It was Phillip and she stared at the wall blankly. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath before she replied. “Phillip, I’m not sure what’s going on. Why would we go to Aruba?”
“Why not? It’s been on my schedule for months. I need a break. You need a break. We’re heading to Aruba. Shut down everything and go home, Marie. Pack a bathing suit, in fact, pack several, and I’ll come by to pick you up. It will be fine,” he promised. A moment later, he’d hung up the phone and she stared blankly at the receiver, trying to process the last ten minutes.
Phillip wasn’t getting married. Okay, she could understand that. He was still taking the two weeks off that he’d originally planned for his honeymoon. Check. That made sense.
He wanted her to go to Aruba with him?
Well, she’d traveled with him before. Many times over the past year. He flew off to various cities and countries, talking with investors, corporate heads, and various groups to get a better understanding of certain investments. That’s what a fund manager does, she knew. And Phillip was brilliant at working the investments under the fund’s portfolio, ensuring that thousands of investors had plenty of money on which to retire. She admired his diligence and his intelligence but…
Aruba?
If there was ever a place to recover from a broken engagement, Aruba was definitely in the top ten. Maybe the top five! A private house, white sands, snorkeling…it was all there.
But he didn’t need his executive assistant there to help him heal.
Her eyes caught on tomorrow’s schedule and she gasped. “The interviews!” Quickly, she lifted the receiver to her ear but before she could dial Joan’s office, Phillip was stepping out of the elevators, walking towards her.
“Phillip!” she gasped, standing up as he approached.
“You haven’t moved since I called you fifteen minutes ago, have you?” he asked. He didn’t stop until he was close. Very close!
Tilting her head backwards, she looked up into those dark eyes, still confused. She remembered the interviews, her schedule, her packing. Her whole apartment was already in boxes stacked up on top of one another. Even her furniture was shifted around, making room for the movers to get things out easily.
“Um…well, I’m not sure that…”
“Don’t worry about anything. Just pack and I’ll come by.” He started to walk away from her, heading into his office and she just…she couldn’t do it!
“I can’t go to Aruba!” she yelled, interrupting whatever he was about to say. She hadn’t realized that she’d closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, he was looking down at her with an odd look. “Sorry,” she muttered. “And you can’t either.” She shook her head. “Of course, you can go to Aruba, Phillip. You can go anywhere you want to go. But you can’t leave until Saturday morning.” She took a deep breath, then leaned over her desk to the printer where she’d printed out her resignation. “Here,” she said and handed him the single piece of paper.
Looking down, Phillip read through the words, slowly absorbing what they meant. “What the hell is this?” he demanded, angry now.
She wasn’t afraid of Phillip’s anger, but nor did she want to hurt him. So as soon as he looked down at her, she hurried through her explanation. “I have six interviews scheduled for tomorrow, Phillip. All of them are very good candidates and can fill my shoes easily. I was going to train them while you were on your honeymoon. But if you’re still going to Aruba, then I can still train them and they’ll be ready to help you out once you return. Minimal impact on your daily routine and they are all competent men and women who come highly recommended by their previous employers.” She stood there, enduring his glare for as long as possible, trying not to fidget under his angry, steady gaze.
Phillip stared down at Marie, his eyes taking in her lovely hazel eyes and the resolute pressure of her normally soft, pink lips. She’d already chewed off her lipstick, he thought. She normally wore a mauve color in the mornings, but while she worked at her computer, she nibbled on her lips. Nothing harsh, just her way of focusing. He’d always thought it was cute and he knew to stay away from her when she was doing that, not wanting to break her concentration.
But at this particular moment, he was having a hard time not pulling her into his arms and kissing those soft, full lips. It was a shocking revelation and perhaps his mind only allowed him to think that way now because he was no longer engaged. He wouldn’t be cheating on Lillian now and…hell, the fantasies floating through his mind were hard to deal with. Obviously, he’d suppressed his feelings for his assistant more than he’d realized.
Crossing his arms over his chest, and tucking that offensive letter out of the way, he glared at her. “Who are these people? And where are you going? Why are you quitting?”
He watched her swallow and knew that she wasn’t going to tell him the truth. Well, not the whole truth. Marie never lied. She was painfully honest, even when she’d messed up on something. Of course, her idea of messing up would be a minor issue – something like a typo on a document he’d already signed. If an issue was significantly important, Marie was careful and meticulous.
But he knew her well enough to know that whatever she said now, wasn’t going to be the whole truth. He wanted to laugh, but was curious enough to hear her out.
He watched her shoulders straighten and her cute chin lifted ever so slightly. “Well, I took a new job.”
He waited, thinking she was going to tell him more. But the stubborn lift of her chin told him that she finished. “That’s it? No reason why you’re leaving this job?”
Her pretty, kissable lips fell open as she struggled to say something. Once again, he knew that she wasn’t going to reveal all to him. “Well, I just…” her eyes shuttered. Bingo. She was hiding something. Something important. “I just felt that this was the right time to move on to a new role.”
“Did my wedding in two days have anything to do with your decision?” he asked gently, carefully watching her eyes. And yep, there it was. The truth. She tried to hide it, but he’d been working beside her for a year. All day long, Marie was with him. They usually ate lunch together and often dinner as well, working late into the evenings. There were times they also had breakfast together, but not very often. Marie wasn’t a morning person so he discouraged her from scheduling meetings too early in the morning, wanting her to sleep in whenever possible.
That didn’t stop him from being her first phone call each morning. No way would he give that up. He loved telling her something funny, hearing that smile in her voice. It was his secret thrill and, he just realized that, if his plans worked out, he’d be able to actually see that smile.
“I’m waiting, Marie.”
Marie watched Phillip’s stern expression and tried to come up with a good answer. Normally, she would be flippant, distract him. But the look in his eyes told her that there was no way she could brush this conversation aside.
Besides, he didn’t deserve that. Oh, she wasn’t going to tell him that she was madly in love with him and wanted him to lock his office door so she could do wicked things to his body. No, that was one secret that she would take with her, never to see the light of day.
Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and looked directly at him. “Phillip, I just think it is time for us to go our separate ways.”
He leaned against her desk. “Do you still think that, now that I’m no longer getting married on Saturday?”
Oh, he was good! But she had to be firm. Just because she was in love with him didn’t mean he needed to know about her silly fantasies and feelings. “Your wedding and honeymoon presented a very good time to make a break,” was all she said. And yes, it was the truth.
He chuckled. “I can see that you’re pretty proud of yourself for that explanation, but it still doesn’t tell me the whole truth, does it?”
Damn it, she mentally cursed. Why was he so perceptive?! “It’s enough of the story to get on with our day,” she said and straightened, r
eady to move on. “You have several meetings this afternoon. If you are still intent on leaving for Aruba, then I’ll reschedule them.”
He stood up as well. “We’ll keep the same schedule for Aruba, but plan on coming with me. We’ll get work done.”
She swung around, her mouth falling open with the realization that he was still asking her to come with him. Well, not asking. He was telling her as her boss that she was going to Aruba and they would be working. “But…what about the training for the new assistant? I was going to be here to train whoever you select tomorrow. It’s perfect timing, Phillip!”
He laughed softly, thinking she was adorable when she tried to boss him around. “Well, seems that your perfect plan has a few flaws in it. Primarily that I haven’t accepted your resignation, I haven’t chosen anyone to replace you and you’re going to be in Aruba for the next two weeks, so even if the first two items get checked off of your list, the third is still set in stone.”
With that, he walked back to his office. “Can you get me the files for the Burris account? We’ll review them over lunch. Where are we dining?” he asked as he walked over to his desk, knowing that Marie would follow him.
But she didn’t follow him. In fact, she stood there, staring at the door where he’d just disappeared, trying to figure out what she was going to do! He’d messed up all of her plans. Her perfectly laid out plans to leave New Orleans and start her new life. A life without the painful sadness of seeing Phillip marry…
Wait a minute! She rushed into his office, her fingers trembling so badly she could barely hold the pen in her hand.
“You’re really not marrying Lillian on Saturday?”
He pulled some papers from his desk. “That’s correct.”
“But…why? What happened?”’ This news was just starting to sink into her befuddled mind. She’d been too focused on NOT going to Aruba and NOT telling him the whole truth about her resignation, she hadn’t let her mind get to the most important detail of their conversation.
Phillip sat down in his desk chair, his chocolate eyes tempting her closer. “Because Lillian and I realized that we weren’t sexually attracted to each other.”
Marie blinked, her mind still racing to catch up. “You’re not? Not at all?”
“Not even a little bit,” he confirmed. “Lillian pointed out that I’d never even kissed her.”
She pulled back with that, unaware of the anger in her eyes. “I don’t believe it. I’ve seen you kiss Lillian. I was at your engagement party last weekend, remember? You kissed her…”
“Not passionately. We both realized that I only kiss her cheek or her forehead, her hands. I’ve never really kissed her. All of our affection was similar to how I would treat a sister.”
Marie stared at him. She seemed to be doing a lot of that this morning, but…well, she could be excused from that faux pas since Phillip’s revelations, including this one, were astounding.
“But…Lillian is so beautiful!”
He smiled slightly. “I agree. But she just…doesn’t do it for me.”
Marie wanted to back away from the heat in his eyes. Surely she was misinterpreting that look. If she were a less sane woman, she’d think that Phillip was silently telling her that she “did it” for him. She had to remind herself that Phillip was her boss. That’s all!
Shaking her head – again – she focused on something other than the way Phillip was looking at her. “Okay, so you…aren’t attracted to Lillian. And she…? She felt the same way?” she asked, worried that something bad had happened.
Phillip laughed. “Lillian was actually the one that pointed this out to me.”
Marie swallowed past the lump in her throat. “How did she do that?”
He moved around his desk, standing in front of her, tall and incredibly handsome. “She asked me to kiss her. Truly kiss her.”
Marie stared at him, her neck craned so that she could see those dark eyes. “And…did you?” she asked, her voice squeaking slightly.
He looked down at her for a long moment, her lips softening as she imagined the kind of kiss that Phillip would give to a woman he was truly attracted to. Could she ever be that kind of woman? Or did he simply see her as the mousy, overly efficient assistant that kept his day organized and on schedule?
“No. I couldn’t do it.” He lifted a finger to her cheek, the pad rough from his weight lifting routine, skimming down the smooth skin of her cheek. “I couldn’t touch her in a sexual way.”
That was news. Because the way Phillip was touching her…sex was all she could think about. She wanted his finger to slide down her body to other places. Places other than her cheek. But for the moment, she’d take this touch. He’d never touched her before and she…what was she thinking?!
“Was Lillian hurt?” Her eyebrows snapped together in defense of the lovely woman who had always been kind to her. “Did you hurt Lilian’s feelings by dumping her only days before her dream wedding?”
Phillip chuckled but stepped back. “Stand down, Tiger,” he ordered affectionately. “She’s the one who pointed out that we weren’t attracted to each other that way. So no, I didn’t hurt her feelings. And if anyone broke off the engagement, it was probably her, but it really was a mutual agreement when we both realized that we thought of each other as friends or siblings and not lovers.”
She watched as he walked back around his desk. “So…the wedding is off. What’s next?”
He smiled as he lifted the files for his next meeting. “Next, we deal with your resignation. I’m going to try and convince you to explain the real reason why you are trying to leave me. Then we’re heading to Aruba, where we’ll relax in the sunshine, drink copious amounts of alcohol and I’m going to try to…” he stopped, looking at her with a strange light to his eyes. “Well, we’ll get to that later. Don’t we have another meeting?”
She jerked out of her stupor and looked down at her notebook, which wasn’t in her hands. She was still holding the pen though. After this morning’s revelations, she’d put that accomplishment in the win column. Turning, she headed back to her desk and grabbed her notebook and the other files Phillip might need.
“Ready?” he asked.
She spun around, shocked to find him so close to her. He was close enough to reach out and touch. Goodness, what was she going to do?
“Ready,” she replied, using the files and notebook like a shield.
“Let’s go.”
The next few hours were a challenge. She tried very hard to focus, but it wasn’t easy. She kept thinking back to their conversation, to everything Phillip had revealed. No wedding. Phillip wasn’t marrying Lillian Sousier. He was free! But he wasn’t free. Phillip was New Orleans royalty. He might not be marrying the reigning New Orleans princess, but he would marry someone like her. It was just a matter of time.
Her cell phone buzzed, indicating a text message. Looking down, she read the message from Phillip. It was the way they communicated with each other during meetings – texting so that he didn’t have to tell her things out loud when others might overhear. Usually, his messages were requests for files, reports, or data. Sometimes, they were funny quips about what was going on and it took everything in her not to laugh. Phillip had a razor sharp wit and an evil sense of sarcasm.
This time, however, he texted about lunch. At her favorite restaurant!
She looked over at him after reading the text, not sure what to say. The restaurant he’d suggested, Martin’s, was her favorite, but it was also a sweet, romantic-feeling environment. In the past, they’d gone there for lunch or dinner, discussing business or just relaxing after a tough meeting. The small, brick covered restaurant had only about twenty tables but each was surrounded by flowers and plants. At this time of the year, it was perfect. The whole place would be beautifully decorated for Christmas. If there was a more intimate setting in New Orleans, she didn’t know about it.
Immediately, she texted back a different suggestion, a more open and noisy restaurant
. One that was safer.
His response was immediate. “Nope. We’re going to Martin’s.”
Marie turned to glare at him, silently telling him that he was wrong. He simply stared right back at her, one eyebrow lifting in challenge.
She couldn’t help it. When he pulled the “boss” card, she laughed. He was so hard core with others, but when he tried to pull that with her, she knew he was teasing. It was almost as if they had a secret language. Oh, she didn’t fool herself into thinking that was truly the case, but she still chuckled, then covered her mouth when others turned to look at her.
Phillip snapped questions at the members of the meeting who were distracted by her inappropriate laughter, but as soon as the meeting was back on track, he gave her the look that said, “Do it!” and she walked out of the meeting.
She didn’t make reservations for Martin’s, but at another place that was near the office. And even as she sat back down in the meeting, she refused to look at him. He had to know that she’d defied him and it made her whole body tingle with anticipation of his disapproval. She couldn’t wait to see what he would say or do to her. Oh, it was such a delicious game. One that they’d played before, but never before had it been this fun.
Was it because he was no longer an engaged man? Did that make the difference?
She pushed that thought out of her mind. She wasn’t going to think about that right now. She would simply focus on this meeting and the next. She’d do an excellent job and enjoy her last couple of days with Phillip.
The meeting broke up about thirty minutes later and Phillip followed her out of the conference room. But instead of heading back to their office area, he steered her towards the elevators. “So, I know you didn’t follow my instructions. Where are we eating lunch?” he demanded as he pressed the button to call the elevator.
She laughed and he moved so that he was directly in front of her.
He did his looming thing, pretending to intimidate her. It never worked, but she privately thought it was amazingly hot.
Making her Smile Page 3
