Michael looked back at me and the corner of his lip lifted in a small, sad smile. “We’re men, Aiden. Our only function in life is to love, provide and protect our women.” Okay, on this, I agreed with him. “Where we end up fucking up is that we think we have to love them only in the bedroom, provide for them only with a decent bank account, and protect them only when they’re threatened. Women are way more complicated than that. There are a hundred different ways they need to be loved. There are a thousand different ways to provide for them. And there are a million ways to protect them. But we only address the obvious ones.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t get what you’re saying, Michael.”
“Safe, Aiden,” he repeated. “If you make a woman feel safe, she will trust you with everything she’s got. She’ll trust you with her love, her soul, her thoughts, her fears, her body, her desires, her insecurities, her everything. Because, if she feels safe, she’ll make herself believe that you will never hurt her or let anything else hurt her.” Michael lifted a shoulder. “With Denise, if you make her feels safe…age, race, work, money…none of it will touch her as long as she trusts you to stop it from attacking to her.”
“Like Mason’s willingness to lose everything he had for Shane,” I muttered aloud.
Michael clasped me on my shoulder. “Even after what Branson did to Shane, she still trusts Mason to protect and shelter her from all the evils of the world,” he said. “That’s why her heart is so damn special and that’s why Mason adores her every second of every day. And it’s why he’ll continue to worship her for the rest of his life.”
“What if Denise doesn’t give me a chance to show her?” I asked His All Knowing Holiness.
Michael put hands in his pockets, rocked back on his heels, and smirked. “Then you go Buchanan on her, like you have been, and don’t give her a choice.”
I laughed, but then sobered up. “Thanks, Michael.”
“Anytime,” he replied, simply. “But maybe next time you hold your panic off until a decent hour of the morning.”
We laughed, and I watched my brother make his way towards the door. “You going back home?”
He looked back over his shoulder. “Nah,” he grinned. “I’m going to go find Pretty Girl and then go bug the shit out of Mason.”
I shook my head as he let himself out of my office. It wasn’t until the door shut that I remembered I had a meeting to get to. I grabbed the account folder off my desk and hurriedly rushed out of my office and down the hallway.
I was halfway to the conference room when Maxine Crough stopped me. “Mr. Buchanan, sir.”
I did my best to mask my impatience. “Maxine,” I greeted. “How are you?”
She smiled up at me. “I’m fine, sir. I just…” She fiddled a bit with her fingers. “I just wanted to…I know Denise said she was going to speak with you, but I just wanted you to know that I support her, fully.”
My jaw clenched, and I prayed she couldn’t tell. I did my best to even out my tone. “I’m very glad to hear how loyal you are to Ms. Hart. Loyal employees are a treasured commodity here at BI, Maxine.”
Her smile grew and that small encouragement was all it took to get her talking. “Oh, well, thank you so much, Mr. Buchanan,” she tittered. “It’s just that…well, Denise is great at her job and I’d hate for Mr. Sampson’s interest in her to…taint that. I mean,” she smiled up at me conspiratorially, “Denise is absolutely stunning, so I can’t really blame the man, but causing account issues just to wrangle a meeting with her is just…ridiculous.”
I wondered, as Maxine was looking up at my face, if she could see me actually losing my mind. She was telling me how a client was manipulating his account as an excuse to see Denise, with no idea what those words were doing to me. “Well, Maxine, Ms. Hart has been in her position a lot longer than I’ve been here, and I’m certain she wouldn’t have been promoted to her position if she wasn’t exemplary at her job, so you don’t need to worry.”
She brought her hand up to her throat. “Oh, thank goodness!”
“Now, I really am late for a mee-”
Her eyes rounded. “No, oh God, of course.”
I turned and left her standing in the hallway.
I had to.
I was about to lose my shit.
Chapter 13
Denise~
I knew it was coming, but it still sucked.
I knew it was coming, and I knew at what time, and I knew what would take place.
Earlier in the day, Raymond Sampson had called and insisted on an emergency meeting to discuss the discrepancies with his account. And, even before he said anything, I knew he would want to schedule the meeting for the end of the day so he could casually invite me out for a drink after work. It was his patterned MO. He makes sure to run the meeting long so he could recommend we continue talking over dinner and/or drinks.
I was not looking forward to it. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. Mr. Sampson was very good looking and actually quite charming. He just makes things awkward because he won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Hell, had I worked elsewhere, I might have taken him up on his advances…I mean, he wasn’t a bad guy. I just…wasn’t interested. And his refusals to take no for an answer were different from Aiden’s.
Raymond doesn’t make my heart race the way Aiden does.
When Sarah buzzed me to let me know he was here, I counted to ten and pulled my most professional self together. I stood when he emerged under the doorway to my office and walked over to stand in front of him. I reached out to shake his hand. “Hello, Mr. Sampson,” I said, smiling. “It’s been awhile.” I was not going to tell him it was a pleasure to see him. Not when it couldn’t be a pleasure, seeing as how he was here to discuss issues with our handling of his account. It wasn’t good to see him either for that same reason.
He took my hand and let his eyes rake down and back up my body. “It’s been too long, Denise,” he cooed. “And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Raymond?”
I pulled my hand out from his grasp, shut the door behind him for privacy, and walked back behind my desk. I nodded my head towards the chairs in front of my desk, indicating for him to have a seat. “As long as we keep meeting with you as a client of Buchanan Industries,” I said, hoping he took my words teasingly. And as always, he stood until I sat.
A true gentleman.
“I’ve gone over your account, Mr. Sampson, and there does seem to be some errors, but nothing alarming, that can’t be audited accurately,” I began.
He chuckled and brought his left ankle to rest across his right knee. “Denise,” he insisted on using my first name even though I never gave him permission to, “I am not, at all, worried about how Buchanan Industries is handing our account,” he replied, smoothly. “I’m just here to answer any questions you may have in rectifying this. I’m here to help.”
I smiled and opened the folder on my desk that contained all of Sam-Martin’s account information. “Mr. Sam-” I was interrupted by a knock on the door and I was instantly worried. No one ever interrupted me while I was in a client meeting. It was rude and not becoming of our client motto to make the clients feel like they’re our sole concern. “Uh…”
The door slowly opened and in walked Aiden Buchanan.
I almost said ‘what the fuck’ out loud.
I stood up…out of shock, more than anything else. “Mr. Buchanan…”
Raymond, also, stood up and turned to face Aiden. As I watched Aiden stand at his full height, I immediately knew what this was.
Aiden was here to whip out his dick.
Goddamn, fucking Maxine.
Aiden grinned and said, “My apologies, Ms. Hart.” The goddamn lying liar. “I heard you had a meeting with Mr. Sampson and I wanted to come by and lend my support,” he lied; the lying, lyingest liar that ever lied. He extended his hand towards Raymond. “Mr. Sampson,” he nodded. “Aiden Buchanan.”
“Ah,” Raymond replied, taking Aiden’s hand in a
macho bullshit handshake. “It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you,” he continued. “But then, you have to be great to meet Mason Buchanan’s standards, don’t you?”
God, save me now.
I did my best to sound professional and not bothered at all. “It’s always wonderful to have management support, Mr. Buchanan,” I said, smiling like a lunatic. “This will probably bore you to death, though, seeing as how this meeting isn’t really all that…dire.” I looked over at Raymond, and still smiling, said, “Mr. Sampson and I have it all under control, I think.”
And then the most horrible thing in the world happened.
Raymond winked at me and Aiden saw it.
The clench of Aiden’s jaw, the slight narrowing of his eyes, and the still in his posture said it all.
Fuck. My. Life.
Aiden played the amateur just to be able to remain in this meeting. “Well, I’m still learning the ropes, so this is a perfect opportunity for me to be more...involved,” he said, his voice a bit frosty.
“Well,” Raymond chuckled, “I’m feeling quite special knowing we are personally being seen to by an actual Buchanan.” Then he quickly checked himself and looked over at me. “Not that I don’t have the utmost confidence in your…talents, Denise.”
Aiden flinched at Raymond’s use of my first name. I decided I better get this meeting under control before Aiden did something we couldn’t come back from. “Great,” I muttered, unconvincingly, no doubt.
I headed back to my seat, as Raymond resumed sitting in his chair, and Aiden leaned up against a filing cabinet behind me. “Okay, Mr. Sampson,” I began again, “as I was saying, I’ve been looking over your account and their sub-accounts, and I came across one that is primarily used for business travel within the state, but contained some odd charges as of late.”
What I left out was that, as I’m sure he intended, the charges all consisted of things to make a woman wish for a man like him. The charges were tickets to the opera, a couple of jewelry stores, a day spa; things like that. Any woman reviewing the charges would think this man treated his dates wonderfully.
His eyes flickered over to Aiden really quickly before settling back on mine. “You know,” he said, chuckling again, “I think it quite possibly could be my carelessness in pulling out the wrong card.”
I smiled and leaned over my desk, handing him the page of charges. He leaned forward, taking it, but hardly even glancing at it. “I would still feel better if you went over all the charges to verify for both our sakes, Mr. Sampson.”
He tsked and raised a brow. “One day, I’m going to get you to call me Raymond, Denise,” he said smoothly, and I could feel the testosterone radiating off Aiden from behind me.
I followed our pattern. “Not as long as I’m handling your account, Mr. Sampson,” I repeated.
Raymond smirked, and surprisingly, looked over the sheet of paper I handed him. I truly thought everything would be okay when he looked back up at me and said, “Those all look like legitimate mistakes on my part, Denise.” He placed the paper back on my desk. “I’m truly sorry for causing any undue concerns.”
But I was wrong.
Like many things of late, I was very wrong.
Wrong choices. Wrong men. Wrong situations.
I. Was. Wrong.
Aiden’s voice, along with his macho bullshit, turned this meeting into the pissing match he meant it to be. “Well, I’m glad to hear that it was nothing but an honest oversight,” he chimed in. “It’s easy to do with a wallet stuffed full of plastic.” He chuckled. “I’ve done it myself a few times.”
My smile remained, and I kept my eyes locked with Raymond’s face as he looked up and addressed Aiden. “Yes,” he agreed. “Easy fix.”
“Well, I think I’ll just head out and let you two finish up here,” he said, casually, but I knew better. It’s like that little bit of premonition where you see the puddle of water and the second you step in it, you see yourself sliding and falling on your ass, but it’s too late to stop the step. “It was good to meet you, Mr. Sampson. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet Mr. Martin soon, as well.”
And then this cocky, arrogant, infuriating, insecure asshole halted his steps when he reached my desk and said, “I’ll leave it in your good hands, Denise.” I looked up at him and steeled myself for the words I knew were coming next. “I’ll see you tonight, babe.”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I was pissed beyond what I thought I could be.
But not at him.
At myself.
I did this.
I slept with my boss.
I crossed that line of inappropriateness and I deserved this fucked up Karma.
He said goodbye to Raymond, once more, and then headed out of my office. When I turned my gaze back towards Raymond, he smirked and said, “Well, I guess I should start getting used to calling you Ms. Hart. Or would that be Mrs. Buchanan?”
Chapter 14
Aiden~
I was in trouble.
Big trouble.
Huge, big, gigantic, enormous, immeasurable trouble.
But did I regret what I did?
Fuck. No.
And I’d do it again.
Okay…well, maybe not. Maybe next time, Denise and I will be in a place where I won’t feel the need to piss a circle around her. Maybe she’ll have mercy on me and not murder me before I have a chance to explain my little…lapse in judgment.
While I didn’t regret putting Raymond Sampson in his place, now that I wasn’t fueled by insecure rage, Shane’s words kept bouncing around in my head about respecting Denise, both personally and professionally.
I can admit my actions might have been a teeny, tiny bit disrespectful from a professional standpoint, but…shit. I really didn’t have a good excuse. I had lots and lots of reasons for acting like a tool, but no good excuses.
Glancing at my wristwatch, I noticed it was past office hours, and I was kind of surprised that Denise hadn’t burst into my office the second her meeting with Sampson was over. I expected her to come in here and tear me a new one.
But nothing.
I haven’t heard a peep, and I knew that wasn’t a good thing.
The day was over for most everyone in the building, and even though I did have shit to do, I knew I wasn’t going to get anything done. I needed to meet this fight-that we were no doubt going to have-head on.
I grabbed my phone off my desk, stuck it in my back pocket, and was standing up to go find Denise when the door to my office opened and she came stalking in; heading straight for me.
Shit.
She stopped a foot or so in front of my desk while I remained standing on the other side. “Babe…”
Her hand came up, her palm flat, stopping me from saying more. “Don’t, Mr. Buchanan,” she snapped.
Mr. Buchanan?
And that’s when I noticed it.
Her eyes were rimmed with a touch of red and they were glossy with unshed emotions. The observation was like a knife to my chest. I could only hope her tears were ones of rage and not pain. God, I hope I didn’t hurt this girl.
“Denise…”
I watched in horrid realization as she said, “I’m only here as a professional courtesy, Mr. Buchanan, to let you know that if Mrs. Buchanan does move forward with heading up her own division, I will be accepting the position she offered me to join her.” I could only give her a nod of my head. “Also, if you ever disrupt one of my client meetings for personal reasons again, I will not only report this to my boss, I will file a formal complaint with Human Resources and Mason Buchanan.”
Fuck, she was pissed.
I raised my hand to stop her tirade, wanting to inform her that none of her threats were necessary, but she didn’t stop. “And, furthermore,” she took a step closer, and placing her hands flat on my desk, leaned in towards me, her eyes blazing, “if you ever, and I do mean ever, refer to me in such a blatant personal manner again, I will quit on the spot.”
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br /> “Denise,” I knew I had crossed the line, I just hadn’t realized to what extent, “that won’t be necessary, as it will never happen again.” God, please, don’t ever let it happen again.
She straightened up and the glare she gave me had my balls wanting to shrivel up and hide. “I know it won’t, Mr. Buchanan,” she replied. “Because, from this moment on, there will be no more reasons for you to address me in such a personal manner.” The fuck? “And, moving forward, I’m respectfully requesting that you address me as Ms. Hart.”
I was around my desk before she could blink. I towered over her and I made no effort to hide my misplaced anger. “I get that I crossed a line earlier,” I admitted, because…well, I did. “And I get that you’re pissed, but you’re out of your fucking mind if you think this will be business only.”
The look on her face was making my balls cry in fear. They were screaming at me that I was wrong and to take cover like a coward until the storm blows over, but they were just going to have to take the hit on this one. I knew I was wrong, so I was going to endure her wrath, because…well, I deserved it, but there was no way I was letting her call it quits on us.
“Understand that I was off the clock, as of ten minutes ago, when I decided to stay back and come talk to you,” she replied, her hands on her hips now. “And since I’m off the clock, let me just say this. You are out of your fucking mind if you think I’m not done with you.” The fuck she was. “I knew getting involved with you was a mistake, but I willingly did it, anyway. I’m a big girl. I can admit when I’m wrong.” Her eyes raked over my body from head to toe and back up again. “I’m not going to put this on you, because this isn’t your fault. I could have and should have said ‘no’, but I didn’t. I…” Her bravado faltered a bit, but then she remembered herself, and her eyes were as serious as I’ve ever seen. “I will not be making the same mistakes in the future, Mr. Buchanan. So, stay away from me unless you have something business related to discuss with me, but even at that, I’m sure hierarchy dictates you would speak to my immediate boss first. And before you think this is a declaration in a fit of rage, it is not. It’s me taking responsibility for my poor choices and if I have to quit and go live with my parents while I get my shit together, then I will. I will because that’s part of taking responsibility for your fuck-ups.”
If You Could Only Imagine (Buchanan Brothers Series Book 2) Page 7