They each gulped back their drinks, and after Madison put her empty shot glass down on the table she shook her head.
“I should really be pretty angry with Harry.”
“Angry? Why?” Charlie asked.
“He ruined me for other guys.”
Lizzie tittered with a high-pitched laugh. “What are you talking about?”
Madison ran her finger over the rim of her empty shot glass. “Every guy since then has never quite lived up to him. I mean, I know it was a one-night stand and all, but no guy has ever seemed as smooth or as charming, or—”
“Good in bed,” Charlie cut in.
Madison swept her long brown hair about her shoulder, snickering. “Yeah, that too.”
“Just be thankful you’ve had that,” Lizzie advised. “I’ve been at this dating game for damn near ten years and I’ve never met anyone like your Harry. I was beginning to think men like that only existed in romance novels.”
“Did you ever want to go back to his place and find out more about him?” Charlie’s blue eyes contemplated Madison’s perfect profile.
“Thought about it…but I doubt he would remember who I was.” Madison glanced around the half-empty bar. “No, if we met up again, it would ruin my memories of that night. I’d probably discover he’s just like every other asshole out there.”
“Yeah, but what an asshole,” Lizzie imparted with a giggle.
“I don’t know.” Charlie leaned forward. “Might be nice to know if the two of you could make it or not.”
Madison shook her head. “A man like that would never look at me.”
“Why not?” Charlie challenged. “He certainly liked what he saw in the bar.”
“Charlie, a guy like that wants one of those ultra-chic women; the kind that leave high heel marks in their back, max out their credit cards, wears a size zero, and can suck the cap off a fire hydrant.”
Lizzie began snorting loudly with laughter.
Charlie ignored Lizzie and glared at her friend. “Why do you always do this, Mads? You never think you’re good enough for anyone.” Charlie waved her hand up and down Madison’s figure. “You can have any guy you want, but you always end up with losers.”
Madison reached for her glass of beer. “Losers? Like who?”
“Oh God,” Lizzie chimed in. “Can we ever forget the foghorn, Elliot? The guy’s laugh could clear a room faster than a rabid raccoon in church on Sunday.”
“That’s mean, Lizzie,” Charlie scolded. “It wasn’t his laugh that drove people crazy, it was that obnoxious habit he had of sucking air through his teeth.” Charlie imitated the sound, drawing the attention of a few nearby tables. “He wasn’t the worst. Remember Sid, the furniture repair guy?”
“He restored furniture, not repaired,” Madison corrected with a smirk.
“Was he the one who always smelled like salami?” Lizzie queried.
Charlie shook her head. “That was the guy who worked in Rocco’s Deli.” She glanced over at Madison. “Wasn’t his name Rocco, too?”
“Stop it, both of you,” Madison chided. “Elliot was a sweet guy. Sid was very nice to me, and his name was Ronnie, not Rocco. And he didn’t smell like salami…at least not all the time.”
Charlie shook her head, reaching for her beer. “Honestly, Mads, you have great guys asking you out, but you only date men who are less than what you deserve.”
“Maybe I don’t deserve a great guy.”
“Where is that coming from? Of course you do. We all do.” Charlie motioned between the three women. “The problem with being female is we’re raised in a society that constantly tells us how to act, what to be, and what we deserve, but that’s not the reality. We’re different, but not any less equal to men. We should—”
“Oh great. Here she goes again,” Lizzie interrupted.
“Good thing she’s marrying a civil rights attorney,” Madison commented. “Now she has someone to listen to all of her rants.”
“Very funny. And I don’t rant. I’m a law student; we debate,” Charlie professed, smirking. “But think about it, where would our sex be if people didn’t rant?”
Lizzie stretched for her beer, frowning with boredom. “Probably still sweeping out caves, right?”
“When I’m gone, Mads,” Charlie went on, “you’ll need someone to watch out for your interests. I swear there are days when I think if I’m not around to protect you, you’ll end up in the arms of some psychotic asshole.”
“I’ll be fine, Charlie.”
“I hope so.” Charlie eyed her suspiciously. “Just use your head in the future, all right? Don’t go out to any bars and pick up strange men hoping to find that Harry again. Promise me.”
“Why not?” Lizzie countered. “Seems to me that was the one time she found herself a great guy.”
“Perhaps,” Charlie agreed with a slight nod of her head. “But lightning never strikes twice. You lucked out the first time, kid.” She took a sip of her beer.
“I know.” Feeling depressed by her situation, Madison raised her beer to her lips. “Just wish I could get that lucky again.”
***
Pushing the door of their fifth floor apartment open, Madison giggled as Charlie followed her inside. When Charlie flipped on the lights, the small living room—piled high with boxes—glared back at them.
Madison gazed about the bare white walls and sighed. “It’s going to be empty without you, Charlie.”
“You’ll love not having me around, Mads. No more waiting for the bathroom, listening to my alternative music selections, and—”
“No more listening to you and Nelson going at it,” Madison jumped in.
Charlie furrowed her sleek white brow. “Were we that noisy?”
“Are you kidding me? The neighbors even complained.”
Charlie snickered and breezed into the apartment. “Well, you can have the privacy now to bring a guy home and disturb the neighbors with him.” She casually tossed her purse on top of the boxes stacked on the plush green sofa.
“You know, it’s funny.” Madison shut the door and turned the deadbolt. “Of all the guys you brought here, I never thought you would end up with Nelson. He seemed so…mild-mannered.”
“Mild-mannered?” Charlie leered back at her. “Hardly. How a man appears to be vertically is never how he acts horizontally.”
Madison lowered her eyes to the floor. “Oh,” was all she could manage to say.
“I think you’re the same way, Mads. I think this,” Charlie waved her hand down the length of Madison’s figure, “sweet little girl routine hides the assertive woman beneath. After all, a woman who is as shy as you would never have gone to a bar and just picked up a guy.”
Madison moved toward the kitchen. “I was young and stupid. You said so yourself.”
“You were also brave, and I think you need to start tapping into that side of you, especially now.”
Madison placed her black purse on the breakfast bar that divided the kitchen from the living room. “What are you talking about?”
“Mads, you start working at a renowned architectural firm tomorrow. You’re going to have to fight to prove yourself. I know how those places are. I’ve been clerking in Nelson’s firm for a year now and companies like that are pretty ruthless. You’re a woman, a very pretty woman who is going to be a magnet for men who are going to make your life a living hell.” Charlie came up to her. “You need to promise me that you will stand up for yourself in this job. Working for old man Pellerin is nothing compared to the place you’re going. You need to watch out and don’t trust anyone.”
“Stop worrying so much about me.” Madison pointed at Charlie. “You’re the one getting married. Shouldn’t we be concerned about you?”
“Perhaps you’re right; I’m the one heading into the shark-infested waters of marriage.”
“Don’t let Nelson hear you say that.”
“Actually, it’s more like, ‘don’t let Nelson’s mother hear me say that.’�
� Charlie rolled her shoulders forward. “Here I am warning you about standing up at your job, and I can’t even stand up to my future mother-in-law.”
“You caved on the teal bridesmaids’ dresses, didn’t you?”
Dejected, Charlie slowly nodded her head. “She hounded me until I gave in. I swore I would never have teal as a color in my wedding, and here I am with teal and chocolate all over everything from the sanctuary to the floral arrangements. My bridal party is going to look like day old bruises.”
“Must be love then, eh?” Madison joked. “Only love would get you to push your principles to the side.”
“Love and an insistent mother of the groom,” Charlie snickered. “I swear, if my mother was alive, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I kind of wish she were here to help plan everything. Sometimes I think Nelson’s mother is stepping in because I have no mother.”
“Your mom is with you, Charlie. I know she would have been so proud.”
“Yeah, I know.” Charlie shook off her sullen mood. “I wish I’d met Caroline Peevy when Nelson and I were first going out. I might have bolted right then and there.” She turned toward a hallway off to the side of the living room. “There’s another lesson for you, Mads. Meet the mother-in-law before you take the ring.”
Madison highly doubted she would ever be plagued with such a dilemma as a mother-in-law. She had long ago put any notions of marriage and children out of her head, determined to be a successful architect and not a wife and mother. She did not envy Charlie in the slightest. In fact, Madison was relieved it was not her. “Life is an investment,” her late grandfather had always told her. She needed to invest wisely and stay focused on her goals, no matter the cost.
Chapter 2
Parr and Associates was located in the Renaissance Tower in downtown Dallas. A fifty-six story modernist skyscraper, the sleek glass and steel structure gleamed in the early morning sunlight that peeked out from behind the fall clouds blanketing the sky.
Reaching for the brass door handles that marked one of the glass entrances to the building, Madison took in a deep breath. The butterflies that had been swarming in her belly all morning only seemed to get worse as she neared the sleek, silver elevator doors which were to take her to her new home away from home.
After stepping inside the crowded elevator, she pushed the lighted button on the console for the thirty-third floor and eased her way to the back. She was brushing her hand down the front of her smart blue pinstripe dress when a tall man in a gray suit eased up next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his dark brown wavy hair and determined profile. She didn’t want to stare, but found herself admiring the curve of his square jaw and the cut of his cheekbones along his clean-shaven face. When he turned to her, she immediately lowered her eyes. The butterflies in her stomach were in a full blown fury now, and she swallowed back the burning taste of embarrassment in her mouth.
As she stood there, eyes riveted to the elevator floor, she could feel his gaze on her. She knew it, sensed him drinking in her profile. Terrified, she fought every impulse to look up at him, and when the elevator doors closed, the car shot upward and jostled her to the side, making her brush against him.
“Sorry,” she whispered, keeping her focus fixed on the ugly brown tiles on the elevator floor.
“Think nothing of it.”
It was a soft, seductive, deep kind of voice that a woman would want to hear from the pillow next to her in bed.
She could detect the slightest whiff of his cologne; spicy, but with a hint of muskiness. Not enough to overwhelm the nose, like so many other men’s fragrances, but just enough to tantalize the senses. With her curiosity getting the better of her, Madison tried to edge her eyes slowly upward, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Unfortunately, the elevator came to a halt, the doors opened, and a rush of people began to push for the exit.
Glancing at the lighted console, Madison determined they had stopped on the twentieth floor. The man beside her shuffled forward and she thought he was going to exit the elevator, but instead he took a step closer to her.
Madison’s heart raced as the elevator doors closed again and the car shot upward.
“First day?” his velvety voice inquired.
She bit her lower lip and nodded her head. Raising her eyes ever so slightly, she concentrated on his freshly-shaved chin. “How could you tell?”
His thin lips curled into a maddening smile. “You look absolutely terrified.”
Madison fought to get ahold of her emotions. If he could see it, imagine what her employer would think. She had to appear self-assured and ready to take up her new responsibilities.
“I’m just nervous,” she shyly admitted.
The edge of his jacket brushed against her shoulder. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
His words sent an unsettling chill throughout her body. There was something about the way he had said it—the tone of his voice, the inflection—that reminded her of someone she could not place. Intrigued by the stranger, she was just about to raise her head to him when the elevator car once again jerked to a stop. When her eyes shifted to the lighted panel, she saw they had come to a stop on the thirty-second floor.
The man beside her made a move toward the doors, and came to a stop right in front of her. Madison ogled his thick, wide shoulders, the way his suit jacket hugged his trim waist, and then her eyes drifted down to his round backside.
Someone cleared their throat in the elevator and she instantly thought she had been caught staring at the guy’s ass. A flush of warmth spread across her cheeks and she clutched her purse to her side as her eyes once again plummeted to the elevator floor. The group of people, including her stranger, moved out the elevator door, and for an instant, Madison felt a twinge of disappointment that she had not gotten a better look at the man. Luckily, just as the elevator doors closed, she caught a glimpse of him, standing just outside of the doors, staring back at her.
The jolt that hit her body was overwhelming. His face was more than she expected; rugged, good-looking with gray eyes, a wide forehead, and chiseled features that would have made him the object of any woman’s fantasy. His trim figure appeared tone and lean behind the fabric of his suit, and as he grinned back at her, he eased his hand into his trouser pocket before dipping his head.
When the elevator doors finally closed, Madison thought her knees were going to give out.
What in the hell is wrong with me?
By the time she was able to regain her composure, the elevator doors opened onto the thirty-third floor. Gripping her purse, she forced all thoughts of the devastatingly handsome stranger from her mind. She had a job to do.
Making her way along the pale beige hallway, she stopped in front of a glass entrance to Parr and Associates. The two front doors were trimmed in dark wood and covered with the company logo of a black rooftop which covered the name of the firm written in red. Easing her hand around the sleek wood handle, Madison glanced once more down the hall toward the elevators, hoping for…. She pulled the door open and stepped inside.
The reception area was done in alternating shades of brown and beige, with a burgundy Oriental rug covering a dark green stone floor. On the walls were various framed pictures of famous houses, probably designed by the firm over the years. Some were well-known landmarks to many who resided in the Dallas area; others had graced the front covers of various architectural magazines or won prizes for their unique presentation.
Approaching a cherry-stained reception desk with a dour-looking receptionist, Madison remembered her posture, squared her shoulders, and put on her best smile.
“Hello. I’m Madison Barnett, one of the new architects.”
The ashen brunette forced a smile to her wan lips. “You’re early. I like it. Welcome, Madison. I’m Sam, Sam Copper. I run the front desk.” The plump receptionist stood from her high backed chair. “Glad to see we have a woman joining our ranks. I’ll show you to your office. You’ll be sharing it with the other
architect Mr. Parr hired. Another man.” She rolled her tired brown eyes.
“But Mr. Parr didn’t hire me,” Madison injected. “I met with Mr. Worthy.”
Sam came around the desk. “Mr. Worthy is Mr. Parr’s right hand man. Trust me, Mr. Parr has the final say in every person who works here.”
Madison waited as Sam opened a pair of dark-paneled doors. “I hope I get to meet Mr. Parr sometime soon. He’s quite a legend in architectural circles.”
“Old man Parr was the legend. He retired from the firm a few years ago. His son, Hayden, runs Parr and Associates now.”
“I didn’t realize that,” Madison confessed.
“Yeah, Hayden’s been real instrumental in getting Parr and Associates some media exposure over the years. He’s into social networking and PR.”
Madison hurried through the doors and the faint aroma of freshly brewed coffee tempted her nose. “Does Mr. Parr make it a habit to meet with new employees after he hires them and not before?”
Sam motioned down the dark-paneled hallway to her left. “I don’t know why he never met with you. I know he met with your new office mate, Adam, however.”
Madison rubbed her hands together as she followed Sam down the hallway. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. “Now I’m kind of worried about meeting him. What if he doesn’t like me?”
Sam turned to her and placed a motherly hand on her arm. “Don’t be nervous, dear. He’ll love you. Mr. Parr is a pretty nice man to work for. Sure he has his shouting days and his days where you had better stay clear of him, but he also goes to a lot of social functions around the city, and usually makes sure his employees get invited. It’s one of the perks of the job…we get into all the best events.” She turned away. “Before he separated from his wife, Mrs. Parr used to make a point of stopping by the office and meeting all the new employees.” She winked at Madison. “Probably why he never hired any women architects before you.”
Madison was taken aback. “His wife didn’t like him hiring women?”
Sam stopped before an office door with a bright brass handle. “Ellen Parr was kind of the jealous type, but when you meet Mr. Parr you’ll see why.” She pushed the door open.
That Night with You Page 2
