Welcome to Lake Ventures (New Haven Book 2)

by Dawn Doyle

  Emily froze at the mention of him having a girl stay over, but she kept looking at her monitor as he spoke. She couldn’t let him see any reaction she may have had.

  “Ooh, what are you going to watch?” Diane asked, her smile getting bigger.

  “She wants to see the Penguins of Madagascar.”

  A kids movie?

  “Well have fun.” Diane chirped as she walked to her desk.

  “Bye Emmy. See you in a couple of weeks.” Nick said, his voice doing strange things to her heart rate.

  “See ya.” She said, keeping her head down. Nick had emailed her, letting her know he would be visiting the club he invested in, in LA and some others in Vegas.

  Emily still hadn’t gotten over Nick kissing her hand in the car, and then walking in to the ladies bathroom to check on her.

  It was sweet. She didn’t want him to be sweet.

  She wanted him to be a prick so she had a reason to hate him.

  “Well, I guess his weekend will be filled with nail polish and hair scrunchies. I can’t wait to see what she does this time.” Diane giggled at her desk.

  “Why?” Emily didn’t understand why Diane would be so interested in what he did.

  “He loves Cora to bits, but the time he let her paint his nails he couldn’t get the stuff off. He thought it would wash off but, as he had to come to work the next day, he came into the office with pink nail polish on! I had to go out and get some acetone to remove it. So funny. Every time she goes to his place, he ends up getting a makeover. I’ve seen the pictures.”

  “Why does he let her do that to him?” Emily asked. Not that she was bothered, of course.

  “He doesn’t see her as often as he’d like, so when he can, he lets her do whatever she wants. He’s great with her.”

  Emily had a feeling in her stomach she didn’t like. She didn’t want Diane to talk about it anymore, not that she wanted to tell her that.

  “I’ve been looking at apartments.” She said, trying to change the subject.

  “Anything good? I know it’s hard to get a place in this city. Quite expensive too. Even for the studios.”

  They chatted about different areas and the pros and cons of living close to the city. Emily didn’t want to live far away from her parents, but she may not have the choice.

  It was a short time before the lift to their floor opened up and Nick walked out, with a young girl. She looked like him, except her hair was lighter, almost blonde.

  “Hello sweetie!” Diane gushed as she held her arms out for the girl.

  “Hey, Di!” she replied as she squeezed Diane tight.

  “She wanted to meet Emmy.” Nick said as he looked to Emily.

  The girl let go of Diane and walked towards Emily’s desk.

  “Hello. Are you Emily?” she asked with a smile. She had the same grey colour eyes as Nick, freckles across her nose and a few gaps in the sides of her mouth where her baby teeth had fallen out.

  “I am. What’s your name?” Emily asked her.

  “I’m Cora…”

  Cora’s a kid. Oh my God I feel ashamed!

  “… Nick told me he had a new assistant. I wanted to meet you.” She said with a grin. Cora turned and placed her hands on the desk, behind her, and jumped to sit on the edge. “You’re Holly’s sister, aren’t you?”

  “Yes I am. You know her?”

  “Yeah, I like her. She plays games with me when everybody comes over. My other brother, Ryan, tells me to go away but Holly tells him off and she lets me hang out.”

  Cora’s his sister. I feel like a right divvie.

  “That’s nice of her. Does Nick let you play games?”

  “Yeah, he’s the best. He even lets me do his hair and put make up on him.”

  “Cora!” Nick warned as she was spilling the details.

  “I bet he looks pretty when you’ve finished.” Giggled Emily. The thought of Nick having his hair and makeup done by his little sister was hilarious.

  “He looks like a pretty princess.” Laughed Cora.

  “Ok, Cora, that’s enough now.” Sulked Nick. He didn’t seem to like Cora talking about what she let her do to him.

  “Oh shush, Nick, she’s only telling me you like getting a makeover.”

  Nick scowled and Emily could’ve sworn she heard a growl coming from his direction.

  It was sexy as hell.

  “Can I give you some advice?” Emily asked Cora with a smirk.

  “Shoot.”

  Emily beckoned for her to lean in so she could whisper, watching Nick’s reaction as she did.

  Cora laughed at what Emily had said, nodding her head in agreement.

  “That sounds like fun.” Cora giggled. “I’ll get some on the way.” She whispered.

  “Cora, we should go now.” Nick didn’t sound happy as he called for her.

  “Bye Emily. It was lovely to meet you. You’re much nicer than Craig. He was boring.” She said before jumping down and walking to Nick.

  “You too, Cora.”

  Emily smiled as she watched them walk away.

  He’d brought his little sister in because she’d asked to meet her. That was sweet of him.

  Sweet, again.

  Shit.

  Johnny and Ray have agreed to the plans for the club expansion. They’ve also renewed their contract for the next two years with follow-up-funding. I need you to compile the paperwork for it and email it over to me for them to sign.

  Nick.

  Nick had been gone for three days when she received the first email from him. He either trusted her or wasn’t speaking to her. The latter was probably true considering what she’d told Cora to do to him. She chuckled remembering the conversation.

  You need me to?

  Ask nicely and I will.

  Emily.

  Please.

  Nick.

  Emily was going to have a little fun pissing him off. He liked to keep things going when she was pissed so now she was going to return the favour.

  Please what? I don’t know what you’re asking for.

  Emily.

  Please could you compile the paperwork and email it to me?

  Nick.

  Of course! That would be my pleasure, since you asked so nicely.

  Emily.

  Emily laughed out loud at that, knowing Nick would probably be scowling. She couldn’t wait to see if Cora had done what she’d said.

  Did you have a good makeover? I mean, weekend?

  Emily.

  Could you just send the files? Please?

  Nick.

  Sure thing, boss.

  Emily.

  Emily was still giggling when Diane walked out of the lift.

  “What’s funny honey?” she asked.

  “I think Nick’s pissed at me.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I told Cora that if she put any make up on Nick, to use a bright red lipstick instead of gloss.”

  “Oh my. Red lipstick stains.” Diane laughed.

  “I know!” Emily cracked up again.

  “Did he tell you he let her put it on him?” Diane asked as she neared Emily’s desk.

  “No. Look…” Emily showed Diane the email conversation and she laughed again.

  “You’re going to get into so much trouble, Emily.” Diane chuckled.

  Emily accessed all of the necessary files together and emailed them over to Nick, before she left for lunch. She was meeting up with Holly and Alex and was looking forward to seeing them. Holly had stayed over at Alex’s house at the weekend and, even though she appreciated the silence from their room, Emily had missed her.

  “Hiya baby girl!” Emily said as she saw them waiting for her in the restaurant.

  “Hiya Em. Have you had a good day?” Holly asked as she was nestled into Alex’s side. The pair of them never parted for more than a few minutes at a time.

  “I’m good. Busy with setting up new investments and schedules blah, blah. Boring business crap as usual.”
>
  “Whatever, you love it.”

  “I do.”

  “So, how are you getting on with Nick?” Alex asked with a smile. He knew what had happened between them and thought it was funny that the feud was still ongoing.

  “Fine. Even better when he’s out of town, so I can’t complain.” Emily shrugged. Saying that to Alex, she felt guilty. She wasn’t as happy about him leaving as she thought she would be. He’d been gone since Friday and she felt like she was missing him, which unsettled her.

  Missing tearing him a new one most likely.

  Emily never missed anyone, except her family. Not even Jeff. Even when she was with him, she wouldn’t miss him when he wasn’t there. That was something that should have made her realise that she wasn’t in love with him. She wasn’t bothered if she saw him or not, but now with Nick, she missed seeing him walk out of the lift in the morning. Even if he’d said something to get a rise out of her, she still got butterflies before he got there.

  Since he was nice to her in the car, after he’d been a bit of an idiot with his comments, then kissing her hand the fog in her brain had gotten worse.

  “Em? Are you ok?” Holly said as she patted Emily’s hand as it rested on the table.

  “Huh? Oh yeah.” Emily felt embarrassed as she’d zoned out as she was thinking about Nick. It was exactly what she used to find amusing when Holly though about Alex. She hoped she and Alex wouldn’t realise that.

  “I was just thinking about the business meeting the other day. It was with Jeff.” Emily hadn’t seen Holly to tell her and she wasn’t going to ruin her weekend with Alex by calling her.

  “What?! What the hell was he doing there?” Holly said, raising her voice.

  “He’d contacted Nick a few weeks ago. He’d changed the company name, that’s why I didn’t know it was him. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise.

  “What did he say to you?”

  Emily recounted the ‘meeting’ to the pair and when she finished, Holly was staring open mouthed.

  “I know. The cheek of that Fuck ’ed.” She said, folding her arms.

  “Yeah I know, but I’m more surprised that Nick followed you into the bathrooms to check on you.”

  Shit!

  Emily hadn’t realised she’d let that little nugget of information slip out. At least she hadn’t mentioned the hand kissing part.

  “Maybe to check that I wan’t going to freak out and cause a scene in the restaurant.” Emily tried to make it seem that it wasn’t as sweet as it sounded.

  But it was.

  So sweet.

  “Why would he care if you’d made a scene? What that gobshite did to you, he would have welcomed it. What did he say when you told him?” Holly asked, angrily.

  “I didn’t. I just said he was my ex.”

  Emily wasn’t about to share that with him just in case he might use that against her when they fought. There was no way he was going to gain the upper hand in their arguments with that.

  Emily didn’t want to talk about it anymore and she made that clear with her silence.

  “Ryan and Riss have found an apartment.” Alex said, changing the subject.

  “Yeah? Where?”

  “Belltown. It’s a one bedroom place. They put the deposit down yesterday and they’re going to be moving in, in a couple of weeks.”

  “Do they need any help?” Emily asked before she realised that Nick would be helping out too. Being near him, out of work, would be harder to handle. That way there wouldn’t be anything keeping them from tearing into each other. Or her tearing something off of him…

  “They’re getting everything delivered so they’ll only be moving the bits from their parents, and we’ve already got that covered.” Holly added, thankfully stopping Emily’s thoughts in their tracks.

  “Oh ok. Well, if they need anything, let me know.”

  When Emily got back to the office she logged onto her iMac, she’d turned her phone to silent when she was at lunch, and she noticed an email from Nick.

  Thank you.

  Nick

  She hadn’t been around to answer his email and he’d sent another a few minutes later.

  Is that response acceptable? I used my manners.

  Nick.

  Are you giving me the silent treatment again?

  Nick

  He’s such a child!

  Yes, it’s acceptable, and I was out at lunch with Holly and Alex. I’ve only just gotten your emails so please, don’t accuse me of giving you the silent treatment because I didn’t reply straight away!

  Emily.

  Ok. Sorry.

  Nick.

  Is that it? Ok, Sorry?

  Emily was tempted to send another email but what she wanted to say could possibly make things worse. She had to reign herself in sometimes because even though Nick gave as good as he got, he could just as easily fire her. She often wondered if that’s why he pissed her off. Just so she would get riled so he could give her her marching orders and then he could laugh. Well she wasn’t going to let him win there, either.

  There are a few new accounts coming our way in a few weeks. Could you possibly get started on the paperwork until I get back?

  Please?

  Nick.

  Yes.

  Emily.

  Oli’s firm handles the legal side of it so once the draughts are done, he’ll need to check them. Is that ok?

  Nick.

  My Dad is Nick’s business lawyer?

  When Emily had spoken to Oli about Nick knowing her business, he said it was just conversation. He was excited for her to be coming home and he’d also been helping Nick with something.

  So this is what he was helping him with.

  Yes. Not a problem.

  Emily.

  Thank you, Emmy.

  Nick.

  Now he was back to using her name, sort of.

  Nick calling her Emmy annoyed her, at first, but she had given up correcting him.

  Nobody else called her Emmy. It was Em or Emily. Not even Jeff had given her a nickname. It was always ‘Emily’.

  When they were at the restaurant, he’d found Nick’s name for her amusing. She could see it in his eyes as Nick said it.

  His disgusting, backstabbing eyes.

  Emily could feel herself getting angrier the more she thought about it, so she turned her attention to the task at hand; gathering the legal documentation together to pass to her Dad.

  Chapter 6

  Over a week had gone by and Emily had been busy setting up new investments. There had been four in total, one of them the renewal of the nightclubs in LA.

  Emily knew Nick had gone to Vegas too, and she’d not been able to get the thought of Nick, alone, and possibly with party girls that were out for a good time. It made her stomach queasy. It felt a lot like jealousy, but not that she was jealous. She didn’t like Nick that way.

  Emily knew she was kidding herself. The longer he was away,the more she found herself drifting off thinking about him.

  How his eyes focused on her when she spoke to him, like he was really listening. He never looked away either, like Jeff had always done, and he paid attention. But, when Nick would smile, she would think he was making fun of her and it would make her mad. Like he was doing it on purpose to annoy her, but he knew everything that she’d told him so it confused her as to what, exactly, he was doing.

  Which also made it difficult to understand why he stood close so her when he came up to her desk. Like, so close she could smell him. Not just the smell of aftershave, even though he had neatly trimmed stubble that she thought was sexy, but the scent of his soap that wafted through her nostrils, and her trying to resist the temptation of taking a deep breath. What she really wanted to do was lean in and inhale him.

  Her alerts brought her back to the present, with a reminder to review the finance reports and expenses. Also, she had to document all of Nick’s business expenses from the past month.

  It was getting late and there were sti
ll a few things to do before she left for the day.

  Bringing up the files, Emily got to work.

  This is strange.

  There were no receipts for business lunches with potential clients or travel expenses, but looking through the dates and times that Nick’s business trips had occurred, nothing was charged there either.

  Not even the flights.

  When he’d spent the last week away, when she had started, nothing had been documented at all. She would have to ask him about that, because she needed to see invoices for the trips, before submitting anything to his own accountant.

  “Di, there aren’t any receipts for Nick’s business expenses in this file. Do you know where he keeps them?” she asked. She thought Diane would probably know as she’d been there for a long time.

  “If they’re not in that file, they’ll probably be in his office, honey. I wouldn’t know where though.”

  “I don’t want to go in without asking. I’ll email him first. I need to have this report sent off to the company accountant by the end of the week.”

  “Ok sweetie.”

  Nick,

  I haven’t got any receipts for your expenses. Diane said they may be in your office. I didn’t want to go in without asking, so is it ok if I check?

  Emily.