I can hardly wait to steal Abby away from her parents to watch the fireworks and kiss her until our lips and tongues can’t take it anymore. I want to make love to her so badly that I catch a hard-on just thinking about it.
Once my horniness passes, I get dressed and leave Liza with our cousins Anne and Leslie, who came over to spend the day with Liza to help her get through the shit storm that’s raining on her life at the moment.
* * *
7:28 p.m.
I ask the young hostess if Kelsey Leeds has arrived.
She reads down a list of names. “Leeds?”
I shake my head. I’m not sure if she’s still going by my last name or her maiden name these days. “How about Kelsey Patrick?”
“Oh,” she says more enthusiastically. “I’ll show you to your table.”
As I follow the young and slight woman, I can’t help but think that she’s the same size Kelsey was when we first got married. Now Kelsey does yoga and other figure-toning exercises, which gives her the strong but trim body of a real woman. She has certainly become her own woman over the years. I wonder why she doesn’t drop my name and go back to being Kelsey Leeds so that she can build herself a bright future with another man who will certainly love her.
Kelsey stands as soon as she sees me. On a scale from one to ten, she’s a twenty tonight. She’s wearing a slinky silver dress. Her hair is pinned up, and her shoulders are showing. I wonder if she remembers how much I used to love to see her shoulders out. I used to tell her that they were as graceful as any dancer’s.
I kiss her on the cheek. “You look lovely tonight.”
She clears her throat. “So do you. Have a seat.” She sounds and looks nervous, which makes me a little nervous.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
She takes two breaths to steady herself. “Lobster bisque is still your favorite meal, isn’t it?”
I don’t know about it being my favorite meal, but I do like it very much. “Sure,” I say.
“Okay…” She takes another deep breath. “Well, I ordered it for you.”
I’m so damn confused and alarmed by her behavior. I reach across the table and take her by the hands. “What’s going on with you, Kay?”
She stares deeply into my eyes. The lost-puppy-dog look has me more worried than I was a few seconds ago.
Strangely enough, the waiters are here with our dinner.
I take my hand off hers. “You couldn’t wait until I got here to order?”
“I thought it would be best if we just eat as soon as we can.”
I grimace as the waiter finishes dishing out our meals. For the first time, I notice that the wine has already been poured.
“Okay, are you dying or something?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I want you back, Nolan.”
I feel as if I’m being Punk’d. I check over one shoulder then the other. Is a tall, lanky guy with a camera going to stumble out of the kitchen, laughing about how I should’ve seen my face?
I touch my chest. “You want me back?”
“I love you. I never stopped loving you.”
I shake my head continuously. “No…”
“And I want you to stop seeing your assistant. She’s not good for you.”
“What?”
“I want you to stop seeing your assistant. I know you spent the weekend before last with her at the cabin. You made love to her. I want her out of your life.”
“That’s not your call.”
Kelsey looks off then rests her eyes back on me. “Actually, it is my call, Nolan,” she says with the calm of a psychopath who just finished skinning me alive.
I want to run out of the restaurant as fast as I can and escape this nonsense. Not in a million years will I ever remarry Kelsey. “What the hell are you talking about?” I shout.
“You know what Bill left me?”
“Yes…” What the fuck is she getting at?
“Um, well, I can make you buy me out, or I can make you liquidate the holdings so that I can receive my equal share.”
“Are you fucking joking?”
“No, Nolan. You leave her alone, and I’ll leave your properties alone. It’s your choice.”
I shake my head as if I’m trying to wake myself out of a nightmare. “You know I don’t have the kind of cash it would take to buy you out.” I aim my finger at her. “Selling our assets for cash is not what Bill intended, and you know it.”
Kelsey calmly cuts a piece of her flounder with her fork. “I know, but he wouldn’t want you with someone like Abby, either. He would agree with me.” She nods as if she’s convinced of what she’s saying.
I want to pound my fist on the table then stand up and shout at her. “You’re crazy,” I say with a lot less intensity than the emotion that’s fired up inside me.
“I don’t want her in your life. And I better not hear about you fucking her, or I’m liquidating. If you even tell her about what we’re talking about, then I’m liquidating.”
“Fuck you, Kelsey. I’ll never marry you a second time.”
“Yes you will, Nolan. You love me, but you’re just mad because I cheated on you. I did it because I used to need way too much attention. I was high maintenance, but I’m not like that anymore. Give me a chance to prove that I’ve changed.”
I can’t control my laughter. She’s lost her mind. Perhaps I can have her committed. I just handled John, but damn it—is it now time to deal with Kelsey? I see Abby’s beautiful face falling away from me. I want to be with her so badly tomorrow night. Kelsey doesn’t bluff, and she can be highly devious when she wants something. Unfortunately, I’m that something she wants.
I take a few more sips of my lobster bisque, wipe my mouth, and stand up. “Have a good night.”
Her eyes widen, and she looks so innocent. “I’m doing this for your own good. Bill would’ve loved to see us back together. It’s what he wanted—that’s why he even included me at all.”
I shake my head. She’s like a dog with a bloody bone. There’s no talking her out of her crazy desire to be with me. I walk out of the restaurant. My feet are heavy. My heart hurts. Am I willing to lose everything I’ve built with my father and North Star Holdings to be with a woman I’ve only known for five weeks? The decision seems obvious, but I’m just not ready to make it yet.
8
Abby
I step off the plane at MSP Airport, Minneapolis. In the Jetway, I can feel how cold it is outside. I get my luggage at the baggage claim, and even forty feet from the door, I can feel the airport’s heat tempered by blasts of cold every time the sliding doors open. Before long, I’m in my car, waiting for the engine to warm. I stare at the parked car facing mine. I’m taking solace in the fact that Nolan Patrick and I are finally in the same city.
Soon, my engine is purring smoothly, and I hit the road. More thoughts of Nolan and my job come to mind. I think about what it is going to be like now that we’ve christened our boss/employee relationship with the best sex ever. I think about the dull-gray and pale-white uninspiring colors of the office. I recall standing at the top of that volcano, looking over the island and deep-blue waters. I imagine what it is going to look like sitting at my desk, staring at bobbing heads protruding above the cubicle walls with everyone working away at maintaining Bill’s empire. I’m just not sure it’s enough for me anymore.
I pull into my driveway, and I’m happy to see that snow hasn’t piled up. Ethan Crawly, the neighborhood sweeper, has been on his p’s and q’s. I open the garage door and close it behind me. Suddenly, my cell phone chimes and buzzes in my purse. For some reason, my garage has a cell-signal hot spot. I retrieve my phone out of my bag and flip it open. I have eleven messages and listen to them one by one.
The first nine are Nolan hoping I had a good Christmas, saying that he’s thinking of me, and asking me to call him when I get a chance. The last two messages are interesting. First, he asks if I would be okay with him flying to St. Kitts so that we can spend
New Year’s Eve together. In the last message, he said that was going to fly out “tomorrow,” regardless of my response. Nolan never showed up, or if he did, then he didn’t find me. The island is so small. There aren’t very many places for tourists to congregate. I’m sure we would’ve run into each other at the New Year’s Eve celebration on Frigate Bay if he had come. However, I spent most of my time that night trying to avoid Daniel and anyone who may have been on that yacht the day after Christmas. Regardless, I’m happy he tried to call. My stupid phone… I took a late flight in, so it’s almost midnight, probably too late call Nolan.
I get into my house, and its familiar scent brings me fully back to my life before I flew to St. Kitts. I set my bags down and turn on the light. I look around my living room. All of my grandparents’ stuff is still there, still the same. For the first time ever, I’m uncomfortable with seeing more of my grandparents in my living space than I see of myself. I continue staring, looking to locate the pieces of me: the plant on the table next to the couch, which always looks either half-dead, dead, or thriving; the end tables that I picked up from IKEA along with the lamps; and a couple of pictures that I’ve taken and framed on the wall. I see my art books on the bookshelf. I walk to them and smile. I brush the dust off the cover of one and open it to a random page.
“The impressionists,” I say.
Funny that I landed on the impressionists—Impressionism is my favorite art movement. I grin at my luck, yawn, close the book, and put it back on the shelf. A chill of loneliness washes over me unexpectedly. After spending the week with my family, I feel uncomfortable in the solitude. I’m too exhausted to let being alone make me anxious. Plus, I’m eager for the night to turn into morning so that I can go to work and see Nolan. I go to my room, peel off my clothes, and go straight to bed.
* * *
My alarm jolts me awake. Thank God I set the delayed timer. One thought prevails—Nolan will be gracing my presence much sooner than later. My eyes are wide open, and pep energizes my steps. I take a shower and wash my hair, visualizing Nolan’s hands all over me. Will we kiss when we first see each other? I wear my pink shimmering lip gloss just in case.
It looks as if fresh snow hasn’t fallen all week, so the drive to work is smooth. I pull into the parking lot assigned to our building and look for any sign of Nolan. I don’t see his SUV, which means he hasn’t made it yet. I’m twenty minutes early.
I think about all the e-mails I have to shuffle through as soon as I make it in the building.
“You’re back!” Kristin says, sitting behind the receptionist desk, looking extra chipper.
I smile. “Yep!”
“So…”
I stop even though I know what comes next is unconfirmed gossip.
“Do you know why Nolan wants to meet with Misty?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just that she’s worried.”
Taken aback, I work very hard not to flinch, but I keep my composure. “Worried about what?”
Kristin shrugs nonchalantly. I guess since I can’t provide any insight that she can take back to Misty, she has nothing else to lend to this little conversation of ours.
“Okay… well… nice to see you again,” I say and go directly to my desk.
I spark up my computer. I wonder—did Nolan learn more about Misty’s motive in allowing John to take those files out of the basement?
Speaking of the sexy angel, Nolan sweeps past my desk. I shoot excitedly to my feet. He stops at the door to his office and looks at me. He’s not smiling, so I wipe the smile off my face.
“Hi, Abby,” he says. His tone is too formal, and he hasn’t looked this dreary since the day we met.
“Hi.”
Nolan turns his back on me and enters his office. “Can you please come in?”
I take a forceful breath, wondering if I had been right about him all along. I grab my pad and pen off the corner of my desk then hightail it into his office. I’m so unsure what that blank look on his face means. He left eleven messages on my phone—a guy who calls that many times has to be interested, and yet he can barely look me in the eyes.
He walks behind me and carefully closes the door.
“Oh, I could’ve gotten that,” I say.
Finally, he cracks a smile, albeit a small one. “How was your Christmas?”
“Very good.” I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Nice… nice.”
“Is there something specifically that you want to say to me?”
“Um, yeah.” He points to the seat at his desk that’s across from his. “Please, sit.”
Part of me feels like being defiant. This reunion is not even close to how I envisioned it. “I got your messages.” I say and watch his reaction.
His eyebrows furrow.
“Did you end up flying to St. Kitts?” I say.
Nolan stares at me like a lost puppy. Something is definitely bothering him. “Um, no.”
“Oh…”
“Please have a seat, Abby.”
There’s no way I’m going to sit down now. My intuition has kicked in, and I know for sure that he’s about to put some emotional distance between us. “What do you want to say to me, Nolan? Spit it out.”
He blows a hard breath out of his nose. “I just… about the time we spent together.” Nolan closes his eyes to gather his bearings. “Abby, we can’t see each other now.”
I feel as if I were smacked in the face by a big fat book titled I Told You So. “What do you mean by ‘now’?”
Nolan just stares at me as if he’s tongue-tied. The way he’s making me feel is so bad on so many levels.
“You’ll continue being my assistant, of course.”
I frown so hard that my head hurts. I mean, how far is he willing to fall into the depths of jerkdom? “I don’t think so,” I finally say.
That lost puppy dog look returns to his face. “Huh? What?”
“What happened between the time you left me the message about joining me in St. Kitts for New Year’s Eve and now?”
Nolan studies my expression. It’s strange. I can see how conflicted he is.
“What happened?” I urge him.
“Nothing, Abby.”
He’s lying to me. I sigh gravely. “Okay, well, you’re not obligated to tell me anything, but I have to say, Nolan, that at the moment, I feel like your doormat.”
He gestures as if he’s reaching out for me but can’t quite reach me. “Don’t feel that way, Abby, because it’s not the truth.”
“Then what is the truth?”
“I’m just not ready for a full-time relationship right now.”
I close my eyes to restrain my tears. “I wish you had told me that before we made love.”
I open my eyes, and he still looks as if he’s lost for words. There’s a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Nolan says.
“Misty. You wanted to see me?”
“Later,” he says.
She opens the door anyway and looks from me to Nolan then back to me.
Nolan glares at her. If looks could kill, Misty would fall dead where she stands. “Did you hear ‘come in’?” he asks.
“No, but you wanted to talk to me.”
“Go to your desk, and I will call you when I’m ready to talk.”
She looks at me with a frown then backs out of the office. Whatever Misty has done, Nolan’s steamed about it. I didn’t think he had the capacity to look at someone with such abhorrence. However, a memory pervades my thoughts. I see the view from the top of the volcano, and in the scale of things, what’s happening now seems so insignificant. I want more. I need more.
“Nolan,” I say calmly. “I quit. Right now. I quit.”
“But, Abby, I…”
I wait for him to plead his case, but instead, he clams up.
“Bye, Nolan.” I turn my back on him and walk out with way more confidence than I walked in with.
I�
�m disappointed that Nolan didn’t grab me from behind and apologize profusely for being a jerk. I can feel his eyes on me as I put on my coat and take my purse out of my desk drawer. I was never the sort of assistant who tacked personal pictures on my cubicle walls or brought in personal items to decorate with. I have nothing to pack but myself. Nolan and I lock eyes one more time before I stroll down the hallway, past Kristin’s curious expression, and out into the bitter cold.
* * *
I feel as if I’m still in a daze as I drive home. My heart has never hurt so much, like it’s physically pained. How can a man I’ve only known for five weeks cause me so much agony? And now I’m without a job. When I make it back home, I sit on the sofa, staring at the picture of my grandparents above the mantel. My mom always said that I’m a collector of relics. She used to tell me that the habit could be like a boulder tied to my ankle if I didn’t learn how to look back on the things of the past for a brief time then let them fly into eternity like a dove. How many times has she repeated that notion to me and in so many ways? I can’t count. But now, finally, her words of wisdom make all the sense in the world.
I pick up my cell phone to make a call. My eyes gravitate toward the lack of bars in the corner. I have no signal.
“Dang it!” I smash the phone on the floor. It’s time to get a new one. It’s because of that dang phone I missed all of Nolan’s dang calls anyway. Maybe if I had gotten closer to him last week, then he wouldn’t have decided to abandon the relationship we were beginning to build. Or maybe there was nothing I could do. Something tells me he’s back with his ex-wife. I could tell she wanted him from the moment we ran into her at the restaurant. And now he’s hers. Congratulations, Kelsey, and good riddance, Nolan.
I get up off the couch, grab my keys off the table near the door, and head out. The first thing I do is replace the relic of my cell phone with a super-duper, totally top-of-the-line one that will probably never drop a call or miss a call unless I’m lost somewhere in the Amazon forest.
The Sexy Boss - Sedition: Book Two Page 7