by Lexy Timms
"About the way it always goes. Horribly. My mom is thrilled for the attention from the media, and my dad's disgusted."
"Jeez. Were Stephen and Christine there?"
"No, which is probably a good thing. I probably would have taken a kitchen knife to him. Sorry bastard. How dare he lash out like this? I never did anything to him, Alex. Never." She pressed her fingers to her mouth and tried hard not to let herself tumble headfirst into depression.
"People who are jealous do crazy things. Take Nicholas for instance. He got Gina to turn her back on me completely. The woman had been with me since the day I opened the damn doors. It's sick, but they crave attention, and they'll get it no matter what they have to do. Stephen is obviously sick. We're not going to let him get the last word, though. I spoke with my attorneys today, and they're drafting the lawsuit. I'll put in a call to him shortly and let him know that I'm after him."
"Let Stephen know?" Jamie felt an arrow of concern drive through her center.
"Yes. He's my old friend. Asshole. He isn't just attacking you, baby, though that would be more than enough to have me come after him. He's attacking me too. You're mine and by making you look like something you aren’t; he's painting a picture about me too."
Jamie let out a sigh and pulled into the circle drive in front of their house. "Why can't we just have a normal, quiet life? Why is everything about our reputation and yet half of it isn't within our control?"
"Because I've worked hard to turn nothing into something. That always gets people's attention. I wasn't trying to collect accolades or be in the spotlight. I just wanted to prove to myself that even though my childhood was shit, I could rise above it, and I have. I hate that all this drama comes with it, but it does. You knew that when we started dating. Just hang in there with me, and we'll figure it out as we walk through the minefield together."
She turned the car off and let her head drop back as she closed her eyes. "Okay. Anything for you."
"There's my girl. Sleep naked and I'll wake you up when I get home."
She chuckled and got out of the car. "You always know just what to say to save yourself, don't you?"
"Most paupers do, love."
Chapter 6
If Alex touched Jamie when he got home that night, she wasn't aware of it.
She woke to Mark banging on the back door fifteen minutes before her alarm went off, though, which left her crabby and grumbling under her breath about anything and everything as she walked to the back door. She tugged her robe on tighter and jerked the door open.
"What?" She barked at him.
"Nice to see you too. Get dressed. Let's go for breakfast and then we'll get into the office." He walked into the house, moving past her and heading to the kitchen. "I'll make you a cup of coffee while you jump in the shower. Hop to it."
"What? Why?" She followed him into the kitchen as she pressed her palms to her eyes and rubbed softly. "You're usually leaving right now. What's going on?"
"I just wanted to talk to you about Kristen. She's driving me crazy, and I got into three tense conversations with Paul yesterday. It’s fucking ridiculous." He shooed her off. "Go get dressed and we'll talk in the car. Seriously, I don't want to give the paper any more ammo about us."
"Us?" She started to turn, but paused. "What do you mean?"
"Remember in the park the other day? I'm sure they were taking pictures to implicate us having a relationship outside of the great friendship we have." He shrugged and worked on getting the coffee started.
"No way. I don't believe that." She rolled her eyes, turned and walked back toward the bedroom.
"You're naïve. Prepare for the worst and you'll be pleasantly surprised the very few times it doesn't rear its ugly head," he called after her.
"Okay Negative-Nancy." She closed the bedroom door behind her and got into the shower, enjoying the hot spray as it washed over her. Alex hadn't come home the night before, of if he had it was only for a short period of time. Chances were, he'd fallen asleep on the couch and never even made it into the bedroom with her.
It was all part of being with a man who was married to his job. It was a damn good thing he was so attentive and loving in the times that he wasn't consumed by work. It was enough to keep her feeling important and not worrying that their relationship was less than it was.
"No second guessing today." She got dressed and walked back out to find Mark on the floor, rolling around with Jake. "You're going to wrinkle your shirt."
"And?" Mark smirked. "I heard girls are drawn to guys who look like they need help getting their shit together. If I look all put together and perfect like my brother does, then I'll never find a woman."
"What? That's dumb." She laughed and walked into the kitchen to get a travel mug of coffee. "What does that say about me, then?"
He walked in, brushing his chest as he smiled. "That you aren't going to play maid, secretary, or house- wife for any man. You want him to have his shit together and ready to go wherever you lead."
"Oh, brother." She shook her head. "Where do you get this stuff?"
"Cosmo, duh." He winked and pulled his keys from his pocket. "You want me to drive?"
"Yeah, sure. I almost died on the freeway yesterday. I could use a break from driving." She walked into the living room and grabbed her purse. "Did you and Paul end on a good note yesterday, or is there still a lot of tension between you?"
They walked out into the warm early morning, and Jamie turned to lock the door and set the alarm on the house. Tension in the office sucked no matter who it was between, but Paul and Mark worked closely with each other, and sharing an office couldn't have been much fun in the midst of the drama.
"I don't know. We weren't talking by the end of the day." Mark got in the truck and buckled up as Jamie followed suit. “The guy’s an idiot.”
Men! Toss out some testosterone and they all have to see whose dick was the biggest. Instead of talking things through, they’d rather call each other dummies and avoid having a conversation about the problem. Jamie had a feeling if Mark had just told Paul he was into Kristen; it would’ve prevented the whole scene. Then again, why was Kristen agreeing to go out with Paul if she was interested in Mark? Unless she wasn’t? Or maybe she was trying to make Mark jealous. Okay… women were as crazy as men. "Do you really like Kristen enough to think something is going to come between your and Paul’s friendship?" Jamie took a tentative sip of her coffee, checking the temperature.
"I like her. She's beautiful and a load of fun, but am I willing to fight for her? I don't think so." He let out a long groan. "I thought about it half the night and the thing is, I'm not the kind of guy who wants to fight over a woman. I'm good finding someone else, and will eventually get off my ass and start dating, but when faced with the challenge in the office, I'm all in. I can't stand losing. Is that dumb?"
"It's not dumb, but it's also not worth the effort. It sounds like you're fighting for Kristen so that you don't lose, not so that you win her. That's the prize at the end of the rainbow, right?" She smirked.
"You're so weird sometimes. I love it." He laughed and turned on the radio. "I need to back off of her. I'm honestly not that interested in making things work between us. I was in a shitty relationship for most of my adult life. I need room to breathe and just enjoy this new opportunity. It just gets lonely."
"I understand that." She reached out and squeezed his arm. "I'll talk with Alex about us spending more time together. The three of us."
"I'd like that." Mark tapped the steering wheel and glanced over at her. "That’s not the kind of lonely I was referring to though. Threesomes with my brother aren’t my kind of thing.”
She punched his arm. “You’re sad. Pathetic.” She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. “One of these days, Mark.”
“I know… I know. And you’d think women would be throwing themselves at me, two or three at a time.” He grinned and winked at her. “You good with us eating at the Pancake House? I love that place."
"I don't care. Wherever you want. Just stop by the convenience store for me. I want to grab a paper." She pulled out her wallet and tried to relax. The paper wasn't going to have anything on her, but it would on Alex. The piece that the various magazines were putting into print would be mimicked in the entertainment section of the paper no doubt. She hated the fact that she wanted to see it, but she had to know just how bad the reporters were going to skew all of it.
"You sure you want to do that? I swear you're a glutton for punishment." He pulled into the convenience store and parked before turned his attention onto her. "Admit it."
"Nope. Stop bullying me, or I'll call the Enquirer and tell them it was all your fault. All of it." She got out of the truck with a smile on her face. It was silly and rather childish, but Mark had a way of making her feel calm and playful. Some woman was going to be lucky to have him in her life.
Now to just find her...
Jamie walked through the store, looking everywhere for the paper and coming up empty. She turned and smiled at the clerk as he looked up from his cash register.
"Do you guys have a local paper?"
"We did, but they sold out. Some story about a billionaire playboy has everyone acting a damn fool around here." The guy shrugged. "Sorry. We got magazines over there."
"Okay, thanks." Jamie turned and walked to the magazine aisle, though her interest wasn't in anything but the newspaper. The fear that the reporters in the park the other day were going to twist her relationship with Mark forced a feeling to rise inside of her like panic. Maybe she should have Mark go all over the city until they found a paper.
"Get a hold of yourself. That's ignorant." She glanced up as her breath caught in her chest. The picture of Alex on GQ was stunning. Breathtaking. Incredible. Another magazine called R&S, Rich and Single had Alex out the cover too. It said, “Say good-bye to the R&S Alex Reid. Still R, just no S.”
She reached out and brushed her fingers by his cheek on the cover, mesmerized by the brilliance of his blue eyes. She hasn't been there when they took the picture, but someone knew what they were doing. He was a handsome man, but the image on the cover left him looking like sin itself.
"Wow," she breathed out and picked it up as her stomach tightened. An ache to have him pressed against her tightly left her heart racing, and though breakfast with Mark sounded good, a naughty session bent over her boss’s desk sounded far better.
"Right?" A pretty blond moved up beside Jamie and picked up another copy of the magazine. "This man is so damn hot. Look at him. No woman could ever deserve this, right? And did you see he's getting married?"
Not this again...
Jamie pressed the magazine to her chest and nodded. "Yeah, lucky girl."
"Insanely lucky. She must be quite a catch." The girl smiled. "Wish I was that lucky."
After watching her head out to the checkout, Jamie picked up the R&S and GQ and followed the other woman to the front to pay. Alex would want a copy of the GQ article, but knowing him, he'd have a fit over the adjustments the photographers did to his eyes to make him seem a little ethereal. It was brilliant marketing.
Jamie paid and walked back out to the truck, still a little dizzy over how incredibly hot her fiancé was. She wasn't quite sure what he saw in her, but second-guessing his feelings or their future was getting old.
"That took forever. It's going to be packed at breakfast. What was the deal?" He glanced over as she dropped the magazine between them and laughed. "Oh shit. He's going to hate that picture. He looks like a billionaire playboy. Too funny."
"He looks incredible." Jamie picked up a copy and stared at it as they rode to breakfast. "There's nothing not to like about it."
"He got the looks for sure." Mark snorted and pulled up to the Pancake House.
"You're handsome too. You look a lot like him." Jamie opened the door and got out, meeting Mark at the front of the truck and stepping into the restaurant to the smell of maple syrup and bacon.
"I look more like Dad. Alex got a lot of Momma’s looks." He shrugged. "I'm good with it. I'd get tired of women fawning all over me all the damn time anyway."
"Fawning?" Jamie chuckled. "Is that what we do?"
"Around Alex? Hell yes." He sat down in the booth and turned over the upside down coffee cup in front of him. "Well, you don't, but every other girl in the world. You know Kristen probably came in search of him to try to score a spot in his life. Why else? Who comes back after all these years to say thank you?"
"She said she just found him again." Jamie turned her cup over too, and thanked the waitress as she filled up their mugs.
"That's dumb. I like Kristen and all, but think this through. Alex has been in business for over ten years, right? He's been big shit for most of that time too. She knew where he was if she's turned on CNN or any news station. He's been all over the news for years. And on magazine covers."
"That's true." Jamie lifted her cup to her lips. "You don't think she's still after him, right? I was starting to like her."
"No, I don't. I think she realizes that his heart is yours and she's good with it." He picked up his menu. "I'm just not sure that it's time to turn toward a life of being single, at least until a girl that I can't live without turns up."
"You think that girl exists?" Jamie smirked.
"Now who's being the Negative-Nancy?" He glanced over the top of the menu.
"Right. Sorry." She dragged her finger down the list of pancakes and stopped on the light menu. She hated to eat her daily caloric intake in one meal, but chocolate chip pancakes sounded a whole lot better than gluten-free, sugar-free, fat-free pancakes.
Damn things should be free... They're made of air.
"I'll get a meat lover’s omelet with extra cheese, potatoes, and toast. You get a big-ass stack of whatever pancakes you like and we'll share." He set the menu down and leaned back. "Deal?"
How could I deny him?
"Yep. Deal." She moved the menu away from her, promising herself that she would run a few miles later that night and try hard to get back into her routine of taking Jake out for a morning run. The weather was perfect for it.
"So tell me about seeing your family last night. How did that drama go?"
"About as you would expect. My sister blames me for Stephen leaking the information to the press." She pursed her lips as Mark's voice rose.
"What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life! Crazy. Who are these insane people that you come from?" He ran his hand down his face, making him impossibly cute.
Jamie laughed. "Right? I swear I was dropped off by a fucking stork."
"Must have been." He lifted the menu to the waitress and ordered as Jamie turned and watch an elderly couple help each other get into their car. "And your mom and dad? Are they aware of everything?"
"Yeah." Jamie turned her attention back to Mark. "Yeah, my father’s disgusted, and my mom's loving it. She's as off as my sister is. I don't know what to do about any of them. I'm thinking it might just be best to let Alex and his lawyers handle it. It's not like I can talk sense to my family. My dad's the only one with a brain in his head."
"That sucks." Mark sat back. "My dad was pretty sensible too. He had his faults, but I miss the old bastard sometimes."
"I bet." Jamie took another drink of her coffee. "Are you enjoying the firm now that you're a little more settled in?"
"Yeah, it's great. It's a little too big for my liking, but I figure I'll hang out for another year or so, and then maybe look at starting something myself. A small accounting firm or something. Alex and I spoke a little about it the other day, but I'm going to bring it up again soon. I need to get him to teach me to play golf better. He's damn good at it, but it's a rich man's game. It's no wonder, right?" He smirked.
"Why do you need to be good at golf?" Jamie moved back as the food was delivered. "Wow, that was fast."
"If I want to impress rich people, I gotta act like them. A lot of deals are done on the golf course. Come on, you
know this." He picked up his fork. "Why don't you get him to teach you, and then you teach me? I'd rather hang out with you than him any day."
"And my answer would be no for that reason alone. You guys need to work on your relationship. Golf sounds like a great way to do it." She shrugged and started to cut up the pancakes.
"You and your sister should go shopping more often together." He lifted his eyebrow as she glanced up.
"Right. Point taken. I'll get him to teach me golf." They shared a laugh and kept the conversation light for the rest of the meal. Mark might be Alex's brother, but he was quickly becoming Jamie's best friend.
Chapter 7
Jamie couldn't help but notice the way Mark's shoulders stiffened as she followed him out of the elevator. The source of his discomfort came into view as Jamie moved up beside him and noticed Paul and Kristen laughing at the front desk. Some part of her wanted to snap and remind them that it was working hours, and they should get their asses in gear, but it wasn't her place. She'd talk to Alex about it, probably out of the need to protect Mark more than anything, but either way... flirting half the day away wasn't going to fly.
"See?" Mark glanced over at her. "I'm ready to pull out all the stops to get her attention back on me, but, honestly, I don't want her attention."
"You just don't want Paul to have it." She stopped by her office and glanced in to see Alex sitting at her desk. He was reclined back a little, his hands over his stomach as he watched her intently.
"Exactly. Tell me I'm not losing it." Mark was positioned just outside of her office, not able to see Alex.
"You're not, but get your head on straight. If you don't want her attention, then there’s no reason to dive head-first into the drama of trying to win her over. Get to work and we'll talk later." She waited for him to nod and walk down the hall before walking into her office and trying to get a read on the handsome guy who'd stolen her thoughts.
"Good morning, beautiful." He stood up and walked toward her, pulling her into a tight hug and leaning down to place kisses from her lips down to her neck. "You smell good. Like syrup and lust."