He came to me as I glared at him, and when I held out my hair for the hairpins, he showed me empty palms. “I don’t have anything.”
“I need to get my hair up, Sean.”
“Leave it down.” He caught the weight of it at my nape and tugged. “It’s beautiful, Ella. Leave it down. Let the world see the woman I see.”
I looked down at myself, clad in a silk camisole and panties. “If I show the world this woman, I’ll never convince the board I’m a serious businesswoman.”
“I think if they heard you on the phone a moment ago, you could have convinced them of anything.” He dipped his head. “And men would drop to their knees to do your bidding if you appeared anywhere like this.”
I reached up, my fingers going to the side of his head. Curls, still short but getting longer, brushed against my fingers. “You’re just saying that because you like seeing me naked.”
“Well, there’s the honest truth, Ella.” A slow, sexy smiled curled his lips. I braced myself as he leaned in, my hands going to the cool marble surface of the counter at my back.
I was trying to work up the nerve to tell him that I needed to go, that I needed …
Him.
The word leaped to mind just as he brushed his lips across mine.
It was a soft, sweet kiss. Tender, even.
Then he whispered, “I’m off, Your Highness. See you Thursday?”
* * *
Thursday wasn’t soon enough, but it would have to work.
I brooded about him during my meeting with Genacron—the small pharmaceutical company that David Stone had run into the ground. I brooded about him as I skimmed the proposal Stone’s team had put together. Funny, I didn’t recall asking for a proposal, but I can’t say I was surprised to see it.
The brooding stopped long enough for me to lean back in my chair and stare at the man smiling at me from across the table.
He was a few years older than I was, attractive in that model–gym boy sort of way, and he had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
He’d asked me out when we’d first met at a conference a couple of years ago, and even if I hadn’t been petrified at the idea of being with a man, I think I would have told him no.
He leaned in and gave me a comfortable sort of smile. It said, We’re friends, right? Let’s just end this foolishness.
“It’s a good deal, Ella.”
The group he’d brought with him nodded and made approving noises. I looked over at Stacia and the sole board member I truly enjoyed being around. Morris Hammerstein met my gaze neutrally as I handed over the proposal. We’d been studying it together off and on. Of course, David had only brought one, he was so sorry.
As Morris started to flip through the proposal, I leaned forward and braced my elbows on the desk. “I’ve got to be honest … David.” I smiled as I said it and saw his lids flicker a tiny bit. The last time we’d done business face-to-face, I’d stayed stiff and formal—my barrier to the world so the world wouldn’t try to reach out and touch me. I suspect he’d also picked up on the fact that I often felt like a fish out of water.
Things weren’t the same anymore.
Pride rushed through me. I wasn’t the same.
“The proposal sucks,” I said, flicking a look at the rest of his team before focusing on him. “You’re asking for a ridiculous amount of money with little to offer in return.”
He went to speak, but I held up a hand, cutting him off. “You want a bailout to the tune of two million and in return, you let my company, Enveril Pharma, put its name on your products. You stay in charge. You even figured in a raise for yourself.”
A muscle pulsed in his jaw.
I looked over at Morris to gauge his reaction. It was simple. He took the portfolio holding the information and placed it facedown, using a forefinger to push it across the desk.
Even though I knew I was right, a knot of apprehension had still tangled up inside me, but it released now, and I breathed a tiny bit easier. “No,” I said gently. “I’m interested in some of the products Genacron sells and very interested in some of the treatments you’ve been developing for leukemia patients. But I’m not tying your anchor around my company’s neck.”
A few of the people he’d brought with him slid looks back and forth between each other, surprise clearly written on their faces.
“Ella, please. You know me better than to think I’d put together a deal that didn’t benefit us both.” David leaned forward, his tone going intimate. “Perhaps we could have a cup of coffee, or dinner, and I could expand in detail on everything we didn’t get to in the proposal.”
“Thank you, no.” I rolled my eyes—it shocked the hell out me.
Apparently, David was taken aback as well. His chin lifted slightly, and he eyed me narrowly from under his lashes. His team looked more and more frazzled.
“Here’s the proposal I’m offering,” I said. Hand held out, I waited for Stacia to give me the plan I’d drafted up this morning after the phone call. Somehow, I’d known David was going to try and roll me under.
“We’ll come in, clean house, deal with the issues in accounting and the excess expenditures taking place on an executive level.”
One of the men at the far end started to rise.
I shot him a narrow look.
David held up a hand. “Continue, Ms. Cruise.” A tight smile curled his lips. “By all means.”
“Thank you. We’ll deal with the … cash-flow issues you seem to have developed. What debt can’t be reasonably restructured, my people will look at and figure out how best to handle.” I paused and then added, “Outside of the executive level, I expect we’ll retain all employees. I intend to give them all a pay raise across the board to get them more on the level with what others in their field are making.”
“Now, see here, you can’t—” A short, squat woman with a face like a toad stood up.
I had the insane image of her in pink, bow at her neck. Dolores Umbridge, in the flesh! I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud. “Mrs. Conroy … it is Mrs. Conroy, right?”
At her small nod, I spread out my hands. “I can and will, if Mr. Stone wants to close this deal. Because my people will be temporarily taking over. Once Genacron is more self-sufficient, we’ll discuss whether Mr. Stone stays with the company or we buy him out. In return for all of this, my company will receive a percentage of all products—we’ll negotiate. I’m not greedy. But I won’t cast my lot in with a sinking ship without having some idea of what kind of people are struggling to save said ship. You all had a chance, and look where you are.”
* * *
I was still dancing with elation when I reached the hospital.
It was the first time I’d played such an intense game of hardball, and when we left, Stacia was looking at me with glee, and Morris looked somewhat impressed himself.
We’d done well.
I surveyed the hospital as Paul came to a stop in front. “Shall I wait?” he asked.
“I’ll only be here for a little bit,” I said as I smiled at him. “Can you get me in a half hour?”
He nodded.
The car pulled off as I headed toward the gleaming blocks of concrete, steel, and glass. The hospital looked like a child had dropped a couple of building blocks and left them lying, with walkways stretching from one block to the other.
It was excessively modern.
It was also ugly, if you asked me.
But they had a good pediatric program, and in a short while, I hoped it would be even more child-friendly—and teen-friendly. During my research, I’d learned how often teenagers diagnosed with cancer fell between the cracks. Many charities were geared toward children and adults with cancer, but teenagers had different needs. Different fears. Even most hospitals were more focused on what a child needed, while providing for the comfort of adults.
Teens were placed in rooms too young for them or too adult, often with little there designed to entertain that specific age group.
&n
bsp; I wanted to change that.
Since the CEO had stopped being an ass, we were going to do just that.
I’d also spoken with Jisane Greer at University about a similar idea. There was going to be a huge gala to announce the renovations and changes that would be taking place soon.
I had more money to spend than I possibly could in my lifetime, and it offered little solace, no happiness. Except when I saw the difference it could make.
I found Darla sitting in the lounge area of her floor, flipping through a magazine.
I held out the gift bag and waited for her to take it.
She just stared at it, so I sat down and put it on the table next to her.
“Why are you back here?” she asked tiredly.
“To see you.” I nodded at the gift bag. “I thought you could use a distraction or two.”
She rolled her eyes. “I can go grab a book or paint any time I want. I just don’t…”
She’d started to open the bag. Apparently, curiosity got the best of her, and I watched her lapse into silence as she looked at the boxed tablet for a long moment. “What…” She swallowed. “What is this?”
“Maybe you can go to the library for a book,” I said lightly. “But this has far more than the library here does. Plus music, games, movies. Unless you like watching the same Law and Order reruns?”
Her fingers trembled, her soft, misty eyes darkening. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why not?” Taking a chance, I reached out and touched her hand. “There was a time in my life when I would have done a lot to have a friend. Maybe I’m just remembering what it was like.”
“I don’t—” She jerked her hand away and stared out the window over the sprawling skyline of Chicago. “I got friends enough. I don’t need your pity.”
“No. I’m not offering it. Just friendship.”
I waited, braced.
When she went to open the box, I breathed a mental sigh of relief and sat by watching as she fumbled with the new gadget, plugged it in, and started to play.
My phone beeped, and I touched her hand. “I need a minute.”
She barely seemed to hear me.
I moved farther down the hall as I pressed the phone to my ear. “Hello.”
“Ella, it’s Stacia. I’m wrapping things up for the gala with Cook County in a few weeks, and I was wondering if you planned to bring a guest,” Stacia said, her voice brisk and efficient.
No sprang to my lips, but then I stopped. “Yes.” Sean’s face flashed through my mind. “Yes, I think I’ll be bringing a guest. At least, I want to. I need to see if he’s up for it.”
We spoke for a few more minutes and then I disconnected, leaned back against the wall.
Sean, with me as I walked into the glittering, golden ballroom. I’d been there a half-dozen times, but always alone, and I left within an hour of arriving. I never danced. I mingled just enough to be polite and I left.
I could see myself with Sean, though, him holding me as we danced.
His voice murmuring in my ear.
I could picture it all so vividly, could even … hear …
I shoved off the wall and turned to look around the corner.
Immediately, I jerked back and pressed against the wall, eyes closed.
It was Sean.
He was here, at the hospital.
Chapter 8
“You can’t understand how hard this has been on us.”
I listened to the woman speaking with tears burning in my eyes and a knot in my throat.
Sean’s voice, that familiar velvet purr, was just as soft. “I’ve never had a child, no. I can’t imagine it.”
“Well…” She gave a watery chuckle. “Sean, I swear, I’m just so tired. I’m up at the crack of dawn to get work done so I can spend the day with Jenny and then it’s back home … I hardly see her father. Marc works around the clock it seems. I don’t even remember the last time we…”
Her voice hitched. “We don’t share a bed.”
I couldn’t listen anymore.
Shoving off the wall, I strode down the hall and ducked into the sunny little nook where Darla was trying out her tablet. There was a gift card, already torn open, on the table as well. “It looks like you’re getting the hang of it.”
The echo of a real smile danced across her face. “Yeah. Look, this was too—”
“I’m glad you like it,” I said hurriedly. I had to get out of there. Now. “I’ll be back.”
Without waiting another moment, I turned and strode toward the elevators.
It wasn’t like I didn’t expect him to take care of his other clients. But that woman …
Jenny.
A small, too-thin face came to mind, and I wanted to scream. Jenny was one of the children here on the cancer ward. Her mother was exhausted with grief and worry. We’d talked a few times. She seemed genuinely sweet and doted on her daughter.
And Sean was …
My breath started to come too hard, too fast.
I jammed my finger against the panel to call for the elevator, shoulders hunched.
Hurry, hurry …
“Ella?”
I flinched at the sound of his voice. The elevator doors opened with a ding, and I went to dart inside, but he caught my arm and spun me around, looking at me with bemusement on his face.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
I jutted my chin up. “I could ask you the same thing.”
Pale gray eyes narrowed, and Sean let his hand fall away. “Seems we got a problem here … only I don’t know what it is,” he said.
I hated how calm he sounded. How casual.
“Do you come here a lot, Sean?” I asked, my voice sharp-edged.
“Often enough.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at me. “I visit a few days a week.”
A few days … I remembered the days he told me he couldn’t see me in the evenings, or afternoons.
Like … today.
I had his mornings on this day of the week, but the rest of the day, he said he was otherwise engaged.
Here.
At the hospital.
Doing what?
Fury erupted out of me and I glared at him. “So you come in … when? Monday afternoons, Sunday afternoons … sometime during the day on Wednesdays, and Thursday evenings?” I recited off the dates we’d eventually agreed were his days and watched as a ruddy flush started to climb up his neck. “Pressing engagements, Sean?”
“As a matter of fact—”
“Here often to comfort the grieving mums?” I threw an exaggerated brogue into my voice, mimicking his. “They probably lap it right up.”
His face went white.
“That’s enough,” he said in a low voice. He reached out and caught my arm. “We’re talking about this, Ella. Now.”
I tried to jerk away, but in the end, he had exactly what he wanted—me in a private lounge with the door shut. A stormy look crossed his face as he glared at me. “Just what the bloody fuck is wrong with you?”
“You can’t guess on your own?” Sneering at him, I flung out a hand toward the pediatric ward. “Fine, but I’ve got to say, can’t you go trolling for your next payday somewhere other than a kid’s cancer ward?”
“Trolling.” His lips barely moved as he spoke.
“I saw you with Jenny’s mother—Angela, right? She seemed to lap up the attention you gave her.”
“You think,” he said slowly. “You honestly think I could be so low as to move in on a woman while her child sits in a bed somewhere here on this floor fighting a disease that wants to kill her.”
The complete lack of emotion in his voice gave me pause. My brain finally started to click in, and I realized I needed to shut up now. No. I needed to apologize, I thought. Maybe ask for an explanation …
Sean reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper.
While I was trying to fumble my way through everything I’d seen and everything I was
feeling, he turned and lifted the piece of paper to the wall.
It was a check. A bit tattered and ragged from being kept in his wallet, but it was a check.
A knot jumped out of the pit of my stomach to lodge in my throat.
“Here, Your Highness. I’ll keep half for services rendered—it’s already been spent—but take the rest of your fucking money,” he said, voice bitter.
The check hung from his fingers. I just stared at it as the slow realization that I’d messed up began to form in my gut.
When I didn’t take it, he just let it fall to the floor. “Might want to grab that up, pet. There are a lot of zeros on it.”
He wrenched open the door while I just stared, frozen.
“Sean … Sean, wait.”
He shot me a look, and there was something in there that made me cringe.
Hurt.
I’d hurt him.
“I’m afraid not, Ella. You see … while I don’t have a sign hung ’round me neck, I go by that age-old standard. I got the right to refuse to … service anybody. And I’ll be damned if I spend any more time shagging a woman who thinks I could do something so low.”
The door slammed behind him with a thunderous crack and I swayed.
Slipping into a chair before I fell down, I sat and stared at the check.
Services rendered.
I don’t know how long I sat there.
My phone rang, but I couldn’t seem to move to see who it was, much less answer.
Eventually, Paul came looking for me.
Like a child, I was led down to the car, staring at nothing.
I had to fix this.
I don’t know exactly why Sean was there, but clearly, he hadn’t been up to what I thought.
“What have I done?”
Chapter 9
Darla’s eyes held an almost smile when I sat down next to her.
I was here at the same time as I’d been last week.
Sean wasn’t here.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to track him down or what I was supposed to say, but the girl on the bed was only part of the reason I’d come.
I was terrible and I knew it.
Thirty Nights with a Dirty Boy: Part 2: A Heroes and Heartbreakers Serial Page 6
