Desiree moved over to his bookcase and picked up a heavy object that his decorator had set in that spot. “Details.”
He waited, needing to hear the rest of this. But when she simply hefted the object in her hands, maybe considering throwing it at his head, Oliver realized that Desiree wasn’t going to continue. She had a specific version of their history in her mind, real or not, and she wasn’t deviating from that script.
“Another point, I don’t remember proposing.”
She laughed and swung her long hair over her shoulder as she turned to face him again. “Oh, we’d agreed to get married. You bought me a ring and everything.”
His lips twisted slightly. “That’s not how I remember it. Seems to me, we were walking along the river one evening, passed by a jewelry store, and you dragged me inside. You pointed to a ring, said ‘why not?’ and suddenly, we were engaged. So, it seems as if you proposed to me and…” he thought back, “I’m not sure I actually agreed.”
She chuckled. “You had to be led along the correct path,” she agreed easily. “Which is why I’m not giving up on us, Oliver. We’re good together.”
“In what way?” he asked, truly mystified.
She pulled back. “What do you mean? In every way?”
He disagreed. “Desiree, are you honestly attracted to me?”
“Of course!” she scoffed. “Like I said, we make sense. Our families have been friends forever. We know the same people. We have the same goals.” She sighed and braced her hands wide against his desk, leaning forward to give him a clear view of her breasts encased in a silver bra. “We want the same things.”
Oliver looked at the view, but it left him cold. Incredible, since the thought of getting up early enough to go watch Maggie run tomorrow morning so that he could see her in another one of those tight, body hugging running outfits made his mind blank for a long moment.
Unfortunately, Desiree thought that his pause meant she’d won.
“We really don’t,” he told her flatly, being callous, unsure how else to get through to her that their relationship was over.
Her glossy lips curled into a triumphant smile. “Oh, I think we do, Oliver.”
He sighed, irritated now. “Get out of my office. And don’t ever come in here without an appointment again.” With that dismissal, he stood up and walked out to his next meeting. But he paused at the door to speak with his assistant, Jamie. “Make sure that Desiree has an appointment with me the next time she wants to see me. But check with me before scheduling anything since the issues she usually discusses with me should most likely go through the marketing director.”
“Of course, Oliver,” Jamie replied. He saw the malicious gleam in Jamie’s eyes as he walked away and wondered if Desiree had been more of a problem than he realized. Had she become a nuisance to the rest of the staff?
He’d have to keep an eye on her. Maybe have a conversation with her about treating the staff more politely. But right now, he didn’t have proof that she was a nuisance. And right now, he had a meeting about tearing down a neighborhood that he was no longer convinced should be torn down.
Desiree watched the man she…well, he was hot, she acknowledged. But he was a man. Boring, pointless, and irritating. She’d hated how she’d had to trick Oliver into asking her out for dinner that first night. And yeah, he was right, the ass hadn’t even bothered to propose. She’d dragged him into the jewelry shop after only a month of dating. He had just gone along with the engagement! How insulting was that?! He hadn’t cared about a marriage to her and, she adjusted her breasts for better viewing, no one insulted her like that! No one!
Adding insult to injury, she wanted his credit card back! She needed his money! She hated living with her father, who had cut her off and, hence the engagement to Oliver, as well as moving into his gorgeous penthouse. Seriously, the man was disgustingly wealthy. Too bad he didn’t know how to spend all of those delicious billions!
Desiree was very good at spending money. She’d learned at her mother’s knee and was an expert at wheedling money out of men. If she’d just kept out of Oliver’s bed with the gardener or landscaper or…whoever…they would be married right now.
Accepting that she’d made a serious error there, she considered her options. She wanted Oliver back. Correction, she wanted his money back. And she wanted access to his bedroom back! The man’s house was gorgeous and…okay, so when he actually took the time to have sex with her, Oliver was truly exceptional. Most of the men she’d gone out with over the years would simply stick their thing in and grunt until they were finished, then grin at her as if they’d just gifted her with something beautiful.
Phhpt! Men! They had no idea how much women seriously hated sex!
At least with Oliver, she hadn’t had to pull out one of her favorite toys afterwards and find that elusive release. He’d known the value of all of her various parts.
Still, it was his money she was after. The sex was fine, but she could really take it or leave it. Money though…! And the power! Good grief, being on Oliver’s arm at the various events around town was even better than sex! Power was the real gem here. Power and prestige. Walking into any event with Oliver was a bit like being a rock star. Everyone wanted a minute of his time. Everyone wanted to be him or be her because she was with him. The envy from the other women was almost palpable!
Yeah, she knew all that crap about being one’s own powerhouse. Blah blah blah. Whatever! Let the feminists find their power on their own. She didn’t mind being the arm candy of a powerful man! In fact, she loved it! She’d planned on quitting her irritating job right after she got a wedding ring on her finger!
As she stepped back into her office and settled into the chair, she sneered at the e-mails waiting for her response. She hated working! Seriously, why did anyone prefer working to staying at home, sleeping in until it was time for a spa appointment?
Which brought her back to her original issue. How was she to get Oliver back? He didn’t seem angry. He hadn’t even been all that pissed when he’d found her having sex with what’s his name! Which was pretty damn insulting! He’d just ordered her to leave. Then the bastard had fouled up her plans to talk some reason into him when he’d gathered up all of her stuff and sent it back to her. She’d been pretty proud of that idea, until that ridiculous box had arrived. Most of the stuff wasn’t even hers! She’d just bought it and dispersed the stuff around his house, in anticipation of needing an opportunity at some point. Desiree knew that she wasn’t the easiest person to keep around and had figured out little traps to keep a man humble and at her beck and call.
Unfortunately, Oliver hadn’t fallen under her spell, the bastard.
So, what was going on? He’d been distracted over the past few days. Did he have a new lover?
No. Desiree knew Oliver well enough now to know he was a picky bastard. He didn’t play the bed-hopping game that had gotten her this far.
So, what was she going to do? Perhaps it was time to do a bit of investigative work, she thought with relish as she tapped her pencil against her desk. Yes, it was time to find out what Oliver was up to.
Chapter 4
Maggie hefted the casserole dish, careful to keep the hot pads underneath to protect her hands.
Opening the door to her apartment, she propped it open before walking down the concrete sidewalk to Mick’s apartment. When she stood in front of it, she adjusted the casserole in her hands, then knocked using her elbow.
A moment later, Mick opened the door and she smiled. “Hey! I just fixed up your favorite.”
Mick’s eyes brightened as he took in the potato chip covered meal. “Macaroni and cheese?” he whispered reverently.
“Exactly!” Maggie replied, laughing softly at his excitement.
“What’s the occasion?” he asked, carefully taking the casserole dish from her. “And are you going to come in and have some with me?”
Maggie peered inside the apartment, spotting Jimmy and Eddie on the sofa. They
were watching sports, each with a beer in hand, except for Jimmy, who had a glass of iced tea. “Nope. I made two so I have more in my kitchen waiting for me.”
Mick nodded his head. “What’s the occasion?” he asked.
Maggie shrugged. “I saw you walking home from work earlier today. You looked a bit sad.”
He laughed. “Eh, a customer stole his car back from me.”
“Without paying?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
Mick shifted the warm casserole in his hands slightly, shrugging his skinny shoulders. “Yeah. I kinda saw it coming. I shoulda taken his car keys home with me.”
Maggie put a comforting hand on his arm, shaking her head. “You should call the police, Mick. That’s not right.”
“I know. And maybe I will, tomorrow. But it’s Debbie’s uncle’s car. And you know how she’s been struggling lately.”
Maggie knew. Twelve year old Debbie had learning disabilities and the other kids in her class teased her cruelly. Molly had found a special tutor to help Debbie, but it was slow progress at the moment. Debbie’s uncle was…well, he wasn’t the worst, but that wasn’t saying much.
“Yeah, I understand.” If Mick called the police, they’d arrest the uncle. And the man might be slime, but he brought home a few dollars to help keep food on the table and pay the rent. Without the uncle’s contribution, the family might be in serious trouble. “It’s not right, but I understand why you’re not going to involve the police.” She smiled and waved to the men, then stepped back. “Well, I just…enjoy the mac and cheese, guys.”
With that, she turned on her heel and hurried back to her apartment.
Oliver lingered by the corner of the building, not sure he had heard correctly. Maggie had made the guy dinner just because he’d had a hard day? The boxes of ceramic tiles in his arms were heavy, but Oliver continued to stand there, watching Maggie hurry back to her apartment, her hips swaying slightly with each step. He was mesmerized and painfully turned on. Not just by her walk, but by the kind gesture. She’d made dinner for a guy who’d had a bad day. Just because he’d had a bad day! She hadn’t even known that he’d been robbed! She’d cooked the guy his favorite meal out of the goodness of her heart.
That was so far outside of his realm of understanding that he had trouble grasping the concept. Yeah, he donated enormous sums of money to charities every year. But he barely even acknowledged the donations. It didn’t take more effort on his part other than sending a message to his accountant to make the donation happen.
“Maggie makes the best macaroni and cheese,” Louise gushed.
Oliver jumped so hard he nearly dropped the boxes of tiles. “What?”
Louise nodded in the direction of Maggie’s apartment door. “Maggie. She makes this mac and cheese concoction that is so gooey and cheesy.”
“And she crumbles potato chips on top!” another voice chimed in.
Turning, he found Nora on his other side. He should have anticipated that. Where Louise was, so was Nora. The ladies might be of different ethnicities, but they were sisters in the most fundamental sort of way. It was very sweet, the way their friendship had persevered through the decades.
“And she just…made it for Mick?”
Nora nodded. “Yeah. You should have seen him this afternoon. He was pretty upset. That’s why Eddie and Jimmy are with him now.”
He glanced at the plate in Louise’s hands. “Are those your butterscotch cookies?” he whispered, awe in his voice as his mouth started watering.
Nora chuckled. “Nah. Mick’s favorite cookie is oatmeal with chocolate chips.”
Oliver might have groaned at the idea of freshly baked cookies. But his attention turned back to look in Maggie’s direction. “So, what do I have to do to get a taste of her mac and cheese?” he asked, a bit desperate at the idea. Of course, he wanted a taste of more than just the casserole!
Louise patted his arm, shaking her head. “You’ll figure it out, honey,” she said and the ladies walked down the concrete, pausing at Mick’s door. They had a brief conversation with the man, handing over the precious cookies, then moved on down to their own apartments.
Oliver waited, his arms about to fall off, but he wanted to make sure that they reached their apartment safely. This apartment complex might be an oasis, but it was surrounded by some pretty rough elements.
When both ladies waved to him, letting him know that they realized what he was doing, then entered their apartments, only then did Oliver move on down to the dilapidated apartment that Maggie had allowed him to rent. There was no doubt about it. Maggie was the one who “allowed” people to reside here.
Of course, she hadn’t required him to even sign a lease. Which meant that she hadn’t done a background or credit check on him. Interesting, he thought as he moved towards the bathroom.
He’d already knocked out the old pink tiles from the back of the shower area and replaced the cement board. Next, he planned to glue the tiles to the board tonight. Tomorrow, once the glue had cured, he’d grout the tiles into place.
For the next several hours, he worked steadily, fixing the tiles with the pins to ensure that they were straight, all the while, wondering about Maggie. Was she seeing someone? He doubted it. He didn’t think that she’d react to him the way she had last weekend if she was committed to someone else.
And what about her history? Why was she driving such an old car when she should be able to afford something newer? Why was her apartment almost completely empty? The furniture was older than she was, so was it all just hand-me-downs from relatives? If so, where were those relatives now?
It was a fascinating mystery that drew him in.
Chapter 5
Maggie picked herself up, smacking her hands together to knock the gravel off.
“Are you okay, Maggie?” Louise called out.
Maggie turned around, ignoring the blue pickup as it pulled into a parking space.
“I’m fine,” she called back, waving to show her that she was uninjured.
“Good! Now stop Davie!”
Maggie swung around and, sure enough, the little boy wobbling down the parking lot was just about to ride out into the busy street.
“Davie, pump the breaks!” she yelled, sprinting down the asphalt parking lot in pursuit of the eight year old who was just learning to ride his bike.
“I can’t!” Davie yelled. She heard the panic in his voice and made her legs go faster. “I don’t know how!”
Darn it! Davie had asked if she could teach him how to ride and he’d tumbled about ten times over the past hour. This was the furthest he’d managed to go without falling over and…good grief, he was about to turn into road pizza!
Suddenly, someone grabbed the boy off the bike, pulling him into his arms. A moment later, the bike hit the ground.
Maggie skidded to a stop, her hand coming to her throat as she looked up into the eyes of Oliver, who carried Davie back to the safety of the sidewalk.
“I’m sorry!” Maggie gasped. “Are you okay?”
Davie was grinning from ear to ear, thrilled with his progress. “I did it!” he yelled excitedly. “Did you see how far I went, Maggie? Did you see me?”
Maggie nodded, trying to calm her racing heart. “Yeah. I saw! You did a great job!” She reached up to ruffle his hair affectionately, pretending that she wasn’t a little faint after such a scare.
“Let’s do it again!” he announced, wiggling out of Oliver’s arms as he raced back to retrieve his bike. Thankfully, he turned it around so that he was heading towards the other side of the parking lot in front of the apartment buildings. At the other end was a hedge made up of benign boxwood hedges, so if he ran into them, he’d only get scraped up.
“Maybe we should practice using the brakes before you get back on, Davie,” she suggested delicately.
He grinned and his white teeth sparkled in the early dusk light. “I’ll figure it out. I’m an expert now.”
Maggie laughed, but she wasn�
��t overly amused. It was more a laugh of relief than humor.
“He’s going to kill himself, isn’t he?” Oliver commented, standing next to Maggie with his hands on his hips as they both watched the boy wobble off. But he made it all the way to the hedge. And thankfully for her plants, he did figure out the brakes.
Molly nodded somberly. “Yeah, probably. But he’s going to have fun doing it.”
“Why are you teaching him how to ride his bike? Where are his parents?”
“Well, his mother works nights as a receptionist at the health clinic down the street. So, she can’t be here in the evenings. She’ll work until about nine o’clock, but then has to clean up. Louise watches him in the afternoon, along with several of the other neighborhood kids down at the Center in the after school program. They get their homework done during that time period, then there are organized games and such. The parents pick up the kids after that.”
She knew that she was rambling, but the way he was looking at her made her nervous.
That was a stupid thought. Anything he did made her nervous. So, his gaze only intensified her anxiety.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” he replied softly.
She glanced up at him, but kept her gaze on Davie.
“His mother doesn’t know how to ride a bike,” she admitted.
“And his father?”
She shrugged. “He’s gone.”
“That’s pretty tragic,” he replied.
Another dismissive shrug. “It happens.”
Oliver looked at her again, this time, his gaze was assessing. “Your father disappeared as well?”
There was a long pause, but she eventually nodded. “Right after I was born,” she admitted. “I’m from Texas, originally,” she explained, unable to hide the pride in her voice. “Texas is a beautiful state, but we’re still a bit old fashioned and believe that a mother and father should be married when a child is brought into the world.” She took several slow, deep breaths, releasing the pain that came every time she talked about her family. “In my case, neither my mother nor my father decided to stick around.”
Whispered Secrets (Rose Garden Apartments Book 2) Page 4
