by Meier, Susan
“Oh.”
Though it pained her, she knew she might as well go the whole way with this. “I have a sneaking feeling they’re here to meet you.”
“Sneaking feeling?”
“You know. A feeling that just sort of creeps up on you when you don’t want it to.”
“Ah.” He waited a second then said, “You don’t want me to meet your parents?”
“No! No!” What else could she say? “That’s not it.”
“Then have Stewart send them up. If they’re here to see the city, I’ll give them my driver for the afternoon and they can go to all the sites.”
Though that was nice of him, risking one meeting was bad enough. Risking a second when they returned the limo was insanity. They’d ask questions about his background. Want to know his intentions. Read between the lines of everything he said, making sure he wasn’t a closet pervert bent on hurting their little girl. Embarrassment and humiliation collided and turned her stomach. She could not let that happen.
“That’s way too kind.”
He brushed her concern off with a wave of her hand and headed back into his office. “Call Stewart. Send them up.”
With no choice but to obey, Olivia did as she was told.
Fortifying herself for the worst, she stood in front of her desk waiting for the elevator ping. As the doors opened, she didn’t see just her mom and dad. Her brother, Billy, and her sister, Cindy, stood beside them. Even before she was off the elevator, her mother reached out for a hug.
As her mother’s arms wrapped around her, she closed her eyes. It was really hard to be mad at somebody who loved you so much.
“Hey, guys.”
Her mother squeezed her even more tightly.
“I’m fine, Mom.”
As her mother released her, her dad caught her up in a bigger hug. “It’s just so good to see you.”
She laughed. “I’ve only been gone a month.”
As she said the words, Tucker Engle came out of his office. Her brother and sister froze. Her mom spun to face him. Her dad blatantly gave him a once-over.
* * *
Tucker smiled. He had this. If there was one thing he was good at, it was people. Let her dad narrow his eyes. He would still win him over.
Tucker held out his hand to shake her dad’s. “I’m Tucker Engle. Olivia’s boss.”
Tall and bald, Olivia’s dad looked like a man who labored for a living. His calloused hand confirmed that.
“Mr. Engle, these are my parents, Loraina and Jim Prentiss and my sister, Cindy, and brother, Billy.”
Billy also shook his hand. A boy of about sixteen, who appeared to be trying to be a man, he wore jeans and a T-shirt like his dad.
Her sister Cindy looked a year or so younger than Olivia and was nearly as pretty. Both Prentiss daughters had their mom’s strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. Cindy shyly said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
But her mom didn’t say anything. She caught his gaze and held it as if trying to see into his soul.
He’d never had anyone look at him that way before.
Her pretty blue eyes narrowed, her mouth thinned.
Okay. So her mother didn’t like him. He could fix that, too. “I’ve called my limo driver and instructed him to take you anywhere you want to go this afternoon. It’ll be much easier to see everything with a driver who knows the city.”
Cindy gasped and Billy said, “All right!”
Jim said, “That’s very nice of you.” He produced some bags with the logo of a popular Chinese restaurant on them. “But we were just about to have lunch. We brought enough for an army and we’d love to have you join us.”
Tucker smiled. “Thank you, but I was planning to work through lunch today. I have a meeting across the street at one. I thought I’d pick up something when that’s over.”
Loraina surprised him by hooking her arm through his. “Oh, now, you can’t skip lunch. And we can’t eat in front of you! Besides, if you really are giving us your limo for the afternoon, we owe you.”
He sought Olivia’s gaze and she shrugged, though her red face was the picture of apology.
He’d never had a family, so he could only imagine how embarrassing this was for her. Especially since her mother was already on the way into his office.
“This is perfect.” She pointed at the sofa grouping. “We can sit around the coffee table.”
It wouldn’t be the first time he’d eaten Chinese food at that coffee table. He did some of his best business deals in that quiet, comfortable atmosphere. He’d never, however, eaten breakfast, lunch or dinner with the family of an employee.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t figure out a way to refuse them without sounding like he was kicking them out of his office.
Her dad put the Chinese food on the coffee table. Her brother and sister sat on the sofa and began opening the bags, looking for chopsticks.
Olivia caught his arm and pulled him back, away from her family. “I’m sorry. They’re just very comfortable people. They think everybody is a new friend.”
He drew in a breath. “That’s actually a nice philosophy.”
“I swear. In twenty minutes they’ll be gone.”
Okay. He could deal with that. Hell, he could deal with anything for twenty minutes. “No need to be so embarrassed or so hard on them. I love the food from the restaurant they chose and as your mom said, everybody needs to eat.”
She visibly relaxed and nodded, and his instincts jumped again. All along he’d thought there was something about her. Her family reminded him she was new to the city. Maybe even here alone. And if he got comfortable with her family, maybe she would become more comfortable with him?
He took the big chair at the head of things, reached for a carton of sweet-and-sour pork and dished some onto one of the throw-away plates Olivia’s mom had handed out.
“So what do you do for a living, Jim?”
“I’m in construction.”
“That’s wonderful.”
Loraina beamed. “He paid for Olivia’s schooling by flipping houses.”
“Wow.” That took hard work and brains, the ability to find a good house and spend only enough on remodeling that you could still make a profit when you sold it. He could see where Olivia got her talent with numbers.
“He’ll do the same for Cindy now.”
Cindy faced Olivia. “Are we going to get to see your apartment?”
“I don’t know. How long are you guys staying?”
Billy said, “Two days. We have to fly back tomorrow night.”
Tucker said, “That’s a short stay for such a long trip.”
All five Prentisses grew quiet. Olivia’s face reddened again. And again the sense that there was something he was missing nagged at him.
But Loraina brightened. “Hotels are expensive in this city. We’re just happy for the time we get.”
Olivia suddenly said, “Who wants an egg roll?”
Her dad and brother immediately shoved their plates at her, but Tucker suspected she’d craftily changed the subject.
When she faced Cindy, and asked, “Are you ready for school?” he was certain of it.
“I may never be totally ready.” Cindy grabbed a different carton of the food and dished herself a serving. “Billy made the football team.”
Olivia spun to face him. “Oh, my gosh! Shouldn’t you be at practice?”
Billy scowled.
Loraina said, “You can miss a practice or two. It’s not every day you get to see New York City.”
Ignoring Billy’s plight, Cindy said, “I was sort of hoping you’d take me shopping.”
Olivia laughed gaily. “Me? I can just barely dress myself. If you want expert advice, you need to take Eloise with you.�
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Jim said, “I don’t think there’s time for shopping.”
Billy said, “You can shop at home.”
Loraina agreed. “You get better bargains there anyway. I saw designers on TV the other day showing how to make clothes from your local store look like big-city fashions.”
“I don’t want them to look like big-city fashions. I want them to be big-city fashions. Can’t we stay another day?”
Billy exploded. “No! I’m missing two practices already! I’m not missing three!”
“You and your precious football.”
“You and your precious clothes! At least some day football might get me a scholarship. What are clothes going to get you?”
“A boyfriend?”
“You don’t need a boyfriend!”
Both parents said that at once and might have made Tucker laugh, except Cindy’s next whine started a discussion that had all five Prentisses talking at once. Tucker had been in boardrooms where five people talked at once. He’d been in boardrooms where five people yelled at once. But this discussion—sort of stupid, but very important to the people talking—whipped around him like a tornado. He had absolutely no idea of what to say.
Worse, he didn’t think they cared or wanted him to say anything.
A feeling of alienation stole over him, which didn’t surprise him. In foster homes, you didn’t comment on another kid’s life or problems. You weren’t really family; you were boarders. He remembered falling asleep trying to imagine himself in a family like this and never quite being able to put himself into the picture. He couldn’t put himself in this picture either. Even though he was actually, physically here.
Olivia’s laugh penetrated his discomfort and he glanced from the arguing teens to Jim to Loraina who groaned and said things like “Settle down” and “If you don’t stop fighting nobody’s getting anything.”
He peeked at Olivia again. Her pretty face relaxed in her laughter.
Now she was happy and he was the one who felt like an outsider.
* * *
Olivia had never been so glad to see an elevator door open and take people away as she was to see her parents and siblings leave Tucker Engle’s office. He made good on his promise of his limo for their use that afternoon, but he’d been quiet through their lunch.
“Do you want me to go back to reviewing Bartulocci financials this afternoon?”
“Yes.”
He said the word while staring at the elevator that had just taken away her family and his limo driver.
A minute ticked off the clock. Then another. Then another. He just kept staring at that elevator.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
But Olivia didn’t think he was. Normally, he was a tad brisk. Formal. Even with Elias and Ricky from the start-up, two guys who considered him a friend, he’d been formal. She didn’t like this sullen side of him. “I want to apologize again for my family.”
“Your family is very nice.”
She winced. “My brother and sister fight all the time.”
He turned away from the elevator and headed to his office. “I’ve heard that’s normal for brothers and sisters.”
She scrambled after him. If this mood was the fault of her family, she had to help him get rid of it. “Heard?”
“I don’t have any brothers and sisters.”
He strode to his desk and bent down to retrieve a briefcase from the floor. He stopped so quickly, bent so quickly and rose so quickly, that Olivia didn’t have time to get out of his way. When he stood again, they were mere inches apart.
She caught his gaze. She could smell the vague scent of his aftershave, feel the raw maleness that drifted off him. After being attacked, she hadn’t often let herself get close to a man. Especially not someone as far out of her league as the town rich kid had been—as Tucker Engle was.
But he was so handsome and she couldn’t seem to step away, or break contact with his beautiful emerald eyes.
When she spoke. her voice was a mere whisper. “You’re an only child?”
“You could say that.”
Though they were talking about something totally innocent, electricity crackled between them. “You don’t know if you’re an only child?”
“No.” He took a long breath. “I’m a foster child.”
“Oh.”
He stepped away. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m fine.”
“Yes, of course.”
He walked around her and strode to the door. “This meeting shouldn’t last more than an hour.”
With that he was gone and Olivia let out her breath in a grand whoosh. A foster child? Her heart ripped in two. Not because he wanted her to feel sorry for him, but because he didn’t.
CHAPTER FOUR
WHAT THE HELL was that?
Tucker walked through the building lobby, pushed open the revolving door and stepped onto the sidewalk, his heart beating out a weird rhythm and his mouth dry. He’d told Olivia he was a foster child because it would have been odd to keep a secret that was a matter of public record. He’d said it as if it were no big deal, but having her parents in his office, seeing physical proof of how much they loved her, he knew it was. Eating with them brought back memories filled with scars that had felt like open wounds. Then he’d turned and there she’d been, right at his fingertips, close enough to touch, and damned if he hadn’t been tempted.
He combed his fingers through his hair and stopped to wait for the traffic light to cross the street. He could still feel the rush of heat that whipped through him, the swell of sharp, sweet desire. He couldn’t remember ever being this attracted to a woman—especially one he barely knew. But standing so close had all but made him dizzy, and holding her gaze had sent molten lava careening through him.
The light turned and he hustled across the street and down the sidewalk. He had a meeting with a few bankers who had a sudden case of nerves about the terms of a deal he’d offered to purchase a struggling manufacturing plant. They needed to be coddled. He couldn’t be distracted by an attraction that was out of line.
Ridiculous.
So far off base it shouldn’t even be acknowledged.
All he wanted from Olivia Prentiss was for her to do her job.
And he needed to do his.
Heading for the building lobby, he went over the terms of the agreement for Echo Manufacturing in his head. He’d crafted this deal with the precision of an artist. He wouldn’t change anything. He had to make the bankers see things his way.
After a two-hour meeting spent attempting to alleviate the concerns of stubborn autocrats with no vision, he was crossing the street again. As persuasive and charming as he’d been, they’d ordered him to totally redraw the offer.
Though that made him forget everything that had happened that morning, it did not make him happy. In fact, if fury were a living thing, his temper would be Godzilla.
His head filled with facts and figures, he entered the elevator to his office suite. He was so immersed in his work that when the doors opened he probably would have walked straight through Olivia’s office without even a greeting. But as the doors slid apart, the word gin! blasted him.
He stopped. There at Olivia’s desk, an empty Chinese food carton on his right, a cup of coffee on his left and a deck of cards between him and Olivia, was Constanzo Bartulocci.
Short and round in the tummy, but dressed elegantly in a tailored gray suit, Constanzo grinned at him. “Good afternoon, Tucker.”
“Constanzo?” His head spun. First her parents had arrived and reminded him of everything he hadn’t had as a child. Then she’d bowled him over with a little close proximity and eye contact. Then bankers had turned him down. And now the owner of the company he wanted to buy was playing gin—with his assi
stant?
He wasn’t sure he could handle any more surprises today.
The Italian jumped off his chair. “Sì! It’s good to see you!”
As Constanzo enveloped Tucker in a bear hug, Tucker caught Olivia’s gaze.
Her face reddened and she mouthed the words, “He was hungry.”
Constanzo released him. “Seven hours on a plane. Two hours in traffic to get here. Starvation and boredom were killing me.” He gestured to Olivia. “I hope you don’t mind that I begged your assistant to share her food with me.”
She grimaced. “We did have leftovers.”
His assistant had fed one of the richest men in the world cold Chinese food. Where the hell had his office dignity gone? Where was decorum?
“Yes. I see.” He smiled at Constanzo. “I’m glad she had time for you.”
Constanzo laughed. “I’m sure she had work, but your Vivi, she is generous.”
One of Tucker’s eyebrows quirked. Vivi?
Constanzo waved his arm in the direction of Tucker’s office. “Come. Let’s talk about these rumors I’m hearing that you want to buy me out.”
Excitement obliterated his anger over the Echo deal and the emotions left over from Vivi’s parents’ visit. If Constanzo was here at his office, eager to talk about his company, it could only be because he’d made the short list of potential buyers. He motioned for Constanzo to walk before him. “Lead the way.”
They headed for the door but Constanzo stopped suddenly. “Vivi, you come, too.”
Olivia squirmed on her chair. “Oh, I don’t think you need me in there.”
“Of course, we do.” He inclined his head toward the door. “Come.”
Tucker’s eyes narrowed. He had no idea why Constanzo wanted her in the room, but one didn’t argue with a billionaire who wanted to deal. “Sure, Vivi, come.”
Olivia smiled sheepishly and rose to follow them. Constanzo barreled ahead, but Tucker waited. Before Olivia reached the door, he caught her arm and stopped her just short of hearing distance for Constanzo. “Vivi?”
She shrugged. “It’s my nickname. If you’d asked, I’d have let you use it, too.”
With a roll of his eyes, he walked into his office, slid out of his jacket and sat on the sofa beside Constanzo. Vivi took the chair across from them.