way to the design department, a classic but unimaginative ploy used by women to get intimate with his wallet. But as she drew closer, he’d noticed her startling whiskey eyes, creamy skin and hourglass curves, and forgot his irritation and suspicions. She was stunning, and desire pumped through him.
Then she’d introduced herself.
For the briefest moment, he’d lusted after Hansol’s HR director. Someone he enjoyed working with and valued as an employee. He and the VP of HR had even discussed Natalie Sobol as her potential successor.
Restless, he changed lanes and advanced a half-car’s length. She wasn’t even his type. He preferred the sophisticated women from his own circle who understood no-strings-attached affairs. Everyone knew the rules and no one got hurt.
He cringed and shoved his fingers through his hair. From her button-up shirt to her knee-length skirt, she’d been the picture of professionalism. Oddly, rather than turning him off, something about her meticulous demeanor had made him want to...dishevel her. Undo her buttons and hike up her skirt—
He slapped his cheeks like a drowsy driver fighting the sweet temptation of sleep. Having the sudden hots for an employee was inconvenient and messy. Their HR director, at that. As a rule, Garrett never dated anyone in the company.
And the timing was diabolical. A scandal so close to his CEO appointment could have consequences more dire than mere personal humiliation. It could destabilize the entire corporation, and sabotage his plan for a partnership with Vivotex, the largest fashion group in the world. His family had worked too hard and sacrificed too much for him to risk the company’s reputation and the livelihood of thousands of employees over his libido.
And his grandmother. The eighty-year-old was still as sharp as a surgical knife but she was growing frailer than she let on. If she lost face because of him, she would give herself a heart attack by sheer force of will. A small one, just enough to cram a healthy dose of guilt down his throat.
Damn it.
His self-control had shifted as he held Natalie’s eyes. He’d wanted to kiss the woman with a white-hot lust he couldn’t comprehend. As far as he was concerned, Natalie Sobol was the devil incarnate sent to toy with him, and he planned to avoid her at all costs.
He arrived at his family home with fifty minutes left until his meeting with a potential business partner, Clark Nobu. He was the backbone of Vivotex’s board of directors, and earning his trust would boost Hansol’s chances for a partnership.
“Hey, Gare. Colin’s taking me to one of his new clubs.” His sister, decked out in a black sequined dress that was six inches too short, skipped down the staircase and pecked him on the cheek. “Bye, Gare.”
“Good seeing you, too, Adelaide,” he said dryly. Their cousin Colin ran several successful nightclubs in Koreatown and Hollywood. A self-made man. Garrett respected that, but the family branded him as the black sheep. “I’m rooting for Colin but he can’t avoid Grandmother forever.”
“I know.” A somber shadow clouded Adelaide’s eyes. “And I’m rooting for you, oppa. Good luck with Grandmother.”
“Yeah, thanks. Have fun, kiddo.” He frowned at her back as she hurried out of the house.
After their mom died, Garrett had done his best for his baby sister, but there was only so much a fifteen-year-old boy could do for a seven-year-old girl. By the time their dad emerged from years of grief, Adelaide was a petulant high-school kid who switched boyfriends like pairs of old shoes, seeking affection and comfort from superficial relationships.
Adelaide was smarter than him, though. Watching his father fall apart after his mom’s death hadn’t been enough to teach him the destructive force of love. It had taken Samantha to nail home the lesson and bleed him dry of sentimental delusions. Even years after their breakup, the mere thought of her singed him with a flash of betrayal and humiliation.
Garrett knocked and entered his grandmother’s room. It didn’t contain any Western furniture, such as a bed or chairs. Rather, she sat with her back ramrod straight on a thick floor mattress with her Samsung laptop set up on a low table beside her in a fusion of the old and the new.
“Hal-muh-nee.” He bowed at his waist, then kneeled in front of her on a bang-suk, taking his usual position on the comfortable floor cushion. “How was your day?”
“The usual. Incompetent idiots running around like their asses were on fire.” She was fluent in English but she spoke to him in Korean. An outsider would be thrown by the conversation conducted in two different languages—as though there was an invisible translator between them translating English into Korean and Korean into English at lightning speed. “Did you eat?”
“I had dinner at the office.”
“Good. Sit down more comfortably.”
That was code for him to settle down for a long conversation. Garrett shifted to sit with his legs crossed in front of him and waited for her to speak.
“We have half a year until you’re appointed CEO. I trust you’re diligently preparing for your new duties.”
“Of course, Grandmother.” They both knew he was ready to run the company. He’d been trained for the job since he was a child.
She nodded and breathed deeply. If he didn’t know better, Garrett would’ve thought she was hesitating, but that was preposterous. She wielded her authority with unwavering confidence.
“When we announce you as Hansol’s new CEO at the press conference, we will also announce your engagement.”
“My what?” His heart lurched as he studied his grandmother’s face. Did she have a stroke without anyone noticing? “Are you feeling all right?”
“Of course I’m all right.” She waved aside his question with an impatient shake of her head. “As I was saying, we will announce your engagement to Jihae Park of the Rotelle Corporation in Korea.”
His blood chilled as disbelief turned to outrage. Every minute of his life had been micromanaged to mold him into the perfect heir. Edges that didn’t fit into that box were sliced off without mercy. Skateboarding was for hooligans. Golf was more appropriate. Basketball could get too rough. Tennis reflected higher culture. Now she wants to decide who I marry?
His parents’ marriage had been a union of two wealthy Korean-American families and their businesses. They had found love and happiness in their arranged marriage, but when his mother succumbed to cancer, the warmth and laughter in their home had faded away. Garrett and his sister’s childhood had been dominated by the sterile, suffocating demands of upholding their family name.
“Am I being married off to the woman or the corporation?” He forced his voice to remain calm.
“You...” Her eyes widened to reveal an unnatural amount of white around her irises. “You dare talk back to me?”
A stab of guilt pierced his heart, but Garrett clenched his fists and pressed them onto the hard floor in front of him. His grandparents had built Hansol from the ground up, working sixteen-hour days in front of sewing machines, their eyes going blind and their fingers deteriorating with arthritis. After a decade of single-minded determination, Hansol opened its first retail store and took its place as an up-and-coming fashion retailer in mainstream America, but his grandfather passed
