Office romances were frowned upon by my father’s firm and being one of the bosses I had to lead by example. However, both Rhea and I had naturally flirtatious natures. It was a game we played when no one was around, it brightened up both of our days, but we had always stayed on the other side of the line. Harmless flirting aside, I was lucky with the working relationship we had and by the time we left for Denver, Rhea had proven her worth as my coach.
Chapter Nine
Cold air burned my lungs when I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the airport terminal and into the crisp February morning air in Denver. My brain felt loose in my head for a moment as my body adjusted to thinner oxygen supply, an effect of the mile-high altitude on the ground.
The flight from New York to Denver had taken just over four hours and we’d arrived in downtown Denver after 9:00 a.m. Rhea had been great company during the flight and by the time we landed, I learned we had more in common than I knew. Nothing had surprised me more than to learn her second favorite thing in the world after numbers was kickboxing.
Apart from our work, I found that Rhea and I shared a similar sense of humor, had the same tastes in music, and liked many of the same bands. When she told me flat outright she valued her job more than she wanted to acquaint herself with my dick, I knew for sure she was the ideal travel companion for that trip.
Leaving Rhea to find her room, the bellhop took me to the penthouse, placing my gear on a cart ahead of him and pushed it smoothly into the elevator. When we entered the suite, he headed for the master bedroom and I followed. After depositing my suitcase on the luggage stand, he hung my garment bag in the closet.
As he came out, he flashed me a smile and picked up a small black pager off the nightstand by the bed.
“Press this to summon the valet, he’ll explain everything else to you when he gets here.”
I smiled, handing him a hundred dollar bill. With a small salute, he stepped back into the elevator with his luggage cart and left.
Relieved my travels were over; I inhaled a deep breath and blew it out slowly. I felt all of the tension leave my body. I wandered through the bright, airy communal living area, exploring where everything was and stopped for a moment to appreciate the vast Denver mountain range. Row on row of perfect snow-covered peaks, contrasting against the slate and silver gray rugged Rocky Mountains. Above them the sky was a flawless cornflower blue canvas. I’d seen many incredible original pieces of artwork, which had emulated this scene, but nothing gave me a real feeling of wonder as actually being there. Colorado was my all-time favorite place.
Loosening my tie, I turned and headed for the shower, but I had barely shaken the shirt from my back when I had a call from Rhea.
“This suite is awesome, remind me to thank your assistant, Gena, but I’m starving. I just wanted to check with you before I went ahead and ordered room service. Are we eating alone, or do you want to meet up? We could talk over some of the stats again, just have some company, or am I flying solo for the rest of the day?”
“Company for lunch would be great, I’m starving. Shall we say …” I pulled my phone from my ear to look at the time, “twenty minutes in the lobby downstairs?”
“Perfect, I’ll see you there,” she chirped and hung up. A little voice in my head reminded me she was a work colleague, and we were there to work—nothing else.
Twenty minutes later we stepped out of our respective elevators at the same time, “Wow, how punctual,” Rhea noted, a sweet smile on her face. “You look very dapper,” she offered, eyeing me from head to toe. “Damn, you may need a bodyguard this week, there are a lot of male-hungry female financial advisors and senior executives attending this event.”
“And the males? Are they all hungry?” I quipped, throwing her opinion back at her, my eyebrow raised in amusement.
“I’d say so, rock stars have nothing on some of the parties I’ve been to in the past.”
“I’m intrigued, Ms. Ellison, do tell me more,” I mumbled playfully, scratching my chin. She chuckled and out of habit from escorting women, I placed my hand on the small of her back and guided her toward the restaurant.
After a small exchange with the host we were led to a table by the window with a slightly different view of the awesome mountain range, and I glanced at Rhea’s pretty face as her bright brown eyes scanned over the landscape.
“Isn’t this incredible?” she asked, her head turning slowly as she appreciated the beautiful wintery scene outside.
“Indeed. I’m in awe, it humbles me, nothing man could ever construct could compete with what nature has provided for us to look at.”
“This is so true, I never tire of this view, no matter how many times I’ve been here. I’d forgotten how light-headed I feel when I’m here.”
“Denver’s a mile above sea level it affects a lot of people like that.”
“Thank goodness, I thought it was being here with you that was making me dizzy.”
I chuckled at her dramatic remark. “Nope, I think you’re fine, it’s just the thin air.”
“Are you sure it’s not the company? You must know how handsome you are,” she said, flirting totally unabashedly. “I’ve been here many times and although the air does affect me it’s never usually quite like this,” she replied with a wink.
I chuckled again. “Are you flirting with me?” I asked jovially. “Looks are only skin deep, Rhea, it’s what’s inside that counts. And believe me there’s a whole lot of ugly in here,” I replied, tapping my chest.
Gazing at me through narrowed eyes, she shook her head. “I doubt that, Mr. Wild,” she replied, chuckling. As her remark was bordering close to the line, I figured I had to tone it down. It had been my fault for leading her toward my personal life.
“Strictly business,” I said, but I winked and managed to sound rueful in my tone so as not to offend her. “So tell me your story,” I asked, changing the subject, because although I had been with many man-eating women, I wanted to make it clear nothing was going to happen between us.
Rhea appeared unfazed. “Not much to tell, really. Originally from Portland, Oregon. Graduated, Berkley. I came to New York seeking my fortune, but because I arrived in the city shortly after the property crash not many firms were hiring. Luckily, because of my numbers I found gainful employment.” She winked with her reference to numbers and I chuckled. “It wasn’t a sexy job, just working in the mortgage brokerage section of a bank. With the experience I gained from there, I was offered employment managing accounts for your father’s property rental company’s head office. Oscar Peterson headhunted me from there, and—ta-da, here I am.”
The man she spoke of was my father’s company’s executive finance director: smart, shrewd, and ruthless, not a man who was impressed easily.
“Boyfriend, children?” I asked, curiously.
“No kids and broken-hearted.”
“Heartbroken?”
“I lost my partner in a motorcycle accident.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling sad for her. I focused on the water pitcher on the table and poured us both a drink.
“Not as sorry as I am. I was a mess at the time, but I’m resigned to his loss now.” She gave me a sad smile and cast her gaze out of the window again.
“Still …” I pondered. “I can’t imagine what that was like for you.” I felt a great deal of sympathy toward her and thought how terrible it would feel to lose someone like that, how it would feel never to have the chance to know what they may have been.
“No one can. Sometimes I feel stuck in my grief and at others I just feel numb. Then, there are times when a memory takes me by surprised and I get a wave of chaotic feelings all at the same time.” Reaching for her water, she took a sip and I could see how difficult she found it to talk about. It had appeared as if Rhea and I both carried regrets with us neither of us could change.
“Looking at you, it’s hard to imagine you dealt with all that grief.”
“For the most part, I’ve le
arned to accept he’s gone and I try to take each day as it comes, live life as if it’s my last day… dance naked in the rain and all that jazz.”
“Not literally, or where can I buy a ticket for that?” I replied, chuckling.
She shrugged. “No, not literally, but sometimes I think, why not? If my experience has taught me anything it’s that life is short. Don’t you think we should make the most of it? I mean, what’s the harm of dancing as nature intended us?”
I chuckled, “That’s a very hippy perspective.”
“I guess,” she agreed, laughing and glancing up at the waiter who’d arrived at our table.
“Burger, deluxe, mayo and a Cherry Coke, please,” she ordered when we hadn’t even seen the menus.
“Filet steak, medium rare, salad, and a large whiskey.”
“A steak and whiskey man,” she surmised, narrowing her gaze again.
“Predictable?” I asked, with a raised eyebrow and a small smile on my face.
“Traditional, like that suit you’re wearing.”
“My suit?” I asked, glancing down and fingering the threads of my jacket.
When I looked back up, a woman walking by caught my eye, and my heart almost stopped when I smelled a fragrance I instantly recognized.
“What’s wrong?” Rhea asked, sounding alarmed. When my eyes darted toward her, concern etched her face. I had vaguely heard her question, but I couldn’t reply because my mind instantly emptied when I saw a ghost from my past, as Tricia strolled past me.
My world paused as I stared in disbelief because I couldn’t understand how she could possibly be in the same restaurant in Denver, seventeen hundred miles away from where she lived.
“James, are you okay?” Rhea’s voice broke through my daze.
“Sorry, what?” I asked, my eyes still trained on Tricia as my whole body reeled from feelings too hard to explain. It had been a while since I’d thought about her, yet at the first glimpse of her again my mind had gone into meltdown.
Again, like the time before, she was with another man. Even though it had been years since our hookups, the mere sight of her had made my chest feel tight. From the way he held her close to his body it was easy to see how familiar they were with the other.
When they reached the table, her companion stepped forward and chivalrously pulled out her chair. As she sat down, she glanced up, and flashed him her beautiful engaging smile that lit up a room. That smile and her eyes were some of the things I had found most disarming about her, and her small gesture of appreciation toward him sent a surge of jealousy through me.
“I’m … sorry,” I said, struggling for words, my appetite all but gone with the shock of Tricia’s unexpected appearance. Being thrown together in the same hotel restaurant many miles from home was the last place I had thought I’d ever see her.
It was apparent when I met her again at Hammer’s party, that Tricia was my nemesis. She elicited feelings within me I had no words for… other than addiction, and I craved her in a way I’d never felt for anyone else. An emotional meltdown took all other thoughts from my mind, such was the power she had over me. None of how I felt about her made any sense because I hardly knew her.
“Sorry—”
“Why do you keep apologizing? What’s going on?” Rhea asked, turning the top half of her body to look behind her, her arm resting on the back of the chair as she followed my gaze to see what had caught my attention.
Although the restaurant was busy, from the moment I saw her, Tricia was the only woman present. I found it hard to miss her, she was simply stunning. Tall, elegant with that long wavy dirty blonde hair cascading down her back, she was a real head turner. No more so than when she walked past me wearing a white figure-hugging dress and sky-high black stiletto shoes.
“Ah, I see who you’re looking at. Guess I’ve got competition,” Rhea teased good naturedly.
“No competition,” I snapped, instantly remembering Juliette had described herself in comparison to Tricia in the very same way. Juliette and Rhea were both beauties, but neither of them were Tricia. “I just didn’t expect to see that.”
“That being those two over there in the booth? Do you know them?” Rhea asked, sounding surprised.
“Her. I know… knew her. I’m just a little surprised to see her here in Denver, that’s all. She’s from New Jersey.”
“From the way you’re enthralled, I’d say you more than know her. Did you or did you not date Tricia Mattison?” she asked in a tone laced with disbelief.
“No,” I said a little too quickly; a mixture of anxiety and anticipation from knowing we’d bump into one another again during the week. None of what we had done came down to a date, not a properly arranged one anyway. “Wait, you know her?” I asked, my heart racing faster in disbelief when the situation became even more obtuse from the second Rhea had said her name.
“Yeah, we’re friends. Tricia was my mentor when I worked for that bank I told you about. Those were crazy times. The foreclosures came in faster than we could process them, but Tricia’s a genius. That woman helped keep a roof over many families’ heads with her creative thinking… saved the bank a load of money in foreclosures in the process. It was a win-win situation. I have a lot of respect for her.”
“You’re still friends?”
“Sure, we usually meet up at these conferences, we kept in touch, and we’re still friends. These conferences are a great place to network, but I’ve known her a long time. We do dinner in New York occasionally as well, but not often because she lives in New Jersey all the time now.”
My relationship with Tricia had consisted of a few intense sexual trysts. What we had gave me no impression of her as anything other than an independent woman who had used me for sex.
Before we’d hooked up, we’d briefly had small talk conversations about her career before she knew my sister-in-law, but the main focus of those talks centered around her working with Billie. However, I did glean that mortgage brokering was a something Tricia enjoyed doing, rather than her being financially dependent on the money.
When she’d mentioned she was a graduate in finance from the University of Rochester, I knew she had to be sharp as a tack and having seen her rather large 4500 square-foot home, I figured she was a woman of substance. Tricia had also mentioned retiring from wealth management by the time she was thirty-five.
Hearing Rhea’s praise for Tricia surprised me as my opinion had been that of the ultimate party girl, someone who lived for no-strings sex and a good time. Even though her wealth implied it, until Rhea, I had never had validation of how smart she was or how adept she was in the workplace.
“She’s a friend of my sister-in-law,” I replied, reverting back to the description I’d used when Juliette had asked.
“You never answered my question,” Rhea probed. Glancing from her to Tricia again, my mind flashed back to a scene from the last time I’d slept with her. When I stopped reaching out, I had told myself if she were actually interested in something more, she would have contacted me. She never did until that day she ambushed me at Hammer’s and then replied to my drunken text. The way I saw it, Tricia had wanted something she couldn’t have, and I didn’t pursue that again. Yet, even in the face of all of that, as I sat there in that restaurant I still craved her.
Oblivious to my presence, Tricia chatted animatedly to her male companion as he sat with his back to me. My heart ached with envy at the scene and for a moment I had wished he were me.
Dragging my eyes away from them, I looked back toward Rhea and shrugged, remembering the question she’d asked of me. “Yeah, no, I mean I…we… my brother’s wedding,” I smirked and shrugged, embarrassed by my tongue-tie. I sighed and tried again. “Tricia and I … we had a thing … several things,” I admitted honestly and chuckled quietly, as my chest tightened uncomfortably and I ran my fingers through my hair.
Turning, Rhea glanced over her shoulder again and then looked back at me. “She may once have had a thing with you, but
you’re still hanging on to whatever that was.”
“Nah, it wasn’t like that.” It was meant to be a throwaway comment, but from how it had sounded I hadn’t even convinced myself. Rhea looked at me with a rueful sad half-smile.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have ample opportunity to catch up with her, regardless, since she’s here for the conference.”
What were the chances of running into her again so far from home?
Chapter Ten
“Do you know the guy she’s with?” I pathetically heard myself ask as I snuck another glance in Tricia’s direction.
“Yeah. Bradley Moran, he’s an old high school ‘friend,’ I believe.” When she used air quotes, I knew they were more than that. My heart ached and sank to my stomach. How did I compete with someone who has high school history with her? Did I even want to compete? “They have a tight relationship … cozy,” she said, after choosing her word carefully. “Apparently, they dated in school, but they’re still good friends. I don’t think they’re an actual item or anything, Bradley was married until a couple of years ago and he has three kids.”
“Was married, as in no longer? Wait … how do you know so much?” I asked, shaking my head.
Rhea shrugged. “Like I said, we’re friends, she talks to me.”
I hesitated but had to ask. “Did she ever talk about me?”
“You?” When her eyebrows shot up to her hairline, I knew the answer before she spoke. “Never. Not a word about you. I had no idea, and yet she knows I work with you. How long ago was this?”
“You’ve mentioned me? Hasn’t she asked any questions?”
“No… that’s what’s so surprising. I do talk about you sometimes… in relation to work, but she’s never once mentioned she knows you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told her quickly. I looked toward Tricia again, eating her lunch and listening intently to the guy who stabbed his fork in the air, obviously emphasizing a point. “It’s just a little odd that she wouldn’t say she’d met me if my name came up in conversation.” I shrugged. “It just goes to show she felt the same as I had … we were just a bit of fun.”
Resist You (Unchained Attraction Book 3) Page 9