The three bay doors across the front of the fire station were painted bright red, as was the person-sized door to the left of them that Ethan unlocked with a grin. He held it open for me and I stepped into the gloomy, unlit interior.
The late afternoon sunshine that filtered through the grimy, uncovered windows sparkled over the dust motes raised by each footstep. The sound of my high-heeled shoes against the cement floor echoed loudly in the large, empty space.
It looked so big without any fire engines parked in the bays. The ceilings were a good twenty feet over my head and in one corner an iron staircase spiraled to the second floor. What the hell was Ethan going to do with so much room?
Ethan followed me into the fire hall but remained a few steps behind, giving me time to take in the space and get a feel for the building, it’s the first thing architects do every time they enter a space, whether they're conscious of it or not, and this time was no different. Even in my confused state I could almost hear myself cataloguing the building's faults and strengths. As empty and cold and hollow as the station was, I liked it immediately. There was so much potential there.
"What is this place?" I asked finally. My voice sounded unnaturally loud as it echoed in the vastness.
"It's mine," Ethan said with straight-forward simplicity.
"It is now," Karen added as she entered behind us. In her hand was a sheaf of papers that she waved at Ethan. "Your apartment went on the market an hour ago. I'll more than likely have an offer for you before the weekend."
"All this space just for you?" I stuttered. "What for?"
"It's not just for me," Ethan smiled a slow smile that made my heart beat a little faster.
I glanced over his shoulder to where Karen stood, smiling knowingly at the two of us. "It's not?" I parroted.
Ethan shook his dark head and his smile melted away to reveal the strong expression he usually reserved for his most intense moments. "It's for us."
My ears rang. Us: the word echoed around the empty room. "Pardon?" I asked weakly.
"For our firm," Ethan prompted.
"Our firm?" My knees felt a little wobbly, but there was nowhere to sit down.
"Well, technically I guess it's my firm and you'll be working for me." Ethan's laugh was devoid of his usual cynicism, which somehow put me more at odds than I already was. Karen faded into the background, her presence irrelevant; the only thing that mattered was the sincere light in Ethan's silver-blue eyes.
"I – I don't understand," I stammered. "You're starting a firm?"
"Well I'm not working for Maddock any more," Ethan said with a wry twist to his lips. "I've wanted this for a long time, Emma. And you're going to work for me."
He took a step towards me, each line on his handsome face painted with an earnestness that wrenched at my stomach. I felt ill. I felt dizzy. "I'm going to work for you?" I repeated, as if trying to make the words and the concept sink in. "Were you going to ask me or did you just assume?"
Ethan stopped abruptly and the cold curtain of blankness fell over his face. "You don't want to work for me?"
Did I? I thought about all the work I'd put in at Maddock Architects, how much I'd sacrificed to get there, how much I'd given of myself just to get a job at the best firm in the city. My entire career loomed large before me and I stood perched uncertainly on the precipice.
"I – I have to sit down," I muttered, turning and making my way to the curving iron staircase. The treads looked filthy with dust but I didn't care. I sat with an ungraceful thump as my knees gave way.
"Emma," Ethan implored with a low growl. "You said this afternoon I made you a better architect, and I know damn well you do the same for me."
I nodded, gulping air into my suddenly arid lungs. The edges of my vision blurred slightly but it couldn't soften the harsh lines of Ethan's face.
"But Maddock…" I mumbled feebly.
"Fuck Maddock," Ethan barked. "You're better than that place, Emma. It'll just hold you back, like it did me. There's no limit here, no one telling you 'no' all the time."
I couldn't help but arch a sardonic eyebrow. "You're never going to say “no” to me? Can I get that in writing?"
Ethan crouched at my feet, his hands coming up to cradle my hips. "We'll be the best damn architects in the city."
Gazing into Ethan's remarkable eyes made my mind clear very suddenly, the fog which had clouded my brain since Maddock had learned the truth about me and Ethan lifted to reveal what I knew to be the inalienable truth: I didn't care about being the best architect in the city, didn't care about the recognition or my reputation – I just wanted to do my job as best I could. All I wanted, all I'd really ever wanted from my career, was to build something beautiful which would last, would outlive me, would be the legacy of my vision. I didn't need Maddock Architects to achieve that.
"Okay," I whispered before I could change my mind.
Ethan just stared at me for a moment and I could have sworn he was in as much disbelief over my acceptance as I was. "Okay? No argument?"
"What is there to argue over?" I asked softly. "I trust you."
Ethan sat back on his heels, unable to hide his incredulity. He shook his dark head. "Just like that?"
"Just like that," I said with a little more conviction.
A smile bloomed slowly over Ethan's face, making him look ten years younger. He was so handsome my breath stopped in my throat. As much as I hated his superior, know-it-all attitude towards me at times, when he smiled like that I could refuse him nothing.
When he kissed me the passion of it made me gasp and Ethan took advantage, plundering my mouth with a sudden need that rendered me completely helpless. From the shadows I could hear Karen chuckle lowly as the smart click of her heels retreated outside. She closed the door behind her, blocking out the last rays of afternoon sunshine, plunging the space into a duskier light.
I barely noticed. All there was for me was Ethan and the insistence of his kisses. He spoke more with his mouth when he kissed me then he'd ever be able to with words, and I certainly didn't mind. I tried to think about what I'd just agreed to, what sort of business we could build together, but my mind couldn't focus on anything other than the way he tasted.
Ethan pulled me to my feet with one fluid motion, adding to my dizziness. He buried his hands in my hair and feasted on my lips. Eventually we broke apart and just stared at each other in the growing gloom, our breathing harsh, fast, and syncopated.
In the dying light of what had to be the longest day of my life I could see a familiar lusty glint in Ethan's eye.
"What? Here? Now?" I laughed as my own desire flared to match his. "What about Karen? She's right outside."
"What about Karen?" Ethan said with a husky chuckle. "She's got her own thing going on at home. She won't bother us."
"Husband number two?" I teased.
"Number three, actually. She never did anything smarter than ditching the asshole she left me for. And she can hardly twit me about your age. She's newly married to a thirty-two year-old golf pro."
I laughed along with Ethan. "I can't believe you're still friends with your ex-wife."
"I wouldn't say we're friends," Ethan countered and once more I thought I heard a small undertone of hurt in his voice. "It's taken a long time to get to this point."
"And yet she's your real estate agent," I challenged.
Ethan tugged playfully at one of my curls. "That's merely coincidence. When I saw this place was for sale I knew I had to have it. She just happened to be the one handling the deal. I had no control over that. It just seemed easiest to have her take care of the sale of my apartment too. She'll get me what I'm asking for it, of that I have no doubt. No one knows better than I do how hard a bargain that woman can drive."
I pictured Karen in my mind, her perfect body, her beautiful face. I rejoiced secretly at the few hard lines I'd noticed around her mouth. Despite her flirtatious smiles and girlish giggles those lines
betrayed her age and an underlying cruelty that Ethan was obviously familiar with.
"Did you love her?" I asked. My voice was raspy and wavered slightly.
"I did, once," Ethan confessed with an openness which surprised me. "But that was a long time ago, Emma. We were young and foolish, fresh out of college."
Beneath the curtain of my hair Ethan was absentmindedly stroking the back of my neck. "Can we go home, Ethan?" I asked. His touch was soft, relaxing, and suddenly there wasn't anything I wanted to do more than curl up beside him and lose myself in the private world we'd created. I was weary and feeling pretty Scarlett O'Hara-ish: I didn't want to think about my problems anymore. I'd think about them tomorrow.
Ethan slung an arm around my shoulders, drawing me against the solid, comforting heat of his body. The gesture was reassuringly possessive. "Sure."
Outside, Karen was sitting in the front seat of her car, the door wide open, talking on her cell phone. Her conversation floated over to me as I stood waiting for Ethan to lock up.
"I can't wait for you to get home," she purred into the phone. There was a dreamy expression on her face which made me smile. "When you do I'll be there waiting, on my hands and knees, just the way you like it, Baby…" she trailed off as she noticed me and actually had the grace to blush furiously. I grinned, feeling a sudden kinship with the blonde woman. I wasn't the only one going crazy over a man.
She said her good-byes quietly while I shot a glance over my shoulder at Ethan. He was gazing up at the second story of his fire station, and even from a distance I could tell his mind was working furiously. Calculating and intense as always; it was sexy as hell.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Karen asked as she exited her car and came to stand beside me.
"Sure," I offered, trying to ignore the little nervous knot which formed instantly in my stomach. We both stood and watched Ethan as he circled around to the side of the building and reached a hand out to touch the red brick.
"Good Lord, but I loved that man," Karen murmured, and I couldn't help but feel as if she was speaking less to me at the moment and more to herself. My answering smile was understanding.
"Look," Karen said with undisguised bluntness. "You seem like a nice kid; like you've got a good head on your shoulders and you're obviously not a fool. That's good, it's what he needs. He's been jerked around a lot in the past."
I opened my mouth to interject, but Karen stopped with a wave of her manicured fingers.
"I know, I know, I'm the queen jerk and therefore hardly qualified to be giving you advice." There was a friendly quality to her tone that made me laugh softly. "I don't know how long you've known Danny, but I doubt he's let you into that fortress of a brain of his. He doesn't open up easily, never has, probably never will. You need to be prepared for the possibility that he'll never admit that he needs you or that he loves you. He never told me, and it drove me away."
She paused, looking wistfully at the dark and handsome figure standing in the shadow of the fire station. "So here's my two cents. You don't know me, and you sure as hell don't have much reason to trust me, especially after everything I put that man through. I made my mistakes and if I could go back and change things… well, I might not have been so stupid. I figure I know Danny as well as anyone, so take my word for it: the man wants to build a future with you in it and that's as close to a declaration of love as you're ever going to get from him. Don't break your own heart waiting around for the words that will never come. Ethan Anderson is a man of action. The sooner you learn that, the happier you'll be.”
Silence grew between us, which wasn't entirely comfortable, and yet I couldn't help but feel a small sense of kinship with the woman who stood beside me. We couldn't be more opposite to one another in almost every sense of the word, but we had one thing in common and as he strode towards us with that sexy, crooked grin on his face, Karen's sharp intake of breath echoed my own.
As different as we were from each other, Karen and I shared one trait.
We both loved Ethan Anderson.
Chapter Nine
Mrs. Kendall stood in the centre of the fire hall and laughed. The cleaning crew had come and gone, and around us the movers bustled about, cursing Ethan under their breaths as they moved his heavy furniture up the narrow, winding staircase to the second floor.
"You kids are crazy," Mrs. Kendall teased, wiping away her tears of mirth as Ethan ripped into yet another mover; we could hear him yelling from the second floor. "Maddock's spitting nails about you two quitting, I'm sure."
I shrugged, really no longer concerned about what Robert Maddock thought of me. He'd been unsurprised at my resignation from his firm and had sent me on my way with dire warnings of how I was "throwing away my career" and "taking a chance on an unstable enterprise", but for all his bluster there hadn't been any real concern behind his words. I'd been pleased to find I didn't care that I was leaving Maddock Architects.
"So, give me a tour," Mrs. Kendall chided with a good-natured grin. She certainly had not been upset that her architects had parted ways with their old firm. She made the transition with us gladly, which certainly bolstered my faith in the old Battle-axe. In fact, she was quite keen to be part of the process of Ethan starting his own firm, which is how I found myself giving her the tour on moving day.
"This will be our reception area, when and if Ethan ever gets around to hiring a receptionist," I began, starting the tour inside the front door. I lead Mrs. Kendall to the spot just inside the open fire-engine bay doors where the sun shone through the windows for the lengthiest part of the day. "This is where Ethan and I are setting up our work stations and drafting tables, and back in the corner is where the boardroom table will be. There are two storage rooms along the rear of the building, one’s going to remain storage for files and plans and the other we're renovating into washrooms for clients and staff."
"And upstairs?" Mrs. Kendall prompted with a mischievous smile.
I fell into her trap blindly. "Oh, upstairs is Ethan's apartment."
"Just Ethan's?" Mrs. Kendall teased.
I stopped dead in my tracks, blushing. "H-how'd you know?"
Mrs. Kendall patted my arm gently. "My Dear, I may be old, but I'm not blind yet. I see the way you two look at each other when you think no one is looking. I practically get hot flashes every time I'm caught in the cross-fire. Not that I blame you," she laughed like a young girl. "That man of yours is entirely too handsome for his own good. In many ways he reminds me of my Leo."
I watched as the lines around Mrs. Kendall's mouth deepened. "Leo was your husband?"
Mrs. Kendall nodded, her smile morphing from mischievous to wistful. "Dear Lord how I loved that man. I was a positive fool for him from the first second I saw him. Of course, I had to work damn hard just to get him, but once I got my talons into him I wouldn't let go. He married me eventually.
"Leo was seventeen years older than me," Mrs. Kendall sighed. "And he was a confirmed bachelor by the time I came along. I was a young and silly thing who didn't know her mind one day to the next, but there was never any doubt I wanted Leo. I used to think we'd burn a hole in the mattress things were so hot between us."
Mrs. Kendall sat down on a stack of boxes and patted the space beside her in a friendly gesture. I joined her.
"Leo and I were together for forty-three years before he died. He was a difficult man at times, but that's part of the reason why I loved him so fiercely, and I suppose in my own way I was difficult too. I won't lie to you Honey, and tell you it was easy, but whatever our difficulties were they were more than made up for by the good times. I've never loved anyone the way I loved my Leo and while you might not want to admit it, I see the same look on your face as I saw on my own all those years ago. Ethan Anderson is a difficult man, but trust me when I say he'll be worth the trouble."
I considered Mrs. Kendall and her wisdom-filled smile for a moment before answering with a smile of my own. Ethan's voice drifted dow
n from the second story with such authority even the burly, experienced movers didn't dare argue with his commands. I laughed softly in unison with Mrs. Kendall.
"Do you think I'm crazy?" I asked, toying with a loose thread at the hem of my t-shirt. "I think Maddock does, never mind more than half of our mutual acquaintances."
Mrs. Kendall shook her head, the gesture punctuated by yet another wistful sigh. "My dear child, I think tossing over Maddock Architects is the best decision you and your Ethan have ever made. A fresh start is what both of you need. You're a talented young lady, I knew that from the start, and there isn't any doubt in my mind your relationship with Ethan will enhance that talent, both professionally and personally, I suspect."
In My Office, Now. Page 11
