Her Billionaire Heartthrob - Kaylee Baldwin
Chapter 1
Liam’s hands shook as he stood, but he chalked it up to exhaustion. The board room was full, every seat taken, some faces as familiar to him as his own family, and some brand new. Since his dad had died nine months ago, Liam had tried to visit every Pets and More location and meet individually with the board members. He’d had no idea how much his dad had handled. Sixty-to-seventy hour workweeks had become Liam’s norm. Leaving him precious little time for anything else … including sleep.
“What we have here are next year’s projected numbers,” he stated, casting the presentation slide to the large television at the head of the table. A camera on a tripod across the room recorded and streamed this meeting for the board members who hadn’t been able to make it in person. “We do plan to see a minor decrease in sales as more of our competitor’s Pets! Pets! Pets! stores open up across the nation.”
The shaking in his hands turned into a buzzing in his ears. He grabbed his water bottle to take a long drink from it. Tonight, he had to get more sleep—after he finished writing up this report. And going through manager applications for the store in Albuquerque, which had been causing him problems all year. Normally that was something he delegated, but as this would be their fourth manager in a year, he wanted to take it on himself and see if they could save the store. As he looked around at the board, their faces blurred. He blinked and they came into focus once again.
“That said, Xander and I, as well as our CFO Felicia Dillon, believe that our business models are different enough that after an initial drop in sales, we’ll recover.” He looked at every board member, making eye contact with each of them, stopping momentarily on Felicia, who nodded in agreement. She’d been a lifesaver this last year. Competent and smart, she’d been working with the company since before Liam had graduated from college, and Liam had learned a lot working under her tutelage.
His gaze rested finally on Xander, his younger brother, who had only come to this meeting to officially present Liam as CEO. It was a long time coming and everyone was expecting it, but for some reason, Liam’s chest felt tight. He let out a dry, short cough and took another drink of water.
Xander’s eyebrows shifted inward in concern, but Liam shook his head quickly. He was fine. Maybe he needed to sit for a minute though. His fingertips suddenly turned cold, while his veins felt like they were pulsing with molten lava. He swallowed. “Xander.” He motioned for his brother to take over.
Xander stood and the attention of the board swiveled toward him. “As you know, our father died in February, and it was his wish that Liam take over the company, but the board bylaws do require an official vote. Liam has been working in the capacity of CEO since before our father died, not only keeping the company on-track, but also overseeing the opening of three stores and the ground-breaking of two. Statisticians predicted our sales numbers would drop after our father’s death, but instead, they held steady and even rose slightly despite the announcement of the new Pets!Pets!Pets! franchise.”
While Xander continued to highlight Liam’s accomplishments, Liam could hardly hear him through the ringing in his ears and the distinct feeling that something had clamped onto his chest, squeezing him so tightly he could hardly get in a breath.
His brother’s words became a drone in the background as he struggled to get air through the tiny stir-straw that had become his windpipe. He gripped the edge of the table, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes. Distantly, he saw hands rise, and he caught Felicia’s worried stare.
I’m okay, he wanted to say, but instead he inhaled in a long, loud gasp. He tried to breathe again, with the same result. He couldn’t get any air in. He couldn’t breathe. Panic squeezed his chest even tighter. Xander rushed around the room to his side, his every movement a blur of slow motion. Felicia also left her seat and came toward him, yelling something to someone else.
Everything receded while Liam focused breathing through a throat getting progressively smaller and smaller.
“Is he having an allergic reaction?” Xander asked as the edges of the room started to turn black. Liam went to sit, but his chair wasn’t where he expected and he fell to