That was actually a very interesting point. I puzzled that through my head for a minute. “According to the company’s manifesto, at least the one that they sent to all of us the other day along with the bullshit salary packages they were offering new hires.” I didn’t want to rehash that. I just wanted to make a point. “This is their attempt to move east. They want the market in the eastern United States. They’re looking for a foothold that will push them into places like Virginia.”
“I see.” Damion didn’t look happier. If anything he looked more pissed. “I’ve let them have the western half of the US. I don’t generally have any interest in that. I have offices in Tennessee and in Ohio, Virginia, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and here. So you might imagine that it really pisses me off to think that they’re going to start pushing on me.”
“Was there some kind of unwritten rule or something? An understanding?” I wondered out loud. Companies did this all the time in order to prevent the saturation of a market. There were only so many jobs available after all, which was why I had been reduced to finding employee spots in dental and medical organizations.
“Not exactly,” Damion admitted. “But I want to make the point that they can’t come into my backyard without consequences.”
“So put an office in their yard,” I suggested immediately. “Go open a Kansas City office and make them think twice about what they’re doing. You want to do it right? Hire Kevin to run the Kansas City branch. He could probably easily beat them at their own game since he’s the top producer in their recruiting department.”
Damion’s eyebrows lifted. “You think he’d do it?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and wondered if I had lost my ever-loving mind. I had refused a job that I was now suggesting that Damion offer to Kevin Landau. What was wrong with me? “I know that he’s really angry at Todd and Dan Hopper. Nobody likes to be set up to fail, but for Kevin it seems kind of personal on top of that. So maybe if you offered him the chance to get back to Kansas City it would be enough to entice him out of his employment situation.”
“I wonder if he has a noncompete,” Damion mused. “That could be problematic.”
“Noncompetes are usually null and void if a company does something asinine like move you out of your home market and into another one without even asking your permission. He’s got them on at least more than one contract violation I’m sure.” I raised my hands in a mock surrender. “But you didn’t get any of this from me.”
“Are you sure you don’t want a job?” Damion shook his head and sighed. “The more I talk to you the more I realize that your sister is right about you being the one with the brains for manipulating other people into doing what you want.”
“That sounds less than flattering,” I muttered. “Gee. Thanks Lena.”
Damion only laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure it was a compliment. Your sister really loves you. She just doesn’t know what to make of you sometimes. She says that you treat her like your mother treated her.”
“I imagine that I do,” I muttered. It would have been hard not to. Lena was the kind of person who was constantly doing things that made you want to slap her across the face. Although nothing like Trinity and Karl. This made me chuckle a bit at least. Humor in the midst of disaster. That was good. “By the way,” I told Damion. “I should congratulate you on the marriage of your stalker to my sister’s stalker. I’m pretty sure no couple could ever boast the ability to make two people marry out of mutual hatred.”
“Yeah,” Damion told me with a roll of his eyes. “We’re just so lucky.”
“You might be surprised just how lucky you really are,” I told him. After all. Nobody could see what the future might bring. The marriage of a couple of idiot stalkers could have long-term repercussions that nobody could imagine just yet. “At least they’re happily out of your hair and hating on each other.”
Damion held his hands out and nodded. “There is certainly that. And I’ll think on your idea about opening another office in Kansas City. I’ll have to get my business model guys looking at that. You might be onto something.”
“For your sake and mine, I hope so.” And I meant it. Even if I wasn’t actually sure what I meant.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kevin
The slap, slap noise of my running shoes on the pavement was probably the most satisfying noise on the planet after a long day of chasing my tail around the office, wondering what it looked like when my mother and my former fiancee’s mother had totally thrown down in a beauty parlor, and of course wondering if I was going to fail here in St. Louis and fall flat on my damned face and make Dan Hopper the happiest man at Midwest IT.
I had jogged last night after the dump cake dumping incident. Now I was jogging again tonight after yet another awkward dinner with my mother. I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was going. I was just running. And that, of course, was when I noticed that my feet were turning down Eleanor’s street almost of their own accord.
That is a stupid statement. Like I was attempting to somehow shirk responsibility for the fact that my mind had been ruminating on Eleanor in circles until I was dizzy. As if my feet had just randomly picked the direction that I was going without any input from my brain. I totally knew what I was doing when I turned down Eleanor’s street. So I just kept jogging.
It was dark. The rain had stopped but the air was heavy with the damp cold of the night. There were a plethora of streetlights and porch lights and more than a few holiday displays that had already gone up. It was almost bright as day. At only seven o’clock in the evening there was a light on in almost every window. I glimpsed families eating dinner together, people still cooking in their kitchens, more than a few families camped out around a television, and even still more people lingering at their tables. It was the ultimate snapshot of a night in the life of every Midwestern family.
Most of these houses held memories for me. I had mowed their yards and shoveled their snow. I knew the dimensions of their shrubs and trees and whether or not they had a pool. I knew the shape and size and configuration of their driveways and sidewalks. Man, did that make me creepy or what?
Of course, it was even stranger to think that in fifteen years a good number of the people living in this neighborhood had likely changed. They probably had no memory of me as a young man knocking at the door asking if I could please have them sign a lawn care and snow removal contract that would net them a five percent discount.
I snorted as I extended my stride to sprint past Eleanor’s place. You know, because if I ran really fast I could pretend that it hadn’t happened.
I didn’t get very far though. By the time I reached the wide mouth of Eleanor’s driveway, she was pushing her garbage tote down to the curb. She waved. I stopped. And that’s when I felt pretty ridiculous.
“I see you’re still running at night.” Eleanor placed the garbage can in the perfect spot in front of the curb. Then she looked up suddenly at me and even in the dim light coming from all of the porch lights and street lamps I could see her blush. “Oh my word, listen to me! I think I’ll just go ahead and say it for myself. Duh. You’re obviously still running at night because right now? It’s totally night and you’re running. Ugh!”
I started to laugh. I appreciated her sense of humor. The cold damp air was chilly against my skin. I was wearing a track suit and my favorite running shoes. My hair was damp with sweat and the leftover droplets of rain falling off the trees.
“I think we all do that,” I told Eleanor. “Don’t feel bad. I feel like a total stalker being on your street like this.”
“Probably just habit,” she murmured. “I remember you used to run by here in the morning and in the evening.”
“I did.” I wondered if she realized why I had done that all those years. “I wanted to see you as often as possible. I would have manufactured reasons to run by your house all day long just for an excuse to see you.”
Her gaze dropped to the groun
d as though she were embarrassed. Then she left the trashcan and stepped closer to me. “I suppose I always knew that. Kind of. It was really flattering.”
“So sometimes stalker behavior is flattering?” I teased her. “Or is it when we’re just dopey lovesick teenagers.”
Eleanor snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh yeah. I could totally say that you were both dopey and lovesick.”
She was wearing a pair of lounge pants and a baggy sweatshirt. She had stuffed her feet into a pair of boots for the trip outside. Now she gestured to the house. “Do you want to come inside?”
I did. Desperately. But I wasn’t certain I could trust myself. There were still so many things between us that needed to be resolved. So many. “I spoke with my mother,” I told Eleanor in a low voice.
“Did you?” Eleanor stiffened. It wasn’t much, but I could still see her shoulders straighten as she wrapped her arms around her body. “And what did she tell you?”
“Did you know that our mothers had a knock-down-drag-out cat fight at their beauty parlor?” I don’t know why this seemed like the better option to get this out in the open. “My sister told me about it first. I didn’t understand. Then I asked my mother and she said that she could not let Wanda Schulte spread rumors about her son all over town.”
Eleanor exhaled a long deep breath. I don’t know how I could tell, but right then I knew that she knew what had happened. I knew that she realized her mother was on the hook for this whether she liked it or not. She shook her head and pursed her lips.
“I wish that I could say my mother had the best intentions,” Eleanor said in a low voice filled with pain. “I spoke with my sister. If you listen to Lena for long enough she’ll have you believing that our mother was consort to the devil.”
“I don’t think I’d go that far.” Actually, I don’t know how far I would have gone, especially if I had known back then that Wanda Schulte was undermining everything that I wanted in life. But I could be gracious to a dead woman fifteen years later. “I’m sure she had her reasons. I’m sure that they seemed good or right or noble at the time.”
Eleanor reached out and lightly smoothed down the collar of my running jacket. The light touch was as stirring as it was surprising. Her fingertips brushed my neck. I almost groaned. How was it that this woman could make me buckle at the knees with just one look or touch?
“I’m sorry, Kevin.” Her whispered words had a profound effect on me. Then she reached up and brushed her palm against my cheek. “None of this was ever fair. Not to you.”
“Not to you either.”
“I made my choice and I know that.” She exhaled a ragged breath and emitted a bitter little laugh. “There was a part of me that was just so angry with you. But there was another part of me that wasn’t surprised.”
“What? Why?” I couldn’t believe I was hearing that. “I was crazy about you, Eleanor! I never would have done anything to hurt you!”
“I know that. But I think deep down I always believed that you were more than a little out of my league.” She seemed so sad. I covered her hand where it rested against my chest. I wondered if she could feel my heart beating.
“I was never out of your league.” I needed her to believe this. “You were always the better one. I don’t even think I truly grasped that back then, but I do now.”
I stared at her for a moment. The scent of her was in my nose. Her light femininity was still perfect. Even standing outside in the damp cold she smelled fresh and clean and reminded me of sunshine. Her dark gaze was hooded and her mouth was sober. I could not resist the urge to touch her.
I lifted my fingertips to her lips and lightly traced their surface. She shivered beneath my touch. I moved my hand to her face. I cupped her cheek in my palm and let my thumb skate across her lips. I felt the warmth of her skin against mine. There was something so trusting and so basic about having her close like this. It was the ultimate satisfaction. I could have stood there all day long rememorizing all of the features of her face. They had changed over the years, but not enough that I ever would have not known her. Her cheekbones were higher, sharper, and her jawline was stubborn. Her chin was just a bit pointed. I moved my palm lower so that my thumb could lightly trace that precious feature.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
I felt silly. But maybe that didn’t matter right now. “I want to memorize you,” I told her softly.
Her eyelids fluttered closed for a brief moment. Her dark lashes were a smudge against her pale cheeks. Then her eyes opened and I could see the crystalline of tears forming at the corners of her eyes. One tear escaped, sliding down her cheek toward her chin. I didn’t want to make her cry, but in some way I knew this wasn’t bad. She wasn’t really sad. It was more than that. I felt it too. A fullness in my chest that made me feel as though every hope and dream I might have had at one time in my life had come back to roost all at once.
“Eleanor,” I whispered.
She shuddered lightly before she responded. “What?”
I leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss. She didn’t fight me or pull back. Her arms snaked up around my neck and I felt her fingers tangling into my hair. She tugged me closer. The kiss grew deeper. Her lips moved against mine. I felt them part. Her tongue licked a tantalizing path over my lips. When I parted them, she swept her tongue inside my mouth. It mated with mine, rubbing sexily alongside until I felt a moan welling up inside my throat.
I wrapped my arms around Eleanor’s body and drew her as close to me as I dared. She was so warm and supple against me. I let my hands slide down her back to her butt. The round globes of her backside filled my hands perfectly. I pulled her closer. She whimpered and kissed me all the harder. She sucked at my bottom lip and then nipped lightly. The sensation went all the way to the soles of my feet.
The two of us stood there in the mouth of her driveway for what seemed like an eternity. I rubbed her arms and moved my hands to her hair as I struggled to feel every single part of her before the moment was over. She rubbed her body against mine. I felt the pert mounds of her breasts against my chest. I wanted to remove my running jacket. I wanted to be there in a T-shirt and nothing more. Or better yet, nothing. I wanted to be naked with this woman. I wanted to feel her against me, her warm skin against mine and her whimpers driving me absolutely wild.
“Oh my word,” she whispered against my mouth. “Kevin, we have to stop.”
“Maybe.” I didn’t want to concede that. I didn’t want to stop at all. I deepened the kiss once again. I lapped at her tongue and made love to her with my mouth. “But I don’t want to stop.”
Eleanor started laughing. The sound of it was light and girlish and it reminded me so strongly of the young woman who had held my heart that I could not help but want to stop and listen.
“We have to stop,” Eleanor whispered loudly. She tugged a little to pull back from my embrace. “My neighbors are going to be hanging out the windows before long.”
“What are they going to do?” I teased. “Call our parents?”
“I don’t know and I don’t think I want to find out.” She sighed and then lightly touched my cheek with the backs of her fingers. The contact was so light and yet so incredibly intense that I almost could not keep my hands off the woman. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow. Right?”
“I suppose that’s true enough.” I didn’t want to think about work or anything else. I just wanted to think about Eleanor. “I would prefer not to go to work.”
Eleanor looked surprised. “Well, that’s certainly not like the young man I used to know!”
“Maybe because when you’re young you don’t realize all of the wonderful ways that life can just stomp on you and leave you hanging there with no recourse.” I was starting to sound bitter. I knew it. She probably knew it. I was turning into one of those old complaining whiners. Not good. I took a deep breath. It was time to get going. “I suppose I should finish my run. You know, now that my bloodstream is full
of nothing but endorphins and hormones. It’s the perfect time to work out.”
“So I’ve been told by so many men,” Eleanor told me with mock seriousness. Then she sobered up for real. “Thank you for talking to your mother. I know that can’t have been easy. I really appreciate your willingness to look for the truth on both sides of the fence.”
I nodded. It hadn’t been easy. But I knew that it had been the right thing to do. And wow. Didn’t that sound like a total cliché? I offered Eleanor a little wave and then I kept on jogging right past her house. I refused to look back. I was too afraid I would wind up falling on my face.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eleanor
“So I did what you suggested,” Thayla Landau said as she slipped into her chair across the table from me.
I was doing my level best not to keep throwing surreptitious glances all over the dining room as though I were meeting in secret or something. But it was hard to do because I kind of was. I had no idea if Kevin knew that I had pretty much started regularly having lunch or dinner with his sister. But the truth was that I liked Thayla. I enjoyed hanging out with her. And honestly, the poor woman needed some friends. But here we were in the midst of a little Mexican restaurant in the Chesterfield Valley where the two of us had decided to meet up.
“Okay. Hold on.” I held up my hand as the waiter approached to drop off a little saucer full of white cheese dip, a basket of tortilla chips, and our drinks. “I want to hear all of this and I don’t want to get interrupted.”
“What can I get for you ladies?” The waiter seemed completely nonplussed by the melodramatic hand I was holding up to forestall Thayla’s explanation.
Thayla was the first to perk up at the thought of ordering food. “I’ll take a taco salad with shredded beef. Yum!”
The waiter nodded and turned to me.
Tangled: Contemporary Romance Trilogy Page 39