by Sierra Rose
Bella laughed. “I’m talking about an engagement ring. So yes, you want a small package!”
“I don’t want to get married. I’m carefree and single. But we’ll see. I know he’s wanted to marry me since high school.”
“Don’t play coy. I bet you guys get married in Las Vegas by the end of the weekend.”
“Enough. Let’s focus the attention back to the sister who seems to be hiding something.”
“Harvey took over the firm I work for.”
Her jaw dropped. “What are the chances you’d ever run into him that way? Are you sure he didn’t plan it?”
“It was purely coincidental. Maybe even fate.”
She was completely stunned and the look on her face said it all as she tried to process my words.
“Shit!” she said.
“I know.”
“You’ve got to quit. We’ll move somewhere else! Like Florida. I’ve always wanted to go to Florida! But Ted won’t want to be uprooted like that. And we just got together. We could be star crossed lovers.”
“Hey! Before you come up with a ridiculous plan to relocate us and label yourself a star crossed lover, Harvey already knows I’m here.”
“Does he know about the kids?” she asked in a shocked tone.
Bella nodded. “Yes.”
“What? You told him!”
“I had no choice. He saw them. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. They look just like him.”
“And how did he react?”
She blew out a long breath. “He was devastated.”
“He’ll call Mama. And Mama Bear will rear her ugly head roaring and clawing. She’ll get her army of lawyers to tear you apart.”
“He told Mama to stay out of it. But yes, that was her first reaction.”
“So he’s on your side?”
“Sometimes.”
“I know he’s angry.”
“When we had our first big conversation about it, he looked so distraught. His hair was messed up and he hadn’t shaved. And we started to talk…”
“And how did it end?”
“In his bed.”
“What? You didn’t?”
“I did.”
“Bella! What about Max?”
“We broke up.”
“But he was stable and reliable, and you two did a lot of things.”
“And that’s how I learned he was an asshole. Wanted to me to quit work and put the twins in boarding school.”
“What a selfish bastard!”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I want a family man.”
“And you think Harvey can fill those shoes? He’s the farthest thing from a family man there is.”
“He’d be different with his own children. And I literally can’t stay away from the man. You know how much I love him. I tried to resist but I couldn’t.”
“So where do you stand with him?”
“I’m in limbo.”
“I know he’s beyond successful and a billionaire…”
“That has nothing to do with it, and you know it!”
“He’s hot, good in the sack, and charming. And don’t tell me those have nothing to do with it either.”
“We have this explosive chemistry we both can’t deny. And we also have this deep bond. We connected on a deep level. It was like his soul touched mine.”
“Oh, come on! This isn’t a Nicholas Sparks novel.”
“I love him.”
“And what does that love get you. Nothing. Because I don’t see a big, fat engagement ring on your finger.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
“He wants to be in the kids’ lives.”
“So you and him are going to be one happy family?”
“Well, I don’t know if I’m in that particular equation. But yes, that’s what I would love.”
“You just got your life straightened out. Don’t let him come in and ruin it in one swoop.”
“The timing was bad. When I left him all those years ago, he wasn’t in a place in his life where he felt ready for a serious commitment.”
“And why would he want a serious commitment? He’s having lion sex with dozens of beautiful women. So much so, that he got in trouble with the press and had to hire you to clean up his act. He’s careless and reckless. Do you really think he’s ever going to change those bachelor ways of his?”
“What we had was different.”
“Oh, honey. Doesn’t every woman say that? You can’t change him!”
Bella looked away and held back the tears.
“Oh, honey. You know I love you. And you know I only want what’s best for my niece and nephew. I just don’t want you to get hurt again. Because I don’t think you can recover a second time from his sting.”
“We could’ve been so good together.”
“If he’d ever grow up. You shouldn’t plan a future with a man who doesn’t make you his first priority. Let’s face it. The man is terrified to commit.” She sipped her wine. “I literally hate all that messy, unrequited love bullshit.”
“He had a bad break up before me, and I think it left him scarred.”
“That’s nonsense. If you burned the roof of your mouth with some hot soup, do you stop eating? No. You don’t.”
“I’m not sure where I stand.”
“Well, let me help put things into perspective. There’s 1. No fucking. 2. Fucking. 3. Joined at the hip and in love. So where do you stand?”
“Obviously, number 2.”
“There you go.”
“I’m going to change it into number 3.”
“I’m not going to stand in the way of true love. If it’s meant to be, then it’ll happen.”
“But I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking he’s taking it slow because he thinks it’s okay to date me until someone better comes along. It’s kind of like renting an apartment instead of investing all your money into a condo. But I tell you what. I’m going to be his condo. Hell, I’m going to be his mansion.”
Madison raised her glass of wine. “Then best of luck to you.”
Smiling, they chimed glasses.
Chapter 7
The following day, they had a meeting with the Smith Gibbonses about the upcoming merger. While she had been the one to form a relationship with the two men whose business was coming under the umbrella of JS, she was uncertain of her footing. Because she’d been Harvey’s colleague-with-benefits when they started this deal. Now she was his out-of-favor baby mama, and that was an entirely different situation. The Smith Gibbonses were family oriented, wanting to foster a very personal connection to the management at JS and to preserve the legacy for their children.
She knew what Harvey wanted. He couldn’t commit like most men, so he wanted to embark on a casual, no-strings attached relationship. Just sex, no emotional commitment. He wasn’t looking for a long term relationship. And he had a game plan: Get in, get off, get out.
He didn’t want a future with her. She was just convenient.
He had cuddled her. And cuddling creates intimacy. She was sure that the sex they had shared had led to something deeper. But obviously not.
Why does spooning complicate everything?
I should’ve known I couldn’t have my cake and eat it too.
Children were a thorny topic just now with Harvey and Bella, not to mention the fact that they’d have to sit at a table and pretend everything was friendly between them, flirty even, not at all tense, not with arrows drawn. It exhausted her just thinking about it. She downed two coffees from the executive lounge, and then panicked because now she’d need to pee during the meeting. If she left the conference room to pee, it would give Harvey a chance to blackball her, to mention, oh, so casually that she had hidden his children from him. That wouldn’t exactly be professional but they were at armed neutrality at best just now.
Bella sat at the conference table and waited. She had not risen to the executive level by wa
iting quietly, but today at least, she was willing to follow Harvey’s lead. His demeanor would set the tone for the meeting. She, for one, wasn’t petty enough to act resentful toward him or let their personal situation bleed into their professional workspace, but she needed that sort of assurance from him, the civility if not friendliness.
So she sat and sipped her bottle of water and when he came in, he shook hands warmly with Smith and Gibbons, and gave her a curt nod. A few of the other executives were in on the meeting and he greeted them each by name. Without saying a single word to Bella. She stifled a sigh of resignation. If this was how he wanted to play it—chilly and borderline rude, she’d just have to be the bigger person.
“Good afternoon, Harvey,” she said, smiling aggressively.
He nodded again in her general direction. Even when she spoke directly to him, he wasn’t going to answer. She turned her attention to the man who was speaking and nodded along. She broke in to underscore a point about job preservation for current Smith Gibbons employees and throw the segue over to HR who brought up improved health benefits for them as well. By the end of the meeting, and largely thanks to her interruption, the case of cold feet on the part of the Smith Gibbonses seemed to have warmed right back up. Everyone shook hands or hugged warmly, and Mr. Gibbons suggested another dinner soon.
Harvey, she noted, didn’t reply in the affirmative to that, only said he’d look at his schedule and get back to them. Since, to her knowledge. Harvey never even saw his own schedule, merely responded when Greta told him four or five times that someone super important was coming for an urgent meeting, she was bemused. The fact was, he dealt in the big picture, not the daily details. He hired people to deal with those. An army of vice presidents existed to handle inconvenient meetings. He only went in for the VIPs now.
Bella was starting to realize that she, at least, was not a VIP in Harvey’s eyes. She was a fuck buddy who had pissed him off once and for all. It was humbling, to say the least. His seeming nostalgia for their brief romance, his flirtation, his sexual prowess and his attentive behavior to her had been a lot more superficial to him than it was to her, she decided. She was probably convenient, and he knew she could easily be won over.
It made her wince to realize it, but for all she’d held out with her dull ex-boyfriend, she had been easy for Harvey Carlson to get. She’d practically humped his leg in the executive lounge, for heaven’s sake. They’d hooked up in cars and restaurants and on every surface in his office including up against the huge window as she looked down at the traffic, her hands braced on the glass. She bit down on her lip at the memory.
So much for being a mature woman and taking a lover. Now she was just a slutty single mom who was probably headed for family court over child custody. She wondered if her reckless behavior with Harvey could be used against her to make her look bad in front of a judge. Surely it would reflect poorly on Harvey as well, but since she was the primary caregiver, she would be the one to look irresponsible. Bella was ashamed of her behavior—like a wanton teenager rather than a dependable parent and poised executive.
After work, she rushed home to have dinner with the twins and practice their letter sounds with them and lose a few rounds of Operation—the buzzing sound always grated on her nerves, but it thrilled Caden. When she put them to bed, she fired up her laptop and started looking for a lawyer. Someone reputable, with good results. She read official websites as well as the poorly-spelled rancor of former clients in the forums. She couldn’t believe she was going to have to take this step, but by retaining a lawyer now, she might head off any surprise maneuver Harvey had in mind. She had to make time to answer a lot of intrusive personal questions about her life choices and sexual history ahead of time so she’d have a legal expert at the ready when she was served with the inevitable papers to for a court-ordered medical test to establish paternity.
The thought of having to take her babies into some clinic to have their cheeks swabbed made her ill. Even if she took them for ice cream afterward, they’d probably still remember it and ask her uncomfortable questions. Probably tell their classmates about having some lady wipe their mouth with a Q-tip to do a test. Then the teacher would realize that there was DNA testing going on, might even ask her about it.
Hell, the teacher might be called to testify to the physical and cognitive wellbeing of the children as well as their emotional and social adjustment. She cringed at the thought of a teacher saying things like, “the nanny picks them up from school every day” and “Caden only eats Lunchables and Fritos, so I can’t speak for the nutritional needs being met,” and “I’ve only seen her once, like I said, the nanny takes care of everything.”
Bella knew she was a good mom who’d do anything for her babies, even give up the love of her life. But she wasn’t sure that a judge would see it that way. Her recent behavior had been careless—the fling with Harvey, even continuing to work at his company. She didn’t know how to defend those choices from a place of strength. The truth was, she wanted to be happy. She wanted to be with Harvey and raise their children together. But she understood after the choice she’d made to run away and hide from him; he probably couldn’t forgive her, much less agree to that idyllic life she had in mind.
She had nodded off on the couch when her phone blasted to life. Harvey’s private number displayed on the screen, and she answered it, breathless.
“Yes?”
“We have to go to LA, now. Smith just pulled out of the deal.”
“What? It’s three a.m.! Everything was fine. Plus, I can’t exactly leave the children alone.”
“Call your nanny. Or a sitter.”
“It’s that simple, is it?” she said defensively, “I can’t leave them in the middle of the damn night and have them wake up with a sitter here, and mommy’s gone! It’s not like leaving a potted plant, Harvey.”
“Fine. We’ll leave in the morning. Be at the airfield at seven.”
“Thanks, Harvey,” she said. “I really appreciate the extra time to get ready.”
“I know we have personal problems, but we have to be on top of this.”
“Got it. Work first. But if you plan on not talking to me the entire time, just take somebody else.”
“I can’t. We need the best, and that’s you. See you bright and early.”
He hung up, but she couldn’t help but smile a tad. Here she was in his business world, and he just called her the best.
Chapter 8
Bella, and rushed to pick out a suit and pack a few things in a tote just in case an overnight was required. She didn’t want to lose this deal. In a way, it was something she and Harvey had accomplished together, and she was invested in its success personally. Also, the failure of this acquisition wouldn’t reflect well on her professionally.
Bella didn’t sleep. She had breakfast ready, and the twins’ clothes laid out by the time she woke them. She kissed their sleepy heads, washed their hands and faces, and explained she had to go to a meeting and would be home late tonight or tomorrow morning and that their nanny would take good care of them and she would Facetime with them after they got home from school. They took the news comfortably, and Corinne tried to extort the promise of a souvenir or present, but Bella laughed and said she wasn’t going on a vacation and the private airfield didn’t have a gift shop. But she would try and get her something at the hotel she stayed at.
After Maria had arrived, Bella drove across town to the terminal, wondering who else would be on the negotiating team to woo back the Smith and Gibbons faction. When she boarded the plane, she saw only Harvey, buckled into his seat already and clearly Skyping with someone on his phone. She settled in across the aisle and checked her email so she wouldn’t seem to be eavesdropping. He looked so damn handsome in that designer suit and his new haircut.
He was talking to Tim in legal and trying to determine a way they could force the acquisition based on papers that had already been signed. She listened with dismay. The way to the Smiths’ and G
ibbonses hearts wasn’t through legal maneuvers and acrimonious dealings. They were caring people concerned with the legacy they could leave the twin sons and godsons the couples shared. She shook her head. It also concerned her that his first instinct was to force them through the courts, not employ compassion and reason. The idea hit her too close to home.
When he was finally off the phone, she asked if anyone else was coming with them. He shook his head and went back to his phone, typing in some sort of message.
“Look, if you aren’t speaking to me, why did you want me to go?”
“Since I called you, I am obviously not refusing to speak to you. Since your previous involvement was instrumental in nailing down the initial agreement, I thought your presence might work to put them at ease. You seemed to have a rapport with them. Now I see why—you have parenthood in common,” he said bitterly.
There was nothing she could say to that without seeming inconsiderate or resentful, so she took the path of least resistance and said nothing.
“Your new job called me today,” he said. “Are you still going over there? They said you asked for an extension.”
“I’m not leaving until I finish this deal.”
“Am I that horrible to work for? I seem to remember all those years ago how much you enjoyed working for me.”
“That was light years ago. We have way too much baggage between us. I don’t think we should work at the same place. It’s just best that I work underneath a different boss.”
“I wish you all the best when you leave.”
“Thank you, Harvey. I really did enjoy working with you, but it’s time to move on.”
He nodded and went back to his phone.
She fell asleep during the flight and awoke when she heard the wheels hit land. Startled, she tried to tuck her hair behind her ears, swiped her fingers beneath her eyes to catch any mascara smudges. She didn’t like that she’d fallen asleep near him, been vulnerable, had found herself still comfortable enough to nod off. She thought she should have been on guard, more circumspect, although it was admittedly a little late for that now.