He sat back in his chair. “Yes.”
“Why did Mr. Worthy call you Harry?”
It was then she saw it; the slightest break in his features that gave her a glimpse into his mind. He appeared confused and almost ill at ease about the question, and then the lapse in his composure was gone, replaced again by his daunting smile.
“Family nickname. My father always called me Harry as a kid. It stuck, and those who have known me most of my life, like Don Worthy, call me Harry.”
She paused for a moment, mulling over his words. “I like Harry.”
He gently patted one hand on the table. “Then maybe you should call me Harry.”
“No, I should call you Mr. Parr, since you’re my boss.”
He angled closer to her and the smell of his cologne surrounded her. “When we’re alone, and away from the prying eyes of others, you can—”
The door to the conference room flew open, cutting him off. The jarring sound of carts rolling along the floor and indistinct voices swept into the room as the caterers, along with Adam and Don Worthy, hurried inside.
Hayden stood from his chair and Madison sagged with disappointment, wanting a few more minutes alone with the man. She wondered if this “Harry” was her “Harry.” If Hayden Parr was actually her memorable first lover, then what? How would she be able to look her boss in the eye and go on as if nothing had happened? Suddenly, the quicksand of her past was swallowing up her well-planned future. This was not supposed to happen. Millions of people in Dallas and she just happened to land a job with the one stranger she had met in a bar and surrendered her virginity to. She could almost hear Charlie laughing it up. Maybe it was possible for lightning to strike twice.
Chapter 3
“You really think it’s him?” Charlie pressed, her blue eyes round with excitement. “How cool is that?” she went on as she carried a bottle of water from the kitchen to the living room.
Still dressed in her running outfit, she was slurping back a few sips of water as Madison sat on their green sofa cradling a glass of wine in her hands. “It’s not cool, Charlie. He’s my boss.”
Charlie plopped down on the cushion next to her. “Aw, come on, girl. You two have a history.”
“If it’s him.” Dread coursed through Madison and she took another gulp of wine, almost draining her glass.
Charlie observed as Madison reached for the bottle of zinfandel on the coffee table and refilled her glass. “By the way you’re chugging that wine, I’d say it’s him. Why didn’t you just ask him?”
Madison nearly dropped the wine bottle on the coffee table. “Ask him? Are you kidding me? I need this job, Charlie, especially with you moving out. Somehow asking the man that just hired me if he was the guy I met in a bar five years ago seems like a hell of a way to get fired.”
Charlie took the wineglass from Madison’s hand and put it on the table. “He’s not going to fire you. From what you told me about how he was acting, I’d bet he would love to hear that you were that girl who snuck out on him in the middle of the night.”
Madison flopped back on the sofa. “Or maybe he doesn’t remember…if it is him. I could be wrong about the guy.”
“I doubt it. The way he flirted with you on the elevator, wanted to be alone with you in the conference room, it kind of sounds like he’s definitely interested.”
“Interested?” Madison snorted and snapped up her glass from the table. “You’re reading way too much into all of this.”
“What about the other guy you told me about…Adam? He seemed interested in you, too.”
“He’s a creep,” Madison roared. “The idea of sharing an office with his skinny ass is almost as disconcerting as asking Hayden Parr if he’s the guy from that night.”
“Sooner or later, Mads, you’re going to have to ask him. You can’t just go into work every day and wonder about it. I know how you are, and this will eat away at you.” Charlie stood from the sofa. “Besides, if he does suspect you’re that girl, how long do you think it is before he says something?”
Madison groaned and chugged a long sip of wine.
Chuckling, Charlie headed toward their bedrooms, but stopped when a light knock sounded on the apartment door. The two women looked to each other, panic written all over their faces.
“Did she see you come home?” Charlie whispered.
Madison mouthed, “I have no idea,” then set her wineglass on the coffee table. Charlie went to the door while Madison stepped up behind her. Anxiously, Charlie opened the door.
Standing in the hallway was an elderly lady with snowy white hair piled into a bun, thick glasses that magnified her round brown eyes, sallow skin, and dainty features that added an air of frailty to her diminutive figure. Wearing a metallic blue muumuu and silver slippers, she glided in the door with all the grace of a ballerina entering the stage.
“Mrs. Leder,” Charlie uttered with a strain of civility in her voice. “Nice to see you, as always.”
Mrs. Leder held out a white casserole dish in her hands. “Did you hear the guy with the python on four was visited by animal control? Apparently you can’t have a python without a permit in Texas. Did ya’ll know that?” She handed the dish to Charlie. “It’s a rice pilaf with tuna. You girls need to eat better.”
Charlie took the dish from her. “Mrs. L, you don’t have to keep cooking for us.”
Mrs. Leder waved a pruny hand at the young woman. “Nonsense; and if you had any brains, young lady, you might start learning to cook. You’re going to have a husband to feed soon. I know you’re both modern women, but men like having home cooked meals on the table when they get back from a long day at the office.” She shook her finger at Charlie. “Makes them feel special.”
“I thought that was what sex was for,” Charlie blurted out.
Mrs. Leder took the comment in stride, grinning. “Sex is only a small part of marriage, Charlie. You’ll learn that soon enough.” She eyed the boxes piled against the far wall. “Are you just about finished packing?”
Charlie set out toward the kitchen, carrying the casserole dish. “Almost. I want to get everything moved over to Nelson’s apartment before the ceremony, so when we get back from our honeymoon, everything will already be set up.”
Mrs. Leder turned her thick lenses to Madison. “How do you feel about being on your own, Madison?”
“Umm.” Madison wrung her hands. “I’m fine with it. I’m happy Charlie and Nelson are finally tying the knot.” She glanced at her roommate who was standing by the kitchen counter, and begged to be rescued with her eyes.
Mrs. Leder went to the kitchen breakfast bar. “I’m sure you’ll be finding someone soon, Madison. Pretty girl like you won’t be on the market for long.”
“Madison already has someone, Mrs. L,” Charlie declared, coming toward the counter. “Her new boss.”
“Yes, you started that job today.” Mrs. Leder’s eyebrows went up. “Is your boss cute?”
Madison grimaced, wanting to kick Charlie for saying anything. “It’s not like that. He’s my boss. We can’t date each other.”
Mrs. Leder let out a deceptively fierce cackle. “Why not? When I started working at the oil company after I graduated from college, I used to spend hours watching Duncan Leder’s fine ass walk by my desk until I got the man to sleep with me.”
Charlie and Madison both started laughing. “Mrs. Leder?” Charlie chastised. “You shouldn’t say such things to us. We’re young and impressionable, remember?”
Mrs. Leder snorted. “Young maybe, but you two are about as impressionable as a Botox-stuffed Orange County housewife picking out her fifth Mercedes.” Her eyes settled on Madison. “Well, maybe not you, Madison, but your cohort in crime definitely knows her way around a man.”
Letting her mouth fall open, Charlie feigned indignation. “I do not. I’ll have you know I’m wearing white at my wedding.”
“Only because your future mother-in-law will be in attendance,” Mrs. Leder commented. “S
he needs to believe her son is marrying a nice girl, but we know better.” She waved off Charlie’s stunned expression. “I was young and horny, too, Charlie. If my mother-in-law knew what her son and I had been up to the night before our wedding, she would have never let me marry into the Leder family…but I did. Thirty-two years of marriage, two sons, and now I own two apartment buildings and four business offices in Dallas.” She winked at Madison. “Just play your cards right. Don’t jump into bed with him too quickly, and you might just end up with that big rock on your finger like your roommate.” She pointed to the oval-shaped diamond set in platinum glistening on Charlie’s left hand.
“Might be a little late for that,” Charlie giggled.
“Charlie,” Madison yelled.
Mrs. Leder leveled her eyes on Charlie. “Did I miss something?”
“Mads has already slept with her boss.”
“No, it’s not like that, Mrs. L,” Madison quickly clarified. “I think he may be this guy I knew a long time ago. We had this…thing.”
“A one-night thing, if you know what I mean,” Charlie teased with a wink.
“Oh, I get it.” Mrs. Leder grinned. “No need to explain.” She looked Madison up and down. “So, what did he say when he saw you today?”
Madison twisted her hands together, mimicking the feeling in her stomach. “He acted like he didn’t know me. He, ah, never got my name before when we….” She shrugged. “I never met my boss until today, and I kept thinking he seemed so familiar. I don’t think I should say anything to him.”
“Of course you should say something!” Mrs. Leder waved her hand delicately in the air. “Make a casual reference like ‘Have we met before? You seem awfully familiar,’ or you could ask, ‘Do you go to such and such restaurant? I swear I’ve seen you there before.’ That might jog his memory and get him to talk about it.”
“I can’t do that,” Madison admitted, shaking her head. “What if it is him and he does remember me?”
Mrs. Leder’s devious smile took ten years off her face. “Then I’d say you have one up on your boss.”
Madison frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“Madison, honey, if you two did as you kids say, ‘hook up,’ then he has to play nice with you. He might not want everyone in his office finding out about your past together. Could cause problems for him, but it could be a real advantage to you.”
Charlie playfully slapped Mrs. Leder’s arm. “Mrs. L, I never knew you had a bad streak.”
“Child, I know how to play this game.” She turned her eyes to Madison. “I may not look it now, but in my day I was quite the catch. Duncan’s father hit on me way before his son did. So by the time Duncan asked me out, I had his father right where I wanted him, and knew there would be no objections voiced to my dating his son.” She patted Madison’s shoulder. “If it’s the same guy, use what you had together to help you get ahead.”
Charlie turned to Madison. “Mrs. L is right, Mads.”
Madison felt the apprehension in her gust twist even tighter. “I can’t do that! He was…is a nice guy.”
“Nice guys don’t have one-night stands, Madison. The nice guys get to know a girl first. Don’t let him get away with it.” Mrs. Leder turned toward the apartment door. “This is war, girl.” She gave a passing wave of her hand. “Return the dish to me when you’re done.”
“Thank you, Mrs. L,” Madison and Charlie called almost in unison as the door closed behind the older woman.
After she was gone, Charlie turned to Madison with one arched eyebrow. “Take it from the former femme fatale who also happens to be our landlady…go for it with the hottie boss.”
Madison went back to the sofa and picked up her wineglass from the coffee table. “You want me to take advice from a seventy-year-old grandmother with a penchant for tuna casseroles? I don’t think so.”
“What could it hurt to ask the guy, like Mrs. L suggested? Just bring it up casually.”
Madison guzzled more wine. “Casually? I don’t even know if it’s him, Charlie. I wish you wouldn’t have said anything to Mrs. L.”
Charlie turned back to the kitchen counter. “Come and eat some of this tuna casserole with me. And don’t be so worried about what your boss will think. Better to find out now if it’s him. What if you really like this job? You don’t want to blow it, do you?”
Madison toyed with the notion of saying anything to Hayden about her suspicions. While imagining him standing close to her, she felt that funny tingle in her belly return. The only other man who had elicited such a reaction had been her onetime lover. Her mind may not have wanted to believe he was her Harry, but her body was beginning to have other ideas.
***
The next morning, Madison was sitting at her desk and peering out her window at the clouds hovering about the adjoining buildings. A light trickle of rain was tapping against the glass as her mind kept rolling over the advice from her landlady. She was supposed to be copying plans for a builder waiting to start construction on a new home designed by Parr and Associates. Instead, she entertained the multitude of ways she could walk into her boss’s office and ask him if he was the Harry. Every time she felt the courage to rise from her chair, that nagging voice in her head barged in, warning her not to rock the boat with Hayden Parr.
“You’re somewhere else,” Adam’s voice cut into her thoughts.
She turned to his desk. “I was thinking about something.”
“Obviously, you’re about as thrilled with copying plans as I am.” He stood from his chair and came up to her. “What do you say we sneak out for an early lunch together? My treat?”
Madison glared at him and wondered why Adam was suddenly being so friendly. She had grown leery of his passing compliments, attributing his every action to some ulterior motive. “Maybe we should just check to see if they have something scheduled for us today for orientation.”
He leaned his elbows on her desk. “I ran into Emma this morning. We had a little chat and she told me our boss and Mr. Worthy were going to be tied up all day in client meetings. So we’re on our own.”
Madison took in the curve of his freckled forearms beneath his rolled up white shirt sleeves. “I don’t want to have lunch with you, Adam.”
“Why not? I think if we’re going to be spending so much time together, we should at least know a bit about each other.”
Madison picked up a number two pencil on her desk. “I don’t think we should be taking off for early lunches on our second day on the job.” Turning her attention to the plans on her computer screen, she proposed, “What if Mr. Worthy or Mr. Parr comes looking for us?”
Adam’s acerbic laughter bristled against her skin. “I hope you’re not that naïve, Madison. You can’t think that our bosses actually give a damn about us. The first day, they give you lunch, pretend to be interested in your future plans, but after that you’re simply a workhorse expected to produce.” He went over to the window and took in the misty clouds. “Don’t kill yourself for an employer. You’re always replaceable, and once they’ve chewed you up and spit you out they will move on.”
She thought of the way Hayden Parr’s haunting eyes had lingered on her face. “I don’t know…Mr. Parr seemed nice yesterday.”
Adam’s green eyes intently studied her. “What did you two talk about while I was with Don Worthy? You seemed awfully preoccupied while we were eating lunch.”
Madison put on a nonchalant smile. “He just asked me some questions since we never got a formal interview together. You know, about why I became an architect…the usual.”
“You’re sure?” His red brows rose up his forehead, accentuating the freckles on his cheeks. “You two seemed almost cozy.”
How was she going to put this guy off? While scrambling to find the appropriate answer, she heard their office door open.
“Glad to find you two with your heads together,” Hayden Parr announced as he breezed into the room.
Madison’s stomach immediately clamped down w
hen she saw the handsome man. The cut of his dark brown suit highlighted his wide shoulders and trim waist. When his eyes found hers, she could have sworn there was a glint of some decadent thought shimmering back at her. For a split second, she pictured pushing the jacket from his shoulders and letting her hands—
“Mr. Parr,” Adam exuberantly extolled, as he walked toward the man. “We didn’t expect to see you today.”
“No, I’m sure you didn’t.” Hayden’s eyes shifted to Adam, but the amusement in them vanished. “The reason I stopped by was to discuss something you brought up yesterday, Adam.”
Adam’s ass-kissing smirk made Madison’s stomach turn. “And what was that, Mr. Parr?”
Hayden glanced toward the window overlooking downtown Dallas. “You wanted to know when you and Madison were going to get your first assignment. Well, I may have something for both of you.”
Madison cautiously stood from her chair. “Both of us?”
He brushed his hand across his chin as he gazed up and down her figure. “I was just meeting with my new clients. They have two acres in Turtle Creek and want something out of the ordinary; something that blends with the landscape and does not detract from it. They want a natural-looking house that is also modern in design and allows expansive views of the land from every room. These clients have a great deal of money to spend, and certainly want the house to reflect that wealth…but in a tasteful way,” he added sarcastically. He stiffly shifted his hands behind his back. “I would ordinarily give this to one of my more seasoned architects, but I think I need a fresh approach with these people, some new ideas. I thought perhaps I would let the two of you take a stab at it. See what you come up with.”
The excitement in Adam’s twitching feet was almost more than Madison could bear. Could the guy be more obnoxious?
“Wow, that’s fantastic.” Adam dashed to Hayden’s side, waving his hands about in the air. “I have so many ideas, Mr. Parr. I know you’ll love them. I can see a ranch exterior that perhaps opens up to a grand hallway with—”
“That’s very ambitious of you,” Hayden interrupted. “Don’t you think you should consult with Madison first, since it will be both of your ideas?”
That Night with You Page 4