He pulled up outside her house, fumbled in her bag for her key and got out. On the gate was a sign declaring that 6a, Izzy’s actual house number, was round the back of the house. Confused slightly, he pushed open the gate and followed the path round the side of the house. At the bottom of the garden was a large wooden shed. 6a stood proud on the door and a hand painted sign declaring it to be ‘Izzy’s Pad’ was stuck jauntily in the ground.
Izzy lived in a shed.
He opened the door and stepped inside. He was half expecting to find a dirty mattress on the floor, so he was shocked to see what a wonderful home Izzy had made for herself. It was small but cosy. It was nothing like a shed inside, there was a large comfy sofa and a little dining table set for two. A tiny kitchen up one end and a door leading off to a bedroom decorated in purple and cream with a tiny en suite bathroom.
Satisfied that she wasn’t living in a hovel, he propped the door open and went back for Izzy.
She was so light to carry and she looked so pale. He placed her in bed and took off her shoes. He considered briefly taking off her muddy clothes but quickly decided against that idea. He pulled the duvet over her and fetched a glass of orange juice, a glass of water and some paracetamols from the kitchen. It was as he was tucking her in that she stirred and looked at him.
‘Ethan? What are you doing in my house?’ Her voice was croaky and she looked red and flushed.
‘I brought you home. You fell asleep at work, it was hardly professional.’ It was a joke but she was unlikely to take it as one after he had treated her so badly at work.
She opened her mouth to protest or perhaps defend herself but then burst out laughing instead, which surprised him. Maybe she was delusional.
She pushed a shaky hand through her hair as she continued to giggle. ‘Oh well. At least you now have a reason to sack me.’
He sat down on the bed next to her. She pushed the duvet off her and flopped out on top of the bed like a caught fish. He fought an internal battle to stop himself from feeling her forehead and lost. She was very hot.
She closed her eyes at his touch and held her hand over his to stop him pulling away. He didn’t like it. And he certainly didn’t like what she did next. She moved his hand down the side of her face, down her neck to her chest.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m boiling, your hands are cold.’
‘I don’t think it’s appropriate.’ Though, he noted, he was doing nothing to pull his hand away.
‘What, your hands were all over me last night. But I’m not allowed to use them to cool myself down? Double standards.’
She closed her eyes again and seemingly started to doze off as her breath got heavy.
He gently extricated his hand and she blinked at him.
‘So I’m not fired?’
‘Not yet.’
She shook her head slightly, smiling at his comment.
‘But let me make it very clear, if you set foot in the office before you are a hundred per cent better, I will fire you on the spot.’
‘I don’t make a habit of being ill, I’ll be back to work Monday.’
‘Not unless you’re better, you’re no good to me like this.’
She sighed and cuddled into her pillow. ‘I’m sure there’s some kind of backhanded compliment in there somewhere.’
He watched her slowly drift off to sleep again and when she started snoring softly, he carefully stroked the hair from her face.
*
Izzy woke later with a shiver, she was so cold. She was lying on top of the bed but she didn’t have the energy to climb under the covers. Her throat was raw, her head was pounding and she felt like she could sleep forever. But through her fuddled state, she knew there was someone in the room with her. She rolled over to see Ethan lying on the bed next to her, with Fang on his chest. He was holding a piece of string for Fang and the cat was pouncing on it like it was his prey. Ethan had the biggest grin on his face as he played with the cat. Who would have thought that this huge, masculine, grumpy man had this soft, sweet side that liked to play with kittens?
He suddenly realised she was watching him and he smiled at her.
‘Hey, how you feeling?’
‘Like shit. Why are you still here?’
‘Oh, well Fang needed some company.’
‘That’s very sweet, I’m sure he appreciates it.’ She closed her eyes. There was part of her brain that was telling her that this little cosy arrangement was wrong – he was her boss and, yes, they had kissed and danced and touched but they still had to work alongside each other in a professional capacity and this was blurring the lines even more. There was also the part of her that knew she was falling for him and knew she wouldn’t get what she wanted out of this. Ethan Chase didn’t do relationships. But all of this was overruled by the part of her brain that felt so comfortable and so right lying next to Ethan. He belonged here.
‘Shouldn’t you be at work or at home with Psycho?’
‘The boys are handling the pick up today and Kyle is going to look after Psycho for me.’
She shivered again. He’d abandoned work, for her.
‘Are you cold?’
‘A little.’
With his arm round her waist he shifted her onto his chest, pulling the duvet over them both and holding her tight against him. Fang mewled loudly in protest but then snuggled into the crook of her arm.
She looked up at him in surprise. ‘This is weird, you know that right?’
‘I know, but I can’t help it.’
‘This goes way beyond the normal boss-employee relationship.’
‘We went way beyond the normal parameters a long time ago. But let’s call this a hiatus. First thing Monday I’ll be back to being the grumpy boss again.’
She sighed. ‘Well at least I know where I stand with grumpy boss, this whole thing is confusing the hell out of me.’
‘I know, me too. I’ve never felt this way before about anyone. It’s freaking me out if I’m honest.’
‘I’m not going to hurt you.’
He sighed and kissed her on the forehead. He wasn’t going to give her the chance to hurt him. Although he held her in his arms, the shutters were still up. Despite his feelings for her, he was still refusing to let it go any further. She snuggled into him. They would work through this. They had to. She just had to help him move past his fears first.
*
Izzy woke up on Monday morning as Ethan was getting dressed. He had spent the whole weekend with her. Sometimes he’d wake her up to eat something he had cooked, sometimes she’d wake and see him lying on her sofa watching TV or playing with Fang, and once when she woke up in the very early hours of what she presumed was Sunday morning, he had been curled round her, lying next to her in bed, fast asleep.
But none of that rang true with the man who had deliberately used her to make another woman jealous.
She stretched and realised she felt loads better. Fang glared at her from his position on the other pillow. It seemed he reserved the friendly, playful nature just for Ethan.
‘Are you going to work?’ she asked as she sat up.
‘Yes, stay here, I’ll be back later.’
‘I feel better.’
‘I don’t want you back until you feel one hundred per cent.’
‘I’m fine. Look, I’ll come in for a few hours, stay till lunch and see how I feel then. If I start feeling crap again, I’ll come home at lunchtime.’
He scowled. ‘I’ll wait in the lounge for you, don’t be long.’
Ah, the grumpy boss had returned.
She quickly washed and dressed and joined him in the lounge ten minutes later. Seeing she was ready, he held out her hat and scarf for her. ‘Put these on, it’s freezing outside.’
She smiled at the gesture.
They drove in silence to the office and Izzy could see he was battling with his conscience.
Outside the office was a tall man, dressed in a long black expensive looking coat
. Izzy recognised him but she couldn’t remember from where. She could see Ethan staring at him as well, trying to place who he was.
They got out the car and the man strode towards them, holding out his hand. ‘I’m Theodore Bloomsberg, Theo. I’d like to talk to you if you have the time.’
Ethan shook his hand, his eyes widening as he registered the name. He introduced Izzy and himself. Izzy suddenly remembered where she had seen him. ‘You were at Jemima’s party on Thursday, you were a doorman at the Bloomsberg Hotel…’ she trailed off as she suddenly realised who this man was.
Theo smiled. ‘Not a doorman, though I understand why you thought that. I was dressed in one of the hotel coats as I had been outside dealing with an issue with one of our drivers. I own the hotel and was just doing the rounds to check everything was ok. I was standing by the door when you walked out onto the balcony. If you remember, you passed me your iPad to hold while you were dancing.’
Ethan unlocked the door to the office and let Theo step into the office ahead of him.
Ethan offered Theo a seat and grabbed another one for himself, encouraging Izzy to sit in the big office chair.
‘Can I get you a drink, Mr Bloomsberg?’ Ethan asked, clearly nervous.
‘Theo, and no I’m fine. I can’t stop long. I have a meeting shortly, not far from here. I thought as I was driving past I would stop and have a chat.’
Ethan sat down next to Izzy and wheeled his chair closer to her. She studied Theo across the desk, he was young, maybe mid-forties, with dark hair and a big smile. But it was the eyes that were most interesting, they were astute, alert, taking everything in.
‘While you were dancing, I looked at your report on the iPad, the investment portfolio that you were showing to Jemima. I have to say I’m very impressed. I presume that it was a truthful account of your company and not inflated figures to impress Jemima.’
Ethan grabbed Izzy’s hand under the desk and she wasn’t sure what message he was trying to convey with that gesture.
Ethan cleared his throat. ‘Sir, the business is doing very well, our bookings are growing every year. Izzy has been looking at new ways to advertise the company and we have had a large increase of bookings since she started with the company.’
‘Everything was accurate, the turnover of the company, the predicted turnover in the next five years, down to the last penny, it was all correct,’ Izzy said.
Theo nodded, thoughtfully.
‘Are you looking to invest, Theo?’ Izzy asked and Ethan squeezed her hand even tighter at her brazen question.
Theo broke into a grin. ‘I like you. You remind me of my ex-wife, she always got straight to the point. I have investments in several small businesses. I don’t get a lot back from them, but I get enough for it to be worthwhile. Plus it helps them. I used to own a restaurant and it’s a struggle, especially in these financially hard times. I know what it’s like.’
Izzy looked at him with his expensive coat, gold watch and nice looking shoes, he didn’t look like the sort of man that had ever fallen on hard times.
‘Anyway, I liked what I saw in the report and so I asked around, I wanted to find out more about Ethan Chase.’
Ethan visibly deflated next to her and Theo nodded at his reaction. ‘Yes, it wasn’t a good response. The general consensus was that you were involved in drugs, petty theft, several cons and scams, fraud, money laundering and a line in fake IDs.’
‘I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth,’ Izzy said, outraged that people would say such disgusting things about him. ‘Ethan works so hard for this company and he is a man of complete integrity and…’ she trailed off as Ethan stared at her in shock.
‘A lot of people would say that there’s no smoke without fire. Any ideas where these rumours come from?’ Theo’s astute gaze passed to Ethan.
Ethan swallowed. ‘My dad. A lot of that stuff is complete rubbish and although my dad was never actually involved in stuff like that, he certainly used to hang around with people that were. There were a lot of break-ins that his friends were involved with and when they were arrested for a robbery at a jewellery shop, they pointed the finger at my dad. He didn’t have an alibi, or not one he wanted to use, and he went to prison for three years. He swore to us he wasn’t involved at all and I believe him. Unfortunately he died in there. The Chase name has been mud ever since. Not one of my brothers has ever been involved in illegal activity but people are not so willing to forgive and forget.’
Theo studied him. ‘I had a similar issue when my family first came to this country. I won’t go into details but prejudice is one thing you can’t fight against easily. You can tell a lot about a man from how he treats the woman he’s with. Any fool could see what Jemima was offering you on Thursday and it would have been very easy to succumb to that in return for her investment. But you were loyal to Izzy and I liked that. I got my people to do some serious digging on you and they could find nothing untoward either, despite the rumours. I’ve made a lot of money over the years because I trusted my gut and with you I like what I see. You have a niche market here and I’d really like to invest in your company. I like the idea of building a second property on the land that Oakwood House is situated on –as that would increase the bookings that you can take. You would need a second vehicle too and I can help you with that. If you are interested in working with me, I can get my solicitor to draw up an offer, of how much I would like to invest and what I would like in return. I am out the country for the next two months but that will give you time to seriously consider my offer and to no doubt do your homework on me too.’
‘I’d be very interested in seeing what your offer is,’ Ethan said, his voice strangled.
‘Good.’ Theo stood up. ‘I’ll get my solicitor to send you my offer and I’ll ask my secretary to schedule a date for a meeting for the end of March or beginning of April and we can discuss terms then. It was good to meet you.’ He offered out his hand and Ethan stood up to shake it. Izzy stood up too and shook Theo’s hand. A moment later he was gone, leaving her and Ethan staring at the door in shock. This was a man that wasted no time in getting what he wanted.
‘What just happened?’ Ethan muttered.
‘I think you just got your chance.’
He turned to her grinning. ‘It’s because of you.’
She shook her head vehemently. ‘It’s your company, you’ve worked so hard to get here…’
He grabbed her by the shoulders, silencing any more thoughts at the feel of his hot hands. ‘It was your presentation, it was you being there on Thursday night, it’s you…’ He stared at her, his eyes travelling down to her lips. She swallowed a lump in her throat at the hunger in his gaze. ‘You unravel me,’ he whispered, his eyebrows slashing down into a frown. He took a step back from her. ‘No one has ever stood up for me the way you did in front of Theo. You see good things in me that I don’t even see in myself. My dad didn’t do anything he was accused of.’
‘I don’t care.’
Ethan didn’t seem to hear her. ‘That night, the night of the robbery he was… He was having an affair, he had been for a years. I knew about it but my mum has never found out. He loved my mum, but he loved Claire too. He was with Claire the night of the robbery, she came and told me after he had died. He made her promise never to tell anyone, he said he would rather go to prison for a crime he didn’t commit than break my mum’s heart by using Claire as an alibi and letting my mum know about the affair. Claire was desperate to go to the police and tell them the truth, but my dad wouldn’t let her. But I knew my dad was innocent, even before that. He was a good man.’
‘I don’t care whether your dad was the patron saint of Chessingburyford or one of the Great Train robbers. He is not the man who danced with me under the stars last week, who kissed me in the back of a taxi for over an hour because he thought I looked beautiful. He is not the man who gave me a kitten to make me smile. That’s the only man I care about.’
‘I don’t
deserve it. I’m not a good person and if you knew me a little better, you’d run a million miles in the opposite direction.’
She folded her arms stubbornly across her chest. ‘You don’t scare me. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘That’s what I was afraid of. I need to check on Psycho, will you be ok here for a couple of hours?’
She nodded and he walked out. She smiled that he’d finally been given his chance. Now he just had to give her a chance too.
*
Izzy hurried back from lunch and saw Ethan’s car outside the office. She was surprised to see another car parked next to Ethan’s. Who else would be visiting them?
As Izzy walked towards the office she heard a few grunts and groans coming from inside. Concerned, she hurried forward and burst into the office just in time to see a man punch Ethan in the stomach.
Ethan staggered back a bit, clearly winded. His face was bruised and sore, clearly from where the man had punched him several times.
‘Fight me, you bastard,’ said the man.
‘No,’ Ethan said and the man punched him again.
As the man raised his fist again, Izzy found herself running forward, launching herself through the air and landing on the man’s back. She grabbed at his hair, jabbed a finger in his eye and stuck two fingers up his nose.
The man wailed, staggered back and threw his head back to try to dislodge her, smashing Izzy in the nose in the process, stars exploded in her vision and she immediately tasted blood in the back of her throat.
Suddenly strong arms were around her waist, pulling Izzy off the man. She wriggled and fought against them until she heard Ethan’s growl in her ear. ‘Stop it.’
She reluctantly stopped struggling and Ethan put her down, standing in front of her as the man blundered towards them.
Ethan held out a hand to stop him. ‘Look Dan, you’ve had a good go at me, and I don’t blame you, but there’s no way on earth you’re laying a finger on Izzy, so just get out now, before you see me really mad.’
The man glared at Ethan and Izzy for a moment and then stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Tied up With Love Page 15