Lovely Dreams
Danielle Stewart
Copyright © 2019 by Danielle Stewart
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
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Lovely Dreams
A great and sudden loss has left Lauren rudderless and drifting. The one person in her life who always knew what to say, now wasn’t around to say anything at all. One night, while sitting alone for a good cry, she’s rudely interrupted. A disruption, that if not handled swiftly, could send shockwaves through her entire life.
* * *
Against his better judgment, Tray Hallenburn is doing something nice. His mother asked him for a favor. Even though it meant leaving a sandy paradise island and doing actual work for a few days, he obliged. As long as he stuck to the plan, everything would be fine. He’d show up in Boston and graciously turn down a absurd job offer. In no time, he’d return to his wonderfully frivolous life of pleasure and indulgence. What he hadn’t expected was the beautiful, mysterious woman sitting alone in a darkened office. He was always a sucker for tears.
* * *
Oblivious to how their lives already connect, Tray and Lauren embark as reluctant partners on an unwelcome adventure. Sparks fly and emotions run hot as long hidden secrets surface. They’ll have only each other to hang on to as they decide what path to take. And whether or not they’ll take it together.
Chapter 1
Lauren was a child of the sea. Always walking around with salt water on her skin and wind-blown hair. That glowing, bronze sunbaked look. Seashells were her toys. Seagulls her companions. The lapping of the waves against the hull, her lullaby.
Sailing was her father’s passion and she became an accessory to his hobby. A thing he picked up and put on a shelf near him while he did what he loved. It occurred to her at about the age of twelve, she could love sailing and be with her father or hate it and watch him choose the boats over her. So, she sailed. Even on the days she didn’t feel like it. Even the early mornings when she wanted to sleep in. When she saw him pull on his lucky baseball hat, she got up and joined him. Because the only thing worse than being tired, was being left behind.
Her friends thought she was lucky. What a life she was leading out on the ocean. The traveling. The exploring. All the time she had with her father. She learned navigation. Knot tying. How to read the sea. Knew the weather better than the man giving the forecast in the morning. For everything she learned, the one thing she tried to get close to always eluded her. Her father remained a mystery. Quiet and calm. Reserved. The only smiles he flashed were to the sunrise or the sunset on the horizon.
He read books the way other people breathed air. To live. To survive. But he didn’t talk of things like emotions or feelings. Only about characters on the pages he quickly flipped through.
Lauren remembered how voraciously she had to read in order to keep up. Trying to get the same titles as him so they might have something to talk about. But he was always on to the next book before they could chat. She imagined this was why her mother had moved to Europe. How long would a person wait around for a man like that to look up and remember she existed? Lauren knew the answer to that question. She had spent the first part of her life waiting. And she’d have likely waited longer if fate hadn’t stepped in.
Even in his death there was no closure. No hashing out his shortcomings. It had likely happened just as he wanted it. A storm swallowed up his favorite sailboat and took him with it. Lost at sea. But he’d been lost to her for as long as she could remember. Though the smell of his old pipe and the sound of his humming were missed, in death he was as distant as he was in life.
From that day on she was on her own in the physical sense too. Grown enough to survive without him but still too young to know exactly how to do it the right way. If it hadn’t been for Gloria, she’d probably have walked into the sea and never walked out.
The memory of meeting Gloria fell heavy on Lauren as she sat alone in the now-empty office once occupied by her friend and boss. It looked skeletal in its bareness. The massive art gone from the walls. The marble top desk, gorgeous and sleek, had been moved to someone else’s office. Gloria, in her final wishes, had decided very fairly who would get what. Somewhere, sitting in a lawyer’s top desk drawer, was a list of things that had been left to Lauren. But she’d been avoiding the meeting. Putting the lawyers calls to voicemail. Whatever it was on that list, it would be the last thing Gloria could give her, and she wasn’t ready for that finality.
How could you put a final punctuation on a relationship that meant so much? Gloria had become the parent Lauren never had and trained her to be worthy of the job she’d given her. So much more than a boss. Now Gloria was gone. The old ache of losing her father swirled with the new ache of losing Gloria, and it made her feet feel like cement blocks. Her heart was a punching bag. The world kept dealing her jabs.
Silence folded in around her as she slid down the wall until she sat on the cool floor. Everyone had left for the day. The sun had set hours ago. Yet she couldn’t seem to pull herself out of this empty room. All she could manage was sitting cross-legged on the floor waiting for something to happen.
And then it did.
“Excuse me,” a voice called from behind her. “Are you all right?”
She jolted up to her feet and patted at her damp eyes. “I’m fine.”
The man took up most of the doorway with his wide shoulders. He wore a chain around his neck that might hold dog tags, but she couldn’t tell as it was tucked beneath his crisp white button-down shirt. It took a long beat to move from his chest to his face. Embarrassment kept her from wanting to look him in the eyes. But once she did, she was stunned by the crystal blue gleaming back at her.
“You don’t look fine.” He leaned into the darkened office and eyed her closely, checking the room for something that might make her actions make sense.
Not happening. She was looking crazy because she was acting crazy.
There was no hiding the parts of herself that seemed fractured and raw. Holding it in most of the day was manageable, but by that time of night she went to pieces. She’d barely been sleeping. Like Cinderella’s magic spell, after a certain point the façade would wear off. Her eyes would become rimmed red from tears. Thoughts would swirl with memories like the haze of a wine buzz. Sadly, without the wine.
She wasn’t weathering the loss of Gloria well. Time wasn’t healing. It was made worse by being constantly surrounded by things that reminded her of her mentor. Her friend. The woman who’d saved her life. Lauren hadn’t been able to repay the endless favors. There hadn’t been enough time to say everything she wante
d. But this man didn’t need to know any of it. He likely needed directions or to reschedule a missed meeting.
She patted her cheeks and cleared her throat.
“I’m fine really. I’m just making sure everything is cleared out of here.” She looked around the empty room as though something might have been left behind.
“You get shit-canned?” His eyes projected empathy as he stepped the rest of the way into the room. “Did you have to walk out of here with your stuff in boxes? That’s the worst.”
“No,” she shot back curtly. She’d never been fired from anything in her life. Work ethic had been paramount. A cornerstone of her character. “I was not fired.”
“Nothing to be embarrassed about.” He shrugged his wide shoulders casually. “Happens to the best of us.” His dimple sprang up as he smiled. “Just try to grab some good things on the way out. Swipe a good stapler. If you’re feeling ballsy, some art off the walls.”
“I’m not going to steal something. I wasn’t fired. That wouldn’t happen to me.” Lauren propped a hand up on her hip and evaluated him angrily.
“I can give you a hand getting your boxes down to your car.” He crossed his arms and Lauren tried to ignore the sexy way his shirt tightened around his muscles.
“What makes you think I was fired?”
“You look pretty sad. You’re sitting in this dark office all alone. Crying.”
“Well I wasn’t fired. So you can move along.”
“Why don’t you let me take you for a drink. You can forget all about it.”
“Are you asking me out?” She grimaced at the preposterousness of it all. Who did this man think he was barging in on her nightly sulking? Even the security guards knew enough to leave her alone in Gloria’s office this time of night. “You must really think you’re something, coming in here and strutting around like a peacock. God’s gift to women. Asking me out when you don’t even know me.”
“I’ve been called a lot of things. Never a peacock. Did I strut?”
“Practically.”
“Interesting.” He tossed his hands up disarmingly and smiled. “If I knew what noise a peacock made, I’d do it right now. Do they caw?”
“No, it’s like a shrill honking kind of noise.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
“Are you sure? I was hoping we could set a record for making this as strange as possible in a very short period of time.”
“I do hold a few records. Nothing like that.”
Lauren couldn’t help but imagine just how many record-breaking nights he could provide. But the images she conjured up only fueled her growing anger. “You misread this situation. You should go.”
“I thought I was just being nice to a woman sitting alone, crying in a dark empty office. My mistake.”
Her cheeks flushed as she looked around the room again. He wasn’t wrong in his assessment, and she couldn’t blame him for being concerned. Or at least a little morbidly fascinated. She’d been a sight lately. “This office belonged to someone very special, and she died recently.”
“Oh,” he said, nodding knowingly. “I didn’t realize that. I’m sorry. Have you just cleaned it out?”
“Yes,” she said sheepishly. “Two months ago.”
“So you were just coming for a visit?”
She shook her head and closed her eyes. “Are you here to meet with someone?” Lauren realized she hadn’t asked his name. He’d startled her, but finally her instinct to accommodate kicked in and she made sure her voice was professional. Rising, patting her skirt flat, brushing away the carpet fibers, she regained control of herself and her emotions. He could be anyone. Someone important.
“I’m just checking things out.” He seemed to suddenly clam up as he checked his watch.
“What does that mean?” She raised a brow and tried to place him. Was he a client? An investor? A spy from a competitor?
“It’s a long story. I wanted to see the office. That’s all.”
“What’s your name?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me. And it may matter to security too.” She propped a hand on her hip and stood unwavering. “Your name?”
“I’ve seen enough, actually. I’m heading out to dinner.” He turned and stepped out of the office with an air of confidence Lauren associated with wealth. Power. His expensive shoes and perfectly styled hair reinforced her assumption. She followed him to the hall, but his long strides had him nearly rounding the far corner.
“How did you get in? You can’t just wander around the building peeking your head in wherever you like.” Her voice carried down the empty halls.
He called over his shoulder with a smile. “Because I might interrupt you sitting alone in an empty dark office?”
“I’m going to call security.”
“You’re assuming they aren’t the ones who let me in.”
“Are they?”
“Good night,” he called as he hit the stairwell door and disappeared.
“What an ass,” she huffed under her breath.
Her cell phone rang just as she was about to dial the security desk.
“Hello?”
“Lauren its Layla. I’m so sorry to bother you this late. I feel like I’ve been calling you nonstop.” Layla’s sweet voice was painfully apologetic.
“It’s fine. I’m still in the office. What do you need?”
“You’re still there?”
Lauren blinked away the last few shadows of tears and centered herself. “Just catching up on some paperwork. How can I help?” She peered down the hallway waiting for the gorgeous mystery man to reappear. Yelling at him had been a nice distraction. Looking at him hadn’t been bad either.
“I need a date.” Layla’s voice sounded rushed and urgent. Something Lauren always responded to. A boss in need was her jam.
“You need a date? Sick of Kenan already?”
They both laughed at the ludicrous question. Of course she wasn’t sick of her new Irish love. The two were inseparable. A formidable team. Together they were battling grief. Working seamlessly to fortify Kinross, Inc. for generations to come. In Kenan, Layla had a shoulder to cry on. A partner to help carry the load.
Lauren felt envy creep in and pushed it back quickly. There was no room for that. Not now. They were happy, and she would be happy for them.
Layla sighed. “I know this is very last minute. I need a date for Tray Hallenburn. He’s just surprised us and flown in to meet with me. He wants Kenan and I to have dinner with him tonight and asked if we knew of anyone who could balance out the evening.”
“Balance out the evening?” Lauren asked. “That’s what he said?”
“I know,” Layla laughed. “I think he meant a date. I guess he didn’t want to feel like the third wheel with Kenan and I. Don’t you think?”
“Probably. The problem is my list of potential dates for these types of situations contains mostly men. I was always making sure Gloria had a perfect companion for every event. Any chance Tray is in the market for a handsome stock trader named Stan?”
“Everyone needs a good stock trader, but I don’t think that’s what he had in mind tonight.”
Lauren’s brain kicked into planning gear. It was the part of her life that made the most sense. A task. A plan. A solution. It worked or it didn’t. No gray area. No uncertainty. Being busy ate up all the time otherwise dedicated to sadness. “I’ll make some calls. It’s very short notice and I don’t know much about Tray. I planned to dig into his background this week. I thought he wasn’t coming until the end of the month.”
“Us too.”
“Why did he feel the need to make this a surprise?”
“Not sure. Maybe he’s trying to keep us on our toes? I was freaking out, but Kenan calmed me down. We’re going to do the best we can with the amount of time we have to prepare.”
Lauren could practically hear Kenan giving Layla a calming pep talk. The two were perfect for each other.
“I don’t want to make a bad match. Having a good dinner with Tray is very important. But bad company could sink the whole thing.” Lauren fiddled with the collar of her shirt as she thought through the women who might be suitable. Mary was beautiful but an airhead. Bella was very smart and beautiful but loved to argue a contrary point to death. Without knowing Tray, there would be no way to ensure he’d have a nice night with a woman she picked.
“I was hoping we’d go with the obvious person.” Layla’s voice was light and airy, dangerously so. As though there was a master plan Lauren hadn’t been let in on.
“Who would be the obvious person?”
“You, silly. No one knows the business and our future strategy better than you. If Tray has concerns about our plans, you’d be there to back us up. You can adapt to whatever Tray throws at us. I really think he’d make a great COO to replace Frank. We can’t keep going without a strong number two leading the way.”
“And Gloria insisted he would be the man for the job.”
“But he won’t be easy to compel.” Layla sounded panicked again.
“But me as his date?”
“Of course you. You must know at least something about him. You know something about everyone and everything.”
“I know he’s got a cushy job already. I don’t think it will be easy to ask him to give up his CEO position at his own company in Paris to be second-in-command at yours. Especially with the Kinross stock taking a hit. We know it’s going to rebound, but from his perspective what would be in it for him?”
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