by K. A. Linde
“We have a few people who will be here for the holidays. They have keys and can alternate days. But we’re closed up from Christmas to New Years.”
“Well, if you need someone, let me know. I will be around.”
“I’m sure they would love to work you into the schedule. Let me get you a copy of the key while we’re at it,” she said.
A few minutes later, I had successfully filled out the paperwork, gotten ahold of the keys to the Center, and was on the schedule for the construction crew. That also meant I was going to be getting some money in for the holidays.
I left Betty, feeling more accomplished. Even though this wasn’t my dream job, it was at least a job. Something tangible to hold me in Lubbock that wasn’t just family and old memories.
When I hopped back into my Forester, I realized that had taken a lot longer than I’d thought. It had only felt like a few minutes, being inside there, but I was definitely going to be late for my shopping date with Heidi and Julia. They seemed intent on me going, and I did need a pick-me-up.
I had been trying not to think about Jensen and what had happened. But I was just so confused and upset, something I didn’t really like admitting. I hated him thinking that what we had done was a mistake. I wanted more of his kisses. I wanted more of the guy who had unapologetically sang Mariah Carey with me. And, even worse, I knew that he was right. I hadn’t thought this was a real thing to begin with. I’d wanted to get a piece of him without thinking about what would come next. I wanted to think it was better this way, but it didn’t feel like that. I was hoping retail therapy would help.
Malouf’s was swamped for the holidays, and it wouldn’t have been my first choice. Mostly because I couldn’t afford anything in the store. Everything was designer and custom-made. Kate Spade, Kendra Scott, Tom Ford. Oh, my! But Heidi and Julia each had well-paying Wright Construction jobs, and I was sure I could find something. Maybe on the sale rack.
I hurried across the parking lot to get out of the frigid, windy weather. Screw Lubbock and its freezing air the day after it was seventy. I barreled through the front door and found Heidi talking animatedly to Julia, who was holding up a black dress with a plunging neckline.
“I’m here. I made it. Sorry I’m late,” I said to the girls.
“Em! Just in time,” Heidi said. “Tell Julia that she would look smoking hot in this dress.”
“It’s black. I like it.” That had been my motto since junior high. My closet was filled up with black jeans, black sweaters, black tank tops, and black sneakers. All black everything.
“I knew you would say that,” Heidi said with a grin.
Contemplatively, Julia held the dress at arm’s length. Black was a good choice with her hair that had all the burgundy undertones that she’d highlighted. Plus, it was slimming, which was good for everyone, except for Heidi, who was built like a Barbie doll. And, while Heidi had the enviable prom-queen looks, Julia just had something about her. Between her mahogany hair and studded ears and tattoos peeking out from under her edgy leather-detailed dress, she was the mysterious girl you didn’t bring home to Mom. I liked her for that. Kind of felt like she and I could gang up on Heidi together…and maybe even win. But probably not.
“It’s so not me, but I’ll try it on.”
“Nothing in this store is ever me either,” I told Julia. “But, if you don’t try on everything Heidi wants you to wear, then you won’t make it out of here alive.”
“Damn straight,” Heidi said with a sharp nod of her head. “Now, let me play dress-up!”
We wandered around the store together with Heidi randomly throwing things into our arms. Julia and I exchanged looks full of sympathy for each other. I had something hot pink in my pile. Julia had a pastel. Heidi herself had all the best pieces that only worked on someone who was five foot nine or above.
The manager came over and procured dressing rooms for all of us, offering us assistance if we needed different sizes. I shimmied into the hot-pink dress first just to get it over with, and Heidi hysterically laughed at me until I went back into the dressing room for something else.
“Okay, I know it’s a touchy subject,” Heidi called over the dressing room wall, “but can we talk about Jensen?”
I stepped out of the dressing room and crossed my arms until she came out of her room. “No.”
“What about Jensen?” Julia asked.
She appeared in a stunning olive-green dress that complemented her style perfectly. I was sure it would be a winner.
“Can I tell?” Heidi asked.
“Fine, but I’m not trying on that weird patterned thing you gave me,” I told her.
“Ugh! Fine! I’m just trying to brighten up your wardrobe.”
“You’ve been trying for twenty years. It’s not going to work.”
She laughed and flipped me off. “Anyway, Emery went on a date with Jensen.”
“Oh, wow! Was it hot?” Julia asked.
“So hot,” Heidi said.
“Heidi, can you not?” I demanded.
“Sorry!” she squeaked. “Anyway, he was a total ass to her afterward, and then he was an even bigger ass by asking her to coffee to tell her the whole thing was a mistake.”
“That sucks. Sorry, Emery,” Julia said.
“It’s fine,” I told them. “Really, it was one date. And then…another kiss that meant nothing. He kissed me after telling me how much of a mistake our date was because he doesn’t date in town and how it never should have happened because I moved back home. Oh! And he fucking told Morgan. Now, Landon is totally going to find out.”
“And Landon doesn’t know you went on a date with his brother?” Julia asked.
I shook my head. “I’d like to keep it that way.”
Okay, so I wasn’t fine. I was still frustrated. Even more so because Jensen hadn’t left me alone. He’d messaged me a handful of times to try to talk to me again. I couldn’t figure out why he thought I would see him again. After our last conversation and how it had ended, I didn’t think that was a good idea.
“Yeah, but he’s still messaging you,” Heidi said.
“Then, he must like you,” Julia said. “Maybe he’s just…bad at communication.”
“Just what I want in a guy. A bad communicator.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Julia said. “I mean, what if he is scared of how he feels for you? You said he didn’t date in town. Maybe it freaked him out when he realized that you were going to live here, and he said things all wrong.”
I slid my gaze over to Julia. “Jensen Wright does not say things wrong. He is a businessman. He says what he means and takes what he wants. I feel that I have to take him at face value.”
“That seems fair,” Julia said. “But the real question is it worth always having that what-if with him?”
I shrugged. That I didn’t know. It was too much to think about.
“Just go into it with your eyes wide open,” Heidi said. “You know he has baggage and shit. He’s a Wright. He’s filthy rich and sleeps with supermodels and all that. You know his deal. If you can live with him flying to New York every holiday, then who am I to stop you from having some fun? I just want you to be happy.”
“Also, that dress is fucking hot,” Julia said to change the subject.
I glanced at my dress in the trifold mirror and smiled. It did look fucking hot. Actually, it was perfect. It was a skintight black dress with a lace front neckline that went down to almost my navel and had an open back. Paired with some stiletto heels out of Kimber’s closet, and I could even pass for a girlie girl.
“You need it,” Heidi said at once. “I mean, you really, really need it.”
I checked the price tag, and my eyes doubled in size. “It’s three hundred dollars. I don’t need it that bad.”
“Oh, but you do! And…I haven’t gotten you a Christmas present yet. So, that can be my present!” Heidi said.
“Psht! Are you insane? I’m not letting you get me a three-hundred-doll
ar dress for Christmas.”
“Why not?”
“Because I could never repay you for a present like that. Anyway, where would I even wear this? I live in jeans and T-shirts. I would get no use out of it.”
“Actually,” Heidi said with innocent eyes.
“Oh no,” I said with a sigh. “You’re about to tell me the real reason we’re shopping, aren’t you?”
“There’s a Christmas party I want you to come to with me and Julia on Friday night. And I thought we could all get our dresses for the party here!”
My eyes slid to Julia. “Where’s the party? I know she won’t tell me.”
“Uh…”
“Come on, Em. It’s just one party.”
“Yeah, and it was just one wedding. Look how well that worked out for me,” I told her.
“I think it worked out pretty well. You’re not thinking about Professor McJerkface, and you had a lot of sex.”
Julia snort-laughed and then covered her mouth. “Professor McJerkface?”
“It’s a long story,” I told her.
“Okay, picture this,” Heidi said. “You wear that dress. I do your hair and makeup. You borrow Kimber’s stilettos, the really fancy Louboutins that crush your pinkie toes. But how can you resist the red-lacquered bottoms?” It was as if she were reading my mind. “You walk into the party. All eyes fall on you. You’re like fucking Cinderella for a moment. And then, poof, your Prince Charming shows up, and voilà, the night has endless possibilities.”
“Oh God,” I said in horror. “You’re talking about your office Christmas party.”
Heidi bit her bottom lip. “Um…yes.”
“And, when you say endless possibilities, you mean, I trip over my feet in front of Jensen, and he’s the same jerk he was and laughs at me or something.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Yeah, really, I don’t think Jensen would ever laugh at someone like that,” Julia added. “Plus, it won’t suck because, it’s open bar, and we can all get wasted on champagne.”
“Oh, I like you,” I told her.
“See, Em?! Please, please, please,” Heidi said.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Yes!” Heidi said, as if I had relented.
“While we’re at it,” Julia said, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink, “want to find me something that sexy? There’s a Wright brother I wouldn’t mind looking at me twice in something like that.”
“Landon?” Heidi asked at the same time as I said, “Austin?”
I glanced over at Heidi with an arched eyebrow. “Landon doesn’t even work for Wright Construction.”
“Process of elimination,” she said quickly. “So, Austin?”
“I think he’s scared of me because I work in HR. But he’s not technically my boss; Jensen is. I don’t think we could get in trouble. And I’m head of HR anyway.”
“Oh, I can find you something,” Heidi said. “Each of my girls with a Wright brother will be my New Year’s resolution.”
“You kill me,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’m not letting you buy the dress.”
I changed out of the dress and shimmied into a few of the other outfits. But none of them came close to the other one. I hung the dress back up, and Heidi snatched it back. We went back and forth until I finally gave up. In the end, I got the dress. And, secretly…I couldn’t wait to see Jensen’s face when he saw me in it.
Sixteen
Jensen
Patrick hadn’t stopped laughing at me for a solid ten minutes. If I were a violent man, I would have put my fist through his face a long while ago. Instead, I waited patiently for him to chill the fuck out. Austin would be here in about twenty minutes, and Patrick needed to get his shit together before then.
It was bad enough that Morgan knew about what had happened with Emery. I didn’t want Austin to know anything. Morgan and I, at least, were on the same page. We always had been; it didn’t matter that she was seven years younger than me. For a long time, everyone had thought she and Landon were twins, but they couldn’t have been further apart as far as personalities went. And, sometimes, I thought it was scary how much she and I were on the same wavelength.
So, at least I knew she wasn’t going to run to Landon to try to make things right. I just had to figure out what I was going to do. Because texting Emery all week and getting radio silence had clearly not been working out well for me.
And I should have just left her alone. That was what I’d said I wanted even if it was a lie. It just wasn’t smart to bring her into all of my baggage. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about her. And texting her. And I was considering showing up at her sister’s house with a boom box and waiting until she came outside.
No, I probably wouldn’t do that last one. That only worked in the movies.
“Tell me again that the girl from the wedding is Landon’s ex-girlfriend. It’s funnier every time you say it,” Patrick said.
I stared back at him with a look of deep disinterest. “How about we skip that part?”
“Okay, okay,” Patrick said. He straightened up and wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m just imagining you striking out now. I’ve seen you pick up more girls than most famous athletes.”
“I didn’t strike out,” I told him through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, y’all fucked, and then she straight fucked with your head. What were you thinking, man?”
“I was thinking that things were too complicated with Emery already,” I told him honestly. I leaned back against the door to my office with a weary expression. Things were too complicated. Much too complicated. Yet part of me didn’t give two fucks. We’d had an amazing night, and then I’d slept through the night. Both things were nothing short of a miracle in my world.
“Complicated?” Patrick asked. He poured out two shots of top-shelf bourbon. The liquid made a glub, glub, glub sound as it flowed out of the crystal decanter. “Shit’s not complicated, Jensen. You like her. That’s why you’re freaking out.”
“That would be a problem,” I told him.
Patrick shook his head and passed me a shot. He held his up in the air. “The problem is with your head, man. Get in good while you can. You don’t know if things will go south, and stressing about it will only ruin it. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
We each tipped back the shot of bourbon, and Patrick stood from the desk. He grinned with a boyish look. He never thought too hard or long on his own problems. It was why he and Austin were still bachelors and hadn’t had serious girlfriends since college.
I hated to tell him that I did know that things would go south. It was a guarantee with me considering my past. I hated thinking that I liked Emery because I didn’t want to hurt her. And, if she actually got to know me, it would be inevitable.
“Y’all ready?” Morgan asked, appearing from around the corner of my office.
She was decked out in a shimmery red cocktail dress with her dark hair curled, nearly reaching to her waist. Her eyes shot to Patrick. We were both sporting the standard-issue tuxedo. Her look said one thing and one thing only. And I wished she and Patrick would fuck it out or move on already.
Not that I was one to talk right at this moment.
“Yeah. Austin?” I asked.
Austin walked into the office a second later, carrying another bottle of bourbon. It was half-empty, and in his eyes, I could see that he was already drunk. All-too familiar at this point. As much as I needled him about it, I did fucking worry about him becoming the alcoholic that our father had been.
“Good to go, bro,” Austin said. He held up the bottle, as if in a toast.
“Let’s get upstairs then,” I told them.
We all walked out of my office and down the hall to the elevator that led to the top floor of the Wright Construction building. It was a massive high-rise downtown that overlooked the Texas Tech campus. The restaurant at the top had a panoramic view of the skyline and some of the best food in town. We held business dinners up he
re and hosted parties, and every year, it was the spot for the annual Wright Construction office Christmas party.
Already, the room was full of the corporate staff who worked in the business below. People were dressed in their best cocktail attire, leaving behind their business suits for dress clothes. It was like seeing the office come to life once every year. Even Mick in accounting had dressed up, and he was acting like he was having a good time. He was the most curmudgeonly old man I’d ever encountered.
The line at the bar was the biggest attraction, and soon, the buffet would open up. We had the food catered every year as a thank-you that went with the year-end bonuses.
I shook hands and said my fair share of hellos as we moved through the crowd, heading toward the DJ that was currently playing Christmas music. It was my mission to make sure I knew each person on the team. Ever since my father had died and I’d taken over the company, my life had been almost entirely about work. The few exceptions still lived in New York and hadn’t exactly worked out as I’d expected. Work was always reliable.
As I greeted people, my eyes sought out one person. Heidi. She was Emery’s best friend. She would know what to make of the whole situation. And, though I had never had a conversation with Heidi that wasn’t about work, considering the array of men falling at her feet, I thought maybe she would understand where I was coming from on this one.
But I never found her.
And then I was quickly ushered up to the DJ and handed a microphone.
Here goes nothing.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?” I said.
Slowly, the voices died down, and faces turned to stare up at me at the front of the room. My eyes roamed the room, trying to pick out Heidi in the crowd.
“I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I just wanted to say thank you so much for all that you do for this company. Every single person in this room is integral to the development and continual progress of Wright Construction.”
