Her eyes drifted again to Doug and her dad followed her gaze. ‘Must be hard on him, sharing you.’
‘Yes.’ She kept her eyes on the man in question, falling for him that little bit more as he watched how careful he was with Sally. Giving her his full attention, smiling yet not encouraging. ‘Trouble is, he doesn’t have many family commitments, whereas I—’
‘Have too many,’ her father cut in, smiling sadly. ‘You can’t let all this …’ He nodded round the table: Ellie and Holly now shrieking at each other over boys; Mandy chatting away to George who, judging by his babbling, was convinced he was talking back; Sally who was placing her fork and spoon neatly back in her empty bowl; Pat who’d snuck his head onto her lap, his wet nose burying into her hand. ‘You can’t let it come between you and a chance at happiness. If you need time away, take it. We’ll survive. House might not, mind, but we will.’
‘I know you will.’ But she wasn’t cooking here on a Wednesday evening, instead of at Doug’s, because she thought they’d starve without her. She was doing it part out of habit, but mostly out of love. When she was with Doug, she missed them. But when she was with her family, she missed Doug. Somehow she had to find a way to balance out the dual tugs on her heart.
Saturday night, and for a second Doug allowed his mind to settle on what might have been. He and Abby sipping champagne at the bar in the luxury Cotswold hotel he’d booked them into. Then relaxing together in the private hot tub, Abby sitting between his legs, his arms around her. Warm bubbles surrounding them.
‘Doug.’ Ellie put her hands on her hips, clearly exasperated with him. ‘It’s your go.’
‘Sorry.’ He shook himself out of his daydream and back to the reality of his Saturday night. Playing Monopoly with two teenage girls. He supposed he should be thankful Sally was having a sleepover at her friend’s, though actually he enjoyed her company. He guessed because he had more in common with the quiet, serious girl than happy Holly and mouthy Ellie. After a quick roll of the dice he moved his boot past jail and onto Regent’s Street. ‘Excellent. I’ll buy that.’
‘OMG, that’s so not fair,’ Ellie complained. ‘You’ve got all three of the green ones now. And Mayfair and Park Lane. You’re going to win.’
‘He might not.’ Holly, who was the assigned banker, handed him his property card. ‘He’s hardly got any money left.’
‘Yeah, but we know how this dumb game works.’
‘You wanted to play,’ Holly pointed out. ‘Doug wanted to watch a film.’
‘Not any films we wanted to watch.’
Doug decided to leave them bickering and go and hunt down Abby, who’d gone to bath George.
‘Hey, where are you going?’ Ellie shouted as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
‘Taking a break from building my property empire. Be back in a minute.’
He knocked on the bathroom door and popped his head round, his heart squeezing at the sight of Abby, arms deep in bubbles, cheeks flushed, cooing at George as she washed him with a sponge.
‘Do you offer that service to more mature males?’
She gave a little start, then grinned when she saw him. ‘It depends on the man.’
‘I was thinking of someone say, thirty, who’d be very keen to feel your hands on him as he took a bath.’
The flush on her cheeks deepened. ‘It could be arranged.’
He perched on the edge of the bath and watched as she pulled George out of the water and started to dry him, his emotions all over the place. He loved the maternal side of Abby. The warmth, the kindness that was so much a part of her. For the first time in his life he could even see a future where he might have children of his own. Blonde, brown eyed girls.
But right now it was the other side of Abby he wanted more of. The smart as hell, sexy woman who liked rolling around in his bed as much as he did. That woman was becoming an increasingly, frustratingly, rare sight.
‘Abby.’ She glanced up and a frown formed at whatever she saw in his eyes.
‘Yes?’
Seeing George was happily playing with a toy boat, Doug took her hand and hauled her up. ‘This,’ he said softly, his gaze fixed on her mouth. Then he bent to kiss her. The moment their lips touched heat flooded through him and he groaned, hauling her closer, deepening the kiss, tangling his tongue with hers. His hands curled round her hips and he ground against her, desperate for the contact.
‘Doug!’ Ellie’s loud voice pierced through the fog of his desire and he cursed, drawing back, his heart pumping. Shit, what was he doing, kissing her like that with her nephew on the floor beneath them. Her sisters downstairs.
‘Sorry.’
‘No.’ Her lips were swollen, her cheeks rosy red. ‘I’m sorry. This isn’t how you planned our Saturday night to be.’
‘Are you coming?’ Ellie’s voice screamed back up to them.
He gave Abby one final, soft kiss. ‘Better do as I’m told.’
‘I’ll make it up to you.’ She dropped down to her haunches to pick up George. ‘Dad will be back around eleven. Maybe we can go back to your place then?’
The promise in her eyes was enough to add a bounce to his step as he headed back down the stairs.
The discarded Monopoly board was still on the coffee table. Ellie and Holly had just disappeared off to bed and Doug finally, finally, had his arms wrapped around Abby as they cuddled on the sofa.
‘You let them win.’
He smiled into her hair. ‘It seemed a small price to pay to finish the game and get you to myself.’
He felt her shoulders rise and fall as she let out a deep breath. ‘I know I said this earlier, but considering you’ve spent your Saturday night playing Monopoly with my sisters I think it needs saying again. I’m sorry.’
His arms tightened around her. ‘Don’t be. I enjoyed it.’ She looked up at him, brown eyes rounded in disbelief. ‘Okay, I’d rather have been with you in a hot tub, but as that wasn’t an option, I had a good time. Both of them have bits of you in them. Holly has your kind, smiling nature.’
She arched a brow. ‘And Ellie?’
He grinned. ‘You can be mouthy when you’re riled.’
Laughing softly, she snuggled against him. ‘I can’t disagree with that.’
The television was on, some film where people did a lot of staring into the distance and looking profound, but Doug wasn’t listening to it. His whole focus was on the warm, supple body draped around his. He couldn’t stop touching her, stroking her arms, her legs, her back. Dipping his head every now and again to kiss her.
Eleven o’clock came and went, and still no sign of Derek. And while his body was humming with arousal, the woman nestled against him was getting more and more quiet.
‘Abby?’
She murmured, burrowing deeper into his arms. With a resigned sigh Doug lifted her up and carried her up the stairs and onto her bed. She raised her head, eyes cloudy with sleep. ‘Aren’t we going to yours?’
He tucked the duvet round her. ‘You’re beat, Abby. Go to sleep. I’ll stay until your dad gets back.’
She rubbed at her eyes but he could see it was an effort. ‘But I want to sleep with you.’
He eased himself onto the bed next to her. ‘I’m here. Now sleep.’
Within seconds he could hear the rhythmic sound of her breathing. Kissing the top of her head he made his way back downstairs, body tight with unfulfilled need. At least you had her in your arms for a while, he told himself as he slumped back on the sofa to wait for Derek. It was more than he could have hoped for a few months ago.
But now he was getting greedy. The more of her he saw, the more of her he wanted.
Chapter Thirty-One
October flew by. The birthdays came and went, Abby ran two off-site meetings, watched a hockey tournament (Ellie’s team came second) and even managed a Saturday night with Doug.
They hadn’t managed the weekend away, but maybe November would be kinder to them.
Coming back from a m
eeting, Abby checked the messages left on her phone and smiled at the first. Robert Langstone was still trying to persuade her to join his company. Of course she’d considered it – a director post with her paltry experience, she’d be a fool not to – but why move to Manchester when she had everything she wanted right here? Crumbs might be old-fashioned but she enjoyed the challenge of trying to modernise it. Plus she was smart enough to know that it was having Doug as the rock behind her, the sounding board, that gave her the confidence to push her ideas.
It was also having Doug to go home to, when family responsibilities allowed, that made her day complete.
There was still one blot on the landscape, but so far she and Charles Faulkner had done a good job of avoiding each other. Several times she’d asked Doug whether Charles was still meddling but he’d simply given her one of his enigmatic smiles. ‘It’s all in hand. Don’t worry about him.’
A tall, drop dead gorgeous man stepped into her office and her heart gave a little sigh of pleasure.
‘Can you squeeze lunch with me into your hectic schedule or are you going to bail like you did yesterday?’
Though there was a smile on Doug’s face, Abby sighed. Nobody had warned her how difficult it would be to juggle the needs of work, her family and her lover. Still, as problems went, this wasn’t one she was going to complain about.
‘I’m free from one till two, if that works with your hectic schedule.’ It didn’t help that Doug had a juggling act of his own. Managing director of Crumbs and artist with a rapidly growing reputation that demanded more and more of his time.
He bent over her desk and kissed her. ‘I’ll make it work.’
It was ten past one by the time she made it out of her morning meetings and back to her office. Doug was already there, perched on her desk, talking on the phone.
‘Looks like my lunch date has finally arrived. I’ll see you at the gym later.’ A pause. ‘No, I’m not doing that. Focus on your own woman and keep your hands off mine.’ He put the phone down and eased off the desk. ‘Luke,’ he explained. ‘He says hello.’
‘It sounded like he said more than that.’
‘I’m not going to give you a kiss from him. When I kiss you it will be from me.’ He took three strides towards her, captured her head in his hands and gave her a deep, soul enhancing kiss. ‘Come on. I’ve reserved a table at the Italian. We need to get a move on.’
‘But I’ve got a meeting at two. I thought we were just going to the café?’
He let out a deep sigh. ‘And I thought it would be nice to have a proper lunch with you for a change. Away from anything to do with work.’
Abby bit her tongue and grabbed her jacket. It was only when they were seated at the restaurant, having given their orders, that she broached what was on her mind. ‘I know it’s difficult for you to understand, because you’ve always carried the weight of the Faulkner name, but I need to be able to stand up in front of the Crumbs management team as a professional in my own right.’
He’d been toying with his fork, but now his hands stilled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean I can’t afford to be late for meetings. It’s hard enough being the boss’s lover. Already I have to be twice as good as the next person to overturn the impression that I slept my way into this position. If I start turning up late and unprepared too, what chance do I have of becoming a manager people will respect?’
‘Sorry.’ Carefully he placed the fork back on the table. ‘Perhaps you’d prefer it if I bring you a sandwich next time so you can eat it in your meeting.’
‘That’s not fair.’
Doug allowed the air slowly out of his lungs. Abby was right, he wasn’t being fair. But in the two months since she’d started back at Crumbs, instead of them becoming closer, he’d felt her drifting away from him. Sometimes he wondered if she liked her work more than she liked him.
Their lunch arrived and Doug waited for it to be served up before talking again. ‘Let’s not argue,’ he pleaded. ‘All I wanted was some precious time with the most important person in my life.’
Immediately she looked stricken. ‘You’re really important to me, too, you know. And I’m sorry if at times it looks like you aren’t. What with my family and the job, you must spend a lot of time cursing me.’
‘No.’ When she tilted her head and continued to look at him, he smiled. ‘Okay, I’ll admit to the occasional curse.’ Also the occasional time when he selfishly wished for the original Abby back. The personal assistant who’d thought he was heir to Charles Faulkner and some sort of god, rather than this Abby who knew he was only masquerading as a Faulkner and that actually she was far smarter than he was.
‘Well, if we’re admitting to things, I’ll admit that you’re right. This lasagna is a lot nicer than a cold sandwich.’ As she tucked back into it though, her phone began to ring. ‘Oh bugger, I’m going to have to take this. Sorry.’
Doug slapped a smile on his face and forced himself to continue eating while Abby yakked away to the person on the end of the phone about a critical deadline that absolutely couldn’t be missed.
‘Sorry about that,’ she said, ending the call and clattering the phone back onto the table. ‘We’ve got another line extension to the savoury range that we need to get …’ She trailed off when she looked at his face. ‘Oh crumbs, you said no work, didn’t you? Sorry.’ Then she rolled her eyes. ‘That’s all I seem to be saying lately, isn’t it?’
It was, but Doug kept quiet. Part of his problem was that Abby was excited by her work, while he didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It wasn’t that she’d changed since getting the promotion though, so he could hardly complain. She’d loved the business right from that very first day when she’d walked awkwardly into his office and nearly tripped over her handbag.
‘Well, I’m going to try not to say it any more today,’ she continued. When he looked at her blankly, she shook her finger at him. ‘You weren’t listening.’
‘It’s hard to listen to everything you say,’ he countered, earning him a playful kick under the table. ‘Though I did hear you say you were going to try not to say sorry any more.’
She huffed. ‘Umm, okay then. Of course if I do muck up I might need to use another word instead, like apologies, or pardon, but—’
‘I want us to go away together,’ he interrupted. ‘I’d like to take you to Florence or Venice.’
‘Wow.’ She dropped her fork. ‘Really?’
Her excitement was so obvious he found himself smiling. ‘Yes, really. When can you get away?’
As instantly as her face had lit up, it fell. ‘Oh boy, I really don’t know. I’ll have to sort it out with work, and then there’s my family to consider.’ She glanced at her watch and let out a string of curses. ‘I’m going to have to go. I’m really sorry … ouch, there’s that word again and I’m using it only two minutes after I promised I wouldn’t.’ When he put down his fork she shook her head. ‘No, you finish up. It’s bad enough one of us doesn’t get to finish their meal.’
He swallowed down his frustration. ‘Will I see you later tonight?’
‘You know I can’t.’ She pulled at her jacket, trying to tug it off the back of the chair. When he saw the chair tilt at an alarming angle Doug shot to his feet and calmly untangled it. ‘Thank you. More haste, less speed. I know.’ She shoved her arms into the sleeves with alarming force, totally ignoring her mantra.
‘You can’t make tonight … because?’ he prompted.
‘Oh, yes. I’m visiting the manufacturing site over the next two days. I have to fly up tonight.’
Doug took some money out of his wallet and slipped it onto the table. He was damned if he was going to sit there like some poor chump whose girlfriend had just walked out on him. Which she had. ‘I’ll fly up with you,’ he decided, then checked his phone. ‘Damn, I can’t. Pamela’s got me down for a nine o’clock.’
He held the door open for Abby as she rushed through like a blonde tornado. ‘You hav
en’t trained her not to put in meetings before ten or after four?’
‘No. I shouldn’t have to. She should know. You did.’
‘That’s because I was super efficient. Or, to be more accurate, I could see you were a man who didn’t particularly like being in the office, so I tried to make it as painless as possible.’ She came to an abrupt halt. ‘Please, Doug, go and finish your lunch. You’re making me feel bad.’
‘I told you, lunch wasn’t about the food. It was about seeing you. So how about the night you get back? We can go to a restaurant and try and eat a complete meal together.’
She was almost running, her slender but short legs having to work overtime to keep up the punishing pace she’d set herself. All to get to a meeting on time. Finally they entered the Crumbs building and Abby scampered up the stairs to her office. There she threw down her handbag and picked up the file on top of her desk. ‘I’d love to see you then, you know I would, but I’m away from home tonight and tomorrow. I can’t go out again as soon as I get back. It’s not fair on my father, or my sisters.’
‘Fine.’ He was certainly getting the message. Loud and blindingly clear. ‘Perhaps, when you’ve got a spare moment, you could let me know when I can see you.’ He gave her a cool peck on the cheek and turned to walk away but she gripped at his arm.
‘Don’t be like this.’ Her large brown eyes pleaded with him but he was too hurt to be mollified by them. ‘You know I’ve got responsibilities. You can’t have a hissy fit just because I won’t drop everything to see you. It isn’t fair.’
‘This isn’t a hissy fit.’ God, he didn’t even know what one was. ‘This is me wishing you a safe trip. Goodbye, Abby.’
For a split second she looked torn. Well that and spitting mad with him. In the end work won though, and she dashed off to her meeting.
Exhaling loudly, Doug stalked back to his office, wondering why he was so damn cut up. He’d never come first in anyone’s life, so why did he think he had an automatic right to come first in the life of the woman he … he … oh God.
Oh Crumbs Page 27