Right there, in the middle of the street, as the sun fell on that cold night in New York City I took back my life.

No more hiding behind closed doors.

No more blaming my failures on my father and trying to be something I wasn’t.

I was Roman Cavenaugh.

And that was all that mattered.

“I’m fucking nervous,” I admitted as the sound of the crowd outside the conference room began to grow.

“You’ll be fine.” Cara smiled, adjusting my tie for the tenth time.

“Jude should be doing this. This was a bad idea.” I turned, pacing back and forth, practicing my speech in my head for the hundredth time that morning.

Why the hell did I eat eggs for breakfast?

“Who knew big, bad Roman Cavenaugh could get so nervous over a little staff meeting?” Cara laughed.

My head whipped around, and I eyed her.

“I know what you’re doing,” I said. “You’re trying to distract me. It’s not working.”

“What if I told you that I had on cute little boy shorts with Christmas trees and red lace on the hem?”

My eyebrows lifted. “That’s helping. But a little visual would work better.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed.

“What? It’s what any good assistant would do.”

“Really?” she said. “Because I’m not your assistant anymore, remember?”

“I know.” I smiled. “But I still like to pretend. Maybe we can lock my office door, and I can bend you over my desk again after this?”

She bit her lip, her eyes slightly closing, like she was trying to picture it.

But I knew she was.

“Only if you make it through this speech.”

My hands flew up. “You were doing such a good job, too! I was completely distracted.”

She smiled, stepping forward to once again fiddle with my tie. “I know, but if you think I’m sending you out there with that…” she said, glancing down at my very prominent hard-on.

“There are other things you could do to—”

Her finger went to my lips. “You have two minutes.”

“Buzzkill.”

Her arms wrapped around me as her mischievous smile took on something with a bit more sincerity. “This is your moment. You worked so hard for this, and no one else deserves to share this with your employees but you.”

“Thank you,” I said, knowing I would never have gotten here if it wasn’t for her.

Bethany popped her head into the empty conference room. “It’s time!” she said with enthusiasm.

She’d been back only a few days, but I’d given her the same open-door policy I’d had with Cara, and so far, it was running smoothly.

Maybe next time she got pregnant, I’d actually notice.

I’d even buy the cake myself.