Precious was something that Violet had never thought about herself. She wasn't a person that anyone wanted. She was too small, too intelligent, too everything. Even with their society and the way it had evolved from a mixing of a few places, there had been no one who valued intelligence like she had.

Her body was too frail to do anything like her siblings could do, and her mother thought her too weak to do anything worthwhile, so she got none of her mother's attention growing up. It had been something that she hated, but in the end, it showed Violet a life outside of her parents.

Working for Riorson Incorporated had been a fuck you to her mother after she had left school with a degree that would have made her invaluable to her mother's business. Still, her mother had never once hinted at anything close to offering her a job in the family business, so when there had been head hunters at the college the day she graduated, she went with the one that paid her more than anything else, which had been for the rivals to her mother's business in Basgiath. There were a lot of shocked faces when she arrived at work that first day, but she didn't care.

Violet kept her head down, and she worked. She put in just enough hours to make her invaluable, but not enough that she didn't have a life outside of the business. Of course, that also meant she still spent more time at work than anyone else since he had already worked herself up into a manager in a year and a half. She didn't give more work than her people could handle, and if there was more than her people could handle, she fought to get another person in her department. Or she billed the hours for herself.

"What's wrong?" Rhi asked as she came in with the morning coffee and the breakfast tray she always got for Violet when she was coming in. She clocked in from the unit just inside the door as many of the assistants did before getting things from the cafe for their bosses.

"Another letter," Violet said. She tapped it on the desk where she had been debating opening it. She had three other letters that waxed poetic about the person who liked her. Every single Wednesday morning for a month now, Violet came into the sealed envelope on her desk with her name on it and nothing else. There was no stamp, so none of them went through the mail. There was also no way that the internal couriers dropped it off because it was never there when she left but was there the next morning, long before the couriers started for the morning. There was every single chance that it was someone who wasn't even here but knew someone who worked there.

Yet, the words on the pages spoke of someone who saw her around the place on a daily basis.

"I see. Can I call security now?" Rhiannon asked.

"No, they never touch anything else, and my computer is just as secure as it was. I never leave papers lying about. It's romantic."

Rhi huffed but set down everything for Violet on the corner of the desk before stalking out of the room. She dropped into her chair with another huff.

Violet smiled to herself as she lifted up the envelope to finally open it.

Dearest Violet,

Today, I sit while you are eating lunch outside, and I think about how you got to where you don't even try to eat with anyone else. You always go outside in the little park, and you read. Most of the time, rush through the last half of your food because the book is so good you lose track of time. I've also seen you in the evenings, sometimes grabbing something from the cafe before it closes for the night and sitting there and eating. I would be worried if I didn't know that you always took the weekend off.

I think that sometime soon, you and I need to eat a meal together; it doesn't have to be outside of work, either. I don't mind if our first lunch date is here at work. I hope that who I am doesn't upset you, but I was enthralled from the moment I saw you. Then, I started getting to know you better at our weekly meetings. You are the kind of woman I think can go far and be the person this company needs to help lead us into the future.

On a more personal note, I didn't find out who you were until much later, after I started watching you while you were outside reading. You were not in the meetings at the time, but then I started to look for you everywhere. I wanted to walk up and talk to you, but that's not something I can do without it seeming like I am trying to influence you.

I look forward to the day when I can give you a letter in person,

Yours Truly

X

Violet sighed, put the letter with the other three, and closed the drawer before locking it. It was where she kept everything personal. It was the kind of thing she didn't always trust anyone outside of Rhiannon, but she was hopeful that no one cared about her personally. Her mother's disdain for her had been well evident, and so there was hopefully no one who thought she was a spy of some kind. Violet wasn't even in on most of the meetings about the products, not the shaping of them. She was only there to help them get everything out there. She was brought in at the end of things and made sure that the products were being marketed to the people who could buy them or at least were the ones that needed them the most. It wasn't so much about demographics as it was the blending of use and function but people who also needed to have the next best thing, even if they had bought three others in the last three months.

Picking up the coffee, Violet took a sip before she opened up her emails. She had gone through the files she hadn't finished the night before but never ever opened or looked at an email before eight, which was her start time. She was always there early, mainly to get work done before people got there, and she liked the quiet of it all.

The first email was about a meeting that would take place at ten that morning that needed all managers of her grade and above there. She made a note to Rhiannon before that she had accepted the invite. There was another meeting that was supposed to be then, but she changed it to just after since most of the people for that meeting would be in that meeting; if they covered what was needed in the first meeting, the second could be canceled.

Violet looked at who had set the meeting, and she frowned. It was rare for Xaden to be the one to set any meeting. Hell, it was hard to even think of him as anything but the boss's son. Violet knew that he was in the product line. She had known who he was as soon as she had seen him, but something was interesting about him setting the meeting when normally he allowed all people to do what they needed. The bigger meetings rarely ever accomplished anything at all.

She made sure to move around her afternoon to allow for a call to someone else when she finally got the response from them about the times that worked best.

Rhiannon added some things to her calendar, but things from her email, VIolet always handled herself. There was a little bit of interesting news in the rest of the emails, and she was glad that most of it was things that people tried to make meetings about. Meetings were rarely ever needed for things like that. The ones that they had weekly for a few things were just easier to handle with as many departments as they had that worked together. They did get a lot done quicker when all were right there to work on timelines and everything instead of waiting for the revolving door of emails that could take days to reach a conclusion that could be made faster in an hour-long meeting.

"Do you need a different suit?" Rhi asked as she entered the room with a stack of open mail. It was all about the business, and so Rhiannon handled most of it, but these were the things that needed a response from her.

"No, I think I am just fine with this suit. I'll be happy to take care of it later if I do need something else once I see who is on the list of people who are going to be there. I can't see that until they accept the invitation."

Rhi nodded and slipped out of the room again. Violet wanted a few minutes to relax.

Picking up her pen, Violet snagged the notebook she used to make notes during meetings since he remembered things better when she wrote them down than when she typed them out on a computer. Others had laptops all around, but she was the only one who had notebooks. She slipped to the back of the book and slipped a few sheets of copy paper behind so that no one would find what she was writing there by transfer.

It was something her father had taught her about notes that she needed to have protected. It was how she had written to Dain all those years when she had thought they would be something, only for him to tell her it was impossible as it broke all the rules at work, even if she wasn't working there. He wasn't going to do anything that would make it seem like he was using her to get forward instead of being his own father working there and that he had grown up there just like she had.

Dain was a piece of work who loved Violet but wouldn't let himself be with her because he was afraid of breaking a rule. Violet had been pissed for a while about that, but in the end, she wanted someone who said fuck it about wanting to be with her.

Violet settled in and thought about what she wanted to say to X.

Dear X

I am not sure how to start this or if you will even find it. I hope you do, and this isn't read by someone in the housekeeping unit. I have never written to someone like this before, and if I seem clumsy, that is why

Violet frowned at her words and nearly started over but stopped herself. She didn't need to. She didn't need to be perfect for X. He liked her how she was, or at least how he saw her.

I am not sure what I want to be or who I want to be. I love my job, and I want to keep on going without it, but I've not had a personal life outside of work and my family. I haven't even thought about what I want when it comes to my personal life. I want to have one beyond reading books, but I don't know how to go about figuring out a life and things to do. What do you do?

Yours,

Violet

Violet read over the letter again, and she decided that it was a good one to leave on her desk, right where the other was left. She hoped that maybe he checked the office the night after the letter, hoping and praying that he saw it and not someone else.

Once she was done looking at all of her mail, Violet checked the meeting and saw that it was a bunch of the higher-ups who dressed down so she would be able to get away with the clothes she was already wearing. She walked over to the teapot and got the water going for the pot she would make. There were a few different kinds that she could try, but she stopped when she saw a new box of tea with the rest of them. She picked it up to find that it was a tea she had never heard of. She opened the box to find it was full of leaves, dried and ready to be used. She smelled it, and there were a few floral notes that she loved but a few other spices in there. There was even something fruity. She wasn't sure what it would taste like, but she set the pot to boil at the temperature the box said the tea needed to be brewed at. She walked over after getting out the leaves. The kettle would go off when the water was at her desired temperature. She sighed and thought about what she wanted to do to pass the time until the meeting. She had nothing really since the meeting changed all of her plans for the day. She had been planning on heading out into Aretia herself and looking at the marketing that other companies were doing as well as how their own looked. She would be able to work up a few new proposals from that.

This was only part of what she had been in school to learn, but it was the part she loved the most. She uses her brain to figure things out and know what makes a good product advertisement.

She tried not to think about the letter she wrote to her secret admirer.

---

There was a new letter sitting in the middle of her desk when Violet came in the next morning, along with a new box of tea sitting beside it. She looked over at where the other new box was and could see they were from the same place. She hadn't looked up where the place was as she had just gotten her tea from the grocery store she had shopped at. She loved what they had and had never sought out a few places to get tea.

Dear Violet,

I'm glad you have finally decided to write back to me. Don't worry; I didn't use anything of yours to write this. I bring my papers and envelopes with me when I check your office each Wednesday night. Maybe I'll have to start checking each night. I'm glad you liked the tea enough to keep it. I've seen you giving away the teas you don't like when you try something new from the store.

My life outside of work revolves around my friends and my dog. She's very high maintenance, and I indulge her too much. She knows it, too. She would come to work with me if I allowed her, and there are times I think I should bring her in on Friday when the others bring in their pets. Maybe that is something you can do? Take Rhi with you and visit the shelters to find a pet that makes you want to be home at least.

I know your start here was less than ideal, given your family, but I am glad you came here beyond the company reasons. There was a happiness that settled into the sector you are in after you replaced the asshole who used to be there. He really didn't know what he was doing. Meetings are better with you around as well. It's the kind of thing that makes me happy to be in them with you.

Can I say that I loved the meeting yesterday? You looked at several people like they were idiots for suggesting things that had been nixed a while back. You then detailed every single way that they were an idiot without actually calling them one. I loved it. I was entertained.

I need to sign off, but I'll check your office again tonight to see if you have written back, and every night after until I get another, or it becomes Wednesday again.

Yours Truly

X

Violet smiled as she tucked the letter in with the rest of them. She needed to buy a new journal or something that would allow her to write in it without having to worry too much about the sheets being used against her. When she went shopping that night, she might just end up doing that.

Rhi came in an hour later with the standard breakfast fare on a tray, and she sat down across from Violet instead of leaving again.

"Yes?" Violet asked.

"Well, I found this in my drawer where I keep the snacks I keep on hand for you." Rhi set down a box of sweets that were cinnamon. It was in a matching box to the one that the teas were in.

Violet lifted up the box of tea that had been on her desk and moved it around to where Rhi could see it. "From my secret admirer. He left me tea hiding in my tea over there the night before, but he just left it on the desk last night."

"What did you find out today?"

"He was in the meeting yesterday. Twenty-three guys were within a decade of me in there. I haven't been able to narrow it down at all based on what he's told me in the letters. He also suggested that I go out and get a pet to make me want to come home."

"Depending on what the pet is, you could bring it in on Fridays. A weird collection is brought in, including the guy who paid to have a tank set up for his snake here that was a match for the one he had at home for his snake. He loves that damned thing."

"I was thinking of hitting the shelter tonight. I would like a dog. I run on the weekends to help me with my body, and a dog that could run with me is the kind of pet I would see myself wanting. I plan on leaving just before five today. The shelter closer to my place is open until six."

"You've already looked it up?"

"No, I've thought of it before and looked it up then. My apartment is set up for pets, and I would just have to get all the proof of vaccinations and other things for the dog and pay a little bit of a deposit to cover pet damage to the carpets and the walls. Which I would plan on making sure doesn't happen." Violet relaxed in her seat and took a sip of the coffee. It was made perfectly. A good bit of food was on her tray, and she frowned. Most of it was good for hours, but the rest was the oatmeal she liked the cafe made.

"You have meetings that start from ten and run all the way until three. I've made sure that after three, you have nothing but dealing with the afters of the meetings, and tomorrow morning is cleared as well."

"Oh, that's right. The meetings for the new product line. Yes. Snacks are good. I will want something a little more for lunch."

"There is that soup you like today in the cafe, and they have already gotten the order for it, and your salad you like, but the snacks will keep you fed until that. Your one meeting at one is the one that no one minds anyone eating at, but the noon one is a big no-no for that kind of thing."

Violet knew what Rhi was talking about. Rhi was good at her job and liked to keep on top of things that Violet sometimes was too busy to notice. She would have realized it once she looked at her calendar for the day. She just hadn't gotten that far.

"I'll make sure not to eat during that one. I hate his ass," Violet said.

"Everyone hates him, but in the end, he's needed for now until his replacement is trained. Hopefully, he retires when the kid he's training takes that over." Rhi started to stand, but she dropped down again. "I wanted to say that if you want to know, we can hook up a camera when we leave tonight or next week."

"No, no. I like this. I really do. I've left him a note back and I think that maybe it's time that I start to talk to him more. I can't tell you how much this had been for me, in the good that is. I love the idea, and maybe this is the kind of connection that I need to make sure that I am really ready for this."

"After Dain," Rhiannon said.

Violet nodded. She had told Rhi about it after the last time Violet tried to date, and the guy who had picked reminded her too much of Dain. There were no hard feelings when she left the date, but she was not happy that her time had been wasted since she couldn't see herself with the guy. There was too much between them all. She just wanted to settle in and be happy. There was a lot of her childhood that fucked her up. She just hoped she was working on it correctly. College had been full of therapy as part of the whole student life thing.

There had been times when Violet was shocked that someone hadn't noticed her going in and out of the mental health building and reporting on it. She hadn't been followed nearly as much as her two older siblings, probably because, unlike them, she didn't do anything wild that was worth reporting on.

Violet finished off the breakfast portion of the food and set the tray on the pull-out board that was for her to put things on when she needed a bigger desk, but her days, where she snacked most of the day, ended up being where her food went. She made sure to get up a few times to stretch out her body and sit to where she wouldn't hurt her back, even if the ache started very early from not getting up as much as she normally did. When it was time for the first meeting, she took everything she needed over to the couch and plugged in the laptop so that she could hopefully stop the back pain from settling in.

Ten minutes before the meeting, her back was starting to relax when Rhi came into the room. She looked a little worried about something. Then her gaze darted back to the door that she had shut behind her, which was odd as she never did that.

"You have a request to allow Mister Riorson to share your office during the meetings today."

"What?"

"I guess that there is something wrong with his office, and he thought that it would be good to invade someone else's office since the need for security is high with the first meeting."

"And I'm the...I am. I am the only one who is here and will be in the meetings all day long. What did he bring with him?"

"His work and a few snacks, as well as his dog."

"Sgaeyl, right?" Violet asked. It was rare for anyone to bring in one of the pets early, but since it was Xaden who had started that for Fridays, he did randomly bring her in with him. "Yes. That's fine. I'll get my stuff set up over here to work as well. I can't take the chair anymore today. He can have my desk."

Violet stood up to get her snacks and to get another pot of tea started. She was going to make the one that she had been given that morning. She wanted to make sure that she had tried a good bit of it. There were a lot of interesting things about the tea. She had never heard of a tea shop in the area that sold bergamot tea; it was popular in a few provinces of Navarre but not in Tyrrendor. So what I had gotten for her was interesting.

"Thank you," Xaden said as he came into the room. He stopped when he realized that Violet was on the couch and seemed to be set up to stay there. He nodded and walked over to set down his stuff on the table beside VIolet's, dropping Sgaeyl's leash over the arm of the couch and unhooking it from her collar.

Xaden's aide followed with a pet bed, and he dropped it on the floor on the far side of the room where the sun would be coming in a lot over the next few hours. The man said nothing as he left again.

"You are welcome. What happened?"

"Paint thinner was dropped all over my office. There was a mishap the night before when they touched up a wall where there was an unfortunate accident with nail polish after Imogen tripped when walking across my office. Then the guy was working on it again this morning, and he dropped the entire paint thinner can on the floor. The carpet needed to be ripped up, and I hated sitting in meeting rooms alone as people stared. I needed to make sure that I was in a secure place. The offices that are getting the sun right now are in use, and the others are too far from my office if I need something."

The aide came back and settled in a pair of bowls for Sgaeyl. The dog was wandering around the room, and other than passing by the door, it never seemed like she was going to dart out the door. Once she was done inspecting the room, she went and lay in the sun in her bed.

"Sorry for just invading; my options are limited with Sgaeyl with me today."

"It's fine." Violet hadn't talked much to Xaden since she arrived at the company. He had been part of her interview but had asked only a few questions, and his face had been unreadable after that. Violet never knew where she stood with him.

"The tea smells fantastic. I had asked Liam to run about and get me some good tea, but do you mind if I just share yours? I can put on the next pot myself."

"That's fine. I need it to survive the meetings. Otherwise, I will call someone an idiot." Violet paused and tried not to freak out at the words she used.

"Some of them need to be told that more often, just in a way that is not workplace harassment. I loved the snotty email you sent to Varrish at the company we dropped three weeks ago. He was a piece of work."

"He's also done more than a few illegal things. I found that stuff when I was researching their marketing. I forward that all to the cops."

"You are the source? My father got wind of it all before it went down, an anonymous email that had the cops CC'd on it as well. I didn't...why?"

"Because people like that piss me off. Not everything I did to get that information was strictly legal; I did that at home on my own time, so don't worry about it tracing back to work. I do it for everyone who we take on."

Xaden sat down and looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. The way she spoke wasn't how she normally spoke to someone like Xaden, but she had already started to do it, so there was no reason to do anything else. There was nothing to do about it now, so she had just better hope that Xaden didn't take offense to something she said. Of course, there was also so much else that was going on with the acquiring of the newest company; they were going to buy them outright when the time was right and make sure that their people were folded in unless they joined Violet's mother's company.

"Ready for hell?" Xaden asked.

Violet nodded, and she picked up the earbud to put in so that she could hear that and not have to worry about having her speakers on. Xaden did the same, putting his in the ear that was opposite Violet so he could hear her. There was a smile on his face as he joined the meeting queue before Violet did. She waited for the time when she was to do it, with Xaden talking softly to the other heads of departments before the rest of the people joined.

"Where are you?" someone asked that Violet didn't know off the top of her head as soon as she joined the meeting.

"Violet's office. I'm sure the word has spread about the paint thinner. That was my office. I have Sgaeyl with me today, so I needed a place that she would be content in and that I would be safe for the later meetings. The offices that have sun right now for Sgaeyl to nap are already full of people who don't always work from here. I invaded, and she didn't seem to mind. We are in meetings together for most of the afternoon."

Violet thought about the one that she didn't have with him and wondered what he was going to do during it. It wasn't like he would need to leave it. It was just below what he needed to be there for. She didn't have to have him leave the office for the meeting."

"Are we ready?" Fen Riorson asked.

Violet swallowed. She hadn't seen him at the meeting.

"Isaac's sick, so I'm taking over for him."

Xaden nodded but seemed to be rolling with the change there. Liam came into the room with a cup in his hand, and he stopped before handing it over to Xaden from behind the couch. He looked shocked that the meeting was going on already.

"Liam, Xaden take out the earbud or disconnect."

Violet knew who Liam was then, and she wondered why he was in the job he was in.

"We have a few minutes as a couple of people are running late due to a power outage and the Internet not working. Liam, how are you doing today?"

"Fine, Sir. The bullet hole is healing well."

Oh, Violet thought. She knew exactly who this guy was—Xaden's friend, Liam Mairi, and the guy who worked as his bodyguard. Since working as Xaden's bodyguard wasn't needed as much inside the building, being his aide made sense. Violet knew that there had been a few assassination attempts on Xaden and his father recently, one of which had ended with the guard shooting someone in the knee after taking a bullet himself. It had been the news, and even with it being well known it was in the parking garage of the building, her mother had never checked on Violet. Mira and Brenna checked in via text but kept their distance. Neither of them wanted to piss off their mother and make their lives hell, even if it meant pushing Violet out of their lives a little.

Hopefully, after a few years, there will be a calm period, and they will feel like they can check in again.

"Good. Make sure that Xaden takes a break today in some form other than playing with Sgaeyl for a few minutes."

Liam just nodded before walking out from behind Xaden, knowing it was a dismissal. Xaden hooked up his headphones again.

More people were popping up on the screen, so Violet paid attention to the people as they arrived. A few were shocked to see Fen in the meeting, but even more were shocked at something with Xaden. I had to be sure that he wasn't in his office; Violet was sure of it since Fen had also been so shocked about it. Still, she hoped no one else realized she was in the same room as him.

The next person to come on was someone Violet worked with a lot: Garrick Tavis, Xaden's best friend, but the guy who was over the grouping of departments that Violet was part of. She had talked to him often, but he was always kind when she did have to talk with him. The meeting after was the one that Violet would be a part of, but Xaden wasn't.

Garrick's eyebrow rose, and his gaze was firmly locked on Xaden.

"Sgaeyl want to go on a visit?"

"No," Xaden said. He was sitting a little more stiffly in his seat but Garrick said nothing else. His gaze said that they would be talking about it.

Violet wondered what that was about. It was a little strange, but there were a lot of people who grew up together and worked here. Nepotism was big, but everyone was good at what they did when it came to what they did. Violet had more issues with people who didn't have family in the business than she did with people who did have family in the business.

The meetings were just as bad off as Violet thought they would be; days like this were ones that normally things could be easily done with an email chain, but getting to know the faces of some people that she didn't know was worth it.

When the two back-to-back meetings were done, Violet found that Garrick had not closed his video off and was looking at her.

"Having fun?" Garrick asked.

"No," Xaden answered. She looked to see that he was on the call portion without video.

"Your office is a mess. The carpet is purple,"

"No, the under carpet is purple. I picked out the new one a few months ago since I had planned on getting it renovated later this year. This just pushed it all up a little more to where it needed to be done a little early."

Garrick just laughed, and Violet felt like maybe she should just not be listening to this. She reached out to end her part of the call, but Garrick looked at her and seemed to realize she was still there.

"Don't leave yet, Violet. The meeting you have next has been moved to later, so you have time to go out and get lunch."

"Why?"

"Because the asshat who was running it threw a fit and is sitting down with the person who he threw the fit at and HR."

"We finally have a reason to fire him?"

"Oh, yes. He threw a few words around that most would have punched him over if it hadn't been during an online meeting and therefore recorded."

Violet knew there were a few problem children in the place and that things hadn't gone the way most wanted in trying to deal with them in a manner that wouldn't get the company sued. She was also glad that she could trust that the company wanted to protect who was working there in all ways.

"So I can eat a real meal. Sounds great. I'll head out and do that now."

"Take him with you. He hasn't left the place in a while. He can drop off Sgaeyl to me unless he wants to go to the cafe that lets him sit outside with her."

Violet wasn't sure she wanted to be seen out in public eating lunch with Xaden Riorson. That would get all over the news so fast and put her as a target. It would come back on her. Her mother wouldn't be able to really ignore her anymore.

"I could also just go and get my own food and don't have to drag another employee with me."

Violet tried not to react to it. She wasn't sure what Xaden meant by it, but she knew that he was also pretty much isolated here. He had his friends, and he rarely did anything outside of it on a one-on-one basis. It was the subject of much talk.

"Liam will be there, and you could even drag along Rhiannon. It would do good for you to make a few friends that are not in our circle." Garrick's face disappeared, and the meeting ended.

"He likes getting the last word. Look, we don't have to," Xaden said as he didn't look at her. He was looking at the screen of his computer.

"I honestly don't care either way. Rhiannon and I sometimes do get lunch together since we can transfer the number to someone else to make messages. I just wanted to have a good meal after I thought I was going to get a snacking meal with not being able to eat lunch until after the fucking meeting."

"Yes, well, he'll be gone. Dad will make sure of that. We had too many who tried to sue us over things, and we wanted to make sure that we had a good cause to fire him. He'll come back and try, but the video will be used. I just hate that he abused someone else, and it's what gave us what we needed."

"It was Imogen that he went off on," Rhi said from the doorway. She had her purse in hand, and Liam was behind her. "Let's go. Garrick made us all a reservation at the place I've been wanting to try for three months. He said he would come down and get Sgaeyl as soon as possible. He said that we could just leave the door open?"

"Sgaeyl will growl at anyone who comes in, and Garrick will lock it when he gets her." Xaden stood up, locked his laptop, and put it on the charger. He looked at Violet and raised an eyebrow.

"Let's go."

"The car is being brought around," Liam said.

Violet hadn't been driven like that in years. She didn't even own a car. Not here. She had sold it when she had gotten out of college and moved here. She had been happy to do it as she didn't mind driving, but she liked walking where she could, and if she did the shopping and got too much to walk home, she just went and took a taxi home.

Aretia wasn't small by any means, but she didn't need to go all over it, and if she did for something, she just took a taxi. If it was work-related, there were cars that were used for things. She didn't have to worry about being stranded, and even if she got out of work late at night, there were always cars to take staff home.

The lunch would prove to be interesting.

---

Violet looked at the pair of dogs that she knew should not be together. The larger black dog was curled around the smaller, tan dog. They were both asleep. She walked back to the empty pens and found the one that had the name of the black dog.

Tairn.

She walked back to where the pair of them were and found that the other dog was named Andarna. She had liked the looks of Andarana the other day, but she had been in the period where she was still being checked out for any issues, so she was unable to be adopted. She had passed through, and Violet had put a hold on her.

Violet hadn't wanted to learn the dog's name in case something happened with the testing, and she had to be put down in case she was too sick for adoption. She was still a puppy, but that was okay. She had been well trained from what Violet had seen.

"He does that all the time. They came in together. From how he acts, he's a grumpy old man, but he's only two. Every single night, we put them apart, and in the morning, they are together. I can't even tell you how many times we have found them together during the day. We have not pushed adopting them together, but we do point out this and how it could affect them if they are apart. Their former owner died, and the family didn't want them. So they came here. The puppy had never been tested for anything, so we were unsure of anything with her. We had medical records from the vet about the older dog."

"I'll take them."

"Even without knowing how the older rone will react?" the worker asked.

"Well, I guess we could try it." Violet looked to see that Tairn was looking at her through one open eye while Andarna was still asleep. The dogs looked pretty calm and happy. She would be able to bring them into work the next day to make sure that they would be good at that before she did too much buying of things to make them happy when she brought them into work.

"We can work on that then. I'll get started on the paperwork. Are you going to take them home today?"

"Yes, I would like to as soon as possible. I have already planned on stopping at a store that will let me take them inside with me to find things for them. You can sell me collars and leashes, correct?"

"These two came with them, beyond the ones that we put on them here for identification purposes. We have those in the back in bags, along with a few other things for them. They were surrendered with everything of theirs. So we kept it just in case. You are more than welcome to their things."

Violet nodded, and she crouched down in front of the pen as Andarna woke up. She went right to the fence, stuck her nose through a link, and sniffed at Violet's hand, which was close enough. Then Andarna's tail started to wag. There was something so loving about the way she looked at Violet. Violet carefully put her fingers through the link and scratched at what she could get, and Andarna loved it.

"You want to go home with me, don't you?" Violet looked back at Tairn, who was sitting with his gaze locked on where Violet's hand was touching Andarna like he was ready to attack and get her if she hurt Andarna. "Come here, Tairn."

Tairn was slow as he came closer to the fence. He sniffed at Violet's fingers, and then his tail started to wag a little, and his nose trailed up the fence to sniff at all of VIolet he could scent. There was something about the way that he was acting that made Violet's heart melt. She had only wanted one dog but wanted Andarna, which meant Tairn, too, and she could never separate them. There was too much with them even to try that.

"Okay, we are all set up. You just need to fill out a few things. How are you getting them home?"

"I walked here, so I was going to walk us home. Is there much stuff?"

"No, it's about two full bags. We have something in the shop that you might like. Come with me."

Violet followed the worker who had no name badge on. So, she had no idea of the name. The shop was small, and it was all second-hand items, probably surrendered with pets, and either the new owners didn't want them, or the pets hadn't been adopted before they died. The shelter didn't kill them, but they did keep them there in good health until they died of old age. There was a weird little saddlebag thing.

"We had a working dog here for a while who didn't take to anyone. He helped an older lady with carrying things as she was too frail to carry anything. So, the saddle had been custom-made for her by a friend. Everything they have will fit into the bags, and it will fit Tairn well. He's a rather large dog, but that will still fit him."

"I know he's rather large. There is a guy at work who has a similar breed, and she's aloof when it comes to things like that. We can see if he'll wear it. If not, I'll come back tomorrow for what I can't take home today."

The worker nodded and took down the bag from the hook it was on. It would make it nice for her to go out and do some shopping. There were a lot of places that had spots where dogs could be left while people shopped. It cost money, but it was nice. She had seen more and more of them all over the city as she had wandered around it over the last week while she tried to wait for news on adopting Andarna.

The paperwork took little time, and by the time Violet was ready to go, Tairn had been fitted with the saddlebags, and he seemed to wear them with pride. Violet smiled, and she took the leash from the worker. Andarna was vibrating with excitement, while Tairn just seemed to want to get out of there. Violet did as well. She wished she could take all of the animals, but there was no way that all of them would fit in her place, and that would make taking care of them a full-time job.

Violet had paid more than the adoption fee for the dogs because she knew that this place always needed money. She planned to donate to them more and make sure the animals were well taken care of.

"Ready to go home?" Violet asked as she held the door open for the dogs to go first. The bags held more than she thought she would have, so she would have to go home and get that stuff cleaned out, and then she could use Tairn's bags to get more things. She hoped he didn't mind helping her with that kind of thing, and she made sure never to use it too much. She wanted a pet, not a working dog, but there were things that he could help with.

Shopping took little time as they didn't need much, mostly food, and that was something that neither she nor Tairn could carry. The store did delivery and would have it at her place not long after she got back there. It worked out perfectly. The toys the dogs had picked out were with Tairn, though, leaving Violet's hands free to hold the leashes and drink the tea she had picked up from the shop next door. She also needed to figure out dinner and would probably just order something in.

The elevator was full of people, and more were waiting to get on the next run, so Violet went to the stairs. She didn't like going up that much, but she didn't want to stand there to give people a chance to harass her dogs. So, she made the trek up the stairs, letting the dogs go. They moved up to the landing and waited for her to get there before going up the next set of stairs. It was kind of nice to know that they were well-trained already. She had bought a few books on training dogs, but it seemed that while she would have to keep reinforcing what they already knew and did, she wouldn't have to worry too much about everything else. She might have to teach them a few things, but at least it would be easy to build on what was already there and not have to start from scratch.

Violet let the dogs have the run of the apartment while she got their food bowls from the first round of things set up. Each had their names on it, and there was even a water bowl with their names. She got that filled with water first, and only Andarna came over to get a drink before going back to sniffing everything. Neither dog made for the couch, which was good. There were dog beds that were going to be arriving, and she hoped that they were okay with that. She didn't mind the dogs being on the couch when she was there with them; cuddling sounded good, but she didn't want them to just always be on the couches. She might have to live with it as she knew that she wouldn't be able to stop them when she wasn't home.

A knock came at the door just as VIolet was getting ready to order her dinner. She went to answer it and checked to make sure it was the delivery guy from the store. It was, and she was happy to let him inside. She tipped him well and was shocked he could get it all up in one go. He left, and Violet used the scoop she bought to get the door out into the containers that would make it easier for her to feed them. She wouldn't be able to dump the bags over ever but she could scoop out until the bags were light enough. It would be easier when there was just a single kind of food for them instead of the puppy food for Andarna and the adult food for Tairn. She wouldn't make it harder for either of them to get what they needed by forcing one to eat the other's food. That was just a way to get them sick and not help them at all. She wanted to make sure they were healthy.

The ringing of her phone had Violet looking around for it. She found it and saw it was Rhi. She swiped to answer and then tapped to make it where she could talk and still work.

"Hey," Violet said.

"So they are adorable. I saw the notification of two of their dogs being adopted, and I assumed that these two are yours?"

"Yes. Tairn and Andarna."

"Ah, that's how you say those names. Good. So are you bringing them tomorrow?"

"Yes. They are well-behaved, and I think that they will like it there. I got two beds to be delivered to work tomorrow about the time that you get in. They will be with the security desk."

"Gotcha. I'll make sure they get up there if security doesn't take them up themselves. You know some of those guys will get any reason to go on a walk around that is allowed within the job and doesn't compromise security."

Violet laughed. She looked at where Tairn was dragging his bed over to a corner. Andaman was following with her own, putting it close but not right next to his in the middle of the wall between a bookshelf and a small end table that held a vase basket of bookmarks.

She was happy they were settling down into her place.

"What are you laughing at?"

"They are finding places for their beds. They are adorable. They were dragging them around."

"Tairn's a big guy. He's going to be able to lick Garrick on the face if he stands on his hind legs."

"And that's a great thing. He's got saddlebags to help carry things. I'm not going to do it often, but on the days I go shopping for a lot of random things, I don't have to go home and drop them off before going back. He didn't mind carrying their stuff from the shelter in them. They were surrendered because their owner died, and the family did not want them. So they were loved."

"I can't wait to meet them tomorrow. I'll make sure to put in some time to do things there. What about food?"

"That will be with the beds. Smaller bags since they will only be there once a week. I'll bring the containers in with me tomorrow to put the food in."

"Like Xaden has for Sgaeyl's food. I've seen those before when running memos around that are classified. I just wanted to check in to make sure that things were okay with everything and congratulate you on the dogs. Also, I got an email when I was leaving a few minutes after you, and there is a meeting right at nine tomorrow. I know you don't check anything until then so I wanted to make sure you were aware. It's going to be just a small meeting, but I didn't get any names of who was going to be there. Just a head count of ten all over the computer."

"Okay, thanks. Have a good evening."

"You too." Rhiannon hung up first.

Violet looked at her phone. She didn't have her work email on the phone; she had nothing work-related there. She wasn't going to be her mother and live around her job. When she was done for the day, she was done. Now, there could be times when she was called in if something big happened, but that wasn't her keeping up on emails all night long.

The Rioroson family supported disconnecting from work as soon as the day was done. There was no being constantly on call for anyone but a select few in the IT or other departments that might be needed to answer small things. Each time was logged, and they were paid well for what they did when off the clock. Violet wasn't needed for that. No, she just needed to be on hand if shit hit the fan, but that would start with a call before anything else happened.

"Hey," Violet said when Tairn came up to her and rubbed against her side. She reached down and petted him. She worked on taking care of the food again as Andaran finally came over to start to eat. Tairn stayed at her side for a moment longer before he went over to eat as well. They had been fed at the shelter, but she had seen they hadn't finished off their food before being pulled out.

There was no way to make them settle down, but she hoped that once they got used to the place, they would. So she headed to the living room to watch a little TV as she ordered her food, and then when it got there, she would eat it while watching. Then, it would be reading to settle in for the evening and sleep.

---

There was another letter waiting for her when she came into the office, every night her secret admirer came in and wrote her a new one. It was interesting to think that he stayed even later than her but also that he cared enough to make sure that she got her letter. And a new tea. Every day, a new tea. She had liked each one so far. There was something really nice about the tea as well, not just that it was all things she liked but that it was always enough for her to try a few times. It was expensive as well.

The letter was more about the man who sent them to her, as Violet had revealed a lot about her childhood and trying to live up to what Brennan and Mira did until the point where she learned she never would, so she just gave up and started to be herself, which had made her mother hate her more even if Violet was the perfect double of her father.

Violet had never felt this way about anyone. Yet, there was something that was drawing her to Xaden as well, which was something she was afraid of because the guy had been around a lot more over the last week while his office had been worked on since it was found that there were a few other issues in the room as well, he was the heir of the company. That was a way to really make it like she was sleeping her way to the top.

Xaden had never been in the news for any relationship since the brief affair between him and a woman from another province had been outed. It had been after it ended, and Violet had always felt like it was the woman who had told the news all about it to try and shame him into coming back. What he ended up doing was going to the news and having an interview about how she only wanted him for the money he could give her and the life that made her not have to work again. She didn't want him because she loved him no matter what she said.

It was a tangle and one that Violet had never thought she would be in. It would be easier to just stick with the guy who refused to tell her who he was or even give hints.

Violet opened the smaller letter that was inside; it was folded up like the notes she used to pass Dain when they had a few classes together in high school. There were just a few words on there, and she tried to figure out what she wanted to do.

Lunch today? If so, go down and sit at the reserved table I had set up for us.

The idea of sitting down there and waiting made her stomach turn. She wasn't sure what she would do if the person never showed up. Or someone else sat down thinking that they could just sit with her. She had a few people she would have run screaming from if it was them, and this was a good way of making her be nice to them. She wouldn't be; she knew no one here had ever been fired for not talking to someone. If there was an interpersonal issue, it was handled to make sure that both parties were able to do their job because not everyone got along.

Violet knew that the company seemed too good to be true to most, but she had found that it was just as good as it was touted to be. As long as everyone abided by the rules. People also had to report things, but there were ways to do it without having to out themselves if they feared reprisal. Violet hadn't had to do anything like that, but she had talked one of her workers into doing it.

There needed to be something more to this before she would think about it. She wanted it, but she was so scared about it.

Tairn came over to her and nudged her knee before laying his head on it. Violet reached down and rubbed her fingers over his head. Andarna was still smelling things and was intrigued about the corner where Sgaeyl's bed ended up when Xaden had meetings. She still wasn't sure why her office had become the place for Xaden to do when he needed to have private time during meetings or during meetings at all. Hell, he had been there more over the last few days than he normally was. It was strange, and she wanted to have some time alone, but she also liked it when he was in her office. It was a strange way to want to be.

"Oh, they are adorable," Rhiannon said as she came into the room.

"Thanks."

Violet laughed as Andarna trotted over to get to know Rhi, rubbing into her before sitting down and letting Rhi fawn all over her. Andarna was very much into getting all of the attention if someone else was in there. Violet had figured that out the night before when she had taken them on a walk when she got home. In the few places they stopped, Andarna was all about getting all of the attention she could get.

"The guards will bring the stuff up when it gets here. There was an accident, and all traffic has been rerouted in a weird way since it took out a few poles, and there are power lines down, and that's the way the store is."

"Thanks," Violet said. She had wanted to buy a few other things, so she had done that the night before at the pet store, and they were going to drop off the stuff that morning. She liked and hated how easy it was to buy things. No one had questions about the stuff she did have in her office, which was more than most had for their pets outside of the ones who had habitats.

"What's the look for?"

"He wants to meet."

"And you want it to be Xaden but also not Xaden at the same time. You don't want to pick between the guy you've been crushing on for about two weeks, but you also don't want to have to deal with what would come with it being him."

Violet nodded as she didn't need to add anything to that. Rhiannon put the thoughts that Violet had out there.

"Well, I want it to be Xaden. No one could prove a damn thing that you've gotten anything in this job because Xaden wants you. No one has done better at moving this company up into the new age than you with all of the marketing that is done that you hand out to the teams. You were put into place based on your degree and have proven repeatedly that you are good at it. You've been praised left and right by Fen. There is plenty to prove that part of things. There is nothing that needs to be done except for people to shut the hell up."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Liam said.

Violet gasped because she hadn't seen him come to the doorway. He had a bag of something in his hand. He walked inside, and the dogs moved to follow him over to where he dropped the bag on Vilet's desk.

"Treats for the dogs. It's the ones that Sgaeyl likes. Xaden asked me to get them when I came in since he was already here at work."

"And where were you?" Violet asked, not liking the idea of Xaden coming to work alone.

"Out doing some things for him. I dropped him off here and then left him again since this is the one place he's safe."

Violet hummed but said nothing else. She looked at the dogs again. They were both sitting in front of him like they knew what was in the bag for them.

"he's kind of scary, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he's a sweetheart. You can give them a treat each."

Liam nodded as he reached into the bag and he pulled out another bag. He ripped it open, tossed the tab he pulled off into the trash, and got out two treats. "These are the meat ones. There are peanut butter ones and then a fruity one. Sgayel likes the meat ones the best, but she likes the other two as well."

Tairn was the first to take a treat from Liam, and Andarna waited until he had started to eat it before she reached out and snagged the one for her from him.

"He protects her well," Liam said.

"He does. I have some papers that need to be given out," Rhi said as she walked to the door.

Liam took that as the push to get him to leave that it was and followed her out the door with a smile at Violet before he shut the door. Tairn came over to her and climbed up to put his head on Violet's shoulder. She rubbed him up and down his back as she thought about what she would do when it came time for lunch.

---

Violet found the table, and she watched it, hoping that maybe she could wait for him to get there to find out who he was before deciding that she wanted to go over there and let him know that she showed up. The second-floor area wasn't a good place to hide unless one knew where to hide. The mezzanine area was easy to see from the first floor, but most people never really looked up. The table was set like normal, but there were always a few that were reserved for people who were going to have meetings during their lunch time and needed to make sure that they got a table. Only four could be reserved, and it looked like there was only one today.

There had been a few seconds where Violet had felt like going over and asking who the reserved table was for, but in her luck, it would just be in her name. It seemed like something that her secret admirer would do. She wanted to pull her hair out, but she settled for pulling the braid to the front and playing with the end as she waited. It was nearly time for her to be there, so she hoped someone else could come around and hover like she was doing in a place she could see.

When it was a minute before the time, Violet gave up and headed for the stairs. Rhi was watching the dogs in her office while eating her own lunch. She probably was glued to her phone, waiting for Violet to text something. Violet sat down at the table and put her back to the doorway where most would be coming in from, hoping that her person would come from inside the building and not outside. She knew that whoever it was, they worked there given the letters, but that didn't mean that they were always in the office; no, they could be at any of the other sites in the city where things were done. More secure labs that were easier to keep small and away from everything else, just in case something went wrong.

"May I sit?" Xaden asked as he came up behind her.

Violet inhaled and forced herself to exhale as she nodded. This still didn't mean that he was the one. He could have just been walking around and saw her. He had no food in his hand, so he hadn't bought anything yet.

"Why do you look like you have seen a ghost?"

"I'm just...tired," Violet said. Even to her ears, it sounded like a really horrible excuse.

"Really? You weren't looking tired while in that meeting. You looked like you had been getting more sleep this last week."

"You..." Violet trailed off because she had no idea how to make that sound like anything close to what it was supposed to be like. She needed to get her words together in her head before she really said something that would have embarrassed her. "Why do you notice something like that?"

"Because you are a light in the meetings, and that means that I focus on you more than anyone else."

"Would you like your order for the table now?" the staff member who came up to them asked.

Xaden nodded.

Violet knew then that it was Xaden. Xaden was the one who had started to leave the letters for her. He was the one who left her tea, which she should have realized since he was one of the few who drank tea a lot in the meetings. There was always a tea bag hanging out of his mug or a pot beside him if it was a long meeting.

Visiting her office more was to let her get to know him outside of the letters, to see him and equate it with someone she knew so that at this moment, she wouldn't just run away.

"When?"

"I first noticed you a while back and found your smile infectious. I mean, I had seen you in meetings and such, but I had dismissed you at first. Then there was the time that you smiled at my father in the one meeting in the bigger conference room, and I realized that I hadn't seen you smile before, not like that. You were happier than I had seen you before. Four meetings later, you put that one guy in place after he kept on trying to talk over you. I was about to say something to him, but you just waited for him to finish and then told him that if he couldn't stop interrupting people, maybe he needed to learn better manners. Of course, he had only been talking over you, so everyone knew it was an issue with you. He got pissed off, but he was told to sit down, shut up, and raise his hand if he wanted to talk. Then no one called on him to talk until near the end to make sure his thoughts were heard, but all he did was bitch about you."

"He was fired that night."

"He was because he came into the HR offices and told them that you were discriminating against him for being someone who had left your mother's company. Of course, the meeting was recorded, so the shitty things he said about you and a few others were right there and used to prove that he was an idiot. They also claim he was making, along with the evidence that I gladly handed over, went to make sure that he was fired with cause. He tried to sue, but that backfired as well, and he had to pay his own court costs."

"Why me?"

"Because you are nothing like your mother, and I wasn't expecting you to be, but you are just someone who cares. She only cares about her people and barely about anything but the business. I've worked with her for a few years, and she was off-putting when I last had a meeting with her. She didn't make me want to do anything but make sure to never work with her gain. Of course, my father sent me because he refuses to talk to her unless he has to. She isn't someone I can see raising kids who are happy with what she gives them unless they are doing what she wants. Which is exactly what you didn't do."

"No, I couldn't live the life she wanted me to live. I don't regret it cause your father snatched me up with ease. Part of that was to piss my mother off." Violet relaxed back into the chair as their drinks and a small plate of snacks were brought over. It wasn't the normal fare that was on offer, so I told her that Xaden had asked for special foods, which they did for catering and other things like that in the blinding.

"You are hesitant," Xaden said.

"I'm afraid of what people will think about me."

"Well, the entire building is well aware of that. I have been pining for you for a while. Garrick nearly decided to lock me in your office one night and leave me tied to your chair with a note telling you to kiss me and put me out of my misery. If he thought Liam would leave me there, I think he would have done it."

Violet laughed as she thought about walking into the office and seeing Xaden like that with a note written by Garrick.

"But as to what they would think, I don't have control of your track here at the office. You have a lot of people between us who will keep things balanced, and really, I'm being groomed to take over, but there is nothing that says that even when I do, I would do anything like that. Everyone here knows me. We have many office romances between people, and as long as it's not like you and Garrick or the woman who is directly over you, we don't have too many issues with that kind of thing. Once it was something that was more than a date or two, we would have to defer to HR, which is a simple form, and it just keeps things settled in case there is something that comes up later."

Violet didn't answer at first. She picked up the tea and poured herself a cup of it. She found it was the same tea that Xaden had left the first time. It made sense that he would have left something he loved the first time. The man had also gone through half a pot of it in one meeting one day. There was not a lot that she was going to have to do to make him comfortable in the office. The idea of working together like that made Violet look forward to it.

"Where is Sgaeyl?"

"Up with Rhi. I went up there to talk to you, but you were gone, and Sgaeyl was with me. I have kept a small secret from you."

"What?"

"The dogs you adopted used to be in my building. The owner was someone who would watch Sgaeyl when I was going to be gone for a few days for work. They get along well, and it's why I hadn't brought her into your office. I didn't want to have to admit that. Sgaeyl is sweet on Tairn, I think. She was very happy to see him again. I tried to find them, but the family hated me, so they refused to tell me about them, and it wasn't until after they had been adopted that I found them on a shelter site. To see them with you the next day was a relief."

"So she's up there with her friends. I see. I guess that means that she's going to invade more when she's at work with you."

"Probably. Of course, she and I could just both invade."

"Not sure that would make it better or worse, really. The ability to kiss you when I want would be a distraction of the highest order.

"You want to kiss me?"

"I have for a long time based just on how hot you are. You know how hot you are, so don't even with that. The rest of it has been slow, but between the letters, you invading my office while yours is being worked on has made the rest something I want."

"Good. Good. I want that as well. So, can we just agree that we are dating?"

"Yes." Violet nodded. She picked up a little tart of some kind from the plate and took a bite of it. It was something eggy and spicy. She liked it even though she had no idea what it was.

Xaden set about making his tea since he was finally let off the hook. He filled his plate with one of each of the things on the latter and then smiled at Violet. The smile was one of the ones that went up to his eyes, which was rare for him. He was one who never truly smiled while at work unless it was at his friends. Meetings, he smiled, but it was a plastered-on one that was actually a little creepy given that it should have been something good, but it wasn't. There were a lot of things that she looked forward to finding out about him as time went on, and they did what they did.

"Do I get a first kiss after this date?" Xaden asked.

"No, you will get one tonight after the second date."

"I've already been guaranteed a second date? This one isn't even over. What if I mess it up?"

"You would have to be a felony-level asshole to get to where I would hate you enough for that."

"I have meetings all day, but mostly, I'll just be listening to idiots. I want to spend the day in your office. Could that be a second date?"

"Xaden, you are not getting a kiss out of me until after tonight's date, no matter how much time we spend together today."

"Okay, I can live with that. I'll have Liam pick up more tea when he goes out for the bakery items for the meeting. I do have to be in person for this afternoon. He will gladly get more tea because it saves me from killing people."

Violet bit her lip and smiled at him as Xaden started to focus on eating. The appetizer portion wasn't nearly as big as she thought it would be, and she wondered what the main part of the meal would be. It would help her figure out how much he had been paying attention to her. She had a feeling that this would be something with steak in it. He seemed to really like protein, and the steak was the biggest way for him to get it. He also liked seafood. Thinking about his food, Violet figured she had been paying more attention to him than she thought. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it meant she would need to make it look less like she was stalking him.

At least, she thought that until the meal came out and he was indeed a steak, but the entree in front of her was one that she had grown up eating and having the cooks make her when she was upset, and her mother did something that upset her.

"They couldn't exactly make it small enough for a single meal given the extra stuff they had to buy and how much of it, so there are leftovers already in the fridge in your office to take home or heat up for lunches for the next few days."

"How?"

"You were seen eating it once in college, and there was a huge thing about it. It made the news here but the gossip columns. I have no idea why I remembered it even then, but it was called a comfort meal. It seemed that the cook who made it was fired after you went to college, and she blabbed that you loved to eat it when you were upset and that it was usually your mother who made you feel like that. It spawned a whole big thing on abuse and that it's not always black eyes and broken bones, especially when it comes to parents and children. I think maybe it stuck because of that. I had always resented you guys because you had siblings. I had Liam, who was like a brother, and then Bodhi, who was around as much as Bodhi would be. Then there was Garrick once I met him, but I would always be alone since I had no siblings. Then I realized that a lot was going on inside of that family that made me not be as jealous of your siblings."

Xaden's words struck a chord in Violet. She had always felt like she would never have survived childhood if she had been an only child.

"Most youngest children are spoiled rotten. I was shocked the first time I realized that how my mother treated me was not how parents should treat their children. The frailty of my body and the way that my hair always loses its color at the end, no matter how short I cut it. It was something that set me apart and reminded her how she got sick when she was pregnant with me. I would never be the child she wanted me to be, and she resents me."

"You've done more here than your siblings have done in her company."

"Because she's still teaching them. She's making sure that they are copies of her, and that's all she cares about. I would never be able to run marathons like she does. I would never be able to climb things for charity events. I would never be the kind of person who she could say is exactly like her. That's what she wants in her children." Violet took another bite of her food and sighed. "This turned into a much deeper conversation than I expected for a first date, but given who we are and what we know of each other, I'm not too shocked."

"You know about my mother. The way she left and divorced my father when I turned ten." Xaden looked haunted by that.

Violet knew that one, as it had been a point where her mother had been happy to try and sow even more discord.

"At least we both know the score when it comes to our mothers," Violet said.

"Dad really likes you. He wanted you from the moment that he knew you were never going to work for your mother. He wanted to drop into a class of yours when you were still in school, like the first year of college. I talked him into waiting to see what you did with your career and then decide. It was easier to show that we didn't have a hand in what happened after all of that."

Violet nodded. There had been others who had approached her while she was in college, but none of them would have protected her from her mother. The apartment she had was one that was in a building that the company owned. It made renting it so much better because it was well-protected.

"You really only started this because you found me intriguing in meetings?"

"Yes, and I wanted the letters as a way for you to know me without the pressure of who I was, and I wanted to be able to show you who I am. Then you started to write back."

"So you invaded my life," Violet said. She smiled as Xaden laughed before he picked up his tea and took a sip.

"Yes, I did. Mostly, it was Sgaeyl getting to know you. I would never do with anyone she didn't like unless I was sure she just wasn't like them because they were new, which she had done before. She took to you pretty quickly, even if she's indifferent most of the time. She likes you."

"I would never be with anyone who my dogs didn't like either, even if they are new to my life. They are good judges of character." Violet looked at what was left of his meal and started eating faster. She didn't want to be eating long after he was done.

The date was simple, and it was more about getting adjusted to Xaden being the one who wrote letters to her. To wrap her head around it all. There was nothing to do about it but accept it, and Violet was going to get used to that.

Xaden's phone rang just as they were finishing up a little more small talk at the same time they were finishing the last of their meals.

"Yes?" Xaden said into the phone. "Okay. I'll be up there as soon as I can."

Violet raised an eyebrow.

"Surprise meeting after something went wrong in production. I'll have to take off. I had dessert planned, but it wasn't anything too big, just ice cream. You can stay and eat yours."

"Or you can come by my office in a little while with both of the ice creams."

"I can do that." Xaden stood up, carrying his tea over to the counter and getting it put into a to-go cup. He came back with a second and handed it over to Violet. She also dumped her tea over, and they split what was left in the pot.

"See you soon," Violet said.

---

Violet stepped into the office, took off her coat, and hung it up before she looked at her desk. She smiled and shook her head. Even if they had just seen each other what felt like hours ago with the sleeping between, there was a letter sitting on her desk. Violet walked over and picked it up. She looked at where the tea was to see that new tea Xaden had talked about like with the rest of her tea. It was right there where she knew it would be.

Walking over to the tea, Violet started to get the water going because she had not gotten nearly as much sleep as she could have, and she knew it. She needed a lot more, but she had been so fluffy-headed from the date that she hadn't been able to sleep. She had ended up reading in bed most of the night. It was enough that she had hoped that she would be able to sleep a little better tonight. There was at least some rest gotten so she would be able to work. Her body hurt, and that was all her fault for not letting it get the rest it needed, but she wasn't as sore as she could be.

Violet started getting set up for the day, ignoring the letter until she could read it with a cup of tea. She knew who she was, and she needed something that was a distraction from Xaden. She wanted to know what it was like to feel like she was falling in love with someone, and she had gotten it in the form of Xaden. He was stoic most of the time at work, but around those he was friendly with, he was a marshmallow. There was a lot about him that she needed to learn, and he needed to learn about her. There was more than enough time to do that, though.

Once the water was ready, Violet took the letter to the couch and laid it there while she set about getting the tea ready to go. The steep time on the tea wasn't too long, so she carried everything she needed over to the couch and waited for the timer to go off on her phone before she finished getting the tea ready. When she was done, she curled up on the couch with the tea on the stand next to her and opened the letter.

Dearest Violet,

Since I'm leaving town for a few days, I thought I would write you a few letters to keep you thinking of me while I'm gone. Hopefully, Garrick will be dropping them off before you get in, so you can imagine I'm doing it for the later ones.

I'm going to miss you, and I hope that asking you to take care of Sgaeyl each day at work will not be a burden. Garrick will be bringing her in as she hates to be alone at his place, and I don't like leaving her alone all day at mine when I'm not there. She will sometimes escape from him while at work, so I hope that letting you care for her will make that part easier. Maybe later today or just tomorrow, you can bring your dogs. The pet thing had become a huge thing that Dad was thinking of just making it something that really could be any day. The productivity for the people who bring them has gone up, outside of a few times where an animal had gotten into something they shouldn't, which can happen. The morale of the place is up as well. There have been a few issues with people with allergies having to deal with things since people leave their pets if there are in-person meetings.

Enough of that. This is supposed to be about me telling you how much I'm going to miss you and how much I wish that you were with me, or I was just staying there. The meetings I will be in over the next few days are going to be boring without being able to watch you in them, which is always the highlight of any meeting where you are going to be at the same time as me.

When I get back, I have a date planned already, and I'm hoping that we can progress more than just kisses for the number of dates. I know what you are doing, but you are going to crack, and I'll be right there ready for it when it's time.

Violet laughed. She looked to the side to see who had come into the office and found that it was Garrick with Sgaeyl, who seemed to be pissed off at Garrick. The dog shot across the room without a backward glance and got onto her bed in the corner.

"She's in a mood. The last time that Xaden went on a trip, he could take her with him, but he couldn't this time, given where he was going. You are okay with this, right?"

"es, I'm fine with it. I was thinking at lunch; I could head home and get Tairn and Andarna. They would have some fun together, I think."

"I think so as well. I'm getting lunch brought in for the people in my department; I'll get you a meeting as well. Unsure where, but I'll let you know when I find out. That way, you can eat when you get back without having to worry about anything."

Violet turned back to the letter but found that Garrick hadn't left yet. She looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"He's happy, he's been happy for a while, but this is different. I'm glad he took the chance, and you are receptive to his affections."

"Receptive to his affections? What is this?"

"Shut up. I want him happy, but I also want you to be happy. I know he can be a grump sometimes, so please give him time on that front."

"I plan on it. Don't worry. His heart is safe with me." Violet turned back to the letter and was happy when Garrick finally left.

I dream of you, and instead of it being something sexual, it's usually just you right there in bed with me when I wake up, a smile on your face when you wake up and see me. Or us curled on a couch reading books with a fire going, the dogs all around. It's the kind of life I have always wanted: someone who is good, who loves me for who I am, and not who my father is or what we own. It's the life I want, and I can see it with you. Let me show you how much you mean to me soon.

Xaden

Violet picked up her pen and notebook she kept just for the letters to Xaden, and she thought about what she wanted to write to him and have Garrick drop in Xaden's bedroom. Their last date had ended, with both of them a little more than ready for the next step. Despite the short time together, Violet felt like she knew him better than any of her previous lovers, which was good for her. She didn't mind having that kind of connection with him. She wanted to feel his hands on her and hoped that maybe this letter would let them take that next step.

This was forever, and she wanted to act like it was from now on

The End