by Leslie North
“Why would it be obvious to me? It was the wrong thing to do. It was so wrong that I almost can’t believe you did it. You shouldn’t have hidden the truth from me.” His chest felt ready to crack open. His own child should never have been hidden from him. And he should never have taken a drink at that conference. The world was full of nevers that filled him with guilt and doubt and, yes, shame.
“You didn’t seem ready to accept the news.”
“Ready to accept the news?” He kept his voice under control, but it was a near thing. “I never got the chance to hear the news in the first place.”
“Maybe accept is the wrong word. But it didn’t seem right to pile it on you. Not in the state that you were in.”
“I was sober again by the next morning,” he countered.
His mother shot him a look that had his inner ten-year-old withering. “We were all terrified, Charlie. None of us knew if you’d make it a long-term habit. It was scary enough when you were in college, let alone an adult in full control of your own finances. How would we have stopped you if—” She turned her head to the side and swallowed hard, a dagger through Charlie’s heart. “You came back and said, ‘that conference was the worst mistake of my life.’ What was I supposed to think?”
“I did say that.” The anger and hurt at the center of his chest expanded outward and threatened to overtake his ribs, and he wrestled it back into submission. “And I take full responsibility for saying it. And for what I did. I was in a bad place—I’ll be the first to admit it.” The words were getting tangled in his mind, and he untangled them with a sharp yank. “I still would have wanted to know the truth.”
His mother raised her hands, palms up. “How would that have helped you? You were past it by then. Past the conference.”
“I’m still not past the conference,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“The conference isn’t the point.” Charlie straightened and looked her in the eye. “The point is, I’d never felt lower in my life. Maybe knowing that there was a baby on the way would have given me…” He wanted to say motivation, but it was more than that. “Hope. It might’ve given me more hope.”
Collette shook her head, her cheeks reddening. “I can’t go back in time.”
“I know that.”
“I’m sorry you’re upset with my decision.” She raised her sharp chin, and Charlie felt a potent combination of irritation and love and understanding. The feeling had ragged edges. He was so pissed at her, yet he couldn’t help seeing it from her point of view. And this was as far as her apology would go. The day he got a sincere apology during a confrontation was the day he’d start prepping for Armageddon.
“It was a mistake, Mom. You offered her money.” He cringed to think of Stephanie hearing that hush money was all the Preston family had to offer her.
“I was trying to protect you.” His mother stood with her back straight, staring him down. If nothing else, that was true—she had been trying to protect him in her own misguided way.
Charlie knew a thing or two about being misguided.
The fight went out of him. “Let’s just agree to tell each other the truth.”
“All right,” said Collette, and she rose on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I love you, Charles. That’s the truth.”
“I love you too.”
Back on the deck, Stephanie took one look at him and tugged him aside by the elbow. “Is everything all right? You were in there for a while.”
“I wanted an explanation. For why she tried to…buy you off.” He shook his head. “As much as I want pass along all the blame for how she handled it, I can see…”
Stephanie looked skeptical. “She hid me from you. She hid Jasper from you. And he wasn’t born yet.”
“I was at the lowest spot in my life.” It felt like a dam breaking open, to admit it to Stephanie. “I’d been sober for a few years before that conference. My college career was…dangerous, to say the least.” The story tumbled out, shortened for the benefit of the beach party. “I lost control at the conference. But that doesn’t mean…” He was making a real hash of this. “My behavior that night was a mistake. But not Jasper.”
“No,” Stephanie said, a softness in her eyes. “He was not a mistake.” She lifted her chin. “You’re not the only one who’s made mistakes in life.”
“Oh? I don’t know if I believe that.”
“It’s true.” She put a hand on his arm, drawing him closer. “I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I stopped pursuing it after college. I shouldn’t have done that. I still think it would be great to write a book.”
“You’ve still got time.”
His heart beat faster. Charlie believed it—that Stephanie had time to make all her dreams come true. But did he?
The beach party moved on, all of them congregating around the catered all-American meal of hot dogs and brats and baked beans. Charlie caught himself reveling in it. There was Stephanie, laughing as Jasper got relish on his face. There was Drew, enjoying the hell out of Penny. The sight of the couple’s sweet glances filled him with a strange mix of hope and jealousy. And Archer was always enjoying himself.
“What do you think, Collette?” Penny said, and he turned his attention back to his sister-in-law. “Pedicures at the little place down the road?”
When had they decided that? He saw Stephanie look down, pretending to be engrossed in helping Jasper wipe the food from his chin.
“I’d go,” said Collette, standing up from her chair by the fire pit. “Lauren?”
“Oh, I need a pedicure,” said Lauren, looking down at her feet.
There was a long pause. “Stephanie?”
Stephanie’s eyes opened wide, and she rose slowly from her crouched position. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Jasper…”
“Jasper can stay with me.” It was the easiest decision of Charlie’s life. “He’ll be just fine here.”
“He can play with me,” Logan said proudly.
“Mom? Can I stay?” Jasper tugged at Stephanie’s sleeve, and she looked down at him as if seeing him for the first time. “Please?”
Stephanie met Charlie’s eyes across the deck, an unspoken question there.
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “We’ll both be great.”
She gave a slow nod. Charlie had never felt prouder in his life.
The women gathered their purses. Penny hooked her arm through Stephanie’s, and the two of them went toward the house, Lauren lingering with Archer to kiss his cheek and whisper something in his ear. Collette was the last to leave.
She stopped by Charlie and lowered her voice. “She’s perfectly nice.”
“Mom.” He knew a dismissal when he heard one. “Don’t be like that.”
“Are you sure she’s not just here looking for money? Drew told me you’re having to dig deep into Allen’s company. It worries me.”
“Allen’s company?” Stephanie’s voice made Charlie’s heart stop, sink, and flop uselessly in the sand. He hadn’t heard her come back to the deck. “Did you have a question about the company, Mrs. Preston?” She flicked her eyes to Charlie. “Forgot my cell phone.” She reached around him and picked it up from a deck chair.
This was his one chance. “There’s nothing to worry about, Mom. Stephanie is not here for any purpose other than to work. And be with her son. Our son. I don’t want to hear any more about this.”
He looked over at Stephanie.
She was beaming.
“They’re waiting for me,” she said, then brushed a fleeting kiss across Charlie’s cheekbone.
“They’re waiting for me, too,” said Collette haughtily, as if nothing had happened.
Charlie started breathing again, only to discover that his brothers were staring, each of them wearing an expectant expression.
“Is there…something you want to share with us, Charlie?” Archer said. “Your son?”
6
So this was what working with Charlie was going to be like.
She tried to imagine how it would be if this were the only way she’d ever witnessed him—buried in his work, at his desk. But that wasn’t how it was. She lived in his house. She’d gone to his family gathering on the weekend. She’d even survived the awkwardness with his mother.
What a life.
What a glimpse of a life.
She tapped at the keyboard on her laptop, waiting for another batch of emails to come in. She was in the process of hunting down department heads with clarifying questions, and—no surprise—they were taking their time with their answers. Allen was golfing again, and she was here with Charlie, sending the emails, making follow-up calls, and doing whatever else it took for Preston, Inc. to complete the audit and make their decision.
Ten days ago, she’d hoped it would take a matter of hours so she and Jasper could get to their vacation. So she would know whether she still had a job.
And now?
“Stephanie…”
Charlie said her name without looking at her. Stephanie cocked her head and pretended that she hadn’t already been staring at the side of his head. How was his hair so flawless, anyway?
“Steph?”
Oof—that familiarly made her heart skip a beat. She hadn’t answered him, just stared like a lovesick idiot. And she was not a lovesick idiot. “Sorry, my thoughts were miles away.”
Charlie grimaced, and for a fleeting instant she wondered what he could possibly feel so guilty about. She and her son were living in his house, after all, and his housekeeper was taking care of Jasper through the workday. And surely Charlie didn’t let the past interfere with his work, even when the past hovered between them like a subtle mist. “I’m noticing some gaps in the documentation. You wouldn’t happen to know about any…inconsistencies, would you?”
“Inconsistencies in what?”
“In…the general financial data,” Charlie said carefully. Stephanie’s heart beat faster, and she leaned forward in her seat. She shouldn’t be answering this kind of question, should she? No. No matter how she felt about Charlie or Allen, she hadn’t been hired to provide assessments for the audit. She was here to get data upon request. That was all. And though suspicion pricked at the pit of her gut, she didn’t work in accounting at Baldwin Trucking.
“I’m not privy to that information,” she said, an electric feeling zinging up the centerfold. She wanted to have the information Charlie needed, if only so she could give it to him. There was a certain thrill to it, as she’d learned recently. But that was a dangerous game. Stephanie wasn’t going to chase that feeling at the expense of her career. Plus, she had nothing.
Charlie turned to face her then, a frown playing over the corners of his lips. “I’m not sure we can continue with the acquisition as things stand, and I need to tell my brothers.”
She heard the apology singing in the air between his words. “It might take longer, then,” she said neutrally, her heart dancing between relief—at least they could stay a bit longer—and a powerful fear. If the acquisition didn’t happen, she’d be out of a job.
“It might,” Charlie admitted. “I’ve been searching for a way to make this all make sense, but some of the numbers aren’t adding up. Maybe three heads will be better than one.” Intensity shone in his dark eyes, burning its way over Stephanie’s skin. She’d sworn to herself that she wasn’t going to get hung up on Charlie Preston. Turned out staying in his house for ten days and going to one family dinner was enough to shatter that commitment.
“Right,” she said, her brain finally catching up with what he’d said. “You call your brothers, and I’ll…”
“Call Allen,” he prompted, and a hot blush spread across her cheeks at the same time a knockout smile spread across Charlie’s lips.
She tore her eyes away from his and took out her cell phone, heart thumping madly.
An hour later—it took that long for Allen to get off the links and back to the Preston, Inc. building—Stephanie sat on Allen’s right at a long meeting table. Charlie and his brothers sat on the other side, Charlie playing the genial host, Drew flipping solemnly through the packet of papers Charlie had prepared, and Archer watching it all with one eyebrow arched.
“Allen, we’ve found some things that concern us in the course of the audit.” Charlie’s tone was level, as if he were commenting on the weather. “We wanted to sit down with you and talk them out.”
Allen swiped the cap from his head and ran his fingers through his hair. His skin was slightly pink from the sun, and he was breathing a little hard, as if he’d run in from the golf course. Stephanie arranged her face into a stoic expression and folded her hands on the table. Allen had wanted her in this meeting. Now he cut a glance across at her, his own eyebrows rising, as if she’d done something wrong.
“Happy to go over any of it with you.” It sounded more like my assistant should have smoothed all of this over by now.
“Let’s all look at page two.”
Allen straightened and pulled his packet toward him. Stephanie didn’t have one. What she did have was a blank legal pad, ready to take notes.
“Follow along,” Allen said to her.
“Of course.” She forced herself not to bristle outwardly. What else would she be doing other than following along?
Charlie launched into his questions in earnest, and the farther down the page he got, the more Stephanie’s stomach sank. She’d imagined a few typos, but this sounded like a lot of missing information at best and incompetent accounting at worst. She didn’t have to be an accountant to know that something strange was going on. Strange did not bode well for her own position.
“And we need to get this cleared up before we continue with the audit and by extension the acquisition.” Charlie put on an easy smile. “Any ideas about this?”
Allen laughed. “I’m a numbers guy, but I’m not a numbers guy, you know what I mean?” He pressed his lips together. “I’m embarrassed to say that I think this comes down to organization.”
Stephanie stared straight ahead, not meeting anyone’s eyes. It was so typical of him to throw her under the bus, even though it had been his own accounting department that had made a hash of the books. Heat seared over her chest, spreading up her neck. She resisted the urge to unbutton her shirt.
“We’ll fix this,” Allen said. He flipped his packet closed and looked each of the brothers in the eye. “I can absolutely assure you there’s nothing untoward going on here. Stephanie, step outside with me a moment, would you?”
She followed him out of the meeting room. Allen stepped to the side, his face reddening beneath the slight sunburn. “What was that? Jesus. I was totally blindsided.”
You wouldn’t have been blindsided if you ever showed up at the office, she wanted to say. Instead, she raised both hands, palms up. “I’m not conducting the audit. If they have an issue—”
“Their issues are what you’re here to work on,” Allen said. “They shouldn’t be running into problems with the documents at this stage. I need you to do better than this.”
Don’t lose it, she thought to herself. Don’t lose the vacation days you’ve built up and the steady paycheck. Even though he is being utterly ridiculous. Think of Jasper. Think of Jasper.
She thought of Jasper and took a deep, cleansing breath. “I’m on it.”
“Yeah, you’d better be on it.” Allen put his cap back on. “Let’s go back in.”
Allen’s voice washed over her in a blur while Stephanie took deep breaths and imagined waves crashing on the seaside. She’d almost achieved a state of blissful calm when everyone stood up around her.
Her boss made a beeline for the exit. “Ca
ll me if you need anything.” His tone said, Don’t call me, Stephanie, I’m busy golfing, but she nodded and smiled and walked out next to Charlie. After a minute she realized he was watching her.
“That was an interesting meeting. Are you all right?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I’m…I’m good. I didn’t appreciate…” What, was she going to start badmouthing her boss now? He was a jerk, but something felt gross about crossing that line. “I hope I can get you what you need to complete the audit.”
Charlie glanced ahead, to where his brothers walked together, shoulder to shoulder. “Me too. I don’t want to let them down.”
“Your brothers?”
Pain flashed over his face and disappeared. “I’ve done that before. More than once, in my life. This is my chance to prove I’m…” He laughed. “I was going to say worthy, but I’m not sure finalizing an acquisition means I’m worthy of anything.”
“I think it does.” Stephanie’s heart softened. First the dinner, and now this? A shiver ran down her spine. Maybe this was more than physical attraction.
He reached for her hand and tugged her into a smaller meeting room. Her breath caught in her throat. “Charlie?”
“I don’t want to let you down, either.”
“Let me down? How could you let me down?”
“I know how much you wanted to go on your vacation, and every day this goes on, it becomes more unlikely that…” He shook his head. “I can’t have you miss out, and I can’t rush the process with the audit. I just want you to know that I have a plan to make this up to you, since it looks like it’s going to take longer than I expected.”
She laughed, delight surging through her. “This is my job. I’m here to do my job, so you don’t have to—”
“Oh, but I do.” The air between them thickened and tensed, and heat surged into Stephanie’s cheeks. “I owe it to my brothers to take every possible precaution with this acquisition. But I owe you a fabulous vacation. You’re within your rights to tell Allen—to tell all of us—that you’re leaving at the end of the week, but if you stay…”
