by HELEN HARDT
But there was so much more there. So much more I wanted to know.
Would he let me in?
10
Roy
“I want you in my bed,” I said.
She smiled. “I know. You’ve told me. But—”
I quieted her with a gesture. “Not tonight. I know you have to be in early tomorrow, and it’s already nearly one a.m. Tomorrow. Come here for dinner. I’ll have a surprise for you.”
“Roy…”
“You don’t have to sleep with me,” I said. “That’s not what this is about.”
“But you just said—”
“I know what I said. It’s the damned truth. I want you in my bed more than I’ve ever wanted another woman. It’s crazy, but it’s true. But I want something else too.”
Something I’d never be able to make happen. I wanted to share my whole self with her, but that would never happen. Even if it could, it was still too soon. I didn’t know her well enough to trust her.
Yet.
I wanted to trust this woman. I wanted to trust her with everything.
Maybe someday…
But probably not. Still, I could come close. Closer than I had with anyone else.
I could give her something, as well. Something she wanted, something she needed, something she coveted and didn’t even realize it.
“Tomorrow,” I said.
“But what about…tonight? I mean, it’s late, and—”
“I’ll take you home, silver. I’d never let you leave here alone this late. It’s a good neighborhood, but this is still New York.”
“I can call a cab.”
“Nope. I’ll take you. Plus, I have an ulterior motive.”
“What’s that?”
“This way I can find out where you live.”
“Ha! You can find out anyway the same way I did. Check the employee files.”
I smiled. “You forget. I don’t work there. This way is much easier.”
“So you’re giving me the boot?”
“Only for now.”
“What about—”
“I want to wait. Until tomorrow. You’ll see why when you come back.”
“Uh…okay. I guess I’ll get my clothes back on, then. Though I hate to give up this glorious robe.”
“Keep it,” I said. “I have more.”
She smiled, rubbing the plush collar against her cheek. “No, I’ll leave it here. I kind of like having something here.”
I kind of liked it too.
“Your call,” was all I said.
She walked toward the bedroom.
I was tempted to follow her. My cock was hard as a rock beneath my jeans, and I could easily fuck her into oblivion, but I’d meant what I said. I had something special in mind for tomorrow. Something we’d both enjoy.
A few minutes later, she came back out fully clothed in her stiff office garb, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail once more. A shame. She looked the most beautiful with it down, in disarray around her creamy shoulders.
“My car is downstairs in the parking garage.”
“Okay. Lead the way.”
Her apartment was in a converted brownstone.
“It’s a studio. All I can afford,” she said, reaching for the door handle. “Thanks for the ride. And…for everything.”
“I’ll see you up,” I said.
“You can’t stop here. You’ll get a ticket.”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“You still might get a ticket.”
“So? Then I’ll pay the ticket. It won’t be the first parking ticket I’ve gotten, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”
She smiled. “Okay. It’s sweet of you to…see me up.”
I hurried out of the car and made it to her door just as she was opening it.
“Wow. A gentleman.”
“My father may have been a first-class shithead, but he did teach my brothers and me how to treat women.” I frowned, remembering. “Actually, that was my mother, not my father.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” We walked up to the concrete steps leading into the brownstone, and Charlie quickly put in a code. I opened the door for her. “Connie Wolfe was nothing if not the etiquette queen. She had an image to uphold. To the public, at least, and her sons were going to be perfect little gentlemen.”
“Even Rock?” she asked.
“Even Rock. Until he left.”
“Why did he leave, Roy?”
“You’d have to ask him,” I said. “None of us know, and he’s not exactly forthcoming.”
“Your parents didn’t tell you?”
“They told us he’d gotten into some trouble and they sent him off to military school. But that’s not the whole story.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he wouldn’t be the first pampered rich boy to get into trouble. Usually the mom and dad buy off whoever they need to, and the kid ends up in a different boarding school to wreak havoc in a new place.”
“Oh.” She stopped walking. “This is my door. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“It’s okay. But if it’s the same to you, I’d rather not talk about my brother.”
“What do you want to do, then?”
I cupped her silky cheek, gazing into those sparkling silver eyes. “This.”
11
Charlie
His lips came down onto mine in a soft kiss. A gentle kiss. Not the raw kiss of untamed passion we’d shared earlier.
This was sweet. Gentle. A promise of something to come.
Something I was definitely looking forward to.
Still, this man was a riddle in human form. Did he truly think anything could be art? He seemed to talk in circles. I wasn’t sure what he actually believed.
But this was new, for both of us. I had all the time in the world to discover what made Roy Wolfe tick.
Too soon, he ended the gentle kiss, our tongues parting.
I pulled out my key and unlocked the door. “You want to…”
He shook his head. “Until tomorrow, silver.” He gave a mock salute and walked toward the staircase.
I watched him until he was out of sight.
My phone alarm rang too damned early the next morning. I managed to make it into the office by eight, though, and already Lacey had piled the work on for me.
“We’re meeting in the same conference room at ten,” she said. “I need this stuff before then.”
“I’ll get right on it.” I sighed and began to tackle the comprehensive list.
A few minutes later, she appeared in my doorway. “What did you decide?”
“About what?”
She entered and closed my door. “About Roy.”
“Oh.” I’d nearly forgotten that I’d asked her about him yesterday. “I guess I’ll go for it if he’s still interested.”
I felt bad lying to her, but Roy was such a recluse, and part of me felt like this was still too new. I didn’t want to share it. I wanted it to be mine and only mine for a little while. To tell anyone about it would taint it.
I was being silly, but still…
“I don’t know Roy very well,” Lacey said, “but I do know that he wouldn’t have approached you if he weren’t truly interested. He’s kind of shy.”
“Well, he’s an artist,” I said, as if that explained everything. In truth, it explained nothing.
“True.”
Good. She’d bought it.
“Sorry to pile so much on you,” she said. “It’s only your second day and all.”
“No worries. I’ll get it done as quickly as I can.”
She nodded and then left my office, leaving the door open. Wolfe Enterprises seemed to have an open-door policy, which was fine with me. I wasn’t used to having my own office anyway.
Two hours passed like two seconds. I’d made a considerable dent in Lacey’s list but still had plenty to do. I hoped the meeting in the conference room wouldn’t take all day. If I had to stay la
te and finish Lacey’s list, I’d miss dinner with Roy.
I grabbed my laptop for notes and headed to the conference room.
I jerked. Only Roy sat inside the room, in the same chair he’d used yesterday. He was dressed to the nines once more, this time in a navy-blue suit and black button-down. No tie. His hair was combed into a smooth low ponytail.
I cleared my throat. “Hi.”
He smiled. “Hi, silver.”
“You can’t—”
“Call you that when everyone gets here. I know.” He looked at his watch. “Right on time. Where is everyone else?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t check Lacey’s office before I came.”
“I’m sure they’ll be here soo—”
Reid walked in the door then. “Hey. Where’s Rock?”
“Isn’t your office right next to his?” Roy asked.
“He wasn’t in it. I assumed he was here.”
Jarrod and Terrence arrived behind Reid and sat with me on the other side of the table.
“Hi, Charlie,” Jarrod said. “Hanging in there?”
I smiled. “Trying.”
I looked over at Roy and his gaze was stern. Had Jarrod been flirting with me? He was just a flirtatious kind of guy, from what I’d seen so far. He was also gorgeous. And single.
I smiled inside. Roy was jealous.
I liked that. I liked it a lot.
Roy didn’t have anything to worry about. Jarrod and Terrence were both handsome, but Roy was something else altogether.
“Where the hell is our brother?” Reid said to Roy.
“How the hell should I know? Don’t you have him on a leash?”
Reid rolled his eyes. “I wish.”
A few more minutes passed in awkward silence, and then Rock and Lacey entered, looking flustered. Lacey’s hair was in disarray, and one part of Rock’s shirttail was hanging outside his trousers.
“For God’s sake,” Reid said.
I held back a giggle. Things had apparently not changed since that first time with Rock and Lacey in her former office.
Lacey took her seat, her cheeks red. She still didn’t know that I’d heard her and Rock that first day, during a break in the reading of Derek Wolfe’s will.
“This is an office,” Reid said.
Rock didn’t reply, just took his seat at the head of the table. “I’ve got some people joining us today,” he said.
“Who?” Reid asked. “We’ve got enough to do as it is.”
“Some friends of mine from back home.”
“This is your home now, Rock,” Reid said. “Unfortunately for all of us.”
“You’re telling me.” Rock riffled his fingers through his short hair. “But this is important. They have information for us.”
“Who are they?” This time from Roy.
“One’s a lawyer, the other’s a gynecologist. I’ve finally convinced them to tell me what they know. At least I think I have.”
“Why would anyone in Montana know—”
Rock interrupted Reid. “One of Manny’s patients—”
“Wait a minute.” This time Reid interrupted Rock. “Manny? Seriously?”
“Yeah, Manny. Hoss and Manny. Make fun of their names now, before they get here.”
“And you couldn’t have briefed us on this, say…yesterday?” Reid asked. “Maybe during that silent hour you called lunch?”
“Fuck off, Reid,” Rock said.
“Rock,” Lacey admonished.
“Sorry.” Rock cleared his throat. “Manny has a patient who somehow knew I had left Montana. I didn’t tell anyone. At first, he wouldn’t tell me who it is. Doctor-patient privilege and all. But I think I’ve convinced him.”
“With money?” Roy asked.
“Is there any other way?”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Reid said.
“Don’t you get it? She knew I had left Montana for New York. I didn’t tell anyone, Reid. Not a fucking one.”
“How did your old girlfriend know then?” Reid asked.
Good question. Lacey had told me about Rock’s ex, Nieves Romero, who’d shown up a few days after Rock had.
“We’re thinking from this person,” Lacey said.
“Maybe the patient is Nieves herself,” Roy said.
Rock chuckled, shaking his head. “Nieves wouldn’t go near Manny naked. When you meet him, you’ll see—”
A knock on the conference room door interrupted him. “Come in,” Rock said.
Carla, Rock’s secretary entered, followed by two men, one tall and thin and the other short and stout.
“Hey, guys,” Rock said. “Take a seat. Thanks, Carla.”
She nodded and left, closing the door behind her.
“Everyone, meet Horace Stiers and Parker Manfred, better known as Hoss and Manny.”
Roy chuckled under his breath and was met with a glare from Reid.
I held back my own chuckle. Hoss and Manny? Really?
Rock introduced the rest of us to the newcomers and bade them to have a seat.
“I hear you have information for us,” Reid said.
“Hoss is here as my attorney,” Manny said. “I’ve decided to tell you what you need to know, but we need to be sure of full confidentiality.”
“We can’t offer full confidentiality,” Rock said. “You know that. We need to talk to this woman.”
“She can’t know you got her name from Manny is all,” Hoss said. “And we can give you the name, but she won’t talk to you over the phone. Only in person.”
“We’ll fly her out,” Rock said. “No problem.”
“Well…there is a problem,” Hoss said.
This man looked like he was going to spit a wad of chew any second.
“What’s that?” Rock asked.
“She won’t travel. You’ll have to go to Montana.”
“And you couldn’t have told us this over the phone?” Reid asked.
“And miss out on a trip to New York, all expenses paid?” Hoss chuckled.
Yeah, this room was going to be a spittoon at any moment.
“Fucker,” Rock said, laughing.
“You think this is funny?” Reid asked, his face turning red.
Roy spoke up then. “I think it’s a little funny.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Even Lacey had covered her mouth, her shoulders quivering.
“You do this shit just to torture me, don’t you, Rock?” Reid said, still red in the face.
“I had nothing to do with this. This is all Hoss and Manny.”
“So you just gave out a free trip to Manhattan to a couple of clowns.”
“Clowns who have information we need. Hell, I flew them coach, and we damned well could afford first class.”
“We were expecting the private jet,” Hoss said.
“For you bozos?” Rock said. “I don’t think so.”
Hoss was as tall and skinny as Manny was round. They laughed uproariously, seeming to focus on Reid, who looked really pissed off.
Rock turned to his friends then. “Let’s get serious now. I’ve already paid you two a shit ton of green. What’s up with this?”
Hoss smirked. “Just wanted to see New York.”
“Well, see as much as you can today, because you’re going back tomorrow. Lace and I will come with you.”
“I can’t, Rock. I have appointments all day tomorrow. Appointments you set up for me.”
“Shit. You’re right.” He looked to Reid.
“Don’t even think it,” Reid said. “I have better things to do.”
Then to Roy, “I guess it’s you and me, bro. Want to see Montana again?”
A cannonball hit my stomach. Lacey had told me Roy had slept with a woman in Montana a few weeks ago. Not that he was going to go and rekindle a one-nighter, but—
“I have stuff planned,” Roy said.
“For God’s sake. Jarrod can’t come along. I’ve got tons of paperwork for him.”
&nb
sp; Jarrod smiled. “Hey, I’m happy to go.”
“Nice try,” Rock said. “Lacey, can you spare Charlie?”
“I suppose so, if it’s that important you have someone along.”
Roy regarded me tersely. He wanted me to turn Rock down. He seriously wanted me to turn down a request from the CEO on my second day on the job.
Not going to happen.
“Okay, Charlie,” Rock said. “You and I leave tomorrow. Company jet.”
Roy looked down at his computer. He wasn’t happy. Surely I’d hear all about this tonight when I met him at his place for dinner.
I managed to escape the office by seven p.m., and I quickly changed into a sundress and sandals in the ladies’ room before I headed to Roy’s place. I grabbed a cab quickly and made it by seven-thirty.
Roy buzzed me up without so much as a word.
Why was he pissed at me? I couldn’t help what Rock wanted. And I did seem to be the only person available on such short notice.
I knocked softly, remembering how I’d come over on a whim just last night, feeling terrible because I hadn’t accepted Roy’s dinner invitation.
Now, less than twenty-four hours later, I’d had a portrait painted by Roy Wolfe. Oh, and I’d fucked him.
Surreal.
He held the door open for me, still saying nothing. Was that how this evening was going to go? The silent treatment?
I inhaled. Italian. “Smells great. Did you cook?”
“Yeah.”
“Lasagna?”
“Baked ziti.”
“Sounds great.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“What’s this about, Roy?”
“What’s what about?”
“You know damned well what I’m talking about. We had a great time last night—at least I did—and now you won’t speak to me.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. You want some wine? Chianti?”
“I’d love a glass of wine.” Anything to take the edge off. “You have some too.”
“I’m not much for wine. Bourbon for me.”
“With baked ziti?”
“With just about everything. All three of us are bourbon drinkers. Reid and I always have been, and Rock is as well. We found that out when he came back here for the reading of our dad’s will.” Roy chuckled. “He drank a lot of bourbon that night.”
