by Ashlee Price
Leaning against the hard wood, I looked around the apartment that I had grown up in. I had lived there for more than 24 years. It seemed like just yesterday that I was a kid, telling my father how much I hated the place. It was too small, too far from my friends and too old. Now I couldn’t think of living anywhere else. The very idea of having to give the place up was enough to start the tears anew.
This time, though, I didn’t succumb to the temptation to crybaby my way out of it. I had to think, and before long I remembered that I got a paper delivered and there would be places to rent. It was somewhere to start. I didn’t anticipate the prices, though. The museum had always been a perk that gave me a rent controlled option in a great location. It was considered part of my wages, and now I knew that I had gotten a better deal with that than I had first realized. I was starting to think that I was going to have to move out of the downtown area. There was going to be no way that I could afford to stay there.
I got up, trying not to let the information bother me, but it did. How could it not? It was going to be hard to find anything close to the sprawling two-bedroom apartment that I had now. Time was running out and I was feeling it more and more acutely. After a while I just lay down and tried to get some sleep. I had to remind myself that tomorrow was going to be better. It just had to be.
***
I went to work Monday morning knowing that everything was about to change. I now had a time limit of one month for my apartment and two months for the job that I loved. I couldn’t remember what all Bishop had said about either one by the time I got downstairs to work. I was feeling out of sorts and I didn’t even bother to do anything with my hair besides throw it up in a knot on the top of my head.
My brain was still a little fuzzy when the place opened, but before long I had a cup of coffee in my hands and I was looking through the calendar to see what I had to do that day. My plate was full and I was just not in the mood for anything. I was in the mood to go back to bed and wallow like a normal person.
I hadn’t gotten through the first cup when I heard a knock on the door. I had shut it so that all of the happenings didn’t disturb me and I hated to think of the look that I gave the mahogany wood. The last thing I wanted was to talk to anyone. I was feeling rather grumpy and coffee was the only thing that was going to change that in any way.
“Who is it?” I was taking no chances and sat up and straightened myself just a little bit.
It was Bishop. I was surprised to see him in the place. He had been there yesterday, so this was the most that I had seen him at the museum in years. He usually stayed away. It made me immediately think that something else was wrong. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to take any more of his news. The last one had been such a doozy. I just knew that I was going to have to steel myself for whatever he was going to say.
“I thought you might like to meet the man who is going to be buying this place, Erin. Maybe if you get to know him, it won’t be such a bad thing. I really like him, and I think you are going to like him too.”
I kind of nodded my head, but I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say. I didn’t want to meet the man who was changing everything for me. I was under the impression that the museum wasn’t even going to stay open. One of the best and oldest museums in the city was going to be closed down and turned into another night club. It just didn’t make much sense, and I wasn’t really ready to celebrate that.
“I will if you want me to, but my schedule is pretty filled up for the next week. There is a lot to get done if we are going to have everything shut down and packed up by the end October.”
“Of course, Erin. I was just thinking that maybe you could see him this afternoon after you get off work? I could set something up. He is eager to meet you.”
I tried to keep the smile on my lips. The one that I knew wasn’t showing on the rest of my face. “I will see if I can push some things around, okay?”
Bishop kind of nodded his head, but I had a feeling that he was thinking of something else. I hadn’t agreed, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have a choice. It seemed the buyer was sparing no time in throwing his weight around the place.
Chapter 4 – Drake
I hung up the phone feeling a little aggravated. I was feeling more of that emotion than anything else lately, and it was not a feeling that I was particularly used to. I wanted to see Erin, but it was becoming impossible. It was already Wednesday and I still hadn’t been given a time to meet with her. I wasn’t sure if she knew who I was, but either way, she didn’t seem to have any inclination to speak to me.
Bishop had assured me that I would hear something soon. All I had heard at the moment was that he was still waiting for her to find time for me. I wasn’t sure what was going to be said or what I would do, but I was sick of waiting. My impatience finally got the best of me, and instead of waiting like every indication from her said to do, I decided to just go down there. I was about to own it all, after all, and it just seemed silly that I was taking so much time waiting on other people to do what I should have done in the first place.
There was no stopping me when I got down to the museum, even though I had to let a few people know who I was to get them to see if she was in house. When I found out that she was, I didn’t wait for the third receptionist to call her. Instead I just went on down to the office that I had seen her go in before. I knew that it was hers because of all of the small pictures of her and an older man that adorned the wall. I had known her father in passing and he seemed like a nice enough guy. When I had heard the story of Erin from the ever-helpful Bishop, there was a moment that I had felt bad about what I was doing.
It hadn’t lasted long, though. It was more interesting to see how everything would turn out. I had thought of Erin in one way, and she had exceeded my expectations with the way she looked. She had looked the part, but what I hadn’t been expecting was the way I felt being around her innocence. She was demure, and even from a distance she was something to really take notice of.
When I knocked quickly and didn’t hear her say anything, I opened the door and walked in a little ways. I knew that she was there because the brunette at the front had finally said so. I got a startled look on Erin’s face, and it made the whole trip downtown worth it. I had just wanted to see her, and it was like my heart was automatically going a little slower now that she was in my sights. It was amazing. I smiled at her, waiting for the tell-tale sign of interest that I was so used to seeing.
Instead I got another shy look when she had recovered from the shock of me barging in and taking a seat across from her. I had purposely left the door open so that she would not feel trapped, but it didn’t seem to help as her eyes darted towards the entrance. She really was acting like a scared little bird, and I couldn’t help but find it endearing. It slowed me down some, and I took a breath before I said what was really on my mind. The fact of the matter was that it was going to be a little slower going than I had thought, and I was going to come at her from a different angle.
“It is nice to finally meet you, Erin.”
“Do I know you?”
I shook my head that she didn’t, but I knew that she recognized me from the last time I was there and from the glances we’d exchanged at the exhibit of Rose Wood’s art. Like then, there was almost no way to get her to look into my eyes. She just wouldn’t, and I wasn’t sure why that was. How could a grown woman as beautiful as her not realize that everyone who saw her would want her? She seemed to be surprised that I was looking at her so intently. A gentleman would have toned it down, or at least made an effort to do so. But I never was a gentleman, and even if I had been, I was not really sure that I could be one with her.
“I have been trying to coordinate with Bishop for several days to get a time to meet with you. I must say that, for a curator, you sure are one hard woman to get in to see.”
Her face changed when she put it all together. She took the hand that I offered, and for a moment I let the tingl
ing sensation run through me as we touched. It was that spark that I’d known I would feel, and she didn’t disappoint me at all. All I could do was let go when she started to pull away. I was lost in her pale blue eyes even as they tried hard to avoid my gaze. Could she really see what I wanted to do with her? She was beautiful today, even without the tight dress and the hair flowing down her shoulders. There was still something about Erin that was slowly driving me crazy.
She blushed prettily and then finally met my eyes. “Sorry about that, sir. I have just been busy with everything that is going on. I just found out about all of this on Sunday, so I am just trying to wrap my head around what it is going to take to get everything ready for the shutdown.”
I could tell that it was upsetting her, and I knew that she had a legitimate reason to feel that way. If it wasn’t in such a great spot and if I hadn’t already made up my mind, the way she looked in that moment would have been enough to change my plans. But the clock was already running on all of these things and there really wasn’t anything that I could do. I mean, there was, but the business side of me knew that the last thing I wanted to do was back out of the deal. I didn’t want to be known for that, so one way or another, the museum was mine, just like I wanted her to be mine.
“It’s okay, Erin. It is good to finally get to meet you. I tried to say hello to you the other day at the art gallery, but when I came back from the bathroom you were gone.”
She looked guilty then, and I realized that it hadn’t been an accident. She had been avoiding me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Why was she so bound and determined to stay away from me when all I wanted to do was be around her?
Erin didn’t answer me, and I realized that she wasn’t going to. She was going to pretend like she didn’t know what I was talking about. I guess she may not have. How was she supposed to know that I had been burning for her on the other side of the room? Did she know that I couldn’t think of anything else but kissing her and making her mine? It was an urge that I felt was impossible to ignore.
“So I take it that you have heard the news about the buyout?”
I didn’t know what to say and I was grasping at straws. I had been so confident in the beginning, but seeing her and finally being that close to her, Erin seemed to affect me even more than before. The fall of her face when I brought that up showed me that I’d put a foot in my own mouth. I couldn’t believe that I had been so stupid as to say something like that. What in the world was I thinking? For a man who was always thought of as smooth, I didn’t feel very smooth at all.
“Yes, as I said, I was just told about it a few days ago, on Sunday. That is why it has been so crazy around here. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I told Bishop this morning that I was going to try to work something out.”
“Well, I am here now. Why don’t we have a little chat now? I am sure that you have a minute.”
She looked at the clock on the wall and then shook her head as if she actually didn’t have the time. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to ignore me or if she really had something to do. Her blue eyes went from the clock, to me and then down to her calendar that took up half of the space left on her desk. She was a woman who was married to her work and her desk was an indicator of that.
After some time trying to find a reason why she couldn’t wait around, Erin finally got up and told me that she had a meeting that was going to start downstairs in ten minutes. I think she thought that it would make me back off, but she was wrong.
“Would you like for me to go with you? I don’t mind, really.”
Her face puckered a little, and I don’t know why, but I liked the way she looked just then. There was something about her, even though she was trying her hardest to get out of spending any kind of time with me.
“There isn’t supposed to be anyone that doesn’t work here at the meeting, so I am sorry, but I will not be able to bring you along. They are rather boring anyways, Drake, so I assure you that you are not going to be missing much.”
She smiled at me, and it finally looked genuine. If only she knew that I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I didn’t care how much she believed that I was just going to let it go. I wasn’t. “That is fine, Erin. I will stay here and wait for you. I made sure that I cleared my schedule before I came down here. I didn’t want any interruptions.”
“Okay, that sounds good.”
It sounded anything but good to her. Her face was one that didn’t seem able to hold all of the emotions in, and it was hard for me to press her. She didn’t want me there, that much was clear, but I wasn’t going to let her bow out gracefully. I couldn’t, if that meant that I wasn’t going to get her.
Chapter 5 – Erin
I walked out of the office without looking back. I didn’t know why he was there, and to find out that he was the same man who I had been avoiding the last couple of times that I had run into him was too much. He had looked at me as if I was a meal to eat, and the feeling was hard to shake. I didn’t know what to do or what I was supposed to do, but it was clear that he was not leaving. So however long the meeting was going to be, I knew that I was going to have to figure out something to deal with Drake.
It didn’t occur to me until I got to the conference room that he was going to be alone in my office, doing God only knows what in there. I was torn between hurrying it along, so that he wouldn’t have that much time in there alone, or just taking my time and hoping that he left. He was a billionaire, from what I had heard, so I knew that there had to be something that he had to do. He would get bored with waiting and then he would be gone when I got back.
That was what I was hoping for as I made my way to the front of the room and sat down. There was a bunch of notes of things that we had to go over, but they were all blurring in front of me. I wasn’t worried about the agenda or what had to be done to end my job. I was much more worried about the man who was alone in my office.
Had he known who I was that night at the art gallery? He had said that he was going to talk to me before I left, but what he didn’t say was why. Had he found out who I was and decided to follow me or what? It didn’t make sense, and I started to realize that nothing seemed to make sense when he was around.
The meeting got started without me. I was glad that everyone was there and was ready to start. I kind of just sat back and let them have it out. I was supposed to be supervising it, but the whole week I had been dropping the ball in that respect and today was no different. My mind was too worried about what would happen after we closed down the museum. This time around, though, my mind was on the handsome man who was waiting for me in my office. I still hadn’t figured out what I was going to do if he was actually still there when I got back.
I didn’t have long to think about it, because before I knew it, my assistant Justine was calling it a day. I watched helplessly as the people around me started to get their things together and leave. I was the last one in there save for Justine, and she was looking at me a little queerly.
“Are you okay, Erin?”
I kind of shrugged. “Yeah, I am fine, why?”
“Well, because you didn’t say a word for like an hour. I don’t think you have ever been this quiet. I thought we were going to talk about the severance packages today?”
I could feel my cheeks getting red. I had let the meeting stop and there still wasn’t any resolution to half of the problems that we had. Everyone had been worried about what was going to happen when we all lost our jobs. I was supposed to make it better and let them know that we were thinking of them and that I was making sure that Bishop was going to help them through the transition. He had offered each employee a very tidy sum for every year that they had been at the museum. It was part of the meeting that I had been looking forward to, and at the end of it I hadn’t been able to even think straight enough to bring it up.
Walking back to the office, I almost forgot about Drake for a moment, but as soon as I walked in the room I saw he was still there.
“You are still here.” I didn’t say it as a question. It was more a statement, and I was sure that he could tell by my tone that I wasn’t necessarily too happy about it.
“Did you really think that I wouldn’t be?”
I kind of sighed under my breath, more tired than affected by his close proximity. There was something in me that just didn’t want to talk about anything with him. He was the enemy in many ways, and I didn’t get why he was trying to play nice. There was a part of me that didn’t want to be nice, but there was a bigger part of me, the one that was raised by a gentleman, that told me that I had to at least be cordial. It wasn’t hard to do with such a devastatingly handsome man.
“No, I figured you had more important things to do, like conquering the world. I searched you on the internet last night, and I wonder why someone like yourself is so keen to take over a museum.”
“You didn’t read that it was for my new club?”
I told him that I had heard about it. “Don’t you think we have enough clubs and things of that nature in the city already? What we need is more culture, and taking away the museum is going to take away something that this city really needs.”
I was overdoing it, I knew I was. We weren’t the only museum in town, not by a long shot, but I liked to think that we had something special to offer. Many of our collections were hand-picked by me. Each piece was something that I thought would be a benefit to everyone in New York, and I hated to see it all go away. Soon every single piece that had been found and acquired with care was going to be sold in an auction, and there was no telling where it was all going to go. I know I wasn’t supposed to care, but I did. There was too much of me and too much of my father in every nook and cranny of the place. I couldn’t play nice.
“I didn’t know that you were so passionate about this, Erin. Are you that sure that New York needs this little museum?”
