by Zante, Lily
Briony got up and hugged her file to her chest, crossing her arms over it. “I think it would be a good idea to do this every Monday, don’t you? A quick weekly meeting where you and I can catch up.”
“Sure,” replied Savannah and waited for the door to close once Briony had left. She needed a few moments alone, to get herself together.
Chapter 6
Was that a new skirt, he wondered, raking his gaze over Savannah as she walked in.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Her voice was shaky, almost like a floating whisper, and she looked more casual and sexy, he decided, his eyes taking in her appearance from top to bottom. Her face was flushed and his gaze quickly dropped to her snug top which fit like a second skin. He looked away and tried not to wonder how those breasts might feel between his fingers…
Get over yourself, Stone.
He stared down at his diary, at the random scribbles he had made, then swallowed and glanced back at her again.
“Was it a problem with your Word template?” She’d jumped right into it, making it about work right from the get go and stood tentatively in front of him, choosing not to sit down as she normally would have.
“Take a seat, please.”
“I—,” she seemed unsure, as if she couldn’t wait to get away, and those shimmering hazel eyes of hers glanced at him briefly before she nodded at his screen. “There was something you wanted me to fix the other day,” she began, sitting down slowly.
“That’s right.” As well as things he needed to say and questions he wanted to ask her.
“Can I fix it now?”
“Go ahead,” he replied, getting up and moving out of the way so that she could access his computer. She seemed to be so concerned about the goddamn Word templates that if it helped to put her at ease, then so be it. He sat in the chair she had vacated, enjoying the vantage position and the view it afforded him—one from which he was better able to observe her discreetly. So far neither of them had mentioned yesterday, the fact that they had spent time at the park, unintentionally and accidentally, but still—they’d eaten hotdogs together.
“How’s Jacob?”
The corners of her eyes and her mouth lifted upwards. “He had a great time yesterday.”
“I did too.” He let the moment stretch out and when she said nothing in return, he added. “He’s a good skater.”
“Kids seem to pick it up so much quicker. I think it’s something to do with their center of gravity being lower.”
“Is that what it is? I thought it was because they weren’t afraid of getting hurt.”
“That too.”
She typed away on the keyboard, allowing him the luxury of letting his gaze roam along her side profile. He felt he had come to know her, that she wasn’t merely ‘that temp’ anymore. And yet he didn’t know her.
But he wanted to get to know her better; had been trying to get a moment alone with her for days so that he might glean some idea of what this was. His interest in her had deepened from wanting to help her, to something more, and even though he couldn’t understand or explain why—for their interactions had involved no glitzy nightclub, nor a dimly lit bar, no drinks, no sexy dress or flirtatious talk—he found himself drawn to her. Things were getting to the point now where he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“It was strange, wasn’t it?” he asked, drawing in a long breath. “Running into you both at the park.”
She nodded, still staring at the computer screen as she typed away. She seemed to be weighing her words carefully before answering. “It was strange. Jacob liked seeing you and eating hotdogs. He had a great time.”
“I had a great time too.”
“What were you doing around there?” She asked, slowly turning to face him.
“I went for a walk.”
“Do you live around there?”
“No, I live on the Upper East Side.” You should come over some time.
“That was a long walk,” she exclaimed.
“I needed to clear my head.”
He waited for her question but instead she said, “All done,” and got up quickly. “I can show Candace what I did to fix it.” She passed by the desk then hovered near him.
“I prefer to call you each time I have a problem.” Surprise flickered across her face, and her brow furrowed. “But I thought—” She stopped, as if deliberately holding back what she wanted to say.
“You thought what?” He got up slowly. “Say it.” He stared longingly at her lips, full, and pink, and more than a little appealing right at this very moment. His breathing quickened, making him feel like a teenager in high-school again and he found himself caught in a spell which slowed down time. When the phone rang, he didn’t move. “Aren’t you going to answer it?” She asked.
“No.” More goddamn interruptions. “What were you going to say?”
“I—” the ringing continued and she frowned when he still refused to answer it. “It’s Candace,” she said, reading the caller display screen.
“What were you going to say?” He demanded but two knocks were followed by the door opening.
“Tobias you didn’t—”
He turned around quick as a shot. “Not now.”
“But,” Candace stuttered. “It’s—”
“I said not now.” His words dripped cold venom and he gave her a look that could easily leave a bruise. Candace backed away quickly, then glanced at Savannah before she closed the door.
“You seem nervous this morning, Savannah.” He lowered his voice and took another small step towards her. She braved a smile. “Nervous? Me?” She shook her head. “I thought that Candace was—”
“You worry too much about Candace,” he told her, sliding his hands into his trousers before he accidentally tucked the stray curl that now grabbed his attention, behind her ear. The more he looked at her, the more he wanted to touch her face and run his thumb along her lip.
“There’s something I wanted to say to you last week, before you left.” He noticed that her gaze trailed to his lips before darting back up to his eyes again; the quick motion wasn’t lost on him, and it gave him hope, as weak as it might have been. Jesus. He had never been in this position before and it was something he wasn’t used to.
“It sounds as if people need to see you urgently,” she said, her voice still a whisper.
“This is more important.” But two more knocks followed on the door. “I said ‘NOT NOW!’” he bellowed. She seemed frightened and shrank back just as Matthias walked in.
“I’m sorry,” Matthias began, holding out his hands as if to calm Tobias’s temper. Fucking unbelievable, thought Tobias, biting his tongue to stop himself from shouting out. “I’m busy,” he barked at his colleague and didn’t miss the incredulous look on Matthias’s face. There was something else too, the element of surprise, perhaps, something Tobias couldn’t yet fathom, as the other man looked at them both slowly.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” said Matthias slowly, before acknowledging Savannah. “Hello, Savannah,” he said. “Sorry Tobias, but this is urgent. Xian Yanling wants to talk to you now. This could be a game changer.”
Xian Yanling? Tobias squeezed his eyes shut. “Put him through.”
“He’s here,” Matthias said, tightly, as if his teeth had been wired together. “As in he’s staying at the Four Seasons.”
Tobias stared back in surprise. “He’s in New York?”
Matthias nodded. “He’s requested a meeting with you.”
“See when Candace can fit me in.” Tobias kept his hands firmly entrenched in his pockets. The man was in New York and he expected them to come running to him?
“Tobias, this could be a deal maker.”
“I’m busy. Set it up for tomorrow.”
“But—” Matthias looked at him in surprise.
“I’ve finished,” Savannah said in a quiet voice and nodded at both men as she walked towards the door.
So much for clea
ring that up, thought Tobias, in irritation.
“Set it up,” Tobias told him.
“I thought you wanted this deal? This could be huge.”
“Then set it up.” Tobias repeated slowly, grinding his teeth together.
“You don’t seem keen to meet with him.” Matthias remarked. “I thought you had big plans for this year?”
“My plans haven’t changed.”
“He said he can meet in the next half hour.”
“I’m ready.” Tobias replied.
“Then we need to discuss a few things now before we meet with him.” Tobias sat back down in his chair and smoothed his fingers over his slate gray silk tie.
Chapter 7
She sneaked away with relief, glad to be out of his office. Being witness to Tobias’s anger up close was an eye-opener, even though she hadn’t been in the direct line of fire this time.
Yet just before that she’d felt something else—a simmering heat, not anger, more like a magnetism that pulled her towards him. He’d held her captive the way his intense deep blue eyes had bored into her, reeling her towards him and reminding her of the dream she’d had earlier. And just like the dream, he’d left her with a slow burning fire in her belly just now.
Even while she’d been fixing his templates, she sensed that he was watching her. She could almost feel the heat of his stare while she had tried to look busy but the tingling in her skin had heightened her alertness. It was as if he had taken a feather and traced it along her naked body.
That was what being in a room alone with Tobias felt like.
“Hi,” Candace snapped, breaking her reverie as Savannah walked past the elevator bank. She carried a bundle of files in her arms and a handbag on her shoulder. “Hey.” Savannah smiled quickly and attempted to walk past but Candace had stopped in front of her and for a moment Savannah was transfixed by the silver gray thick Russian fur hat she wore. It was if a fox had curled up and fallen asleep on her head.
“What were you doing in there?” Candace asked, the tightness in her lips noticeable. “Where?” asked Savannah, feigning innocence.
“In Tobias’s office—or was it Matthias you’d gone to see?”
“Are you keeping tabs on me?” She asked, wondering what it was that had ruffled Candace’s feathers.
“Whatever for?” Candace replied, her voice sweeter than honey.
“You seem to be overly concerned about me. Or are you usually that nosy?” Savannah was fully aware that Candace had never liked her from the start. The woman narrowed her eyes at her.
“If you really must know, Tobias wanted me to look at something,” said Savannah, revealing enough to keep her guessing.
“What?” Candace’s tapered fingers slid over the files she was holding.
“You’re really worried, aren’t you?” Savannah replied, trying to figure out if it was Tobias Stone that Candace was after or if she was worried about her job. Then, relenting, “If you must know, it was some documents. There was a problem with a few Word templates. Why do you need to know every little thing? Does it bother you that he asked me?”
“Careful, Savannah. You’re only a temp. Don’t go getting any high and mighty ideas about your role here.”
“I have no illusions about my role, or my position. I know I’m a lowly temp.” She wondered what Candace would make of it if she knew that Tobias had joined them, purely by accident, yesterday at Bryant Park. She had to stop herself from grinning. “
“What’s the matter?” Candace asked, curiously. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”
“No reason. If it makes you feel better, I told Tobias that I would show you.”
“You don’t have to show me a thing. I know everything I need to know about Word. I’m a PA, not a temp.”
“That’s what I thought. There’s not much point in being a PA if you can’t handle your Word processing.” She returned Candace’s false smile with her own and then heard the sound of the door opening behind her.
“You’re still here, Savannah?” Matthias asked, teasingly. “It seems to me that you have your eyes on an office on this side of the floor.” Before she had a chance to refute his allegation, as playful as it seemed, Tobias walked out, wearing a long black coat and giving her a look that burned right through her.
“I’m very happy in 218, Matthias,” she replied as she dragged her attention away from the man who had the ability to make her heart stop and speed up at will. “I don’t have any desire to be on this side of the floor.”
“Seems to me that everyone’s feeling grumpy today,” Matthias commented. “I’ll get my coat and meet you downstairs,” he said to his boss and then rushed off as did Candace.
“I haven’t finished speaking to you.” Tobias whispered, taking a step towards her and making her mouth turn dry.
“Was there something else?”
“You know there was.” Tobias told her. But before she could reply, Matthias reappeared in view, slipping on his coat and with a briefcase in his hand. She unintentionally gave him a once-over, in an attempt to focus on something else and to move away from the intensity of Tobias’s closeness, but when she turned to face him again, she found herself staring into Tobias’s hardened face.
“Good luck,” she said and slipped away as fast as she could.
Chapter 8
“Did you get a chance to talk to Mr. Stone today?”
It was a question Jacob had asked her every day so far. She turned around, slowly removing her rubber gloves, to find Jacob wearing his Age of Ultron Iron Man Mask. “I did,” she replied, carefully. “But like I told you, Honey, he’s been awful busy this whole week. I only saw him getting into his car. He’s not been in the office much lately.”
Jacob’s shoulders drooped.
“Why do you keep asking?” She placed the folded up gloves neatly on the side of the sink.
“I wanted to know when he can come skating with us next.”
“That’s why you’ve been asking me?” She coiled her hair around her fingers and placed it over her shoulder.
Jacob shrugged silently.
“He’s a busy man, Honey. I don’t expect he’ll have much time to come skating with us.”
“But he said he would!”
“I know, but sometimes grown-ups say things they don’t mean.” She couldn’t read his expression behind the Iron Man mask.
“That’s not being honest.”
“I’m sure he would love to come, one day,” she added, eager not to crush his hopes. “But when grown-ups say ‘one day’, they’re trying to be nice so that they don’t hurt your feelings.”
“I wish he wouldn’t lie.” Jacob’s voice was flat and monotone as he removed his mask. She bent over so that her face was barely inches from his. “He wasn’t lying, Honey. I don’t think he said anything he didn’t mean. I think he likes you.”
“I like him too. He’s nothing like Daddy and I wish we could have more days in the park with him.” There was a touch of anger in his voice and a temper she had never seen on him before colored his childish-features.
“What is it, Jacob? Why are you upset?” Clearly something was going on and she needed to get to the bottom of it. He’d been quiet lately and she put it down to him getting tired after being back a full week at school but looking at him now, her son looked anxious. “Jacob?”
He coughed a few times then told her. “Both of Henry Carson’s parents came to see him at the Christmas concert. Henry said my dad didn’t ‘cos he hates me.” She thought back to that night, to the Nativity play in which Jacob had been a sheep. A cute and delightful sheep who said nothing but smiled like an angel the whole time. She didn’t remember Jacob being upset that evening and he had said anything. In fact this was the first she’d heard of it. He seemed to be settling in fine at this new school and she’d been hoping things had gotten off to a good start.
“Your daddy doesn’t hate you,” she replied quickly. She liked to think that Colt cared for his son,
at some level buried way down deep. Just not enough, but her son didn’t need to know that.
“Then why isn’t he here?”
“Do you want him to be here?” Her heart tripped a beat and anxiety flowed through her knowing that his father wasn’t in the slightest bit concerned about him. She was always mindful that the boy had a father but Colt had never expressed much interest in his son. He hadn’t even called on Jacob’s birthday a few months ago. It was all so different from how things had been when they had first met. He’d always been arrogant and cocksure of himself, but in the early days there had been a gentleness about him which had disappeared when the factory he’d been a foreman at had closed down. It had affected him badly, and she had never realized that his self-esteem had been wrapped up in his position. He’d refused to take on other jobs as a forklift operator or a handyman, even to get by. His pride getting in the way.
“Do you, Jacob?” she asked again. “Do you want your Daddy to be here?”
Jacob shook his head. “He scares me, Mommy. But I don’t understand, if he doesn’t hate me, why does he hate you?” She clenched her teeth together, thinking about her response. “He doesn’t hate me, Jacob. Daddy wasn’t very well back then.” She ran her hands through her hair, causing her neatly coiled up hair to come undone again and then she scooped Jacob up in her arms. In a couple of years or so he would be too big for her to carry, and another part of his childhood would fall to the wayside. She buried her face in his hair and carried him to the sofa. Sitting down with him on her lap, she held his warm, chubby hands. “I think Daddy likes being by himself. Just like you and me like being by ourselves.”
She felt his arms tighten around her.
“Do you miss being with Grandma and Grandpa?” Maybe he was lonely for family?
“Sometimes. But I wish I had a Mommy and a Daddy. A nice Daddy. Everyone else does.” She didn’t know what to say to this; she’d known that one day he would have questions but she hadn’t thought he’d have them so soon. “Is that what’s bothering you, Honey?”
