Off Limits CEO

Off Limits CEO

Kimber Hack

Copyright © 2016 Kimber Hack

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Who would have thought the simple task of getting the mail could have ruined what was shaping up to be such a good day? Lincoln should have knocked on wood after telling herself she had a great day. For starters, not only was her morning commute unexpectedly smooth after she completely missing the worst of rush hour traffic, she was fortunate enough to find a spot really close to the front entrance of her office building, allowing her to make it inside right before the sky opened up and started raining cats and dogs. She beat her end of the day deadline and was able to turn in a huge project that she had been working on for months by late morning, and after looking it over, her boss let her know how impressed he was, thanking her for all of her hard work, and promising to give her proper credit and remember it came to evaluation time. Continuing with her run of good luck, she noted her lunch was still in the breakroom refrigerator, which believe it or not, was really saying something after there had been a rash of food thefts by a yet to be identified individual. Not to be outdone, her awesome day continued with her being called into a top management meeting and being asked to take the lead on another project she was initially just hoping to just get an opportunity to work on, never dreaming she was up for the project manager role, giving her yet another reason to smile all the way home.

Unfortunately, that smile was just a fleeting memory once she looked at the mail on her table. The few bills didn’t upset her, but the two other envelopes in her hand proved that when it rained it poured. She didn’t know which one to open first and honestly, if she had her way it would be neither but not for the same reasons, besides that wasn’t going to solve her problem. Dropping them both back down on the marble surface, she kicked off her shoes and decided wine was definitely needed before she dealt with either of them.

Her phone started buzzing right when she poured her glass. Looking down at the number she winced before adding another healthy pour as she answered. Hello mom, what’s up? Carrying her wine to the soft leather sofa she sat down waiting for her mother to talk.

I was just calling to see if you received your invitation to Belle’s wedding yet? The invitations are just so gorgeous. Of course, I would have expected nothing less with the amount of money her parents are obviously shelling out.

Lincoln smiled at her mother’s comments as she leaned over to pick up the heavy pink envelope. Of course it would be pink she smiled. The heavy velum screamed Belle with every beautifully styled calligraphy letter right down to the scent. Lincoln held the packet up to her nose to give it a quick sniff swearing she could smell flowers.

Ms. Lincoln Allen and Guest

It was the "and guest" part that caused her to grab her wine glass and take another sip before replying.

Actually, I just walked in the door and haven’t had a chance to go through all my mail yet. Mentally crossing her fingers over the lie.

It was very nice of Belle to include us in her day. Your father and I have always liked her, such a nice young lady. We are so looking forward to it. Lincoln smiled again knowing it was her mother in fact that was most looking forward to the outing, she had a feeling her dad wouldn’t have cared one way or the other, even though he really like Belle as well.

I’ll let you go since you just walked in the door but I just wanted to call since I thought it was very exciting that we got to be invited to such a high society affair. I know you have your bridesmaid gown already but now I have to go shopping now to get something to wear. Fortunately, I’ve had my eye on a dress and now I have a good reason to go back and buy it. Lincoln laughed knowing her mother didn’t need an excuse to shop but whatever made her happy she knew her father was ok with.

After a few more pleasantries, Lincoln hung up and sat back and looked at the invitation. Since Belle was one of the best friends Lincoln had in high school, it wasn’t uncommon to find them at each other’s houses or dorm rooms on any given day. Belle as was the youngest of three and the only girl. Her mother was lucky enough to be a stay at home mom since their family owned and operated an incredibly successful line of resort hotels across the country with 5-star amenities enjoyed by the world’s elite. Isabelle Houston or Belle as she was instantly nicknamed was the much loved, over protected, little sister. Beautiful, intelligent, easy going unless provoked and generous to a fault. That was probably why they became such good friends. Belle took one look at Lincoln and went into protective mode. Thankfully for Lincoln, she met her friend early on at their private school. Whereas Belle instantly fit in since she had gone to primary school with the majority of their classmates, Lincoln was a late comer to the private education system. Her parents, while nowhere near as financially sound as the majority of Lincoln’s classmates, were very comfortable, but since it was her grandmother's wish that Lincoln attend Patterson Academy, the same private school she herself had attended in her younger years, she insisted on covering the expenses for her granddaughter. Lincoln didn’t really want to go away to the prestigious school but she couldn’t turn down the opportunity for the excellent education it offered, especially since her mother refused the opportunity and always regretted it. So after a family discussion, mostly her parents singing the praises of the opportunities she would get and doors she could open, she was off to private school.

Unfortunately, it was like the other girls could smell she wasn’t one of them and instantly let her know she was an unwanted outsider. One girl in particular seemed to take immense pleasure in repeatedly pointing out their class differences. Megan Pomeroy was, for lack of a better word, a total witch. She was used to calling all of the shots and heaven help the person who didn’t fall in line with her plans. She had money to burn since she came from a family of oil billionaires and while she was gorgeous on the outside, she was the walking, talking example of how not to judge a book by its cover, because once you got to see what she was like on the inside, it wasn’t pretty. Her reputation with the opposite sex was as legendary as her reputation for cattiness with her feeding the rumors of her dating hot college guys while pointing out most of their classmates were lucky to attract the attention of a high school boy. The countless put downs and petty behavior towards Lincoln gave her many reasons to dislike the arrogant classmate, the biggest one bringing her right back to the pink invite and her apprehension at acknowledging it. Then there was the other envelope with the embossed seal from her high school alma mater. Belle warned her the reunion invite was on the horizon but Lincoln wasn’t ready to think about that right now.

She knew the call from her mother was just the start of the phone calls she could expect. Knowing Belle, she would be calling to check in on Lincoln and compare notes on her thoughts for all of the upcoming events. Nobody was more surprised than Lincoln when Belle called to say she was getting married and begging her to be one of her attendants. That wasn’t totally true, she should have said she wasn’t surprised about the marriage, just that she wanted Lincoln to be a part of it. Sure they had been inseparable since the minute they met in homeroom, but after graduation they both went to different colleges and after spending that last spring break together their sophomore year of college, Lincoln found every reason imaginable to distance herself from her best friend.

Her reasons weren’t anything she wanted to share with Belle, so she just avoided coming home by claiming she had to study or work or had other family obligations. At first Belle had tried to talk her into restructuring her plans, but after a while she seemed to take the hint and the requests to come home became less frequent, before stopping all together. Belle managed a few visits out east but Lincoln knew their relationship wasn’t as close as it used to be and that made her heart break. Lincoln kept telling herself that they were just too opposite and she didn’t belong in their world, as she was reminded by one of Belle’s brothers the last time the girls were together. It was especially hard to walk away since she considered Belle her best friend and felt the loss of their close friendship every day. That was another reason she was so surprised by Belle’s invitation to be a part of her wedding day, with Belle saying she will always think of her as the closest thing to a sister and letting her know how much it would mean to her to have Lincoln there with her. Since Lincoln felt the same way, she put aside all of her reservations and accepted the honor.

As an only child, Lincoln had always longed for a sibling. Her parents said that it just wasn’t to be and would tell her that they were happy being the proud parents to a beautiful young lady that made them so proud. She would always laugh and tell them they had to say she was beautiful since they were her parents. Lincoln was under no illusions about her looks. In her mind Belle was the beautiful one that boys would flock to and she was her pretty friend. Whereas Belle was a very outgoing blue eyed platinum blond with a bubbly personality that drew you in, Lincoln was a more introverted strawberry blond with bright green eyes she inherited from her Irish side of the family. Both girls were medium height and the same size, making the sharing of clothes so much easier. Not that Lincoln had many things Belle needed to borrow since her closet was three times the size of Lincolns. The irony was, the best things in Lincoln’s closet actually came from Belle’s own mom.

Mrs. Houston was a kind woman and every once and a while she would send a care package to Lincoln saying she found something she thought was so perfect for her and she couldn’t resist. It didn’t matter how many times Lincoln would protest, the packages kept coming. Needless to say, meeting Belle and her family had made Lincoln’s years at Patterson’s enjoyable. Well most of her family anyway. Belle’s older brothers