Mix'n Business With Pleasure

by Hadley Raydeen

  Charles put his hand on his son’s shoulder and pushed him back. “It’s okay, son. You know, Gregory. You thought you had me. You framed me for embezzlement. Damn near fifteen years I was locked up because of your lies.”

  “You were involved, and you know it. You served time you deserved. In the end, I won. I got the money. I got your wife,” Gregory chuckled.

  Jaxon heard his father growl.

  “You did not get anything.” His mother stepped forward. “What you thought you had, I made sure to take. Why do you think Charles is out right now?”

  “Jane, what did you do?” Gregory stepped forward. Now Robert helped Russell hold him back.

  Jaxon turned to his mother. “Mom?” He searched his mother’s face.

  “A wife and mother do what they have to for their family, son.” She patted her son’s face. “I suspect you found a good woman like that as well.” She winked at him as his father nodded. “She is a good one, son.” Charles clapped his back.

  “What did you two do…?” he turned as he heard a crowd of people rush up the steps. Men dressed in black with guns locked and loaded.

  “Gregory Lester Sheldon! Hands in the air!” one of them yelled.

  Gregory turned and complied. “What is this about, officers?” he tried to offer a smile.

  “You are under arrest for embezzlement, and conspiracy to commit embezzlement. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say may be used against you in a court of law…”

  Jaxon turned to look at his parents as his stepfather was pulled away in handcuffs. “I’m sure one, or both of you, will explain to me what in the hell just happened there.” His mother smiled while his father rubbed her shoulders. “You two have been working on this, this whole time, haven’t you?”

  His mother nodded. “Fifteen years of being with that man.” She sobbed shaking her head. “I did it for your father, Jaxon.” She looked up at Charles. “He wasn’t going to spend another minute in there when Gregory was out here free. Not on my watch.”

  “Mom, why didn’t you tell me?” He embraced her.

  “This was our fight, son. We had to fix this,” his dad piped in.

  “And we did.” His mom nodded.

  “You may want to check on your lady friend.” His father nodded in her direction.

  Oh my God, Bevin just witnessed all of that. She probably had so many questions. He turned to look at her. He noticed Robert exiting the hallway back into the party, no doubt to find Sara. Russell was guiding Bevin back into the party, as well. She looked over his shoulder, though and locked eyes with Jaxon before she walked away.

  She stood on the front steps of the building saying goodbye to her brother and sister-in-law. The evening had come to a close and most people were headed home. She had managed to avoid Jaxon the rest of the evening as he was too involved with his parents. Which, she still couldn’t believe that Charles was Jaxon’s father.

  I should have said goodbye to Russell before I came out here so I could just leave. She turned to walk back in the building and caught him standing in the doorway.

  “Did you follow me?” Her voice sounded shaky and gave way to the jitters she felt in her stomach just looking at him.

  “I saw you walk out with your family. Following you sounds…stalkerish as hell, baby. I just wanted to talk to you, away from all of that in there.” He walked toward her and she willed her feet to stay in place and her knees not to buckle upon his approach.

  “It was a very nice cocktail party. We used a new caterer. Excellent choice; the food was great. Russell seemed pleased.” She knew she sounded ridiculous rambling after everything else that had happened that evening.

  “What about you, Bevin? Are you...?” He stopped near her looking down at her. He pressed a palm to her cheek and she inadvertently leaned her face into its warmth.

  “Am I what?” she asked, closing her eyes; enjoying the cadence of his voice and the warm summer breeze swirling around them.

  “Are you pleased, baby?”

  Her eyes fluttered opened and she looked up into his gaze. “Yes, I am…”

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Wait, what?” she asked attempting to pull from him.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Go where? Jaxon, what are you doing?” He took her hand and led her away from the building.

  “Do you have your purse?” he asked.

  “Well, yes, but I wanted to say goodbye to Russell and my team before I go. It’s rather rude to just dip out of a party without saying goodnight.”

  “He’ll be fine. You’ll see them tomorrow.” He continued to walk with her in tow.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Jaxon.” She stood her ground.

  He stopped and stared at her. “We should talk about all of this tonight. And we need to talk...about us.”

  “What about us? About how we were doing well and then you got really distant on me? I’ve dealt with that in the past with Robert and I can’t do that again. And we see what he is up to now, about to be a proud papa and all.”

  “Bevin, I’m nothing like Robert. I’m trying to make this right between us. Please, hear me out.”

  “Blindsiding me with a marriage proposal will not make it better, Jaxon.”

  “Bevin, I didn’t just ask you to marry me because I was trying to smooth things over. I have true feelings for you and I think we would be great together.”

  “I need more than a month and lack of communication to figure out if marriage is really in the cards.”

  “So that’s a ‘no’?” he ran his hand through his dark hair and loosened the tie at his neck.

  “Do you honestly think we are ready for marriage?” she asked incredulously.

  “I’m not asking to marry you tomorrow. I want the chance to show you we can build a future.” He waited for her to respond. She knew he was giving her the opportunity to mirror his feelings. She could only feel tears forming in her eyes; not able to find the words to answer him the way he wanted. “Okay, I understand.” He turned to walk away from her.

  “Jaxon…”

  “It’s okay, Ms. Thomas. It was nice getting to know you while we did.”

  She watched him walk away as she stood in front of the new building he reconstructed with her in mind. She didn’t try to stop him or make a scene.

  “That’s the only thing this really could be anyway; a business deal,” she justified, but it didn’t sound right even to her.

  She never lived her life with regrets and she wouldn’t start now.

  Her boss found her in her new office an hour later. “Party is over, Bevin. You should go home. No work tonight. We can start this up again tomorrow.”

  She looked up from her laptop and she could only imagine how she looked. She’d spent the last hour rehashing their conversation, hell, rehashing the whole night and she had more questions than answers. She was sure her makeup was a wreck. The bottle of wine sitting beside her on the desk was nearly drained.

  “Well hell, Bevin.” Russell walked forward and slid into the chair across from her. “I know I’m your boss, but I’m your friend as well. I’ve had my share of relationship problems and I can tell the signs. Plus, tonight was pretty heavy. Want to talk about it?”

  “Please, tell me everything you know about all of this. Jaxon wanted to talk tonight, but I was being stubborn and…”

  “You pushed him away?” Russell finished the thought for her.

  “Yes, and I know this is not about me. He has the family issues going on and...” She shook her head and poured another glass of wine. She pointed at the bottle and then to Russell.

  “I can tell you what I know and my part in it all, but it will be high level. You’ll have to let Jax tell you the rest.”

  She stood up, and walked to her small wet bar plucking another glass and another bottle before joining Russell at the desk. She poured the last of the wine and handed it to the man sitting across from her.

  He took the long stemme
d glass and watched her open the new bottle and pour wine for herself before he started. “The part of the story I heard from Charles is when Jaxon came to UConn is when he and Jane met Gregory. I’m not exactly sure how that meeting came about, but Charles started working with Gregory on investment opportunities in real estate that were not exactly on the up and up. This included commercial and residential properties. According to Charles, Gregory set him up in a rather large federally investigated Ponzi scheme when Gregory, in fact, was the guilty party. Charles has been in prison for the last fourteen years because of it.”

  “Oh my God. How horrible for his family.” Bevin covered her mouth thinking about Jaxon just starting college, knowing his father would be in jail for the good part of his young adult life. “How in the world were Jane and Jaxon able to deal with Gregory so closely after what he did? Hell, Jane married the man!”

  “I do believe that was all part of the plan to get back at Gregory.” Russell chuckled. “Took her some time but she fought back for her man.”

  “Did Jaxon know any of this? He told me his father was dead when we first talked about him,” Bevin asked.

  “Well, I don’t think Jaxon was very aware of what was going on. He was in school. All he knew was his father had been imprisoned for fraud. You’ll have to ask him what he did and did not know or how he felt about the whole thing.”

  Bevin nodded. “How are Robert and Sara tied into this whole thing?”

  Russell sighed and downed the rest of the wine in his glass. “Robert always did have a way with finding his nose in something that was never any of his business. Did you know Sara worked closely with Gregory?” Bevin nodded ‘yes’. “Well, she’d met Robert and Charles through Gregory which is also how she met Jaxon. The same trick Gregory tried on Charles, he also tried on Robert. Robert pulled out of the partnership before he got caught up like Charles did and it’s a good thing he did. He may have found himself in a jail cell right alongside Charles.”

  Bevin watched Russell closely. “Sara was the other woman all those years ago when he broke up with me?”

  Russell stopped and looked at Bevin. “Robert was a rolling stone, Bevin. It has nothing to do with you and who you are as a woman. I’ve told you this before. You are better than all of that. And he gets what he deserves. I’m sure Sara is using that baby to trap him.”

  She shook her head and sobered her thoughts about Robert and what they had. That was the past and she had her future to look forward to. Jaxon.

  “Besides, they may not be as bad as we think,” Russell added, “and you know that pains me to say. When Gregory made plans to come after this company, Sara told Robert there may be an opportunity to invest in this company again and he should grab the opportunity before Gregory did. Robert found out you were now in leadership here and he wanted to make sure the company was safe from Gregory. When they found out Jaxon was sniffing around, they thought he was working for Gregory to get the company.”

  “He wasn’t?” Bevin asked quietly. She didn’t really want to know this answer. If Jaxon was working for Gregory, then he was just using her and that would crush her more than anything.

  “You should really get those answers from Jaxon yourself,” Russell responded. “Robert went to visit Charles in jail to ask him those questions and that is when he figured out Charles was being released early because of new evidence. He began working with Sara and Robert for more information on Gregory and Jaxon. He met with me to warn me on going into business with Gregory and he ran into you as you were leaving a jazz club.”

  Bevin’s face warmed. “I thought he was my driver I called for.” Now that she thought about it, she never did get a confirmation from her driver’s app and she was never charged for that ride. “How did he know who I was?” Bevin asked.

  “Robert told him his son had been sniffing around a gorgeous professional that had him chasing his tail while working against Gregory every chance he got. Charles just had to meet you.” Russell winked. “Maybe you should get the rest of the story from Jaxon. I think I told you everything that is my business to tell. We will be working with Charles and Jane in some capacity as they will be helping us with the deal we were meeting about in Austin. They have some good ideas and I think it will work out and Charles can invest cleanly without Gregory’s underhanded methods in the background.”

  Bevin nodded.

  “So tell me what’s up with you and Jaxon, for real?” Russell asked redirecting the conversation, and helping himself to more of her wine.

  Hearing Jaxon’s name made her heart flutter.. “Before you judge me, I was very professional when it came to work. I made sure not to mix this,” she indicated, waving a hand in the air at her surroundings, “with this.” She put a hand to her heart.

  “I never thought that at all. You did an amazing job managing this project. I noticed a spark between the two of you. Hell, others noticed the spark between the two of you, but I never thought it got in the way of your work. What happened to get you all upset?” Russell sipped from his stemmed glass awaiting her response.

  She gave the paraphrased version of her back and forth with Jaxon over the last few weeks. Their ups and downs, his distancing himself while she was away and before she got to the part that had her heart all tied up in knots. “He proposed today.”

  “Oh my God. Well, damn, he just goes right after what he wants, doesn’t he? Are we planning a wedding in the near future?” Russell arched a brow.

  “No.”

  Her boss raised a brow. “What do you mean ‘no’? You clearly love this man or you wouldn’t be so torn up about this.”

  She didn’t know how she felt about Jaxon but if how her body reacted every time she was near him was any indication, maybe it was love. “I didn’t really answer him. When he asked at first, I clammed up, didn’t answer him and left before he could say anything else. He tried to bring up the subject again tonight. I started questioning him. He didn’t have the answers to the hard questions and he left.”

  “You two have ‘leaving’ issues. How about stay, and have a conversation like two adults? Talk it through without accusations. See what could be there,” Russell chided.

  “I have questions, you know. We don’t really know each other.”

  “Get to know each other. See if there is something there. You have a connection. Explore it.”

  “I mean… That is that he said. We need to talk about it and we need to…plan and—”

  “Bevin, honey, breathe.” He laughed. “You and I have built a business and brand. We have been married to work for the last ten plus years. We are now finally in a spot where we can breathe for a little bit. Why shouldn’t you be able to come home and share that with someone at night? No one is telling you to get married right away. Take some time; learn each other. Love. Live. Laugh. But please allow yourself to do that without questioning every single turn. This man obviously loves you. I’m sure he doesn’t have all the answers, but he wants to figure them out with you. Take the time to explore what could be.”

  “You’re right.” Bevin nodded, feeling her eyes brim with tears.

  “I tend to do that sometimes.” He winked at her and threw back the contents of his drink. “This wine is good. Did you take this from the wine fridge in my office?”

  “No.” She laughed.

  “See, that’s what I like to see; that smile. Now it’s getting late. Go home. Sleep on this and decide what you want to do in the morning.”

  Chapter 31

  The next morning turned into several mornings. At the end of the business week, Bevin hung up her phone, pissed, as his voicemail played, yet again. Jaxon refused to return her calls. “Dammit!” she mumbled, frustrated. She paced back and forth in her large office. “Of course you build me this beautiful office so I have to think about your ass every day! You piss me the hell off, but I still love you.” She covered her face and dropped into her chair.

  “Well, thanks, Bev. I love you, too.” Russell smiled at her from the
door.

  She picked her head up briefly to offer her boss a worn smile.

  “Well, I know that look. Let me guess. Still haven’t heard from Jaxon?” He shut the door behind him, sinking into the chair he had occupied a week ago giving her advice on her love life. Now she readied herself for the advice on the inability to get that love.

  “Have you heard from him? Because I sure haven’t.” She hated the whine in her voice and what she was reduced to at this point.

  “I haven’t heard from him. Charlene, from Accounting, said the final bill came in yesterday from his company. There was a note with it, from him, personally saying it was a pleasure working for us. But that was it. No calls or anything. All very professional and to the point.”

  “He is avoiding me again. This is my fear of getting into a relationship with him.”

  “I understand that, but here is my advice. Last time, I promise.” He laughed when she looked up at him with weary eyes. “Go to him.” He held up a hand when she tried to protest. “Men are stubborn and a pain in the ass when it comes to love. Half of them don’t know what they want and when they do know what they want, they wouldn’t know what do about it if the answer bit them in the ass. His pride is hurt right now. You turned him down. He’s thinking if she doesn’t want me, then I’ll move on. But if you are there in person, and he sees you, he’ll remember why he asked you in the first place.”

  “You think that will work?”

  “Hell if I know. But it’s worth a try.” He smiled.

  “I just need to speak to him. I miss him… I love him.”

  “Go get your man then.”

  “Now?”

  “No time like the present. Good luck.”

  She pulled in front of his office building an hour later as the sun set and a warm breeze hit her face. She counted the reasons why she needed to do this, and had a few to counter why she shouldn’t. “Okay.” She breathed. You love this man. He’s brought feelings up in you that no man has. This is worth the risk. She talked herself into walking into the pristine front office of Jaxon’s construction company.