by Liz Fielding
She started to speak, then thought better of it and shook her head. But she turned back, because she’d forgotten her orchid again. It would be completely ridiculous to leave it behind after all the trouble she’d taken to get it.
“You weren’t really lobbying to get your job back, were you?” he said, eyes narrowing. “You were just trying to make me feel bad. Is that it?”
She looked up at him and didn’t answer. What could she say? He was only partly right.
For some reason, this seemed to anger him. His hand gripped her arm, fingers curling around it.
“Just between you and me, Ms. Stevens,” he said coolly, staring down into her eyes in a way that made her heart pound, “I don’t feel bad. I never do.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She prepared to yank her arm away from his grip, but he released her before she had the chance.
“Just be here first thing in the morning,” he said. He glanced at the open calendar on his desk. “Oh, wait. Damn. I’ve got a couple of important meetings in the morning. It’ll have to be after lunch.” He looked up at her. “How about two o’clock? Right here in my office.”
She couldn’t muster any more of the superior smile shtick. Her lips were beginning to ache. So she made do with a superior shrug. “I’ll think about it.”
He saw right through her facade. “I’m sure you will,” he said, his voice tinged with just a touch of sarcasm. “And while you’re at it, think about this.” He gathered her pot shards and the still-perky orchid plant and stuffed them into a drawer in his desk. “You don’t get your orchid unless you show up.”
She sprang toward him, as though to rescue her plant, but he was ready for her this time and she stopped herself at the last second to avoid another close contact with his large, hard body.
“You can’t do that,” she cried in outrage. “That’s my property!”
It was his turn to try the superior smile.
“And you are here after breaking into my property. So I guess we’re even again.”
She felt like pouting. Jaw rigid, she held out her hand. “May I have my orchid, please?” she said.
“You know, I don’t think I’m going to let you take it.”
She glared at him. “That’s despicable.”
A half smile was curving his full lips. “I think I’m going to hang on to it to make sure you come back tomorrow.”
“That’s…that’s like blackmail.”
He considered her charge. “No, more like bribery.”
“Whatever. It’s illegal.”
He smiled. “So sue me.”
“I just might do that,” she said, though they both knew there wasn’t a chance in the world of that happening. “And you know what? If I’d had the chance, I’m sure I would have fired you.”
And with that nonsensical statement of defiance, she turned and stormed off, taking the stairs again because she needed to work out her anger on something physical in order to keep from killing the man.
It was long past midnight. Grant still sat behind his desk, staring moodily at the dark window. His sister, Gena, had come and gone, working her medical magic, and now half of his face felt numb. But that wasn’t what had him brooding. His encounter with Callie was nagging at him like a burr under a saddle. He’d mulled it over and he’d come to a decision.
Callie Stevens was the perfect woman to have his baby.
He remembered when he’d brought it up to her before. Her reaction had been extreme in his opinion. She was so calm and logical about most things. Why wasn’t she logical about this? The entire plan the way he’d presented it to her would be to her benefit-that was just so obvious. And yet he knew if he came at her from that perspective again, she would react just as irrationally as she had before.
There was only one thing for it: he had to figure out how to appeal to her better nature and get her to see things his way. What was he going to do if she didn’t show up tomorrow at two o’clock? What if she decided that she didn’t really want to work for him and her orchid wasn’t worth another run-in?
He couldn’t wait for that. He would have to go to her before she had a chance to develop a real program of opposition. He didn’t know where she lived but there must be a record of that in the files.
That was what he would do. He looked at his couch and grimaced. He would catch a few hours’ sleep, take a shower in the washroom and take her orchid plant to her. That would make a good excuse. He shouldn’t have kept it anyway. That was a foolish thing to do and he regretted it. He would stop off and pick up some doughnuts to take along as a peace offering. Just a friendly visit. That way he could get the lay of the land, see how things were with her where she lived. Maybe get an idea from her situation. Become friends with the woman.
He shrugged. It was worth a try.
“So, is he incredibly sexy?”
Tina Ramos was keeping a straight face, but the mischievous light in her dark eyes gave her away. She sat on the well-worn couch, her legs folded in around her, a cup of steaming coffee in her hands.
Callie stared at the friend who shared her apartment with her. They were sitting in the living room, watching Tina’s thirteen-month-old daughter play with a round plastic toy on the floor in front of them. Callie had just finished telling Tina about what had happened the night before when she’d gone in search of her abandoned plant.
“Sexy? What? Who?” Despite her words, she knew she sounded artificially dismissive. She wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Grant Carver, of course,” Tina said with affected nonchalance. “We already know he’s incredibly handsome.”
Callie was astonished. “Oh, really? And just how do ‘we’ know that? I’ve never said a thing about his looks.”
“And never noticed either, I suppose.”
“Well…”
“Oh, come on, Callie.” Tina was laughing. “You should see the way you look when you talk about him.”
“That’s crazy!” Blood was rushing to her cheeks. She could feel it. It had to be because this line of conversation was so darn annoying. Had to be. “I’ve never thought twice about the man.”
Tina’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, is that it? I guess I mistook the look.”
“I guess you did.” She threw up her hands and wailed, “Tina…!”
“Oh, I’m just teasing.” Tina raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to the meeting?”
“Of course not.”
“Why not?”
Callie hesitated, unwilling to admit aloud that it was exactly because he was sexy and he was handsome that she didn’t relish going. There was something strangely compelling about the man and that made her uncomfortable. She’d built herself a little island and she fended men off with a virtual firehose. But he was the sort of man who might walk right through the blast, damp but undaunted. And mostly, she was afraid that she might let him.
“I have other things to do,” she said, knowing it sounded lame, but that it had the advantage of actually being true. “I have to go out to Shady Meadows Rest Home and see my mother-in-law. I’m hoping I can talk them into keeping her where she is for just one more month while I try to scrape up enough money to transfer her to full nursing care.”
“Scraping together money isn’t going to be easy now that you’ve lost both jobs,” Tina said, her eyes losing their sparkle quickly.
Callie sighed. “I will go out and see him later,” she said, knowing it was childish to go late, just because he wanted her to come at two. But when you came right down to it, she did need the job. She had to go.
Tina hesitated, then reached out and took her friend’s hand. “Callie, I called the agency last night and told them to double my assignments. If I can make a bit more…”
Callie winced. Tina was trained as an elementary teacher, but after a cancer scare, she’d taken up cleaning houses for a living, working for an agency part-time and making just enough to get by on.
“No, Tina. You need to be home with your baby while you can be.�
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Tina pressed a finger to her lips. “I’m taking her with me,” she whispered.
Callie groaned. “You’re not allowed to do that and you know it.”
Tina shrugged. “No one’s turned me in yet. Everyone loves having Molly around.”
Callie glanced down at the beautiful child. Of course everyone loved Molly. What was there not to love? With her head of shining chocolate-colored curls and her huge dark eyes, so alive and so interested in everything, she was as fresh and pure as a snowflake.
The little darling had certainly turned Callie’s life around. Tina and Molly had come to live with her just before Christmas and nothing had been the same since. There was joy in her life now. Joy, and a beautiful baby.
It wasn’t her baby, and it was only temporary-like everything else in her life. But that didn’t really matter right now. A life that had been cold and lonely for years had become warm again. She’d been searching for something to live for. She’d even looked into having a baby on her own. The hunger for a child was deep and raw inside her. But no matter which way she turned, she couldn’t seem to manage to find a way to do it that made sense. Now, with her own little rag-tag family, she had something. At least for the moment.
Rising, she started toward the kitchen but the sound of the doorbell startled them all.
“I’ll get it,” Tina said, heading for the door.
Callie frowned, wondering who it could be and smoothing back her hair. She’d thrown on a big purple sweatshirt and an old pair of baggy jeans when she’d rolled out of bed. She thought she remembered brushing her thick hair, but it felt a little wild at the moment. She wasn’t really ready for company, especially not…
Grant Carver.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” he was saying as Tina let him in.
And then there he was, handsome and sexy, just as Tina had surmised-if a bit wounded. His lip was swollen and that side of his face was slightly discolored. Callie winced, looking at him. And then she wondered once again why the injury made him look so much more appealing. Did she feel a natural attraction to damaged men?
Carrying a large Stetson, he was dressed for the office, very sharp and very elegant-while she knew she must look like a refugee from the hill country.
Was he intruding? Oh, yes, very definitely.
“Oh, no, not at all,” Tina said quickly when Callie didn’t answer him right away. She threw him a bright smile that spoke volumes as to her opinion of the way he presented himself. “I’m Tina, the roommate. We’ve been up for hours. Just talking, you know. About…” She stopped and bit her lip, looking guilty as sin.
“About?” he asked, waiting.
“About things,” Tina said with a sigh and a quick look of apology toward Callie. They all knew that he knew he’d been the object of their conversation.
“‘Shoes and ships and sealing wax’?” he quoted helpfully.
“Oh, yes. Those things, too.” She smiled at him. “Cabbages and kings. All that stuff.”
“Wonderful.” He held out one of two bags he carried with him. “I brought doughnuts, just in case.”
“Lovely,” Tina cried, taking it from him. “How do you take your coffee?”
“Black, thanks.”
“I’ll be just a moment.”
“Take your time,” he said, turning slowly to look at the room and wondering what the hell he was doing here.
Well…bringing Callie back her orchid plant. That was the official objective. And to take the first steps toward becoming friends. But now that he was here, he realized he might be walking into a trap of his own making.
And then he looked at Callie and he was sure of it.
Crazy. That was the only word for it. He was crazy. Just being here went against every rule and every plan he’d made for himself.
He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. He told himself it was because she represented such possibilities. Looking at her, he knew it was more than that. And now he knew something else.
The efficient, no-nonsense Callie he was used to at work fascinated and intrigued him. But there was another Callie. This one had sleepy eyes and a thoroughly kissable mouth and hair that glowed like a wild, golden cloud around her pretty face. No makeup. Bare feet. Lovely breasts that were emphasized by the way the cloth of her sweatshirt draped across them.
And suddenly he felt something he hadn’t felt for a long, long time. Deep, hungry, carnal desire.
He looked away quickly. Wow. This was no good. He didn’t want to feel sexually attracted, not like this. He needed distance so as to keep control.
“Hey,” he said, nodding to her and looking stormy on purpose. “I had a hell of a time finding you.”
“Really?” She shrugged nonchalantly. “And here I didn’t even know I was lost.”
“Oh, you were lost all right. At least to me. The employee card I used had your old address.”
She looked incredulous. “So you went to Buckaroo Court, looking for me?”
“Yeah.” He made a face. “Not exactly the garden spot of Dallas, is it?”
She sighed. “Not exactly. Which is why I moved over here as soon as I could.”
He nodded, and she frowned.
“And someone told you my new address?”
“Yes.” One dark eyebrow rose. “A semidelightful gentleman named Butch. He was throwing soapy water on his motorcycle in the driveway but kindly took a break to give me your whereabouts.”
“The so-called manager.” She shuddered. “More like the game warden.” Giving him a wise look, she added, “How much did he stick you for?”
“A cool twenty got me the information. I thought it was a bargain.”
She winced, eyes sparkling. “Yikes. I guess I’m going cheap these days.”
He shrugged. “I got a discount after I roughed him up a little.”
She gasped, then didn’t know whether to take him seriously or not. “You didn’t!”
He gave her a half smile, not ready to satisfy her curiosity. “Enough about Butch. He’s not very interesting anyway. I brought you your orchid.” He held up a brown paper bag and peeled back enough to show her a flower peeking from inside.
“So I see,” she said, looking at it warily, then shifting to look up into his eyes. “What do you want for it?”
He gave her a pained look. “See, that’s exactly why I brought it to you. I decided you were right. It wasn’t fair to hold your orchid as bait to draw you back. I ought to have enough faith in you to assume you’ll do the right thing without having to be coerced.”
“Thank you.” She snatched up her plant, hugged it to her chest, then looked at him gingerly. “But you see, that’s where you make your big mistake. Now that I’ve got my plant…”
“You’ll be so grateful, you’ll probably come early and camp on my doorstep,” he said, but his expression was cynical.
And she suppressed a smile. “Dream on.”
She peeked inside the bag. The orchid looked as though it enjoyed car trips. That was a relief. Her orchid was no longer held hostage.
Setting it down on the tiled window ledge alongside two others, she turned back to Grant. His lower lip looked even more swollen from this side and she could see evidence of stitches, though they were just about invisible. At least he’d let his sister take care of his injury.
“What happened to your important meetings?” she asked.
“I’ll make them. I only stopped by for a moment.”
Tina brought out coffee and doughnuts on a plate, prattling with small talk all the while. Callie and Grant sat cautiously on the couch, eyeing each other like two gunslingers meeting at the corral, each waiting for the other to move toward the doughnuts first.
Watching them, Tina grinned, then scooped up her baby, who was sucking on a red lollipop, and turned back to say goodbye.
“We’re going to the park,” she explained.
“Oh, don’t go!” Callie cried fervently.
But Tina merely ga
ve her a wink. “We’ll be back soon.”
Callie hardly noticed the wink, because she was caught up in watching Grant’s reaction to Molly. He took one look at her and recoiled as though something had stung him. It was quickly apparent that he wanted to be as far away from the baby as he could get.
Tina didn’t seem to notice, and neither did Molly. The little girl gazed at him intently, then her chubby arms shot out as though asking him to take her from her mom.
“Da Da!” she cried, her eyes lighting up.
“No, honey,” Tina said, laughing. “That’s not your da da.”
Turning, she looked back over her shoulder at Callie.
“More’s the pity,” she muttered with a significant look. And then the two of them were out the door.
Grant reached out and took a piece of doughnut in his hand, then popped it into his mouth.
“So you live here with Tina,” he noted, reaching for his coffee next.
“And Molly,” Callie said. “Our little angel.”
He winced and avoided her gaze. At a glance, the little girl had looked just like Lisa. And thinking about Lisa was the one thing that rendered him helpless. He didn’t want to hear about Molly, or anything else that reminded him of his own baby.
“What does Tina do?”
She gave him a suspicious sideways look. “Why do you want to know?”
“I’m interested in you and your life.”
She turned to frown at him. “Why?”
He shrugged in exasperation. “Weren’t you the one telling me that you and your fellow workers were real human beings with real lives and not chess pieces? I’m trying to learn to be a better boss. I’m empathizing.”
For a moment, he thought she was going to laugh in his face.
“Right,” she said skeptically. “Okay, Mr. Sensitive, empathize this. Tina is a wonderful person. My best friend. She’s had some bad luck and hard knocks, and right now she’s in and out of remission of her cancer and trying to raise her baby on her own.”
“That’s insane,” he interjected coolly. “A woman with that sort of health danger has no business having a child.”
Her eyes widened and she looked at him as though he were a freak. “Sometimes these things are beyond our control.”
