Tightrope: Tightrope Book 1

by Maddie Wade

  I return fifteen minutes later; a very quiet Dean and Cherry are sitting opposite each other around the large design table we have set up in the shop. A frisson of unease weaves its way through me as I feel the tension between the two.

  “Everything alright?” I ask as I lay the food and sodas down.

  “Yeah, great,” Cherry replies with a smile that does not meet her eyes.

  “Cherry and I were just discussing a few things,” Dean says and gives her a strange look.

  Something is up but neither one wants to tell me, so I decide to question Cherry later. “Okay let’s have a look at these designs then.” An hour later we have the room designed. Dean and Cherry seemed to have gotten over their little argument whatever it was and the design we came up with is perfect. Dean has really put a lot of thought into the drawing he has done for the nursery.

  He is really very talented and coupled with Cherry’s flair for color and my input for furniture means my baby will have the most amazing nursery ever designed.

  “Thanks guys,” I say, slinging an arm over them both. “My baby is very lucky to have such special people in his or her life.”

  “My pleasure, bitch,” Cherry says with a grin.

  Dean stands and gathers his drawing together. “Do you want me to speak to Tom about doing the painting?” Tom is Dean’s old work colleague and friend.

  “Yes, if you don’t mind. Tell him I’m happy to pay him,”

  “No, not necessary. He owes me a favor anyway,”

  “Okay, that’s great,” I concede. I wonder if his friends know about our new relationship status but then decide it doesn’t matter to me anyway.

  As Dean gets to the door he turns to me. “You in for dinner?” That’s the other thing that has changed. Dean wants to cook for me every night now. Not anything fancy, but always something. We have gone from me doing everything for him to him wanting to cook for me every night. It’s nice and all but sometimes I miss the freedom of doing my own thing. But he is trying so hard, I don’t want to make him feel bad by rejecting his efforts at friendship. This is so much better than his sullen silences that I won’t risk going back to that, just so I can make my own sandwich.

  “Yeah, I’m in.” He nods, and I watch him walk to the taxi he has ordered. Dean still struggles to drive so gets a taxi most places.

  I feel Cherry beside me, her gaze on Dean too. “Lex, if it’s the last thing I do I will help you find your stranger,” she says with determination.

  I look at her questioningly. “What happened with you and Dean?”

  “Nothing happened. I just know it’s the right thing to do, to find this stranger for you and your baby.”

  I don’t believe her, but I know she won’t tell me if she doesn’t want to. “Thanks, Fairy. You’re the best.”

  “Damn straight I am.” She grins and slaps my ass as she walks to the back of the shop and through to the staff only section.

  I stay at the window, my mind drifts back to the image of my stranger, knowing in my heart that I may never find him I still can’t seem to get him out of my mind.

  Later that night as I lie in bed, I bring up his picture on my phone and stare into the handsome face with the sapphire blue eyes and wonder where he is and what he is doing.

  I will find you I declare to the dark night, a vow to the universe. I look at the moon and wonder if we are looking at the same thing right at this moment, I hope we are.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hunter

  Leaning back in my leather executive chair, I bounce a tennis ball off the pristine white walls of my office. The repetition of throwing the ball and hearing the thud, before it rebounded for the catch soothed my busy mind.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about my Pretty Girl and it was driving me crazy. Not to mention that I needed to send my PA flowers when she threatened to quit. I was being a total bastard. A big part of me didn’t care what they all thought, but with my head in the clouds, I really needed my people on point.

  Jake knocked on my door, before poking his head around.

  “It safe?” he asked with a sarcastic grin that made me toss the ball at his head. “I guess you still haven’t found her then?”

  I sit up, turning to face him as he came fully into the room and plonked himself down opposite my desk. “No, he hasn’t.”

  “Well, this guy is the best PI around so if he can’t find her then maybe she doesn’t exist.”

  “She exists,” I almost shout. Jake is my best friend. He has been since college, we grew up together and now he works as my Legal Counsel. He has the preppy blonde good looks that make women’s panties fall off including ninety percent of the female legal secretaries and associates. He must keep busy just keeping himself out of court with the number of staff members he has slept with.

  “Well, then he’ll find her,” he said with a shrug.

  Swiveling to face the window I looked out over the city skyline and a wave of something I can’t explain hit me in my gut. I couldn’t explain the feeling, but it felt like apathy.

  I made millions of dollars every year. I had hundreds of people dependent on me for their jobs and their livelihoods, more power than I could ever want. I could go where I wanted, do what I wanted and yet I felt nothing. I wanted more, I just didn’t know what, but I had a feeling it was tied up with her.

  “She really got to you, didn’t she?” I don’t answer immediately, I’m not some pussy guy that talks about his feelings every two minutes, that wasn’t my style. Snow is falling and from this height, on the twenty-third floor it looks so peaceful and pretty, I could almost touch it. He continued, “I met a woman once that made me feel as if I was her everything. She would look at me like I hung the moon.”

  I turned back to my friend at his words, this was all news to me. As far as I knew he had never had a strong feeling for a woman. “What happened to her?”

  His face looks sad for a fleeting second before he shrugs. “People change, shit happens. My point is, don’t give up. She may be the one to look at you like that and if she is, don’t make the same mistake I did and walk away without a fight. It will haunt you. Walking away knowing you did everything is one thing, but giving up? That failure stays with you.”

  To say I was shocked was an understatement. Jake had never hinted at a serious relationship and I couldn’t remember one.

  “Now, I need to go change my tampon or fuck an intern to make sure my balls are still intact. But if you want to go get shit-faced later let me know.” Jake stood, I watched him walk to the door.

  “Wait. What did you come in here for?” I asked absently, coming to my feet.

  “Oh yeah. Shit. I tweaked the wording on that contract like you asked but it can wait until Monday. What time to do you fly to London?”

  “I’m taking a six am flight Monday. I’m meeting with Will Granger, he wants to show me a new security software for the new payment system we’re rolling out. If you send the contracts, I’ll look at them on the flight.”

  “Is that the guy we met last year in France, the one who is covered in tattoos?”

  I grin, Will Granger was a tech God, there wasn’t a system he couldn’t hack. By rights, he could buy and sell Lungo twice over if he so chose, but he was happily working for some Specialist Security company in the UK. “Yeah, one and the same. He’s a genius and a genuinely nice guy.” It was incredibly lucky to find for him and his company. It was partly due to his software that they hadn’t suffered when the banks were hacked last year. Their shares had remained stable while everyone else’s had fallen drastically.

  “Well, as long as he gets the job done I couldn’t give a shit if he tattoos his whole damn face.”

  “He was never short for female company in France let me tell you.”

  “Maybe I should get some new ink.” Jake looked thoughtful for a second, then changed the subject as his brain moved on.

  “Do you have everything you need for the meeting with the Chinese?”

&n
bsp; “Yes, but I need you there by next Friday to handle the contracts. It should take about eight weeks and then it will all be tied up with a nice neat bow.”

  “Good, I’m sick of this flying back and forth shit. I hate London, it's cold and dreary.”

  I chuckled at him then. “It’s one of the most cultural places in the world and you call it cold and dreary.”

  “Well, it is. Give me Dubai anytime.”

  “Yeah, but then you can’t get laid,” I pointed out.

  “Ah see, that’s where you’re wrong. You can you just have to be clever about it and I’m a clever motherfucker,”

  “Whatever, dickhead. Just send me the amended contracts.”

  “Will do, douchebag,” he said as he walked away with his middle finger out.

  See, that was Jake and me. We got each other. He knew when to offer support, and when to just let me wallow. It didn’t hurt that he was one hell of an attorney. Despite his antics, he was the best and could have made partner several times had he wanted it. But, he seemed content to work for my father and when this deal went through me.

  I was taking over as CEO of Lungo Holdings. It was the largest telecommunication company in the USA and this deal with the Chinese would put us on the international map. It was the biggest deal of my life and yet I would walk away if it meant one more night with Pretty Girl.

  Deciding it was time to get on with some work, I walked to my desk and put all the paperwork I would need into my briefcase. Then calling Bernie, I checked all the flights were booked and left the office. I always worked best from home, so I was leaving early. Exiting the lift, I walked to the door and climbed into the town car George had ready for me.

  “Hello, George.”

  “Hello, Mr. McKenzie.”

  I climbed in and sat back, my mind going over the deal and the things I needed to get done in London when suddenly, an idea hit me. Quickly I pulled out my phone and called Cedric Jackson my Private Investigator. “Jackson, call me,” I said when the voicemail clicked in. Slamming the phone down on the seat beside me, I brushed my thumb over my temple where a headache was starting to build. My phone started to ring, I immediately grabbed it. “McKenzie.”

  “Mr. McKenzie, it’s Cedric Jackson,” the other man drawled his southern accent that was thicker than treacle.

  “Have you found her?”

  “Not yet, Mr. McKenzie, but soon. I’m sure of it.”

  “You need to try the taxi drivers. She was putting her friend in a taxi and was having a really long conversation with one of the older drivers like maybe she knew him or something.”

  “Right-o, Mr. McKenzie.” The man might be good but the way he drew out the sound of my name grated on my nerves.

  “I want a report on my desk by tomorrow,” I demanded my tone unflinchingly.

  “I don’t work weekends.”

  “I will double your payment if you find her within the week,” I said knowing that two-hundred thousand was a lot to pay to find a woman I didn’t know. I heard silence on the end of the phone.

  “You got yourself a deal.”

  I smiled as I hung up and for the first time in weeks, I felt positive about finding her. I didn’t know why but time seemed to be of the essence.

  *~*~*

  I was sitting by the fire in my study when the call came. I didn’t know it then, but it was a call that would change the course of my life forever. “McKenzie.”

  “I’ve found her.”

  A breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding whooshed out of my body, relief poured through me. Leaning back in my chair I pushed my hand through my hair and grinned.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  I hadn’t thought much past finding her. I did now as I realized that I didn’t want to come off as a stalker, even if that’s almost what I had become in my desperation to find her. “Give her my email address. I’ll send it to you now. Tell her I would very much like to hear from her and that I’m on a business trip in the UK for eight weeks.”

  “Shall I give her your name, or will she know it?”

  “No, I will have a letter couriered to you, please give it to her.”

  “Okay, Mr. McKenzie,”

  “Good job, Jackson. I’ll transfer the payment as soon as you confirm she has received the letter.” No way was I transferring it before then.

  “Sure thing. I’ll take the letter over as soon as I have it.”

  “Jackson, where does she live?” I asked knowing that it was a bit creepy but needing to know.

  “Mariemont, Cincinnati,” he replied.

  Excitement bubbled in my gut. That was only a ten-minute drive from my parent’s home. It was as if fate was helping me in some way.

  “Thank you.” I hung up and sat staring into the embers of the fire. She was only a two-hour drive from me and a ten-minute drive from my childhood home. What were the odds of that? I felt too pumped to work out now, so I ran upstairs to change into gym clothes. Taking the private elevator down to the basement, I went into the private gym praying it was empty so that I could avoid small talk and concentrate on winning over Blue.

  Just the thought of her silky soft hair with its streaks of blue touching my body as she leaned over me, her mouth on me, made my skin tingle with desire. I ran harder on the treadmill as my dick came alive.

  One night with her eclipsed every other sexual encounter I had ever had, and there had been a few. Okay more than a few, a lot. I was no saint, I loved women and a freaking adored sex. But this one night had made me see everything differently.

  I stumbled on the treadmill as a thought crashed into my brain. What if she had a boyfriend? Or worse yet, was married? I thought back to that night and there had been no ring. Although I didn’t know her, she didn’t seem the type to cheat. Maybe that was naive, but I was a good judge of character and I didn’t believe that was the case.

  Which was good because cheating was a deal breaker for me, I couldn’t stand cheaters, they were the lowest of the low.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lexi

  Watching the strange middle-aged man with gray trousers and gray jacket with patches on the elbows exit his car and look up at the sign above the door. I try to decide if he is merely here to find a present for someone, or if he is lost. Not that I have a typical clientele, but he seems out of place.

  The bell tinkles as he steps through the door, his eyes move around the room as if he is taking in every detail. They find me as I stand behind the counter and a slow smile spreads across his face. I return his smile with my professional one, but a certain amount of suspicion remains.

  “I’m looking for Alexis Crane,” he says.

  My heart starts to hammer in my chest. My brain races, what is this? “I’m Alexis Crane.”

  “I have a delivery for you.” He smiles, and a laugh escapes me, part relief part something else although I can’t say what. He hands me an envelope and I turn it over, looking for an indication of who it is from.

  “Thank you,” I say as I sign for the envelope. I watch him leave before opening the letter. It is on thick cream paper and the writing is not one I recognize.

  My breath catches on the first line, and I sit down heavily as my legs go weak, unable to support me.

  Blue,

  Well, my Pretty Girl, you have taken some finding. I know we said it was one night only, but it wasn’t enough. I can’t stop thinking about you, so I set about finding the Pretty Girl with blue hair.

  This probably seems creepy, but I assure you I’m not a weirdo. I’m just a normal guy who wants to get to know the woman who awakened something in me that I thought long dead.

  I’m away on business in the UK for the next eight weeks, but I would love for you to email me. I’ll leave it up to you now as I don’t want to freak you out by being an overbearing jerk.

  Ever hopeful of a reply,

  Hunter McKenzie

  Hunter.mac@lungo.com

  My hands shake as I re-read the letter f
or the hundredth time. I sniff the paper and a hint of the scent I remember from that night assaults my senses. Closing my eyes, I can almost feel him cupping my face as he did that night, tenderness in his stormy blue eyes.

  I can’t believe he’s found me! Cherry and I had hit a brick wall trying to find him, I had almost given up hope. Our next plan had been to go back to Jimmy’s and ask around like weirdos.

  “Cherry,” I call as I run to the back of the shop, where she was working on a design for a garden room.

  “What?” she asks as she looks up from her sketch pad. I wave the piece of paper in front of her like an excited child.

  “Look.”

  She snatches the paper and starts to read, then her eyes flash to mine. “It’s him?”

  “Yes, some guy just came in and made me sign for this letter. I can’t believe he found me.”

  “Lexi, this is Hunter McKenzie,” she says it like I should possibly know what the hell she is talking about.

  “And?”

  “Jesus, Lex, have you been living under a rock? He is the most eligible bachelor in the US. He’s been on the cover of Forbes magazine and Vogue. His family owns Lungo Tech! You know, the same Lungo Tech that provides our internet.”

  “Oh,” I say dejectedly. This sucks! Why couldn’t he be a normal guy? How can I contact him now?

  “Oh. Is that all you have to say?”

  “Well, what can I say? This sucks ass big time, he is bound to think I did this on purpose. I can’t contact him now, I’ll look like a gold digger.”

  “Get over yourself, Lex. This isn’t about you, it’s about my godchild and the fact he or she deserves the best. And I don’t mean a rich dad. I mean their real daddy.” Her face is angry as she looks at me and her words stun me. I’m hurt for a second, but then her face softens. “I know you’ve been through a lot but it’s time to wise up my friend. Dean will not treat this baby the same as you will. I’m going just come out and say this, you two carrying on this ridiculous arrangement is pointless.”

  I nod my head. In fact, I was amazed it had taken her this long to say it. I had been feeling the same lately, Dean is trying too hard and it’s making me uncomfortable. His moods are also very unpredictable, making me walk on eggshells and I hate it.