Survivor

by Mary Alford

  “Uh-huh. I don’t want to wait another year, and Brian and I both want to keep it small, so why not? And besides, this will keep the in-laws from interfering in our plans. I half expect them to try and talk Brian out of the whole thing, and I don’t intend to give them the opportunity.”

  I nodded sympathetically at her. “Give them time. They’ll come around. Especially once those babies start popping out.”

  Once I’d left Deb outside her office, I needed to satisfy my curiosity over Elise. When I got back to my desk, I was on the web checking out all the info I could find on Elise Simmons. The goods were as ugly as I’d been led to believe. The woman was the female version of Aaron.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have much time to ponder Elise’s motives for the rest of the day. The afternoon was nonstop meetings, all of which ended up running behind. By the time we finally left for the appointment with Elise, we were already running late.

  Aaron tossed me the keys to the Vette.

  “You can’t be serious.” I groaned out loud. I never wanted to drive the thing again.

  “I am.” His tone had taken on the edge he used with me at the office when he didn’t want any arguments. “We’re late, and I want to run through the client info one more time before we get there. Make sure I haven’t overlooked anything that was promised and not delivered. So can you try and keep from killing us, please?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  We were almost to the exit for Elise’s corporate office when I spotted the Austin city police car slip in behind me.

  Oh, no, no, no. There was no time for it. That was the last straw, and we were so close.

  The flashing lights behind me announced the truth. My afternoon just couldn’t get any worse.

  “Exactly how fast were you going?” Aaron asked when he heard the police siren chirp. I found a safe spot and pulled the Corvette over to the side of the road just as the police car stopped behind me, lights still flashing.

  “Not so fast,” I said. However, when I’d first caught sight of the cop I had checked the Vette’s speed. It was way over the limit. I knew there was a good reason why I didn’t need to be driving such a fast a car.

  “Uh-huh. Then why is a cop pulling you over?”

  There was just enough time to give Aaron a nasty look before the nice officer knocked on my window, forcing my attention back to my crimes at hand.

  “Um, hi, officer.” I grinned at him in a way that had Aaron virtually fuming under his breath. “Was I speeding?”

  The good-looking young officer whose badge said his name was Jason Patrick seemed ready to read me the riot act until I stared into his deep brown eyes.

  “Just a little, miss.” He grinned before spotting Aaron. “Good afternoon, sir.” Aaron merely waved a finger.

  Officer Jason took my license and registration, looked it over. “You don’t look old enough to have a license, much less be driving a car like this. Where are you and your—” There was a slight pause while the good officer fished for information. “—your boyfriend off to in such a hurry?”

  “Oh, he’s not my boyfriend,” I quickly supplied, only to be rewarded with another unflattering grunt from Aaron and a smile from Officer Jason.

  “I see. Well I’m just going to check these out to make sure you are who you say you are.” He caught Aaron’s expression and hurriedly added, “I’ll be right back.”

  Once the nice officer was out of earshot, I said, “What’s wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong? Are you going to make it a point of flirting with every man you meet?”

  Aaron was angry, which I didn’t understand, not that it mattered because I was angry too.

  “I wasn’t flirting with him.” I watched Officer Jason watch me through my rearview mirror.

  “Please! The guy is falling all over himself, and do I need to remind you we’re going to be late?”

  “You know, you are so jaded. You think everyone acts the way you do. And we are not late yet.”

  “Well we will be in the time it takes the officer there to work up the nerve up to ask you out. From now on, leave the driving to me.”

  “He’s just being nice. Not everyone is after the same things you are. And you told me to drive,” I just got out before Officer Jason headed back toward the car and Aaron turned to me in speculation.

  “Willing to place a bet on whether it takes him even five minutes to ask you out?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, and I don’t bet. And be quiet or he’ll hear you.”

  Jason reached my window again and handed me back my things. “You are who you say you are. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you a ticket this time. But in the future watch your speed, okay?”

  “You’re not? Thanks. That’s awfully nice of you.” I was almost home free.

  “On one condition…” Officer Jason added, and I barely caught Aaron’s “bingo.”

  “Will you have dinner with me sometime?”

  We were back on the interstate when I finally worked up the nerve to look at Aaron again. Not that I needed to. I knew he was laughing.

  “What’s so funny? He was nice.”

  “Uh-huh. Like it or not, he and I aren’t so different. You’d better watch it, otherwise you could find yourself in way over your head.”

  I didn’t have time to consider the meaning behind Aaron’s sarcasm. By the time I found a spot to park, Aaron was out and ushering me inside the building.

  When we stepped off the elevator, I had just enough time to run a hand through my curls before facing Elise’s EA.

  The woman almost swallowed her gum upon getting a good look at Aaron.

  “Hello there. You must be Stephanie.” When all Stephanie could manage was a slight nod, Aaron wasn’t fazed. “It’s nice to meet you, Stephanie. I’m Aaron Severn and this is my assistant, Grace, whom I believe you’ve spoken to on the phone before.” He tossed her a little smile he reserved for getting his way with women. I found my disgust for the situation growing by the minute as Stephanie escorted us both inside Elise’s office.

  I’d heard all the rumors about Elise. She was called the Tiger Lady by her colleagues for more than one reason. She was as tough as any man in business and she could eat you alive if she wanted to. The minute I set eyes on her, I knew all the rumors were true.

  She was just as breathtaking as I’d been led to believe. I didn’t even need to look at Aaron to know exactly what his response to all that sultry, dark beauty would be. Elise was the female version of Aaron. He’d finally met his match.

  The woman took his outstretched hand in both of hers and barely acknowledged me. The attraction between them was hard to watch, but for the next hour, I was forced to. I squirmed in my seat next to Aaron and felt my disgust and anger with him growing in unison.

  By the time the two of them had finished what could only be described as an hour-long foreplay session, I just wanted to go home and take a long, cleansing shower. But I wouldn’t be so lucky.

  Elise handed Aaron her business card containing both her cell and home numbers. I guess she figured, why try to hide the obvious from his secretary. I might as well have not been there at all.

  “Call me sometime and we’ll have a drink to discuss…things,” she all but purred while I headed for the door.

  We’d almost reached the car when Aaron asked me what was wrong. I couldn’t keep silent any longer. I told him everything on my mind while I remembered my grandmother’s lifelong warning.

  Think before you speak, Grace.

  “What’s wrong? You can’t be serious. You didn’t need me with you. If all you wanted to do was ask her out, then I’m sure I could have found better things to do with my time than have to be witness to what just took place in that office!” I pretty much yelled at him while trying to deny the real reason for my anger.

  “What is that supposed to mean? And do I need to point out to you, Little Miss Innocent, you just spent more time than necessary flirting with the cop, so don’t give
me one of your pious lectures.”

  “I wasn’t flirting! And even if I were, what you two were doing in there went way beyond flirting. Way beyond normal acceptable business practices too. You should have gotten a room. And in the future, leave me out of your pickup schemes.”

  I wasn’t sure which of us was angrier, but I could see several people gathering in the parking lot to watch our little exchange. Aaron leaned against the Vette, bringing me hard against his body. I pushed him away and shoved the keys into his hand.

  “Here, why don’t you go back in there and finish the job? I’m going back to work.” I walked away, intending to call a cab to take me back to the office. Aaron caught me and forced me back to the car and into the passenger side.

  I was so stunned I couldn’t react. We were in the car and speeding out of the parking lot when he finally spoke.

  He spared me a brief glance, his expression hard. “If you ever behave like that again, you’ll be looking for another job. If I didn’t know every single one of those homespun pearls of wisdom you’ve been feeding me for months by heart, I might believe you were jealous. Is that what’s responsible for all your anger? If that’s the case we can take care of it easy enough, sweetheart. Because although you may not be my type, I’m definitely interested.”

  I closed my eyes, and tried not to say something I would later regret. I reminded myself that Aaron was my friend, even though he couldn’t have felt further from it at the moment. As he’d just pointed out, I wasn’t interested in him.

  “You’re disgusting. She’s welcome to you. You two should make a perfect couple.”

  It was the hardest thing in the world to walk back into our office and pretend the horrible scene hadn’t taken place between us. I half expected Aaron to follow through with his threat and fire me on the spot. I don’t think I could have blamed him if he did. I was just thankful that by the time we got back, Sally was gone for the day. There was no one around to see our childish behavior but us.

  Aaron slammed his office door while I held back my tears until I was certain he wasn’t coming back. And then I left for the restroom where I spent the next half hour trying to compose myself.

  Once I’d stopped crying enough to return to my office, I saw that Aaron had left me a note telling me he needed to discuss flight arrangements to London for the week before Christmas when I got back.

  One of LoneStar’s local clients, which was part of a much larger international chain, had gotten word to Aaron that they were looking for another ad agency to represent them.

  They’d agreed to a meeting only because of Severn’s reputation. But they wanted to move quickly and have the new firm in place by the end of the year. Which didn’t give us much time to put together a campaign. I saw nothing but long hours ahead. I wanted to cry even more.

  Facing Aaron again and not ending up in tears wouldn’t be an option. So I gathered my things, turned out the lights, and left the office without even telling him.

  I couldn’t go home because I was afraid he’d come looking for me. After my latest move, I was positive Aaron would fire me. Instead, I went to a movie that I didn’t care about seeing and forced myself to eat something.

  When I returned to my apartment, the big red zero on voice mail foretold my future. I didn’t know how I was going to face Aaron again and not burst into tears. At that point, I wasn’t sure if I even had a job to go back to.

  The following morning, when I walked into the office, I was late, which Sally was very happy to point out.

  “Where have you been? The boss has been screaming for you for over an hour. He told me to let him know the second you got in.”

  “I’ll tell him, Sally. I’m on my way there now.” Even before I was out of earshot, I heard her buzz Aaron.

  I barely had time to drop my things on my desk before he confronted me. He took one look at me and decided not to say whatever was on his mind. “You’re late. We have a lot of things to go over. Come into my office.”

  For the rest of the morning Aaron went over travel arrangements for himself and one of the local account executives while barely containing his anger.

  “So you want to leave the week before Christmas?” I asked without looking at him.

  “Correction, in case I didn’t make myself clear, and apparently I didn’t. We will leave the week before Christmas. You will be going with us.” I stopped writing and glanced up at him, surprised. His expression told me that challenging him would not be wise. “You have a problem with this?” He fully expected I would.

  “No.” I swallowed my argument in the face of his fury.

  “Good. Then make sure you take care of those arrangements this morning. It can’t wait another day. It’s going to be hard enough to get flights with the holidays coming up. And when you’re done, I need you to get Elise on the phone for me.” Aaron held my gaze, daring me to say anything. I didn’t. I walked out of his office and practically slammed the door before buzzing Sally. I asked her to get Elise’s office on the phone for Aaron. I finally understood my place in his life. I’d gotten the message loud and clear.

  For the rest of the day I concentrated on my work. I threw myself into it with a passion I’d never felt inclined to before.

  Aaron thankfully was booked in back-to-back meetings for the rest of the day so he only had time to glare at me occasionally when he passed my way. Normally I attended all of his meetings with him, but I couldn’t bring myself to be close to him. I simply didn’t show up and he hadn’t pressed me on the matter.

  When he disappeared into the conference room for the final meeting of the day, I wrote him a note detailing the travel arrangements I’d set up along with the time of departure and the arrival back home. There were only two seats together on the outbound flight, which I quickly booked for Aaron and Carl Jacobson, the account exec. I booked a single, separate seat at the back of the plane for myself. I might have to go on the trip with him, but I didn’t have to sit next to him the whole way.

  I dumped my notes on his desk and snuck out of the office.

  Of course, I was only postponing the inevitable. Aaron wasn’t the type of man to ignore a problem. Eventually I was going to have to face him and get everything out in the open. I couldn’t imagine ever being ready to face our problems.

  Instead, I went home to my little apartment, newspaper in hand, and began a task I didn’t want to think about. Since meeting Aaron I’d pretty much shelved any attempt at finding another job in my field of study. I actually loved the work I did for him, but I was desperate. I’d pushed him too far. What was wrong with me?

  The paper only made me sadder, and I ended up going to bed at eight. I ignored the phone entirely, including both Aaron’s and Deb’s calls.

  I could tell the minute Aaron walked out of his office the following morning the moment I’d been dreading the most was at hand.

  “In my office, Grace, and tell Sally to hold all my calls.”

  I walked into his office acting every bit as defiant as I didn’t feel.

  “Sit down,” he told me in a clipped tone almost unrecognizable for Aaron.

  I dropped into the chair across from him, all my fake defiance leaving me in one big swoosh. I waited to hear my fate.

  “It’s time we got a few things sorted out between us, don’t you think? I realize you and I don’t agree on a lot of things, but don’t expect me to always fall in line with your way of thinking.”

  “What are you trying to say? You want me to quit, is that it?” My darkest fears came rushing from my lips. Aaron’s reaction was the biggest surprise of all. He actually appeared hurt.

  “What? No. Grace that’s not what I’m saying at all. You know I can’t do without you. I just want us to be friends again. I think maybe we forgot yesterday.”

  “You mean after watching you and Elise all but make love in front of me?”

  Aaron had the decency to look embarrassed for a moment, just before his anger reappeared.

  “It was
just a little harmless flirting. And don’t tell me you weren’t doing the same thing with Andy Taylor earlier.”

  “His name is Jason, and I wasn’t flirting with him, not that it’s any of your business.”

  “Exactly.” Aaron stood and prowled his office still too angry to sit. “Let’s just keep work and whatever our personal relationship is separate, okay? And whatever you feel about Elise, keep that to yourself as well. We have a lot of work to get through before we’re ready for the London meeting, and I don’t want to be worried about you the entire time. So get over it.”

  “Is that all you wanted to say to me, Mr. Severn?” I stood and walked to the door when I heard his sigh.

  “No, but it’s all you’re willing to hear, so let’s just leave it.”

  “Fine.” I walked out of his office, past Sally and back to the restroom before I allowed myself to cry. What a foolish girl I was becoming. I didn’t want to think about Aaron with someone like Elise, but I found that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t put the image of them together out of my mind.

  Fortunately, with all the meetings taking place in preparation for the London trip and the planning for Deb’s wedding, there wasn’t much time to dwell on Aaron and Elise. But I did manage to create elaborate scenarios of the two of them in bed together.

  Jason and I went out on a few dates, which was a deliberate attempt on my part to forget all about Aaron. I needed some distraction to get my mind off him. Seeing Jason helped. I made it a point to call him during working hours, and most of the time in front of Aaron to make sure he understood he wasn’t the only one involved with someone.

  Several times, I caught Aaron watching me with a “what’s going on with you” expression on his face. To his credit, he was trying hard to bring our relationship back to the friendship we’d shared in the past. I, on the other hand, was doing nothing but putting obstacles in his way. Every gesture he made toward repairing it, I made one in counter to destroy it.

  The evening before our plane was scheduled to leave for London I had plans to see Jason. We were going to a movie and then out to dinner, which was a deliberate attempt on my part to keep Aaron at bay. I had a feeling he was going to ask me out to dinner, and I just couldn’t take being close to him. He’d been asking me to have dinner for weeks, and I’d been refusing, only to be greeted with that frustrated, long-suffering expression of his. Just before I left the office that afternoon, Aaron told me he would pick me up at my apartment the following morning so we could ride to the airport together. I was almost out the door when he asked the question.