by Susan Meier
The way he’d said, “For the next five years, you’re mine,” was what caused the confusion. She felt almost as if he were buying her.
She shook her head. That was crazy. She had an MBA. She’d analyzed her first company correctly. And she would get that business back on its feet. What he was paying for, in the capacity as her employer, was her business ability.
Nonetheless, just thinking about being responsible for the big chunk of change Devon was about to transfer, and packing a suitcase and going to San Diego to instruct an existing company on how to spend that money, sent a zing of joy through her. It hit her just how big, how important to her life, this job really was.
“Read it carefully before you sign.”
She nodded, then walked out of the office as if on a cloud. All thoughts of a flower shop in Myrtle Beach fled. She was going to be somebody. She’d loved running the flower shop, but what Devon offered was so much more. It wasn’t just a career. It was a life.
Piper and Ellie had been so right. Working for Devon was nothing like anything she’d expected. Actually using her MBA was even more exciting, more interesting, more wonderful than she’d expected.
She thought about her parents missing her, then remembered something Cade had said about having a getaway place. Myrtle Beach would be a great getaway place. And her parents could also visit her.
The man of her dreams had offered her a contract that kept her with him for the next five years.
And as an honest employee—not because she was sleeping with him.
Chapter Thirteen
Cade arrived that afternoon to harass Devon about his walk of shame. Devon took it good-naturedly, but when Cade left, Isabelle walked into Devon’s office.
“Don’t bring supper tonight. I’m going to cook.”
“Cook?”
“Don’t get snooty. I like to cook.” She smiled. “Plus, now that your brothers have caught on that you’re sleeping with someone, if you keep buying takeout, the women at the diner will be next to realize something’s up.”
“They told you that they put it all together when I did the walk of shame?”
“I thought Cade might explode from the thrill of finally catching you.”
“That’s because I’ve never been with anybody from town.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, mostly because it caused that ridiculously happy feeling to bubble up again, and she knew that was just plain wrong.
“I also made an appointment to talk with Jeff Franklin about the employment agreement.” And she might also ask him about getting out of the clause that her parents had agreed to about her working for the Donovans as part of the deal. The fact that Devon hadn’t kept her at Buds and Blossoms might actually be enough to negate it. But she’d ask…just in case.
“Good. I thought because you have knowledge of contracts you might just read it yourself and sign it. But I don’t want you to do that. I’m glad you’re having a lawyer read it. So you’ll know what you’re signing.”
“Oh, I will.” He chuckled, and she walked out of his office.
Around five o’clock, Piper called saying she’d scheduled three interviews for Buds and Blossoms’ new manager.
“Do you want to sit in?”
Isabelle said, “No,” and another strange feeling enveloped her. She had just delegated. Not hired someone to run a register or take phone calls or deliver flowers. She’d handed off a fairly important job to someone she trusted. She really was in the upper echelon of business.
At seven that evening, after working an hour late and taking a quick trip to O’Riley’s Market, she stepped out of her car with her grocery bags and saw Mimi Benjamin standing in her front yard.
“Well, Izzy, you’re here a lot!” Tall and slender with black hair cut into a cute pixie style, Mimi didn’t look old enough to be the mother of two high school kids.
“My mom wants the place to look lived-in for the realtor.”
Mimi glanced up at the stately craftsman. “I’m surprised this place hasn’t sold already.”
“I think my parents priced it too high out of sentimentality.”
Walking across the yard to Isabelle’s driveway, Mimi laughed. “Or they priced it so high nobody else can afford it and eventually you’ll buy it.”
Wouldn’t that just be something her parents would do? They’d price it so high they wouldn’t get an offer then call it fate and ask her to buy it. Except now they wanted her to move to Myrtle Beach with them. And even if she didn’t, she couldn’t buy it because, at least for now, it was her meeting place with Devon. “Can’t. Too big.”
Mimi said, “Hum. Not if you get married and have a few kids.”
Married?
The word sent a shockwave of something through Isabelle.
She shook it off. “I just got a new job, Mimi. Making great money.” She closed her car door with her foot. “There’s no marriage in my future any time soon.”
Mimi laughed. “That’s exactly what everybody says right before they meet the right person.”
That went through her oddly, too.
Isabelle forced a smile and displayed her bags. “Gotta get inside before my ice cream melts.”
She walked down the driveway without looking back to see if Mimi went into her house, those strange feelings following her up the back porch steps and into the kitchen.
She forced the thought of marriage out of her head while she made her shrimp scampi and salads. But when Devon walked in the back door an hour later, loosening his tie, they all came tumbling back.
He looked like a husband.
She tried to shove that thought away, but he took her by the waist and kissed her, saying, “I’m starving,” just the way her dad had done every night when Isabelle was a kid.
She shrugged away from him. “Dinner’s nothing special. Shrimp scampi, noodles, some salad.”
He sniffed the air. “Smells great.”
“Good. Go wash up—” Hearing her mother’s words coming out of her mouth, she froze.
Devon didn’t seem to think anything of it. He walked down the hall to the half-bath and later emerged, drying his hands.
Isabelle set them up at the breakfast bar.
“I offered to walk my mom down the aisle.”
She swallowed. Dinner conversation that didn’t center on work or sex. She fought down “that” feeling again. “I heard.”
He dug into his noodles. “Probably from my brothers at breakfast.” He met her gaze. “They were surprised.”
“I get the impression they aren’t accustomed to you adjusting to accommodate somebody else.”
He shrugged. “I normally don’t.” He smiled at her. “I think you’re a good influence.”
Her tummy tumbled. His mother had already said she was good for him. And she liked being good for him. Now he was admitting she was good for him. If she let herself, she could overanalyze those sentiments and see things he didn’t intend.
He took her hand and kissed it. “Thank you.”
Don’t take that the wrong way. Don’t take that the wrong way. Don’t take that the wrong way!
She slid her hand away from his and faced her dinner, which suddenly looked like lumps of sand. The only way to get this relationship straight in her head would be to actually get them back to the place they belonged. Otherwise, she was going to be hurt when he said or did something that slapped her back to the reality that, for him, this was just sex.
“Piper’s got three interviews lined up for the Buds and Blossoms manager.”
“Good.”
“I was thinking once we get someone in place, we could let the manager hire the rest of the staff.”
He finished his bite of food and said, “Makes sense.”
“Because I’m thinking of making my flight arrangements for San Diego.”
“For next week, right?”
“No. I decided to go tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
And she would really be scram
bling tonight to book a flight, but this was all starting to get to her. She had his attention. He’d given her a great job—which he felt she deserved. They ate dinner together every night. Basically, they were sharing this house like a couple. And she was taking things the wrong way. A break right now seemed like a very good idea.
Devon left Isabelle’s parents’ house that night carrying his tie and jacket, sneaking along the bushes, hoping for cover, feeling odd. Since “feeling odd” could be explained by sneaking through the darkness, hugging bushes, he decided he didn’t feel odd. What he felt or sensed was that something was wrong.
Isabelle had skirted the subject of her flight times, didn’t want him to drive her to the airport. And when they had sex, she’d held something back.
For the first time since they’d started the affair, she’d held back.
Climbing into his hidden SUV, he went over his techniques and knew he’d made some of his best moves. Yet, something had been off.
The curiousness of that kept him up half the night. He tried not to think of it the next morning, especially when his mother and brothers came to his office for their weekly meeting.
Cade said, “Where’s Izzy?”
Finn dropped to a chair at the conference table in the corner of his room. “Please do not tell me you have her making coffee.”
“Actually, she’s on her way to San Diego. We’re bailing out a small tech company. I gave her the CEO’s letter asking for help and the financials he sent when I requested more information, and she quickly saw the problems. But she also came up with a five-year plan for them. She’ll be showing them how to implement it.”
His mom’s face scrunched with confusion. “Over a weekend?”
“It’s not the weekend, Mom.” But it would be. Today, Wednesday would be a traveling day for her. So she’d only have tomorrow and Friday to do her business. She couldn’t educate executives on a five-year plan in two days. Could she? Wouldn’t she need Monday and probably Tuesday? So why go so close to a weekend? Unless she wanted to sightsee? He already missed her, but she wanted to sightsee?
Finn laughed. “I’m just shocked you’re actually letting somebody else do some of this work.”
“Isabelle’s smart and educated. I’d be a fool not to use her talents.”
“Yeah,” Cade agreed as he held out a chair for their mom. “But I thought you might still be on that kick that nobody can do anything as well as you can.”
“She might prove me wrong,” Devon said slowly, his stomach falling. She hadn’t signed the agreement. She had left for San Diego abruptly. True, she’d said she wanted to be there when the money was wired so they associated her with the bailout and anchored her to her purpose. But what if she had another reason for wanting to go? She was intelligent. She was educated, and she was getting experience. She could be out there making contacts. In roads. Getting to know people for when she left him.
When she leaves me?
Why did just thinking that make his chest hurt?
He shook his head, telling himself not to think like that and get his mind back on work.
He handed out packets of information to his family. Then did his power point presentation that showed where he’d stashed their money. How much was in bonds, stocks, mutual funds, simple savings, and venture capitalist investments.
When the meeting was over, his family left. And he was in the big, quiet house all by himself again. He also had a weird feeling welling up in his chest. Finn had proved his maturity by not striking back when their dad punched him in the park. Cade had sorted out his fear that he was like their dad and was a good father. His mom might not know a lot about money, but she was beginning to ask all the right questions. And she’d left Bob at home. When it came to money, she was her own boss.
Even more proof that the little family he’d been protecting for decades didn’t need him. He expected a sense of panic. Maybe a letdown. Instead he felt nothing. Except a slight ringing in his ears. A blank space where his sense of responsibility had been.
Luckily, he had enough conference calls to keep him busy the entire day, so he didn’t have to think about it. The final call lasted until night. But, feeling empty, he sat in his office another hour, hoping Isabelle would call. He remembered the first day she’d worked for him. She’d had to leave to make some arrangements at the flower shop, but didn’t check in. So he’d gone after her. Helped her deliver flowers.
He snorted. Well, that uncomplicated relationship didn’t last long. Still, she should remember to check in. He’d thought he’d instilled that rule in her.
When she didn’t call, he reminded himself San Diego was three hours behind. She could have actually had time that day to go into the office and do some work. Which could mean she was waiting until she got back to her hotel to call. He rose from his desk, went to his master bedroom, took a shower, and got into bed.
Or she could have gone out to dinner with the executives from the company.
Or maybe just one executive.
Or maybe some good-looking guy was staying at her hotel—
Damn it! Why was he thinking like this?
With his cell phone on the stand beside him, he realized he could call her. He reached for the phone—
But told himself not to call. He had to learn to trust her.
Besides, for once, going to bed without one worry about his family felt like a blessing.
He should enjoy it.
So why couldn’t he?
Thursday night, Isabelle sat in her hotel room in San Diego, staring at her phone. She could call Devon. But the fact that he let Wednesday and Thursday go by without calling her sent her a few messages that she knew she’d be wise to receive.
First, he must trust her with this assignment because he hadn’t checked on her. The first day she’d worked for him, he came looking for her at the flower shop. Not calling today proved he trusted her. With bigger money. Higher stakes.
But he also must not miss her. At least, not the way she missed him. Which meant exactly what she had been thinking the night before she left on this trip. She had to get her head on straight about this relationship. He wasn’t looking for marriage. He wasn’t looking for love. He was looking for fun.
And she needed some fun, too. Good grief, she hadn’t had a boyfriend since college. She didn’t do anything for entertainment or amusement. She needed their relationship as much as he did.
She looked at her silent phone.
If she wanted to continue to have fun, she had to wash away any thought of love.
She slid under the covers.
Looked at the ceiling.
Was she ready to go back to this? The silence? Because if she stopped seeing Devon out of worry that she’d fall in love, this was what she’d have in her life. Nothing but silence.
Hell, no. She was not going back to the silence! She’d liked what they had until Mimi had said the word “marriage.”
She was not upset or looking for more, and leaving the way she did, sullenly, stupidly, might have cost her what they had.
Friday morning, Devon’s mother called and told him Bob was making burgers at his “cottage” for lunch. Tired of hearing the house echo, and also glad to have his mother so happy with him, he drove into town and joined them. Ellie and Finn, Piper, Cade, and little Richie had been invited, too, and the scene was one big happy family event.
But Devon couldn’t settle. He told himself to stop thinking about the way Isabelle had gone to an important job without signing the employment agreement first. He knew she needed a few weeks for Jeff Franklin to review it for her. He told himself that she was right about wanting to be in the San Diego office when that money arrived, so the company would associate her with salvation. But he couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d been in bed their last time, slightly withdrawn. Quiet.
He ate his burger, held little Richie, laughed at some jokes, slapped Bob on the shoulder, telling him how great the food had been, but he knew he was only go
ing through the motions.
Eventually, he pushed his chair back and said, “Well, this was fun, but some of us still work for a living.”
Bob said, “Stay. It’s Friday afternoon. Maybe we could play some volleyball, drink some beer and just, you know, chill out.”
He suspected his mom and Bob wanted everyone to get accustomed to this little cottage as being the new family headquarters, but Devon simply wasn’t in the mood. He didn’t need to be here to be a peacemaker or a problem solver. They were happy. And he could leave without guilt or worry.
The space in his head where his sense of responsibility had resided filled with just the tiniest bit of greed. No longer having to worry about his family, he could think about himself. Do what he wanted.
He pointed at his suit. “Not exactly volleyball attire.”
Piper gave him a quick onceover and agreed, but Ellie stood up. “You know what? I feel like a nap. If Devon doesn’t mind driving me to my house, I want to leave, too.”
Jumping on that, Devon said, “I’d be glad to drive you.” He turned to Bob. “We can do this again next Friday…but I’ll dress for it.”
Bob rose and shook his hand. “Sounds great.”
He left with Ellie, opening his SUV door for her and giving her a hoist up so she and her very round stomach could get into the vehicle.
It wasn’t until he was behind the steering wheel that he realized his mistake. Nobody had badgered him about his mystery woman because no one had had the chance. And here he was, giving Ellie a front row seat to privacy with him. Ten long minutes of potential questions.
In a preemptive strike, he said, “I’m not going to talk about my girlfriend.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to say lover to a woman about to pop out a child. It seemed crass.
Ellie lifted her head from the headrest. “What?”
“I said I’m not going to talk about my private life.”
She put her head back again and closed her eyes. “Okay.”
He peered over at her. “Not going to hassle me?”
She laughed. “Do you want to be hassled? Because if you do, Finn would be more than happy to oblige.”
