Welcome to Lake Ventures (New Haven Book 2)

by Dawn Doyle

  *****

  Emily got out of the cab, outside the building and noticed Nick’s car was already there. Checking her watch she saw that she wasn’t late. A little later than usual, but she hadn’t slept very well the night before, thinking about facing Nick.

  Walking through the doors with knots in her stomach and her palms already clamming up, she heard a greeting from her right.

  “Good morning Emily.” Said Joe with a cheery grin. The guy was tall, dark and looked dangerous. Until he smiled; then he looked like a little kid.

  “Good morning Joe. How are you?” Emily had stopped using the term ‘are you alright?’ as a greeting. People confused it for her asking if they were feeling ok, like something had happened. Her accent had also softened a lot too. Unless she was angry, of course. Then it was back with a vengeance!

  “I’m great, thank you. How are you?”

  “I’m good, thanks.” Which was a lie.

  Actually I’m in love with my boss, I’m a quivering wreck, and I’ve been avoiding him for three days. Other than that I’m just peachy!

  “Emily!” A female voice came from behind her.

  Emily turned as Louise and another girl she didn’t recognise rushed to catch up to her.

  “Hello Louise.” She said as nicely as she could, but inside she wanted to tear Louise’s hair out. That was a first for her, she’d never gotten territorial over a guy in her life.

  “Hi. Oh, this is Isabel. She works for the publishing company on the third floor.” She said, introducing the almost carbon copy of Louise. Blonde hair, red lips and false eyelashes that looked heavier than she did.

  “Can I help you with something?” Emily asked as they continued to walk alongside her.

  “Um… I was just… um… Has Nick said anything about me?”

  What?! Oh my God! He doesn’t like you, that’s what he said, now fuck off!

  “No, why?”

  “It’s just that I was going to ask him to be my date for my friend’s cousins wedding and he said, well you were there, but I get the feeling that he made that up.”

  “I wouldn’t know, Louise.” She said with a shrug.

  “But you’re his assistant. Don’t you know his schedule?” Isabel chimed in.

  “Yes, but he has other businesses other than this one. I know the schedule for this one. I have no knowledge of what he does with the others.” That was another lie. Emily knew exactly when Nick was meeting with Darren. He’d included it in his schedule so she knew not to organise anything on the days he met up with him.

  “Oh, yeah, of course. Well, could you do me a favour? Will you mention me to him? Find out if he’s already dating someone?” Louise asked, giving her best puppy dog eyes.

  Emily wasn’t fooled for a second.

  “Of course I’ll mention you.” She said with a smile.

  “Thank you!” Louise beamed.

  They both got off on the third floor, Isabel’s floor, probably to discuss ‘tactics’.

  Sad. Really, really sad.

  Emily was in a bad mood by the time she got to her floor.

  Getting to her desk, she grabbed a pen and a post-it, scribbling a message on for Nick. She couldn’t talk to him because if she did, she knew that the words would fly out of her mouth making her sound jealous. She was, but she didn’t want him to know that.

  Nick,

  Louise wants to know if you’re dating anyone and asked me to mention her to you.

  Well, I’m mentioning her.

  She walked over to his office and opened the door without knocking. She didn’t care if anything was going on. She’d had that surprise before and nothing would shock her anymore.

  Nick looked up as she approached his desk, and she actually felt guilty about what she was going to do.

  Placing the note in from of him, she turned to walk away.

  “Emmy, wait!” He said, his tone causing her to stop still and turn around. “What the fuck is this?”

  “Five dollars!” Diane shouted from her desk. That woman had the ears of a bat.

  “It’s a message from Louise. Her and Isabel, from the third floor, approached me on the way in. We had a nice little chat.”

  “What? What about?”

  “You. She suspects that you lied about your meetings.”

  “Tell me what she said.” He was angry now.

  Emily told him the conversation from the lobby to the third floor.

  “Stay there, I need to talk to you about something.” He said as he picked up his phone.

  “Louise?” He said and Emily’s heart raced faster. “I’ve just gotten your message. Yeah I lied. I’m not interested, now please stop harassing my assistant.” Slamming the phone down he turned to Emily.

  Her eyes were wide at the way he shot Louise down.

  Nice!

  He turned his monitor towards her and pointed to the screen, showing his schedule.

  “Why are you doing that?” He asked, his eyes boring into her.

  “Doing what?” She said innocently, looking at the floor.

  “Organising my schedule like this?”

  “What? You mean, busy?”

  “You know what I mean. I have a lot of new business meetings, of which you have conveniently scheduled yourself out of.”

  Shit! Think Emily!

  “I have new accounts to set up, paperwork to go over and sign, and checking on the expenses reports. Besides, don’t you want a break from my ‘narky arse’?” She was a little breathless after her rant.

  “What’s up with you Emmy?” He sounded concerned.

  “Nothing’s up with me. We’re busy, that’s all.” She tried to turn away but he hadn’t finished.

  “No. That’s not it. Something’s wrong. You’re different.”

  “No I’m not. Just leave it.”

  Nick stood from his chair and rested his hands on his desk as he leant forward.

  “No. When we argue, I can tell you’re being snarky but this… it’s different. Emmy… has somebody done something to you?” Nick’s voice softened but his expression showed he was mad. Really mad.

  “No. Nobody’s done anything. But… I have to get to work.” She said walking to the door. “And my name’s EMILY!”

  *****

  Nick stood in shock at Emily’s outburst. No matter what she said, he knew something was wrong. She’d been getting increasingly worse the longer she worked for him.

  Does she really hate me that much?

  No, she would’ve left long ago if she hated him. It had to be something else about him. She liked Diane and Diane liked her. The women from personnel liked her and the accounts team thought she was the best thing since the wheel. He figured it had to be a problem with him.

  He had do to something to find out what it was. Make it better.

  He had something coming for her, later that day, and he hoped it would make her happy. It would make him extremely happy because she would be safer.

  “Di.” He said, when she picked up her phone. “I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Of course, honey. Oh, before you say anything…” She lowered her voice to a whisper “…Emily looks upset. Not angry upset, but emotional upset. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

  “No. I asked her what was wrong and she said ‘nothing’. She won’t tell me.”

  “I’ll see if I can coax something out of her. But all I know is that she’s been zoning out a few times, staring out the window.”

  “Thanks Di. Now the favor I need, but don’t tell Emily. I don’t want her to know my schedule has changed. I need you to make sure she stays inside for lunch today. Take her to the restaurant on first.”

  “No problem sweetie. We and the girls had plans for that anyway, but why the secrecy?”

  “You’ll see.” He said with a smile. He just hoped Emily would be smiling too when she found out.

  He cancelled his afternoon meetings with the accounts team because if all went accordi
ng to plan, he’d need the afternoon off.

  *****

  Emily got back from lunch, with Diane and the girls, and sat down at her desk. Logging on to her iMac, she spotted a small silver box with her name on it.

  Opening it, she found a car key.

  Her stomach flipped and butterflies spilled out all over the place, crashing into each other making her feel sick.

  “Do you wanna see it?” Nick asked from the doorway to his office.

  Emily turned in his direction and saw him watch her, leaning against the wood with his arms folded and one leg crossed in front of the other.

  The way he stood, she could see his biceps straining against the fabric of his grey shirt and his thighs against his black pants.

  Saliva pooled in her mouth and heat flooded her core.

  Looking back up, his hair was all kinds of sexy with the long strands framing his face and jaw.

  He looked like a fitness model; all firm and muscular.

  Emily wanted to take a bite out of him.

  “Don’t just sit there… Come on.” He said, with a glint in his eye.

  On autopilot, Emily got out of her seat and stepped away from her desk.

  “You’ll need this.” Nick said, reaching across her and picking up the key she dropped on the top.

  “Oh right.” She said, coming out of her Nick trance.

  Getting in to the lift, Nick pushed the button for the ground floor.

  “Where are we going?” She asked, suddenly aware that they were alone in the lift; her heart pounding in her ears.

  “Outside.” He replied, smiling down at her and he was looking at her that way again.

  Emily swallowed as her knees trembled.

  She couldn’t believe just one look from Nick had her almost falling to the floor. If he only realised what he was doing to her without trying, it would be embarrassing for her if he really turned on the charm. She would melt.

  She felt a jolt through her when the doors opened, his hand on her lower back guiding her out of the lift.

  Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Emily walked alongside Nick as they exited the building, then turning in the direction of the carpark.

  Emily stopped when she saw what was parked next to Nick’s car, where she used to park her Mum’s Audi.

  It was a Mini John Cooper All4 works Paceman, in ‘Absolute Black’.

  A red stripe across the front grill and black, five star double spoke alloy wheels.

  “It’s all yours.” Nick said happily, handing her the key.

  “Mine? How?”

  “It’s your new company car.”

  Emily stared at Nick in disbelief. He had bought her a brand new car, ok a company car, but the exact one she loved!

  Dad.

  “Dad.” She said and shook her head.

  “I asked him. I wasn’t happy with you taking a cab every day and I didn’t think you’d be happy with me picking you up and taking you home, so I got you a car.”

  “Did you get Craig a car?” She had to make sure that she wasn’t just getting another present. A very nice, yet insanely expensive, present.

  “Yes.”

  “Why couldn’t I have just had his old one?”

  “I let him keep it.”

  “Oh. Did you let him keep it as a wedding present?”

  “No. I bought them a jungle gym for the garden.”

  Emily cocked her head in confusion.

  Nick laughed.

  “Craig has a three year old son. I got something for their kid instead.”

  Emily melted even more. He’d bought their child something so he wasn’t left out.

  “That’s nice of you.”

  Nice that he’d thought of the little boy. Then her thoughts changed to the image of a different little boy that looked like Nick. Grey eyes and light brown hair. He would be adorable looking just like his Daddy.

  Huh, what?

  “Well, let’s take this for a test drive.” He said, breaking her thoughts.

  “I can’t accept this, Nick.” She said, pausing as he walked to the passenger door.

  “Why not? You get a company car anyway, I got one you wanted and now you don’t need to take any more cab rides.”

  That caught Emily off guard.

  “But…”

  “Emmy, just get in.” He said with a sigh.

  She unlocked the car and they both got in.

  Emily slid in to the black seat and looked around. Nick had had the car completely kitted out. There were buttons and gadgets everywhere.

  “It has bluetooth so you can connect to your phone, automatic air conditioning, rain sensor windscreen wipers and heated mirrors and screens.” Nick began to tell her.

  Emily looked up at the electric glass roof.

  The car had everything she’d wanted and Nick had gone all out for her. Even down to the Piano Black interior.

  “You didn’t have to get me a car. I don’t live that far away.”

  “I wanted to. I don’t like you getting into cars with strangers. Besides, it’s a company car so you can’t decline.” He said with a satisfied smile.

  “Why though? Why this car? You could have gotten a basic something or other, but you find out the exact car I’ve wanted for a long time, plus all the extras.”

  Nick opened his mouth but nothing came out.

  “Is this a thank you for helping with Rochelle and the other accounts?”

  “Um… yeah. That’s it. You did a great job so I upgraded your car allowance.”

  Nick didn’t sound very convincing. But it made sense. Rochelle could have cost him a lot of money and the accounts that were trying to rip him off already had, even though he was getting that back.

  The car was nothing compared to what he would have lost.

  “Ok then.” Emily smiled. “But I’m going to pay you back for it.”

  “No you’re not.” He argued. “The only thing you have to pay for is gas. And that’s only if you use it for anything other than work. You need to claim expenses for all travelling to work, and anywhere else I ask you to go.”

  “Whatever. I won’t be claiming for anything. If you can pay for expenses out of your own pocket, then so can I.”

  “Touché.” He chuckled. “Ok, so let’s go.”

  Emily started the engine and set her seat to the correct height and distance from the steering wheel.

  “Where to?” she asked. She didn’t know where to go first.

  “Wherever you want.”

  Emily smiled as she pulled out of the parking space.

  *****

  “Whoa!” Nick cried for the fifth time in ten minutes.

  “Calm down you big baby.” Emily giggled as she took a sharp corner, barely slowing down.”

  They’d been travelling towards Northgate and, using the navigation system, Emily had decided to turn off the main road, scaring the crap out of Nick in the process.

  He was holding on for his life.

  It was a good job the air conditioning had switched on because he would’ve been soaking with sweat by now.

  “Ok, you can drive great in heels. I’m convinced. Now, can you please slow down?” he asked, his heart hammering up into his throat. It was mainly because of the woman sitting next to him but he wasn’t going to admit that.

  “Oh shush. You’ve been in a car with me before.”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t drive like a wild woman!” The fact was, he wanted her to slow down because they’d have more time together. At the rate she was going, they’d be back at the office way too soon.

  “Ok, fine.” Emily stopped making sharp manoeuvres and Nick could swallow his heart back into his chest.

  “Thank you.”

  “Are you seriously worried about my driving?” she asked, glancing at him before turning back to the road. He thought he saw her cheeks flush but the moment her eyes turned, it was gone.

  “I’ll tell you that when we get out of the car.”

  Emily rolled
her eyes before turning back towards the office.

  “The tinted glass is nice. I don’t feel like I’m getting burned by the sun.”

  “It’s also good for stopping people from staring at you through the windows.” Nick added.

  He’d chosen the sun protection glass, mainly so Emily’s creamy skin wouldn’t burn through the glass, but also nobody could ogle her if they pulled up beside her.

  “Why would people stare at me?” she asked with a frown.

  Because you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.

  “People are weird.”

  Emily gave him a strange look before turning onto the I-5 expressway.

  The silence was getting uncomfortable on the way back, now that Nick no longer felt the need to scream. He wanted to talk again, to hear Emily’s voice, to hear her laugh. He watched her as she watched the road. The traffic was busy, so she wouldn’t be able to turn and catch him.

  His eyes fixed on the skin showing on her legs. Her skirt was knee length, but had ridden up a little as she drove.

  “Why are you staring at me?” She asked, repeating his question from the day they drove to Amantes. Her voice was quiet, like she was uncomfortable asking the question.

  “I’m not staring.” He answered, turning his eyes to the road.

  “Yes you were. I could see you out of the corner of my eye.”

  Nick snorted. He’d said the same thing to her.

  “Wondering how much I piss you off even when I’m quiet?” she asked with a small smile. It didn’t look genuine and Nick wondered if she would be upset if he said yes.

  “No, Actually.”

  “So you were staring.”

  Busted!

  “If you must know, I was wondering why I piss you off so much.”