by Lauren Wood
It was unexpected. When I had offered that, I didn’t think that she would take me up on it, but I was delighted that she had. I wanted to see her, if only for a moment. I asked her where she was. I directed her to a parking garage and told her I would send a car over to pick her up. She was too far away for me to still be here when she got here, so I left her a message and hoped that I would see her again. We kept passing each other and I always felt like if something was meant to be, it would happen. No amount of sweat, blood and tears was going to change it. I was irritated that I wasn’t going to get to see her, but I wasn’t going to think that this was forever. It was just for now. I knew somehow that I would see her again real soon. Today I was going to be an optimist.
***
I made it to the courthouse on time, but I was thinking about the woman that was in my house. I called the doorman to see if she had made it and she had. I wanted to get out of court and to see her, but that didn’t seem possible. The day was full and I had a lot to do. I wanted to see her again, but it was just going to have to wait.
“Grey, where are you?”
I pulled my thoughts from Cameron and looked up at my assistant that was bringing me my paperwork that I forgot at the office because I didn’t have time to go get it.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you are staring off into the distance. Are you okay? I don’t think I have seen you like this in a while. Did you have a late night?”
This was what the problem was usually. I stayed out too much, usually in the arms of a beautiful woman and I wished that this was why I was so tired today, but I had been driving out of the city at night to clear my head. I had started driving out and not coming back till the wee hours of the morning. I don’t know what I was looking for, except a peace that came with silence. Now I was starting to think that I was out there for a reason and Cameron could possibly be that very reason. I didn’t believe in fate and all of that nonsense, but maybe I should.
“Yea I did have a late night. Can you tell?”
She told me that I looked tired, but she was always telling me that. “Not more than usual. Must have been a rough one because I have never seen you lose your train of thought so easily in court.”
Ashley was a great assistant, but she liked to get into my business too much. Sometimes I would have to tell her to back off a bit, but after a few years working with me, she would just tell me to piss off. It was funny in a way, but today I didn’t want to share what I was out doing.
“Well don’t worry Ashley. I am going to win this case no matter how much sleep I have had. Would you get me some coffee though? I think that is the only thing that is going to keep me going.”
She agreed to and went off to find the coffee machine down on the first floor. When she came back she had two cups in her hand and I was thankful that she didn’t listen. One wasn’t going to be enough and I loved that she knew me so well. Who needed a girlfriend when I had an assistant like her to take care of all of the important things.
Before the courts started, I asked her to check on the woman at my house. “Just call and make sure she has everything that she needs.”
“Does this woman have a name? Kaika isn’t still there, is she?”
I was irked that she knew so much about my love life, but roping her into it was part of the problem. “No, she is gone. Cameron is staying there now.”
I felt her judgment, but I ignored the look. “Just make sure she has what she needs.”
Ashley agreed and wished me luck. The way I was feeling today, I was going to need it. My optimism had worked, but set upon a whole new set of problems.
Chapter 4
Cameron
I hadn’t thought that I would call him. When he gave me his card with a number on the back and mentioned giving me a place to stay, I had thought that it was a big city. It wouldn’t be that hard to find somewhere to stay. I was wrong in my assessment of that it appeared. It was quickly clear to me that there wasn’t a single decent room in the city that wasn’t already booked. I felt like I was stuck and then I remembered the card in my pocket.
When he answered with the same gruff voice, it was impossible to hide the small shiver that it gave me. The man was a player, I could see from how he talked and how he looked at me, but it wasn’t like I had much to worry about. Men like Grey dated models and the like. I was barely five foot two and I knew that I was far from the long legged creatures I saw on all of the magazines. I wasn’t beautiful and since I knew that I wasn’t his type of woman, I wasn’t too worried about his attraction to me. I was far more worried about my attraction to him. It was hard not to think of him in a way that didn’t involve him getting naked and finding out what that grin was about.
The thought brought pink to my cheeks even now just thinking about it. Leo, Grey’s driver picked me up and I went with him and one of my bags that was stuffed into my trunk. I didn’t know how I was going to get back to my vehicle, but I wasn’t going to worry about that right now. Right now I just wanted to get a few hours of sleep before I met my boss later that afternoon. I wasn’t too nervous, but I was a little unsure of the future. The trip and big move was certainly not starting out the way I wanted it to.
The city was huge, bigger than I ever would have imagined it to be. Everyone was going somewhere and it all led to chaos as he drove me through the downtown area. Leo must have known that I wasn’t from New York because he would point out some of the great places there were to go. He made me feel welcome more than I could have imagined and I greatly appreciated it. It was a lot to take in and my heart was racing a little faster with everything going on around me. It was getting later in the day and traffic had increased tenfold. Now I was thankful to be out of the streets and not having to drive. Driving here was never going to be something that I don’t think I would ever looked forward to.
“Would you like to stop and get something to eat before we arrive at your destination? I doubt that Grey has anything in his refrigerator. He never eats at home, so it will be a toss-up if Marie has anything there.”
It was strange to get information on the enigmatic man in such a way, but I was thankful for it all the same. I didn’t know what he was talking about or who Marie was, but I was hungry and the suggestion made me even more so. “That would be great. Anywhere fast on the way if you really don’t mind.”
Leo said he didn’t and I had to wonder what capacity he worked for Grey. Grey had told me that he didn’t drive, so I had to think that Leo was the one that did it for him. He certainly seemed to know him and didn’t seem all that shocked at all to pick up some strange woman, get her some breakfast and take her back to Grey’s place for some rest. That fact threw me off a little more than anything else. I half expected the man to ask me some questions, but he just didn’t and that made me wonder even more. The very idea that this was normal made it even less so.
But the driver was impeccable with his silence and the ability to not ask the burning questions. I know that if I had his job, I would be wondering what in the world was going on. There was a weird thing going on in New York. I had met only a few people so far and they all lived in a different world than I was used to growing up in Muskegon. The pace of life and what was said and not said was very different. In small towns, everyone was in each other’s business and there was always a wealth of information to be had. This wasn’t the case here. Privacy reined because the scale of people guaranteed a wide swath of anonymity.
“Here we are Miss Cameron. I will take your bag in if you like.”
“No, I got it. Thank you Leo. You were very helpful.”
The man was in his thirties and only then did he look me in the eyes, though I had felt his gaze through the rearview mirror before. He was handsome and appraised me in such a way, but then the moment was gone and I was left to get out and wave.
“If you need a ride or anything else, just give me a call. Grey told me to help you out with anything that you need. I am on call, so don’t hesit
ate.”
I thanked him again before he drove off in the dark car. The windows were tinted much like the other one was that Grey was driving. It just showed how much he liked his privacy. Then why was he letting a stranger stay here? It was confusing and the man was inconsistent. He was generous though and as tired and shaky as I felt, he really was a godsend.
The place was a bit intimidating. When I envisioned an apartment, I was not thinking of the sort of one that was in front of me now. The building was huge and I had to look up several floors before I could see the top. This was not at all what I had expected and I looked back to see if Leo was still close enough to flag down. How was I going to know where to go?
The door was opened for me and I smiled at the doorman. “Who are you here to see Miss?”
He knew that I didn’t belong here just by looking at me and so help me I felt the same way. I didn’t like to think of how different I was then most of the people here, but I was doe-eyed and I couldn’t help it.
“Um, I was told to come here by Grey.”
It was then that I realized that I didn’t know his last name. I was about to fish out the card from my pocket that had it on there, but the doorman took me to the elevator instead. He pushed a button that took me to the top and told me to have a good day. Like Leo, he didn’t ask any more questions and again it seemed perfectly reasonable that some strange woman was sent to his apartment. I had to ask myself over and over again in my head, who was this guy?
The elevator dinged and pulled my attention away from my thoughts and I waited a heartbeat till it opened. I was expecting a hallway or something of that nature, but instead there was no other doors, just one right in front of me as I got off of the landing. I looked back and the elevator was already going back down. I don’t know why I was so weirded out all of a sudden, but I was in a place that I wasn’t used to and it was hard to deny that it was a strange way to start this adventure.
Leo had told me that Grey was in court and wouldn’t be here when I got here, but was there going to be someone here?
The knock was loud and seemed to reverberate through the small area I was standing in. All I could do was wait, even though I really felt like an idiot right now. What if no one was here and I had come all of this way for nothing? I don’t even know if I am going to be able to find my car again. The city was overwhelming, as well as just the day in general. I was knackered from the drive up from Georgia.
“Hello, you must be Cameron.”
The small, petite woman was about my height and weight. She smiled in the sweetest way and I had no other option but to smile back at her.
“Yes, I am. I was told to…”
She waved me off and opened the door to let me in. "I was told you were coming and I have made up one of the guest rooms for you. You are welcome to take a shower, sleep, whatever you like just let me know.”
I followed her through an apartment that was huge and felt more like a house. Only when we went by a large window did I remember that I was in the city and that I was many stories up. The view was magnificent and Marie smiled, claiming that she got the same look on her face when she caught a certain view out of the window.
“It is beautiful here. I think the view pays me half as well as Grey does.”
Everyone I had come in contact with worked for Grey in one capacity or another. He must be a good boss because they had nothing but good things to say. But it didn’t change the fact that they all seemed to be normalized by the presence of me.
We stopped in front of a door and she opened it as my hands were full of breakfast and my bag. Marie reminded me that if I needed anything to contact her through an intercom system and I thanked her again. I was doing a lot of that this morning, but as I closed the door behind me, I was able to relax a little bit.
I set the bag and brown paper one down on the bed sheets and looked around the room. It was bigger than I was used to and I felt tiny in such a large area. There were roses everywhere and it took me a minute to see that there was also a bathroom connected. The bath was calling to me, but the bed and the food was calling to me more. I had several hours before I had to go to my new job to do paperwork for the next week and I hoped that I would have enough time to do both.
At the moment though, all I could think about was getting a few hours of rest before I had to get up. I ate the sandwich I bought on the way and set the alarm on my phone for a little after one. That would give me a little bit of time to get ready, take a shower and hopefully navigate my way there in enough time. I was going to have to get used to the extra pressures that I wasn’t used to before.
It wasn’t the day and what was next that kept me up thinking for a few minutes though. I was thinking about Grey and how I was going to thank him for his generosity. I am not used to getting help from someone like him and not being expected to pay it back in some way. Was he any different?
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