“You weren’t well. I thought if I could just get you home under the guise of looking after you, and yes, I was more than willing to play on your fears to do it, maybe you’d realize you wanted to stay. More fool me. I should have known you’re too bloody stubborn to be practical.”
“Stubborn? This coming from a guy who refused to admit he loved me till I divorced his ass?” I admonish, raising a brow.
“Well, it’s not as if you didn’t know these things about me, dove,” he points out reasonably, smirking at my frown. “Anyway. I thought it was hopeless then, that we were well and truly over, until I came home and saw those,” he says, smiling brilliantly at the portraits.
I’d depicted him the way I will always see him, with that special smile he reserves only for me, against the backdrop of a bright blue sky devoid of clouds and a shirt depicting the Sunflowers we both love so much.
It’s not the most original thing ever created, but it’s my way of telling him that I see him, just him, and not the ruthless tycoon who’d allowed my father to buy me a husband.
When he goes to speak again, no doubt ready to explain the whole shares thing and the deal that he and Daddy had struck, I cover his lips with mine and pull back, shaking my head once.
“I don’t care about that anymore. As far as I’m concerned, that did not happen. All I want is to move on from here and start our lives together, the right way this time,” I plead, showing him all of my vulnerability.
“Marry me, dove?” he begs, kissing me tenderly. “I can’t go another day without knowing that you’ll be mine. Say you’ll give me another chance.”
I could pretend uncertainty, maybe torture him the way he’d tortured me by walking out of my hospital room and not calling once, but I don’t, not when I see the naked vulnerability reflected in his mint green eyes.
“Yes.”
Epilogue
“That’s the first and absolute bloody last,” Vincent mutters at me, holding my eyes for all of a second before glancing back down in spellbound adoration. “I won’t have you suffering like that again.”
“Whatever you say, babe,” I laugh tiredly, feeling blissed out and euphoric as I watch my husband cradle our son in his strong arms.
I’ll remind him of that statement when we have sex again and he’s forced to wear a dastardly condom. A hundred bucks says he throws his morals out the door on that one.
I’d thought nothing could top the joy I’d felt when Vincent had shown me that room and revealed the endless depths of the love he feels for me. I’d been wrong, I now realize, watching him breathe reverent words of love at Caleb Allan Blake, the son I’d prayed for when I’d found out I was pregnant again.
I shudder lightly just thinking about that harrowing time of joyful hope and fear as we’d waited for the ultrasound and proof that we could finally be excited, and that the baby was where it should be and was healthy.
My pregnancy had been trying, thanks to his paranoia and massively controlling ways, but I’m not complaining, not when he’s been so lovingly overbearing, and not now, when I see his worshipful expression.
Caleb is a mini replica, my very own Vincent doll with all that hair and the definite signs of eyes that will be as green and bright as his father’s.
I’ve finally done something to be proud of, something that I’ve been working toward since the day I’d fallen in love. I’ve given him exactly what he needs to know that I will always be his.
A family.
“He’s so perfect,” he breathes, meeting my eyes unashamedly as tears fill his own.
“Yeah. He really is,” I say, though I’m not looking at the baby now, but at my perfect, adoring husband. “Exactly what I’ve always dreamed.”
“I love you, dove.”
And I know he does. Our life isn’t sunshine and perfection, not by a long shot. Vincent is super controlling about anything he considers harmful to me or in any way upsetting, and doesn’t hesitate to either order me around or lie straight to my face to get his way.
He’ll never change, something that used to bug me but doesn’t anymore, because who am I kidding? I don’t want him to change. He challenges me at every turn and is always there for me, no matter how much my brattishness pisses him off.
If he can love me for my neurotic, over-the-top behavior, I can certainly return the favor by loving him just as he is.
That’s all there is, and know what?
It’s perfect.
# #
TROUBLE
Chapter One
“I need the Gillespie reports by this afternoon, and don’t forget to call Margery and reschedule lunch.”
I take down the monumental list of tasks that I have to get through and watch as my boss, Jordan Farns, fiddles with the stack of messages on his desk.
I hate my job most days, and not because it’s not a great job or because I can’t do it with ease. No, my boss, since I’ve been promoted to the ninth floor, is a total asshole who wouldn’t know how to read a report if it bit him in the ass.
So, in reality, I am not only a PA but an executive, too. I just don’t have the title or the money to prove it.
“And don’t forget to go pick up my dry cleaning, Hannah,” Jordan barks as I open the door to go back to my little office.
I want to tell him to fetch his own goddamned dry cleaning like a civilized human being, but I hold my tongue and nod, closing the door with a soft click instead of the bang I wish for.
Lucy, Mr Owens’ PA, is sitting on a corner of my desk as I enter my office, and I grin at her as she waves the middle finger at Jordan’s door.
“That idiot still getting you to do his job?”
“What’s new? And I am now responsible for organizing the Gillespie account on top of everything else, too.”
I don’t really mind doing it. I love hands-on learning and the opportunity to make my chops on such an important account. I just don’t know how I’ll manage it while running Jordan’s life as well.
“God, I am suddenly really grateful I got Mr Owens and not Farns.”
I’ll bet.
“So what brings you all the way up here? May still giving you grief about the office supplies?”
“No, thank God. Actually, I came up here to dish about the new client, Lucas Ships. You should see this guy, Han! He is fine with a capital F,” she gushes, and I roll my eyes at her.
Lucy can’t resist a pretty face and the opportunity to flirt. Thank God the woman is in a long-term, committed relationship, or I’d be hearing about office romances.
“I don’t care if the man is hot or not. Anyway, I’ll probably never meet him. That account is being handled by Jack and his team, isn’t it?”
I wish I’d pulled Jack as a boss. The man is a machine, but he’s fair, and I bet he does his own work instead of leaving his assistant to do it while he plays golf twice a week.
“Nope. Jack got the Freefall account. Word from the top is the account is coming to Farns.”
Shit. That means I’ll have two major accounts on my hands, and I’m barely coping with my workload as it is.
Just keep things organized. You can do it.
“Great.”
“So lunch?”
“Sorry, Luce. Rain check. I’m so busy today I don’t know if I’ll have the time.”
I hate missing lunch because I am pedantic about routine and keeping things scheduled to the minute, including my own life, but it’s not like I can’t afford to lose a pound or two.
“I’ll bring you back a chicken wrap. Don’t work too hard, Han, you need to unwind a little,” she says, jumping to the floor and leaving with a wave.
By twelve thirty I’ve made inroads into my inbox and I have time for a quick coffee. When I get back to my desk I find a scowling hunk of a man restlessly tapping his foot as he perches on the edge of my desk.
“Uh, can I help you?”
As I wait for his reply I allow my eyes to take a wandering look from the top of his honey
blonde head all the way to the tips of his designer loafers. Goodness, now this is what I call a man.
When my gaze comes up, it’s to meet a sardonic smile that reveals two shallow dimples and sherry brown eyes that are crinkled, as if he smiles a lot.
I bet it’s usually at other people’s expense.
“I’m Gregory Lucas. I have a meeting with Jordan, or at least I had a meeting with Jordan. He doesn’t seem to be around.”
Gregory Lucas? As in the Gregory Lucas, shipping mogul and number three on the Forbes richest men list? God, now I know why Lucy had been having a meltdown just at the sight of him.
He really is fine with a major, huge, gigantic F.
Unfortunately I am now going to be working closely with him, so fine or not, it’s hands off.
“Are you sure? I don’t remember scheduling anything for today,” I say, setting my cup down to scan today’s appointments. If this man had an appointment I’d know it.
“Trust me, I have one. We agreed to get together when I ran into him yesterday. He must have forgotten.”
I see him frown, and cringe inwardly. It makes a terrible impression that Farns has forgotten a meeting with such a huge client, especially if the client has only just signed on.
“I am so sorry, Mr Lucas. Mr Farns had a last minute meeting to attend. I’m sure he feels terrible about this. How about I reschedule for tomorrow and I’ll have him come to your offices?”
He considers me silently for endless minutes, and I can almost feel his eyes like a caress as he sweeps the knee length pencil skirt and soft pink shell I’m wearing. I look good, I know, but certainly not good enough to engender such a thorough inspection.
As pinpricks of desire tingle through every part of me his eyes touch, I know this is going to be a huge problem. I will not get in any way involved with a client or co-worker, and the fact that the man is good looking enough to make me want to, is not good. Not good at all.
My nipples bead, forcing me to hunch my shoulders, until eventually his eyes come back to my face and meet mine.
“Tell Farns to call me. Please. And next time your boss drops the ball, let him try to pick it up himself instead of making his apologies, darlin’,” he drawls seductively, and I hear a slight twang.
Oooh, Southern. Darn it. I love Southern accents.
“Yes, sir.”
There’s nothing left to say, and as I watch him stroll to the elevator and enter it I am unable to tear my eyes away from the raw strength I see in the rippling muscles beneath his three piece suit.
Goddamn.
“You have a nice day now, Miss Newman. I look forward to working with you.”
As the doors close, finally breaking the connection, I snap out of the mortifying daze I’ve been in and fall into my chair with a huff of annoyance.
How the heck am I going to work with the man and keep myself from becoming an embarrassing fool? I have enough on my plate as it is. I’m paying for Nana’s nursing home fees, my sister is on the brink of losing her bakery, a lifelong dream that hasn’t been as successful as hoped, and my boss is a slave driver.
No, I do not need this kind of distraction in my well-ordered life, and as far as I’m concerned Gregory Lucas is more than hot. He’s trouble with a capital T.
For the rest of the day I work until nothing but a few copy orders and a message are left in my inbox. Five rolls around, and by the time I shut my computer down and grab my purse I am starving, grumpy, and in no mood to be bothered.
Unfortunately my boss has no concept of time, and he strolls in just as I’m about to leave, his light blue golf shirt sweaty and wrinkled.
“You missed a meeting with Mr Lucas this afternoon.”
“Shit! I totally spaced on that. Did you cover for me?”
It’s not exactly a lie when I nod. Jordan does not need to know that Gregory Lucas fell for my excuses about as easily as a fish walks on land, so I keep my mouth shut and spare myself a tantrum.
“He wants you to call him tomorrow for a reschedule.”
I turn to leave, wanting enough time to go home and grab a quick shower and change of clothes before I have to make the hour long drive to Gable Jones, the nursing home where my grandmother currently resides.
“I’ll need everything you have on Lucas Ships on my desk first thing tomorrow,” Jordan barks, slamming into his office without so much as a please.
“But—”
Oh, save it, I tell myself, dropping my purse back into the drawer and firing my computer back to life. There’s no way I’ll have everything ready that early and the idiot knows it.
I call the nursing home as I start pulling up files, and the director answers on the fourth ring.
“Miss Newman, we really have to talk about your grandmother’s conduct. She’s been sneaking into our male residents’ rooms again, and you know it’s against policy.”
This problem has been a thorn in my side for months, and no matter how many times I talk to her, Nana blithely ignores my reprimands and keeps playing the field as if she’s eighteen instead of seventy-three.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs Ludwig. I’ll have another talk with her. I can’t make it tonight, so it’ll have to be tomorrow.”
I hear a deep sigh of annoyance and grind my teeth.
Do not get Nana kicked out of another nursing home, Hannah. But it’s so unfair. I’ve been through this for six years, since Mom passed away and Nana’s care fell to me. I love the old bat, but she’s randier than a goddamned billy goat, considering her age, and she keeps getting kicked out.
If they boot her from this one I’ll have to get her a place on freaking Mars.
“We’ll see you tomorrow then. Please try to talk to her. Another infringement will result in expulsion.”
I slam the phone back into its cradle and focus on the task at hand, reminding myself that keeping order in my life is the only way to keep myself together.
I just wish everyone saw it that way.
Chapter Two
My morning is going about as perfectly as a broken down jalopy. It sputters to a start at six, when I get a call from Amber about needing to borrow money to cover her payroll, and gets worse after I walk into my office.
Jordan, as usual, is running late, and the meeting he’s set up with Mr Lucas is in five minutes, with Jordan nowhere near ready to present a pitch for the shipping company’s latest campaign.
I like every aspect of putting together a proposal, but I am no ad exec, and now it’s up to me to pretend the guy has actually done his job. I know nothing about shipping or even why a company like Lucas’ would need a campaign, so I am not exactly the right person to be doing the job.
Mr Lucas arrives five minutes early, while I am frantically trying to gather as much data on the previous campaigns as possible. Jordan, of course, has hidden the info I put together last night, and now I am scrambling to get something in order.
I hate this. I hate chaos and disorder and the repercussions of not being prepared. This is why I’ve divorced my ex-husband Tom and imposed such strict control over my life.
Things are so much easier without complications, and I live to ensure my life is as clutter-free as possible. I’ve put Nana in a nursing home instead of hiring on a nurse for just that reason.
My life is perfectly ordered.
Or it should be. Go figure, my boss, my job, would be one of the areas in my life that is becoming uncontrollable.
“Good morning, Miss Newman.”
I look up from the folder I have put together and make an effort to smile as butterflies invade my belly.
“Good morning, Mr Lucas. May I get you something to drink or eat while you have a seat?”
God, please say yes, I beg silently, striving for a calm I do not feel in his presence. The man makes my knees weak with nothing more than a smile, and I know I am not capable of presenting anything worthwhile to him while he keeps that steady sherry gaze on me.
“He’s late, isn’t he?” he asks sardon
ically.
What can I say? He’ll see right through a lie, and making excuses for a man who can’t tie his own shoes without help is not in my job description.
“Yes.”
“Coffee then, if you don’t mind,” he finally says, holding my eyes captive as he hikes his pants and lowers himself onto the sofa across from my desk.
I practically run from the room to get away from that penetrating stare, and return a few minutes later with a cup of Italian roast and a fresh blueberry muffin.
“There you go, sir. Can I get you anything else?”
He accepts the coffee with thanks — good mannered too, dammit — and waves me over to the sofa.
“You can tell me what you know about my company while we wait.”
I want to crawl into a ball under my desk and pretend this messed up day hasn’t started yet, but I obey with a slight nod instead and seat myself a good three feet away.
“Well, to be honest, I haven’t really read up on your company. I don’t know anything. I assume you’re into shipping—”
“Yes, but the ad campaign I want is for the cruise line side of things, not the trade,” he explains, and I blush.
I should know this.
“You have a cruise line?”
“Yup. We branched out about six years ago to take advantage of the growing industry. A lot of money to be made in expensive luxury holidays, despite the economy, so I bought an old line and revamped it. We offer the best in luxury,” he explains, and I see his eyes take on a seductive light when I realize my skirt has ridden up my thighs and I’m showing a bit too much skin for comfort.
I tug imperceptibly at the hem as I clear my throat and start volleying questions.
“What’s so special about this campaign, though? I assumed your focus would be around your bigger shipping interests,” I say, fiddling with my nails as he continues to stare.
“We’re in the process of instituting environmentally sustainable cruises in the next few months. We’ve refitted some liners to utilise solar power, new wastewater treatment methods, and alternative fuel options. What I want is for the campaign to emphasise the impact of our services on the environment. Cleaner cruises are the way of the future, and I’d like for the company to be rebranded as an environmentally friendly option to vacationers.”
JACE (Lane Brothers Book 3) Page 33
