Touched Read Online Free

“Can I see you in my office please?”
    “Yes ma’am,” she replied, standing to follow me.
    My new office was even more impressive than the previous. It wasn’t overly extravagant, that wasn’t my taste. It was simple but there was elegance in its simplicity. There were lots of squares and clean lines. There was a hand-crafted marble wall fountain imprinted  with the  RPH logo, the back wall was all glass, there was a meeting table to the left, and a huge seating area on the right of the room  complete with a stocked bar. I placed my purse on the rack and walked toward my desk. I couldn’t part with my desk from the twenty-fifth floor ... it was too much a part of me. The interior decorator had brought in some additional furnishings to compliment the desk. She’d done an amazing job and I’d hired her to redecorate my condo. I’d decided to keep the piano but I wanted a look that better accentuated Little V. I had given her that name because each time I touched the keys, it reminded Virginia of Kingston.
    “I’ll need you to get Chase on the phone.  I need to get him on board with the book tour,” I said.
    “Yes, Miss Cason. You also have a conference call at nine and a staff meeting at ten.”
    “I should only need a few minutes to speak with Chase. We will not dance around his whims. We have dozens of authors dying to have this opportunity; it seems he’s forgotten that. He needs to shit or get off the pot.”
    Raina attempted to hide her smile at my last comment. I could see the relief in her eyes. She had been worried about me. Well that makes two of us Raina.
    “And we need to get an appointment scheduled with Stephanie for the marketing campaign, we’re falling behind schedule.”
    “Yes ma’am.”
    “Also get in touch with Raquel; she needs to schedule a press release for the new paranormal series.”
    “Mr. Raine’s assistant notified me that he would be joining us for today’s staff meeting,” Raina said, carefully assessing my reaction.
    “No problem Raina. Thank you for the heads up,” I replied, as I continued looking through the many memorandums on my desk.
    I wasn’t at all surprised by this news. Sure I was affected by it as indicated by my quickening heart rate but I’d expected he’d pop in from time to time, as a means to torture me if nothing else. He had the upper hand for now, but I was quickly moving toward a remedy for that.  Although I would have preferred to maintain my position at RPH, it was best if I moved on. However, if I wanted to obtain a similar position in this industry, I knew it would be impossible if he were against it, therefore plan B. I’d been quietly seeking other opportunities and if that failed, I had been in contact with my investment banker and instructed him to take a few risks which were paying off handsomely. At this rate, I could retire very comfortably, not that I wanted to do that but it was comforting to know that I didn’t need RPH.
    “Can you get the latest sales figures from accounting for me also? Adam was supposed to have gotten those to me yesterday.”
    “Yes ma’am.”
    “That will be all for now Raina,” I said, looking up from my desk.
    “I’ll get started as soon as I return with your tea,” she said.
    “Thank you Raina.”
    A few minutes later, Raina entered with my tea. “I’ll get Chase on the phone for you now Miss Cason,” Raina stated, as she left my office.
    Chase was one of our most successful authors and for some unknown reason; the publicity department had been unable to secure a date to launch his book tour. Raina connected me with Chase; it was a very brief conversation. After a quick reminder of his contract and a subtle threat to pull his next book, Chase eagerly agreed to the date that was initially suggested.
    Raina quickly confirmed the release of the paranormal series with Raquel as I opened the email from Adam, which contained our latest numbers. Not that I had expected a decline due to the