatiently
interrupts. “In short, we are hemorrhaging money on this project
and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.”

Ethan diligently sits up in his chair as if
the school principle has just entered the room. “Hello, Dad.”

“Ethan.” He acknowledges out of obligatory
politeness. His cool tone is one evident of a father and son at
odds with one another. “We’re recommending that we suspend any
further work on this project. We need these resources
elsewhere.”

“That’s not acceptable.” Ethan snaps. “There
is still money in the budget that we allocated. Keep working at it.
I’ll be there in a few weeks and I’ll review it then. If we’re
still getting nowhere at that time, then I’ll privately fund the
project.”

There is a short silence before Aiden
O’Connell speaks again. “Ethan, be reasonable. I know this is
important to you but we stand to make little profit on this project
to begin with.”

“Profit?” Ethan shakes his head and lets out
a frustrated chuckle. “It’s important to me because it will save
lives, Dad. The lives of premature babies arriving into this world
in distress. I don’t care about the profit.”

Half way across the world, several men sit
in an office at O’Connell Industries staring at each other
nervously, afraid to speak. None of them brave enough to step
between the two O’Connell men currently competing for Alpha Male
status.

Ethan stands firm. “We’ll continue working
on it until I get there. I want to speak with the engineers ASAP
and get more information. John will set up a meeting.” He looks up
at John who is nodding his head and already searching for an
appropriate time in Ethan’s schedule. “Is there anything else?”
Ethan drums his fingers on the desk while he waits for a reply.

Ian finally acknowledges. “No, sir. That was
all we wanted to discuss today.”

“Very well, good evening, gentlemen.” Ethan
hits the button on the phone and disconnects the call.

John sits on the other side of the desk
sending meeting requests while Ethan watches him without saying a
word. John senses his tension and glances up at him for a second.
“Have you eaten?” Ethan shakes his head no.

“I’ll have them send something up.” John
types furiously into his phone. “I’ve also sent an email to Dr.
Cameron asking for a time you can speak with him. Maybe he can help
shed light on things. Engineers have a tendency to over think
things, maybe they’re making it more complicated than it needs to
be.”

Ethan nods. “Good idea.”

Gathering up his stuff, John tries to find
the courage to bring up what’s on his mind. “Ethan, I know you
probably don’t want to hear this today.”

He stops what he’s doing and sits back in
his chair, giving John his full attention “But you’re going to say
it anyways?”

John takes a breath. “It doesn’t help things
between you and your father when you continually trump his
decisions regarding the business.”

Ethan’s brow furrows. John is right, he
doesn’t want to hear this today. “That’s the whole purpose of
having controlling interest in a company.”

“Yes, I understand that. But this wasn’t
just a business acquisition. You became a partner in your fathers
business with the intention of helping him out financially during
some difficult times.”

Ethan becomes impatient. “What’s your
point?”

“My point is that your dad sweats blood into
that business and has done so for many years. He built it from
nothing and kept it on its feet though extremely difficult times.
Yes, he needed your help financially to grow the business and pay
off some debts… but it’s still HIS business. Despite the fact that
you negotiated controlling interest, I think that once in awhile,
where his business is concerned, you should just let him WIN.”

Ethan’s face is stoic and his mouth is
pressed in a hard line. He glares at him, biting his tongue. John’s
phone distracts him for a minute as he reads an incoming message,
expressing his last thought on the matter as he does. “Your father
is an extremely competent business man, Ethan. Where do you think
you get it from?” He acknowledges the silence that is
uncharacteristic of Ethan O’Connell and glances up at him. “Just
think about it.”

They’re interrupted by a loud knock on the
door and John opens it to find Scott holding Ethan’s breakfast.
Scott can tell by looking at Ethan that it hasn’t been a good
morning so far and he regrets that he’s the one that has to give
him bad news. Placing the food down on the corner of the desk, he
stands there awkwardly. Scott glances over at John who
instinctively knows there is something brewing and sits back down
digging out his phone again. Ethan looks back and forth between the
two of them and then focuses on Scott. “What’s going on?”

“I was in Taylor’s office when he received
the call.” He grimaces. “It looks like we’ve lost the Anderson
account.”

Ethan’s face turns red in anger. Could this
day get any worse? “How the hell did that happen? We had that one
locked up.” Not realizing that he’s yelling, John discreetly makes
his way to the door and closes it.

“I have no idea what happened. Taylor
convinced them to meet with him today before they make any
decisions. He’s going to their office at 1pm and I think you should
be there.” Scott waits for the proverbial shit to hit the fan.

John is checking the schedule as they speak
and when Ethan looks over at him, he has an answer. “You have a
conference call at 2pm with Miss Quinn, everything else I can
clear.”

Ethan rubs his hand on his forehead trying
to relieve some of the tension. He looks at John. “You stay here
and find out if Miss Quinn has any new information. I can’t deal
with her today.”

John nods.

Looking over at Scott with clenched jaws he
gruffly demands. “You’ll go with us. Make sure you’re familiar with
the file and the proposal and try to find out what the hell
happened before we go. I don’t like surprises.”

Scott acknowledges and turns to leave,
ignoring the grumbling and cursing behind him as he closes the
door.

Back in Dufferin County, Olivia has spent
her Friday morning out and about meeting with clients with much
more favorable results than Ethan did today. She returns to the
office mid afternoon feeling refreshed and successful. As she opens
the front door and makes her way through the foyer Rachel is
suddenly at her side and steering her down the hall. “I’m glad
you’re here. I need an update on the O’Connell project.” She
glances quickly at the nosy receptionist.

Walking at a brisk pace, Olivia has a hard
time keeping up, the muscles in her legs still weary from last
night. She looks at Rachel in confusion. “The what?”

“Just keep walking.” She whispers.

When they reach Olivia’s office Rachel
closes the door behind them. “What the hell happened last night?”
Rachel blurts out.

Olivia is shocked. “Shhhh! Everyone will
hear you.”

Rachel lowers her voice. “What happened at
the bar? Did he force you to do something you didn’t want to
do?”

“What? NO!” Blushing, she bites at her lip
trying not to smile.

“Oh my God! At the bar?” She whispers in
disbelief.

Olivia nods her head, her face flushing with
heat.

“Where?”

“In the office.”

“In the office?” Her voice gets loud again
and Olivia puts her finger to her mouth to remind her to be
quiet.

“And again at my house, afterwards.” Her
blushing is barely noticeable past the grin on her face.

“Holy shit! You had sex TWICE?” She pauses
for a reality check. “Are you ok?”

Olivia’s grin grows a little wider. “Yes, it
was my idea. Well… not that we do it in the office but that we come
to an arrangement about sex.”

Rachel’s eyebrows rise. “An
arrangement?”

Olivia scowls. “Ethan said it the same way.
Yes, an arrangement. One where two adults with needs get together
and have sex. You do know what century this is, don’t you?”

“So then why were you so upset when you
left?” She pauses. “Oh!” She whispers. “Was he bad at it?” She
wrinkles her nose in disappointment.

Olivia laughs. “No, that was definitely not
a problem. The man is very good with his body and he certainly
knows how to look after mine.”

“Why then?” She sits in the chair opposite
to Olivia and waits.

Olivia sighs and purses her lips. She’s
given that a lot of thought since last night. “I’m not sure. He had
me so riled up and feeling sooooooo good and then all of a sudden I
got this overwhelming feeling of impending doom. I kind of freaked
out a little.” She makes herself perfectly clear. “But it wasn’t
because I didn’t want to be there.”

Rachel leans back and looks out the glass
office door making sure that nobody is lurking near by. “Is he a
good kisser? I have to know. He has the most delicious looking,
kissable lips I’ve ever seen.”

Olivia shrugs. “I don’t know. Kissing is
against the rules.”

Rachel’s mouth opens in shock. “What do you
mean against the rules?”

Olivia starts to feel very emotional. Her
breasts are tender and she’s had cramps on and off all morning. She
has just taken her last birth control pill for this cycle and knows
her period is about to make an appearance. “I decided that there
shouldn’t be any kissing.”

“Are you nuts?” Rachel blinks rapidly at the
absurdity of it.

Olivia starts to feel defensive. “Well, I
want to keep it strictly physical and I thought that if I let him
kiss me that I might start to develop feelings for him.”

“Olivia, honey.” Rachel feels for her
friend. “That’s ridiculous and you know it.”

“What if I develop feelings for him? Where
does that leave me when he’s gone?”