YOURS TRULY

by Bella Grant

  “Hmm?” I glanced up at her.

  She smiled compassionately at me. “Good luck. You deserve this. You’re a wonderful man and the woman who can see that is special.”

  “Thank you.”

  When she left, I picked up the phone to send Robyn roses to make up with her. A lot might have changed in one week, including her dating someone new, but I decided to go with my gut, which said I had just been too soon in telling her I loved her. Otherwise, nothing had changed between us. I believed she wanted to be with me. Like Karen said, I just needed to show a little bit of patience.

  I rang a flower company after looking up the most reputable one in the area and ordered a bouquet of three dozen pink pearl roses to be delivered to her work place. After giving them the information to go along with the card, I hung up, feeling much better about the situation. The flowers were the means necessary to open the communication channel between us again. When she received the flowers, she would say thank you and I could ask her how she was.

  As my mind settled, I returned my attention to the sheaf of papers Karen had handed to me. I read through the information, studying the buying patterns of the corporations looking to bid on TelStar. I mapped out what I deemed their budget to be and how much they could afford to spend. I had been doing this for a long time, which had led to acquiring smaller businesses and linking them with Armstrong Co.

  I was an expert at business. I sucked at relationships. But hopefully everything would work out between Robyn and me.

  I frowned when I spotted a company I had no idea would have been on the list. Halliday Inc. Why hadn’t Greg indicated he had interest in Telstar? I would have backed out if I knew he was interested. I was so advanced in the game it wouldn’t hurt any to give my friend a shot, and he didn’t stand a chance against Armstrong Co. But Greg was stubborn. I’d offered him loans to expand his business, but he always turned me down. He wanted to make his own way and I respected him for that. I’d had everything handed down to me when my parents died. Yes, I’d made my own billions after getting the company, but the groundwork had already been laid by my father. Greg, on the other hand, had worked his way up.

  If he wasn’t sleeping with so many different women, I would have respected him more. He was a hard worker and fought for what he wanted. He had some issues with his scruples, though, and some of his business transactions were questionable. Like the way he conducted his relationships with women. I’d have no problem with him having relations with several women, but when he tricked them into it, that was where I drew the line of respect. As far as I was concerned, the least he could do was tell these women he wasn’t interested in commitment and definitely not the type to settle down with a wife and a passel of kids.

  Kids. I wondered if I had kids with Robyn what they would look like. I supposed they would be adorable.

  I punched the speaker button on the phone and dialed Greg’s office number. The phone rang three times before he answered.

  “Halliday.”

  “Greg, you ass, why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “You know?” he inquired nervously. “Hell, man, I didn’t mean for you to find out this way. I swear I had good intentions.”

  “What good intentions is in keeping your bid a secret?”

  “My what?”

  “The bid for TelStar,” I remarked. “I’m going through the list of companies I have to compete with and there is Halliday Inc. How did I miss that?”

  “Oh, that’s what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course that’s what I’m talking about!” I exclaimed. “I wish you’d told me.” I paused, frowning. “Wait a minute. What did you initially think I was talking about?”

  “Uh, nothing,” he responded too quickly. “Look, I didn’t want to say anything because I knew you were going to play nice and pull out or something. This is business, and if I win or you win, it should be because the better man did.”

  “Are you sure? You know I don’t need TelStar.”

  “Don’t you dare pull out,” he argued with me. “I want the opportunity to beat you fair and square. Only then would I feel any measure of satisfaction.”

  I couldn’t decide if he was serious or joking. I hadn’t the faintest idea that a competition existed between us. “Okay, I won’t pull out of the deal,” I agreed, deciding to continue with business as usual. “But if you need anything, you know you can call me, right?”

  “Yeah, I know, but not needed. I’m confident I can take you on this one.”

  “We’ll see,” I stated, knowing there was no way he could match my bid. First of all, he would need to know the amount I planned to offer and he’d have to find the capital at the ready for that kind of investment. Even if he did win the bid, would he have the resources to pump into TelStar to drag it out from its current rut?

  “How’s everything between you and Robyn?” he inquired. “You haven’t been talking much about her lately.”

  “I think we had our first lover’s spat,” I answered, refraining from going to deep into details. “But I’ll handle it.”

  “Okay, handle your business. See you around.”

  “Yeah.” I was about to hang up when I stalled. “Greg?”

  “Yup?”

  “Thanks, man,” I replied, not sure if I’d ever let him know before how much I appreciated him. “You know, for everything you’ve ever done for me. For having my back all these years. I love you, man.”

  “Yeah, yeah I know. I love you too.” He chuckled. “Seems your girl is making you sappy on me.”

  “I mean what I said, Greg,” I told him. “If you’re ever in need of something, let me know. Anything.”

  “Sure thing. But like I said, I’m good. Catch you later.”

  He hung up before I could say anything else. Good God, what was wrong with me? Why all these emotions all of a sudden? For a long time I had been so hard, cynical, and sarcastic, bitterness seeping through every broken crack and filling my heart. Robyn had changed all that. If she could only understand how much I loved her for bringing me back to life.

  Robyn

  “Remember what I said!” Laurel called to me as she walked off to her station. We were both coming back from lunch where I had poured out everything to her about my relationship with Seth. I hadn’t left out anything including how Greg had initially been blackmailing me and how I’d fallen for Seth in the process.

  After talking it over with her, she had convinced me that with all the dishonesty between myself and Seth, I shouldn’t lie to him about how I felt. I agreed and the first thing on my agenda was to call him and makeup.

  I waited for the elevator to appear before riding it to the top floor. I walked over to my desk and plunked down my bag before I headed for the bathroom. I gave myself a pep-talk that everything would turn out right while I used the restroom. After washing my hands, I felt relatively calm enough to call Seth.

  At my desk, I sat down in the swivel chair and searched inside my bag for the phone. I grasped the small device and pressed the menu button, instantly surprised when I saw I had three missed calls from him. The calls had come in while I was at the restaurant and the final one just a minute ago while I was in the bathroom. I kept my phone on silent while I was at work, so I didn’t even realize a call had come in.

  My face broke into a smile and I rang him back. He answered almost immediately.

  “Robyn, honey, I miss you,” he stated, dispelling with any form of pretense. God, I so loved that about him. This man had missed the memo most men received that told them to hide their feelings and act like egotistical jerks.

  “I miss you, too,” I responded likewise, knowing if I had responded like this last week, none of this angst between us would have existed. “I’m so sorry,” I began to apologize.

  “No,” he interrupted. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have never tried to force anything on you. And I am willing to be patient. I just don’t want this relationship to end. I think we fit together so we
ll.”

  “I do too,” I agreed. “I want to be with you, Seth.”

  “Thank God,” he sighed. “You got me over here, thinking maybe you’d found some other guy on that site, but I couldn’t find your profile when I checked.”

  “That’s because I no longer have a reason to be on that site,” I responded. “I’ve already met you.”

  He growled low in my ear. “My bed’s been lonely without you,” he stated. “Sleepover?”

  I laughed. “Try and stop me.”

  “We were both stubborn,” he acknowledged. “I didn’t want to call you first, and I’m betting you didn’t want to either. Let’s agree now that we won’t ever go a day without speaking to each other.”

  “Unless you’re at your business retreat,” I reminded him.

  “Screw the business retreat. I don’t need to go anymore.”

  “Okay, we’ve got ourselves a deal.”

  “I’ll be by your house to pick you up after work,” he told me, sounding impatient. “Get a bag. We have seven days to make up for.”

  Warmth flooded my belly at his words. “Sure you’re up for it?” I teased.

  “Oh, baby, you have no idea how up for it I am, even now,” he said, his voice low and sexy. “As soon as I get you home, your legs are going north. And you know what direction your mouth will be going?”

  “I can imagine same as yours,” I answered, hot and bothered. “Down south.”

  “Good girl, you catch on fast,” he complimented, chuckling. “So, we’ve agreed. I’m picking you up around 5:30?”

  “As long as I get to drive the Bugatti,” I bargained.

  He laughed. “I’m really going to have to buy you one on your birthday.”

  “No way!” I protested. “Way too expensive.”

  “You forget I’m a billionaire, sweetheart?”

  “I don’t care. I’m not letting you spend that much money on me.”

  “Let’s see you stop me,” he remarked. “I’ve got to go. I’m supposed to be in a meeting but stepped out when I saw your call.”

  “Oh, you bad boss you,” I flirted outrageously. “Having sex talk on the phone when you should be in a meeting.”

  He snickered. “Yup. You’ve got my priorities all twisted up. See you later. Love you.”

  My heart skipped a beat just as it had the first time he said those words. This time he didn’t give me a chance to respond but hung up.

  “I love you too,” I whispered with a smile. Just as well he had hung up anyway. The first time I told him should be done face to face and not over the phone.

  I spent the rest of the day with nervous excitement coursing through my veins and the life force that kept me going until five. I didn’t hesitate a second after the hour but shut down the computer, grabbed my bags, checking everything was inside while I stuck my head through Greg’s door to let him know I was off. He looked smug, but I didn’t have time to ponder the expression on his face. Not when I couldn’t wait to make it home.

  Traffic was congested, but not even that could put a damper on my mood. If I was backed up in traffic, chances were he was also trapped. Even if he did get to the house before me, Kelly, who was getting really antsy lately, would be there. I would have to find something for her to do. She had been well-behaved for the past few weeks, but she was starting to drink again. Probably because of boredom. This morning when I woke up, she had been passed out on the sofa. Money had also been missing from my purse, and I knew she had taken it to go out when I was sleeping.

  I planned to have a talk with her about going through my wallet and helping herself. I was aware she needed money since she wasn’t working and turned down her nose on any vacancy I showed her, but she could at least ask and allow me the opportunity to hand it to her. I was adamant that I would be tough on her. If she put me into a situation like she had with Greg, she would be on her own. At least this was what I told myself but deep down I knew I would try to help again.

  Another quality I loved about Seth was his ability to listen and not speak. He allowed me to talk about my concerns about my younger sister and never judged. Just being able to talk to him about the little things and great ones in life that bothered me was refreshing.

  After almost an hour in traffic, I finally was able to park my car at the front of my house. I hurried from the vehicle, slamming the door shut when I saw Seth pulling into the driveway right behind me. In his Lexus. He hadn’t even mentioned he wasn’t driving the Bugatti. I knew he mostly drove the sports car when he was going out but used the more conservative Lexus to get to work.

  My reaction could be constituted as a bad and overrun scene from the movies, but I didn’t care. All I knew was that I’d missed him and seeing him filled me with such elation. As soon as he stepped out the car, I was running towards him, flinging myself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me just like I knew he would and squeezed me tight to him.

  “I love you!” I gasped, wanting to get it out before anything else.

  “Huh?” He looked startled. Pretty much the same way I had looked when he had blurted it out, I supposed.

  I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love you too, Seth, and I should have told you but I was such a coward.”

  “Robyn,” he murmured in awe. “You don’t have to say it because I did.”

  I shook my head. “No, I want to tell you. I’m glad you told me how you feel because I feel the same way and I’m not ashamed to let anyone know because you’re as fine as they come, Mr. Armstrong.”

  “You really love me?” he asked, brushing my hair back from my face.

  I nodded. “So much.”

  “Good, because I don’t want to have to stifle the words every time I’m of a mind to remind you of my love.”

  I tugged his head down to shut him up. I hadn’t kissed him in forever and a day, although it really was just a week. He kissed me back desperately, hoisting me against the car. I wrapped my legs around his waist. I felt his arousal, heavy and thick, nudging against my center. My skirt rolled up my thighs as we pillaged and plundered the recesses of each other’s mouth.

  A thought flashed in my mind that I was doing what I had thought distasteful of Kelly when she started living with me. Even worse, we were in broad daylight and any of our neighbors could see what was happening. We were acting like two randy teenagers just discovering how good sex felt.

  “Seth!” I gasped pulling my mouth from his. “We need to get inside so I can pack and we can go.”

  “Is your sister home?” he asked, nibbling on my bottom lip. “You can feel me, baby. I’m not sure I’m going to make it until we get to my place.”

  “I don’t know,” I told him as he lowered my feet to the ground but not before squeezing my ass. “I just got here.”

  “Okay, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”

  Tugging him by the hand, we hurried up the porch and I opened the door with my key and entered the house. Everything seemed quiet.

  “Seems we’re in luck,” I remarked with a grin before I took another step and the carpet squished beneath my foot. I looked down in surprise and realized the carpet was soaked through with water. “What in the world!” I exclaimed, dropping Seth’s hand and ran inside. The kitchen was empty and thank God tidy but under water.

  “The water is dripping from upstairs,” Seth announced, pointing to the running water down the stairs.

  “Oh my God!” I didn’t know what to think or what I would find upstairs. Kelly had been a little down of late, but no, she would never do something this extreme.

  “Robyn,” Seth called my name, but I was running up the stairs, following the flowing water to the bathroom. Seth had climbed the stairs behind me, but I didn’t wait on him. I pushed the bathroom door open, holding my breath and sighed with relief. Empty. Thank God. For a moment, I’d thought the worse.

  As the worry ceased, anger replaced the feeling. Where the hell was Kelly? The tub was running over and had flooded the house. I ha
d a pretty good idea what happened. She could be so distracted at times. Clearly she had been about to take a bath and something had caught her attention.

  “Damn, the tap must have been on a long time,” Seth announced behind me. “The furniture downstairs is all wet.”

  “I’m gonna kill her!” I exclaimed as I hurried to turn the tap off and pull the plug from the drain.

  “Maybe something happened,” he stated, trying to find an excuse for Kelly.

  I made an angry sound and stormed by him to my sister’s bedroom. I didn’t bother to knock, just barged in. She was fast asleep on the bed, naked. I pulled the door closed so Seth couldn’t see her naked form. Wondering if he was right and something was wrong with her, I hurried over to the bed and shook her by the shoulders.

  “Kelly, wake up.”

  “Hmm?” she moaned and turned over to her side.

  “Wake up!” I exclaimed, my voice tight, hinging in the balance between anger and worry that something was wrong with her. “You’ve flooded the damn house. What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”

  She lifted her head and peered up at me. “What?”

  I smelled the weed on her. She had been smoking, some pretty strong stuff too, if it had knocked her out in the time it had taken for the tub to be filled.

  “Are you high?” I demanded, reaching across the bed for her clothes and pushing them towards her.

  “No,” she lied, unable to look at me.

  “Bullshit!” I yelled. “Look at your friggin’ pupils. I swear Kelly, what the hell am I supposed to do with you if you can’t be responsible a day in your life. You’ve flooded the damn house because you left the tap on in the bathroom and decided to get high. You’ve ruined all the furniture. Do you have any idea the extensive cleaning that’s gonna be required to have everything dried! Not to mention to replace what’s ruined!”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she stated, chagrined as she pulled a shirt over her head.

  “Well, guess what? I’m sick of your ‘I’m sorry!’” I exclaimed, my arms flailing. “Sick of it! Either you’re going to start showing you’re a responsible adult or I’m gonna ask you to find somewhere else to stay!”