And now I must return to the real world.
I walk into my office, and sit down to quickly check my email and Asher’s schedule for tomorrow. When I’m finished, I reach for my purse, which I keep tucked away in a bottom drawer. I pull my keys out, grab my blazer off the back of my chair, and turn off the lights, locking the door before I leave.
I ride down the elevator to the executive parking lot. As I walk down the sidewalk, I notice some men putting up a sign at an empty spot. Hmmm… someone’s got an upgrade. When I turn to see who it is, I notice my name there. It reads: Reserved for Executive Assistant Charlotte Hall.
I smile as I realize that the soreness between my legs isn’t the only reminder that my life has changed drastically in the last week. When I’m at my used economy car, I pull my phone out of the pocket of my skirt, and send Asher a text.
Thank you for the parking spot.
He promptly replies. It, as well as everything else that has happened in the last week, is my pleasure.
I wonder what he means by everything else.
Until I’m driving, and then I begin to think about everything else. Or at least the everything else that happens in my real life, when I leave Glass Investments.
What is in the fridge that I can make quickly for dinner?
Should I run through a drive-thru somewhere, again?
Do I have enough money in my bank account to pay for daycare tomorrow?
Why didn’t I just deposit the check from Asher?
Do I need gas?
Am I going to be late if I hit traffic?
I realize how different my life is from Asher’s, and Peyton’s. I’m not exactly in their league. But I want to believe that I have something to offer them. I have to hope that they want me, flaws, baggage and all.
Not that I consider Elise baggage, I don’t. I just know that some men would rather not have to deal with the problems that a single mom has. But Asher already knows about all of that. He knows I’m the only one taking care of Elise. He knows that she is always my main concern.
Maybe this can work between me and Asher.
And then, there’s Peyton. He didn’t sign up for this. Well, I didn’t either, really. If I had known they were together, I would have resisted Asher’s advances. Great, I’ve talked myself into being conflicted again.
While I’m with Asher, while I’m staring into his magical eyes, I believe that anything is possible. That includes having a relationship with two men.
I realize that I’m thinking too much when I stop at a red light, and I’m not sure where I am. It takes me a moment to clear my head, and figure out I’m in the wrong lane because I need to make a right turn. I sigh and check the clock on my am/fm/cassette radio. I’m not going to be late, I assure myself.
*****
“Hey Mommy, guess what I did today?” Elise asks excitedly when we’re in the car. I hate all the time we spend in the car, and all the traffic. But I love my job… And I love my boss? “Mommy!” Elise exclaims.
“What, angel? What did you do today?”
“We started our Mothers’ Day projects! You’re going to be so surprised!” Her voice is a happy singsong that never fails to make me smile.
“What do you want for dinner?” I ask, over the radio. But I’m pretty sure I know what she’s going to say. She wants chicken nuggets.
“Chicken nuggets,” she answers.
“You had chicken nuggets last night. You’re going to turn into a chicken nugget.”
“That’s not possible, Mommy. A person can’t turn into food.” Her happy, upbeat tone almost calms all the thoughts running through my head.
“I think I have the stuff to make spaghetti at home. How about we have that for dinner tonight?” I offer.
“I don’t want spaghetti. I want chicken.” Her voice loses some of the childishness, and she sounds almost assertive. I roll my eyes, because I don’t know that I can stomach one more chicken nugget. It would be nice to have an adult to have dinner with, more often than once every six months. It was very nice, going out with Peyton. Maybe I should invite him out again, just the two of us.
I think about it even harder as I place a cookie sheet with nuggets and French fries into the oven. I put a can of green beans in a plastic bowl, then pop them in the microwave. She might eat them, and she might not.
“Do you have homework?” I ask her, as she runs into the kitchen.
“No ma’am. Can I go play with Amber?” she replies. Amber is Jessica’s daughter.
“Not until after you eat. Go get your folder and let me make sure you don’t have anything due tomorrow while we wait on dinner.”
This is the normal school night routine. I ask to look at Elise’s progress. She balks and instead pouts about not being allowed to go play. It’s going to be even worse when she’s out of school for summer break, and the pool on site will be open. Thankfully the day camp I have her signed up for over the summer also includes swimming lessons. And it will be nice to spend the evenings by the pool when I get home from work.
What would be really nice would be spending evenings with Asher and Peyton. And spending the nights with them, too. My muscles clench when I think of spending nights in Asher’s huge bed, wrapped up in his arms.
“El, you said you didn’t have homework, but there’s a worksheet in your folder with multiplication problems,” I say, as she’s fixin’ herself a cup of tea. “You know I can’t abide fibs, young ‘un.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy. I didn’t mean to fib. I just forgot the worksheet was there.” She’s staring at me, with green eyes so much like Patrick’s, and I can’t help but believe her. It’s not because she looks like her father that I love her so much, I love her despite it. But she is more beautiful than my heart can take. Her wavy brown hair is in pigtails, and she grins up at me with her two front teeth still missing.
“It’s okay, angel. Just don’t fib intentionally, okay? That’s very unbecoming in a lady,” I instruct her.
“And we are Southern ladies, aren’t we Mom?” she replies with a huge smile. She used to have an accent like mine, but it’s only taken her six months away from West Virginia to lose it completely. I’ve tried to talk like a Northerner, but I always sound fake doin’ it.
“Oh, yes we are my angel, and don’t you ever forget that. Now work on your math problems until dinner. You know you got a B on last week’s quiz.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she answers, as she pulls a pencil out of her back pack.
So I gaze at the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, and wonder about her future. I wonder what my life will be like next month, or next year. At least I know one thing, I will always have Elise, and she will always have me.
And before I go to bed, I get a text from Asher. Good night, Charlie. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
I grin as I answer him. I can’t wait to see you too. Good night, Asher.
I love you remains unspoken, but it’s there. It’s screaming in the back of my head, and pounding loudly in my heart. It’s in the aches that I feel between my legs, and the flutters I feel in my stomach. It’s in every piece of my being.
I love Asher Glass. But I want him to say it first. He has to.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“What is this?” Charlie asks, as she’s standing in my doorway.
“Have you opened it?” I try not to grin as I ask it. I placed the envelope on Charlie’s desk before she came in. I had Rowan write her name, in calligraphy, because my writing is horrible. I left one for Peyton as well, apparently he hasn’t seen his yet.
“Not yet,” she murmurs. Then she opens the envelope. I printed the invitation inside on lilac cardstock, which I sent Rowan out for yesterday evening. I wanted it to look perfect. “Dinner?”
“You and Elise are both invited.”
“At the penthouse?” she asks, with a bit of a frown. She almost sounds sad.
“You don’t like the penthouse?” I can’t believe she doesn’t like it. I love my ap
artment, and I’d hoped she would love it as well.
“I do like the penthouse, but…” She shifts her weight, away from my office.
“But what, Charlie?” I stand up, and walk toward her. “You look quite beautiful in your light pink shirt.” Her cheeks turn as pink as her shirt. Her eyes change when she gazes at me, they get soft and warm. She licks her lips, and every time she does it my manhood reacts. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She’s wearing her thick hair in a ponytail, and it’s so long it’s hanging over her shoulder. I take a step closer, to brush her hair back.
“I’m thinkin’ how wonderful you smell, Mr. Glass, and how good it is to have you back in the office.” She tips her head back to look up at me, exposing her long, graceful neck and all of her glorious cleavage for me to stare at. “But the penthouse isn’t very kid friendly, is it?”
With Charlie, it’s like the world falls into place. I understand now. I know why men fall helplessly in love. She looks at me like I’m some kind of super hero. She reacts to me like she’s ready to kiss me at any time. It’s intoxicating to have a person who seems ready for whatever you desire.
I wonder if I look at Peyton this same way.
“I am so glad you’re here, Charlie.” I kiss her forehead, and place my hand on her shoulder. “Dinner tonight will be at the beach house. Bring your bathing suit and your appetite. And pack a bag so you two can stay for the weekend.” Her eyes go wide as she thinks about it. “We can walk on the beach, hunt for crabs, make a fire and roast marshmallows.”
She smiles brightly at me, and her big blue eyes are filled with excitement. “Both of us?” I don’t know why she says it with the same tone she asked me about the penthouse.
“I know you won’t leave Elise. And there is so much to do at Rehoboth Beach. We will have a fun time, and it’s the perfect setting for us to get to know her.”
“Us?” she exclaims.
“Peyton and I, of course.” She frowns at me. I know she’s thinking something, I just don’t know what. “Talk to me, Charlie. Please?”
She shakes her head, and looks away. Everything that I thought I knew, that I thought I understood, is suddenly clouded. This is what I fear about relationships. I don’t understand why she was so happy one moment, and seems confused the next.
She worries at her bottom lip, instead of answering me. I sigh loudly, and turn around to return to my desk. “Communication is very important, Charlie.”
“How will I explain the relationship to Elise? She’s too young to be burdened with havin’ to think through a relationship between me and you, and you and Peyton.”
I think I know what she means. Having a relationship with Peyton is not strange now, and having a relationship with Charlie is supposedly normal, but it might be too much for a child to understand a relationship of three. I’m not sure that Charlie and Peyton even understand it.
“You should tell Elise that we are all friends, then. That is true, isn’t it?” Just as I say it, I see Peyton standing a few feet from Charlie. “We are all three friends.” Peyton frowns, just like Charlie did. I don’t understand this at all. “We are friends, aren’t we?”
Peyton shakes his head. “Aren’t we more than that?”
“Asher wants the two of you to meet Elise this weekend,” she informs him. The tone of her voice is the same. She’s frowning.
Now he’s frowning too. “And hide who and what we are?” He sounds almost angry.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” At least they seem to be in agreement.
I turn my back to them, and shift some papers on my desk around. “I will be spending the weekend at the beach. If you wish to join me, you know where I’ll be.”
“No I don’t…” Charlie counters. But then she chuckles. “Oh, it’s here on the invitation.”
“Dinner will be steak and chicken, with vegetables, prepared by Rowan on the grill.”
“With Anna’s chocolate and strawberry cake?” Peyton asks.
“Of course.” I fight a smile. Peyton might work hard to have the body of a gladiator, but the one thing he can’t resist is my housekeeper’s homemade desserts, her cakes in particular.
“Well I’ll be there,” Peyton answers. I turn toward Charlie, and she’s staring at Peyton. Then I look at Peyton, who is staring back at Charlie. I feel the tension between them. I can see a challenge in the way they are looking at each other. Suddenly, Peyton smiles at her, then turns to me and winks before he walks off.
I have no idea what just happened between the two of them, but Charlie looks confused. “Charlie, I…” I want to say so much to her. I want to convince her to take the next step with me. She knows how much I want her. She knows I want a real relationship with her. She knows she has me in the palm of her hand. But she has to make her own decisions. Elise is her daughter.
“Yes, Asher?” She looks at me with her wide blue eyes and her full pink lips. She’s just so pretty she melts my heart, stuns my brain, and destroys all of my reservations. Even though I know the relationship is not ideal, and I know she has her doubts, I want to say it.
I love you.
The words are right on the tip of my tongue. They need to be said. They must be.
I look away. I can’t say it. Instead, I deflect. “I’m ready to speak with the SEC. Could you work your magic and find a contact I can speak with, who can actually do something about our problem?”
Her eyes squint up, as if she can tell that’s not what I wanted to say. Does she already know me so well she can see there is something more on my mind? She pats the invitation against her open hand, and nods. “Sure thing, Mr. Glass.”
I watch as she walks away. She’s just in the office next to mine. I could pop my head in at any time and reassure myself that she is still there. I can walk into her office, shut the door behind me, shove her against the wall, and kiss her until the desire I have for her is finally out of my system.
Instead, I stand up and face the window that overlooks the river. This is unhealthy, this constant desire I feel for her. I might be obsessed. I wanted her last night when I went to sleep, and I needed her this morning when I woke up. I need to speak to someone about it, to find out if it’s normal. I can’t talk to Peyton, because he’s too damn jealous.
My hand is on my cell phone, inside my pants pocket. I pull it out, and scroll through my contacts until I find the number I didn’t think I’d ever call for relationship advice. I didn’t think I’d call him for any advice, really.
I touch the screen when I find the entry, and I’m nervous when I hear the phone ringing. Then, when he answers, I hear my voice crack as I say, “Hello, Dad.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I guess I’m the first one here. I don’t even see Asher’s Lamborghini, and I know he left the office at two o’clock. I don’t think Charlie will come. I could tell this morning when I looked into her eyes she’s not ready for the kind of relationship that Asher wants.
I step out of my car and walk past the pool toward the back entrance of the gorgeous house that sits right on the beach.
What would we even call the kind of relationship that Asher wants? A threesome doesn’t sound appropriate, because he doesn’t want to just have sex, he wants a real bond between the three of us. I’m actually with Charlie on this. I don’t think it’s going to work either. But if she gives up, if she backs down, then I win Asher. And Asher is all I want. And as I open the door to the beach house, I decide I’m going to tell him.
As soon as I’m in the entryway, I smell cookies. Almost always, when I arrive at the beach, I am greeted by Rowan, who takes my bag and carries it to the bedroom. Not today. I hear giggles, and I follow the woven rugs that cover the tile floors that only look like real hardwood. I walk through the cream and sea blue living room, which looks completely different and much more comfortable than the penthouse, into the cozy and intimate dining room. And I find where the smell, and the giggles, are coming from.
When
I push open the door to the kitchen, I find a tiny little person sitting at the island, putting colorful icing on chocolate chip cookies. Charlie is beside her, mixing food coloring into a bowl of creamy white frosting. Asher is leaning against a counter by the fridge, sipping a glass of wine, and watching what can only be Charlie’s daughter piping a bright red flower onto a cookie.
“This one is for you, Mr. Asher, since you like red.” The little girl glances over her shoulder toward my boyfriend, and the smile he gives her is dazzling. It literally makes my knees weak, the way he’s gazing at her. If I thought I’d lost when I saw the way he looked at Charlie in the black dress, I was wrong. This is what losing looks like. I can see it in the warmth of his smile, and the softness in his onyx eyes. He wants a child.
Fuck this all to hell and back again.
Just as I’m about to turn around and leave, I hear Charlie’s voice. “Hey, Peyton, we were starting to wonder if you weren’t coming.”
The child looks up when her mother speaks, and I am met by dazzling green eyes, and a bright toothless smile. “Oh, hello Mr. Peyton, I’m Elise. What’s your favorite color?” When she says her name, it sounds like Elish because of her missing front teeth. I can see why Asher is captivated. She’s gorgeous, and sweet, and she looks like a cheerful little imp with chubby cheeks and happy eyes.
I haven’t been asked this question since I was in middle school. I don’t even know how to answer it. I glance at Asher, who smiles at me in a way I’ve never seen before. He looks so damn pleased with himself, I want to slap the happiness out of him. He nods at me, reminding me of the question.
“Blue,” I say, as I return my attention to the imp.
Her mouth becomes a big O, and her eyes somehow get even wider. “That’s my favorite color too! Blue like the sky?”
That’s when I glance over her shoulder, and see the windows facing the beach, with an incredible picturesque view. “Blue like the sea,” I reply. Then my eyes catch movement beside Elise, and I meet Charlie’s eyes. She’s nervous, I can see it in her expression and the way she’s chewing at her bottom lip. I smile at her, and change my mind. “Blue like your mom’s eyes.”
Room For Three Page 13
