“The truth is that I do want you around, and it’s time that I stop wanting you.”
Dean stared her down and tried to read some play of emotion on her face. But instead, she was stoic. Cold. Calm. Damn it, one of the things he liked about her was her calm under pressure, but he didn’t want her to direct it at him.
“Why?” he bit out.
The question seemed to snap her out of her calm, as she frowned. “We both knew this wasn’t permanent. I had a hard time and you helped me out. In more ways than I anticipated.”
“So why stop? You like me. I like you. What more is there?”
She turned away, and for a moment, Dean thought he might have her. She would realize there was no good reason to break things off and change her mind. But when she looked back to him, he knew she’d made up her mind already. “I don’’t know what you want from me, Dean, but I can’t give it. I work all the time. I give orders and expect them to be followed. I can’t have you telling me I can’t be around my brother. I can’t have you waiting for me to show up to a date that I’ll blow off to take a conference call with plant managers. There’s a good reason I don’’t date. Trust me, I’m doing this to help you.”
“I’m so happy you decided to help me without actually discussing it with me.”
“Dean—”
“Don’t,” he said. “Do you think I can’’t handle your job? I know who you are, Victoria. When have I ever given any hint that I couldn’t take a powerful woman?”
“You can’t even handle be being around Terry.”
“Your brother who could want you dead! What happens when they read the will and he finally accepts that the business is going to you?”
“We don’t know that yet,” she said softly.
He snorted. “Even if your father expected to live forever, he wasn’t a fool. I bet he changed that will the second he fired Terry. I bet my life on it. If Terry wants you hurt, you’re in more danger now than ever.”
“If,” she pointed out.
“Fuck that. Let me be there for you, Victoria. I can help you.”
She took a deep breath and met his eyes. “How can you be there for me? You’ll replace the light when it goes out? You’ll just be in the way.””
It probably would’ve hurt less if she’d punched him in the face. “That’s what this is about? I don’t fit into your high fucking flying life?”
“Damn it, Dean. I didn’t mean—”
“No. You’re right. I would be in your way. So you go off to your skyscraper penthouse suite, and forget about me, okay? It was fun while it lasted. I was stupid to think it was anything more than a good time.”
She reached a hand out to him, but he had already pushed the door open. Some logical part of his brain knew she didn’t truly think she was somehow above him. But who was he kidding? Even if she was nice enough to give him a shot, she was above him in every way, shape, and form. Trying to keep something going with a nobody like him was probably stupider than her working with Terry.
“Dean, wait!” She crawled out of the car after him.
He twisted around and set one hand on the roof of the car and one on the door. “Get back in the car, Victoria.”
She practically vibrated with the need to do anything besides what he said. She was wrong when she said he couldn’t handle her position. He knew exactly how used she was to throwing out orders and expecting obedience. He also knew how strange it was for her to take those orders.
Hell, it was one of his favorite things about her.
“Go back to work. Sort your shit out, okay? It was nice to spend this past week with you.”
Her mouth hung open and he was almost happy she was speechless. He couldn’t think what would be worse: her telling him that he was damn swell but they weren’t right for each other, or her listing off all the completely legitimate reasons they shouldn’t go further with whatever the hell they had.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Victoria slammed her office door shut and winced at the bang that echoed through the oversized space. Now everyone would know she was in a crappy mood. Great. Like this morning needed to get any worse.
She had to finalize plans for tomorrow’s funeral, go over the estimates she’d received after the plant visit, touch base with Simon, look over last week’s financials, and there were probably fifteen meetings scheduled between now and lunch.
So Dean, and any of her messed-up feelings towards him, would have to wait. “Is there anything you’d like, Ms. Green?” asked Jace, her rent-a-cop for the day, from the door he’’d opened so silently she hadn’t even known he was there.
She turned and tried to look put together and sane. “No, thank you, Jace.” She’d taken Dean’s original advice and gone with one of the least military looking candidates. Jace was tall and lean, with slicked back blonde hair. But the man moved like a ninja, with the grace of someone completely in control. In short, he was completely gorgeous. And all she could do was wish he was Dean.
“Denise should have a computer brought up for you soon. You’ll set up in the cube right outside my office, and if anyone asks, you’re the intern we brought in to work on the North Carolina plant project, okay?”
“Gordon already filled me in,” he said with a friendly smile. “If you feel threatened or think of anything, I’ll be right out here.”
She nodded as he left. This really worked out so much better than Dean. If only she could force herself to stop thinking about him.
~~~~~
“Are you still sulking?” Katy pushed the front door open with her hip and let the dog in the house. She dropped the leash as she paused to untie her running shoes.
Dean sat up straighter on the couch. He glanced down the hall that led to the door as Rigby ran towards him, obviously not out of energy even after his run with Katy.
“I haven’t sulked today!” he yelled back as he grabbed the empty beer bottles in front of him and made a beeline for the kitchen. She didn’’t need to see what he was doing to distract himself. “How was your run?” he asked, trying to change the subject.
She shrugged as she crossed into the kitchen and got a water bottle out of the fridge. “Same as normal.” She eyed the beverage tray, which was noticeably more empty than it had been before she went for her hour-long run. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay home tonight?”
“I think I can manage spending the evening alone,” he assured her. Truth was, he was still pissed. Pissed that Victoria didn’t give him a chance. Pissed that he knew she had a damn good reason not to. Pissed that some other guy spent the entire day with her.
Yeah, it was better if Katy wasn’t around to see him wallow.
“No. You had plans to go out with Becky. I don’t want to ruin your night, too. Maybe if you’re back early enough, we can watch a movie.””
She winced and rubbed at the back of her neck. “About that…”
“So you weren’t actually offering to spend time with me tonight.”
“No! If you want me here, I’ll totally stay. But if I am going out, I kind of wanted to ask for a curfew extension.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and tried out his best intimidating big brother look. “Why do you need more time?”
“Come on. Becky gets off work at six. So even if I get there at six thirty, go out for dinner at seven and see an eight o’clock movie, I won’t get out of the theater until after ten probably. So is midnight okay?”
His gut instinct was to say no, but he really had no reason to. She’d been great during his trip with Victoria, and she’d never gotten in trouble once. If she wanted a onetime extension of her curfew, it was only reasonable. Besides, if she ended up getting a job in the next few months like she wanted, it would be fair to give her more time to herself. If she was being bogged down by work and school, she deserved time to play.
And he’d snuck out of the house after curfew by the time he was her age. He’d rather she told him where she was going and when she was getti
ng back than have her sneaking around behind his back.
“Keep your phone with you, okay? I expect you to answer if I call.”
“Unless I’m at the movie,” she said.
He shook his head. “Fair enough. Don’t be stupid.”
“Don’t worry, Dean. Just remember, I’ll be moving away in a year anyway.”
College. The last thing he needed to worry about. “Can’t wait,” he said sarcastically as she smiled and turned to run upstairs and clean up before going out.
As soon as she was gone, he pulled out another beer and crossed back to the living room. This would be his…fourth? What did it matter? He’d had a shitty morning, worked his ass off at four different client calls during the day, and now Katy was going out for the night. If he wanted to drink, he’d damn well drink.
Except he needed to be sober just in case Katy needed him for any reason. Damn it. He eyed the beer in front of him. One more and then he’d have to cut himself off. The joys of single parenthood.
But he didn’t need to be getting drunk. He’d have to get up early the next morning. He already had three jobs lined up and a fourth if he had the time.
Busy was good. Busy gave him less time to think about how he could’ve been spending his day: following Victoria and thinking about all the things he could be doing with her the next time they were alone. Now he’d probably never see her again. Part of him thought he should run to the nearest bar and find a distraction, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough.
He didn’t want a random distraction. He wanted Victoria. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to talk to her about Mr. Jarvis, whose entire electrical system blew when he plugged in over ten different devices into one socket. And the other job where the young woman in her first home ever blew a fuse and had no idea she just had to flip a switch on the breaker box.
And he had no idea why he wanted to tell her this stuff. He bored Katy to death with all his work stories, but somehow he couldn’t imagine Victoria being bored. Maybe that’s why she made a good CEO. When people talked, she listened. It would be hard to find that at some random bar with music blaring way louder than a human voice could talk.
He took a swig of beer and reached for the remote. Hopefully the TV would give him some sort of distraction. He needed to find some way to get this woman out of his mind.
~~~~~
Victoria leaned against her window that overlooked the New York City skyline. It was the one thing she was most grateful to her family trust fund for: the ability to afford an apartment with a view like this. The lights of millions of windows twinkled in the distance, reminding her that the city was still awake and moving.
It was a strange comfort when she had no desire to go to sleep.
Tomorrow would be her dad’s funeral. She’d also finally sit down with the lawyers and figure out who was getting what between her and Terry. She never wanted it to be like this. She and Terry were supposed to be mourning together, not pitted against each other.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn’t want to work. She just wanted to sit here and stare out at the city. Everything she did seemed to remind her of all the crap she had to deal with. Work reminded her of Dad, and if she went to bed, she’d think of……
Her phone rang, and her gaze jerked away from the city view. Apparently her choice was being made for her. She grabbed the phone off her nightstand and frowned at the unfamiliar number. She tried to be guarded with her cell phone number, but she constantly had calls from new people.
“This is Victoria Green,” she said, ready to hang up if there was the slightest hint it was a reporter on the other end. Denise had been on phone-screening duty all day at the office, because her work number was much easier to get a hold of.
“Ummm…hey. Victoria?”
She sat up straighter. The woman on the other end sounded too young and unsure to be a reporter. “Who is this?”
“I don’t know if you remember me, but this is Katy.”
Victoria rubbed her temples with her free hand. “Of course I remember you. Why are you calling? How did you even get this number?”
“I got it out of Dean’s phone. But that’s not important. So, I went out with some friends tonight and I promised Dean I’’d be home by midnight, but now I’m stranded.”
Well, that didn’t explain a thing. The only reason Katy wouldn’t call her brother was if she didn’t want him to know where she was. But that was a bullet Katy was going to have to bite. “Call Dean. I’m sure he’ll pick you up.”
“I’m in So Ho,” said Katy sullenly.
Victoria sighed. “Where does Dean think you are?”
“Down the street from home.”
Damn it. Maybe she could send a car to pick up the teen. But then Katy would be getting into a car driven by a stranger for the hour-long drive back to her house. Dean would kill her.
Even if Katy happened to have money for the train, she couldn’t let a sixteen-year-old ride alone all the way back at this time of night. Sure, Katy wasn’t her responsibility, but Dean had done plenty for her in the past week. She couldn’’t just abandon his little sister when she called for help. “Tell me exactly where you are. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
As soon as Katy gave her the address of the club, Victoria rang the doorman to call a car to the discreet exit in the back of the building. She kept her silky pajama bottoms on and slipped on a pair of flats and a lightweight red trench coat to hide the fact that she was still wearing pajamas.
As soon as she was down the elevator and out of the building, she slid into the back of the familiar car. One of the benefits of the massive association fees her building charged was that they employed their own set of drivers. This was the first time she’d been outside without Dean, Gordon, or Jace around to keep an eye on her. The city that was so comforting from her window fifty stories above the ground took on a menacing presence once she was on the street.
She kept her phone firmly in hand, looking out the window for signs that anyone was following or watching her. After she gave the driver instructions, she leaned back and tried to relax. Her mind raced a thousand times faster than before Katy’s sudden call.
The eleven o’clock traffic was much thinner than it would be any other time of the day in the Upper East Side, but it moved slower as she got closer to the trendy bars and clubs of So Ho. For a moment, Victoria wasn’t sure whether she’’d be able to find Katy in the sea of people still flooding the streets even on a Monday night, but Katy stood out as her eyes seemed to race over the traffic. As soon as Victoria stepped out and waved to signal where she was, Katy nodded and ran over. Victoria slid back into the car right as Katy jumped in and slammed the door behind her. “I can’t believe you actually came,” she said with a smile.
Victoria looked the teen over. Katy was dressed…well, she was dressed fine. Everything important was covered by her dress, but Victoria could already imagine how upset Dean would be when he saw her. It wasn’t that she looked risqué or anything.
She looked like a woman, though. Like a college student instead of a high schooler.
She wore a youthful, neon pink eighties throwback dress with black ankle boots and a tiny, bright green belt to accentuate her small waist.
Nope. Dean would not be happy. “I can’t believe you called me.” Victoria leaned forward to give the driver Dean’s address that she for some reason had memorized. “Now it’s at least half an hour until we get to your house, so you better start talking.””
Katy took a nervous gulp, and Victoria’s bullshit meter went on high alert. “And you better not lie to me, Katy. I have things I should be doing, but I’m here with you instead.””
“Believe me, I had no one else to call.”
“When you get home, Dean is going to want an explanation. If you let me know what’s happening, maybe I can reason with him.” Fat chance in hell that she would be able to calm down Dean when he realized his sister lied, but it was worth a shot.
Katy paled at the reminder of how angry her brother would be. “I wasn’t doing anything bad,” she said weakly.
Victoria raised a brow. “I think that’s debatable. What happened?”
“Promise you won’t laugh?” said Katy.
Well, that wasn’t what Victoria expected. “Believe me, I’m not in a laughing mood.”
“It’s a boy.”
Victoria leaned back in her seat. Dean was going to have a heart attack. Not only was his sister running around in the city without telling him—she was doing it with a boy? Oh no. This wouldn’t end well. “What boy?”
“His name is Nate. He’s my best friend’s boyfriend.”
“Katy—”
“I didn’t do anything, okay! I mean, he’s hot. Like, could be shirtless on a magazine cover hot. And he’s smart. He graduated from King Academy in the city and they only let you in if you’re crazy smart.”
Or rich, thought Victoria, but she didn’t correct Katy. “So you met an amazingly attractive and smart older guy who happened to be dating your best friend.””
“Becky knows I don’t really date, but she didn’t want to leave me out when things got more serious with her and Nate. So the three of us have been doing more things together.””
“And your crush just got worse?”
Katy tightened her lips together. “Well…I kind of got the idea he liked me too.” Before Victoria could say anything, Katy continued, ““But I didn’t do anything. I started to work with him to maybe get a scholarship to finish my last year at King, since if you go there, you can go to any college in the world. I know how important it is to Dean that I go to a good school, since he never went.”
Victoria’s mind focused in on that little tidbit about Dean. “He wanted to go to college?”
A flash of guilt raced across Katy’s face. “Well, yeah. He dropped out after what happened to Mom and Dad.”
And after he suddenly found himself raising a young girl all by himself. Good grief, how hard would that have been? Losing your parents and having to drop out of school all at once? She shook her head, and brought herself back to the present. “So Nate was trying to help you get a scholarship and you both were all googly-eyed over each other?” Victoria switched the subject back to Katy.
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