Claiming What's His by Melissa Phillips Read Free Book Online

you up too?  It’ll be fun.”
                  “Sure.”  Sam replied nonchalantly, continuing her suspect search.  Honestly, she hadn’t even really paying attention to the company news.  Sam had been busying scanning through the crowds trying to narrow down her pool of suspects by eliminating anyone who didn’t look guilty.  But through her thoughts, she did hear random words like “fundraiser”, “help”, “guests”, and “reputation”.  Just from those words alone (and even without telling her), she knew that this was an important event.
                  “And now… our final news.”
                  Maggie locked her fingers together in a prayer mode, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, and wished, ”Come on, new car, new car, new car…”  
                  Sam rolled her eyes and shifted them to George, thinking it would be a good idea and pay attention to his news and take a break on trying to figure out who the guilty person was.
    “We have a new Vice President joining our company.  Most of you may not have known him, but you may have heard of him since I tend to talk about him quite a bit.  It’s been a while since he’s been back, but he has agreed to move back and run as our VP, effective today.”  George picked up his cell phone, pressed a few buttons, and spoke, “Come on up.”
    So the announcement was about introducing her new boss to the company.  She supposed it was something that was announce-worthy.
                  Everyone waited in anticipation to see who the new Vice President would be, extended and craning their necks to look among others.  
                  Finally the elevator slowly came to a halt and pinged.  
                  George spoke, “Let me introduce you to...”
                  Excitement and curiosity filled the office air as everyone eagerly peered over others for a glimpse of the new employee. 
                  Apparently everyone except Sam.  
    She figured everyone can try and catch a peek at this person now and she could wait until later because this person was her boss after all.  So whether she liked it or not, they would eventually have to meet and work together.
                  Suddenly the elevator doors opened and gaspeds and murmurs echoed the room, as George finished, “Your new vice president.”
                  Claps and ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ filled the room as the new vice president made their way out of the elevator.
                  Sam saw the top of a head walk towards the crowd as a series of ‘hi’, ‘hello’, and ‘nice to meet you’ swarmed.  She heard a man’s voice, a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had heard that voice from.
                  As the crowd parted, a tall, sexy, muscular man walked out of the elevator, smiling at everyone, shaking hand after hand when others walked up to him to greet themselves.
    Sam saw who it was and her body froze, her eye widened, her breath caught in her throat as she whispered, “Alex.”

Chapter Four
     
     
    Alexander Conrad.
                  George’s oldest son.
                  Nick’s older brother.
    Maggie’s cousin and big brother.
    Sam’s high school crush.
    The last time Sam heard of or saw Alex was six years ago when Maggie told her that he had dropped out of college, packed up his clothes and left town.  At the time, Sam had no idea where he was or what he was doing.  He had left no note, gave no explanation, left no belongings behind.  He never said goodbye.
    How is it possible that when two people whose families are extremely close, they have not heard about the other in such a long period of time?  
    Sam had specifically requested Maggie that she didn’t mention anything about him again.  And like the best friend that she always was, she never