I hadn’t become a homebody or anything, but I was just a lot more selective about how I spent my time now and who I spent it with. Instead of chasing a good time with a bottle in my hand, I’d slowed down and started to appreciate the beauty and rich culture in the beautiful city I called home. My girlfriends claimed I was getting old, but I preferred to believe I was finally growing up.
“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching over the past year. I considered all the reasons I haven’t been able to have a real relationship since college, and I realized if I was ever going to put myself out there for a man, it should be Chase.”
I’d filled my sister in on the guy who’d used me in college to try to get a position with our father’s company, but she thought I was being a coward for using that as an excuse not to try again. Turned out she was right. I’d lost the best thing that had ever happened to me because I was running scared.
“I’ve been telling you that all along,” Kara said, rolling her eyes. “I’m glad you finally came to your senses. Not all guys care about our trust funds. Some guys, like Dustin and Chase, are more interested in making it on their own than cashing in on someone else’s hard work.”
The fact that Chase had made it on his own was one of the things I loved and admired most about him. His father had been a construction worker, and Chase had learned the business from the ground up by working with his dad every summer. Now he owned the largest commercial construction company in the state and took care of his parents.
“You know that was wasn’t the real reason I was afraid to go all in with Chase.”
“It was because of his girls.” Kara took a deep breath.
“What?” I frowned, getting the sense she was holding back.
“Seems they’ve been giving him a bit of a hard time since he got custody.”
“What do you mean?”
Since Chase and I had kept our distance, I could only glean information about him from my siblings, but I didn’t want to seem obsessed by asking about him every time we talked. All I knew was that he was still single, and that was the most important factor in my mind. The rest of our obstacles, I was determined to overcome.
“I guess they miss their mom,” Kara said, placing her hand over her stomach. “She may not have been perfect, but she was their mom. I think they’re lashing out at Chase for taking them away from her, and they’re mad at her for not being the kind of mom the rest of their friends have…” She shook her head. “It’s just a messy situation. He has a lot going on.”
“But the girls still see her though, right?” Chase wasn’t the kind of guy who would keep his kids from their mother, no matter how angry he may have been with her.
“They have supervised visitation with her every other weekend, but she’s bitter after the whole custody battle. Her alimony was cut in half, and of course her child support was cut off. She had to move from that big fancy house into an apartment, and let’s just say she’s not too happy about it.”
“I guess not.” I’d never met Chase’s ex-wife, but based on what he’d told me, she was a materialistic person who’d encouraged him to work hard so she could have the finer things in life. “But why supervised visitation?”
“A lot of things turned up during the custody battle. Chase felt his daughters may be at risk with her, so he had a detective follow Karen to make sure she wasn’t doing anything that would jeopardize their safety. Turns out she left them alone while they were sleeping a couple of times so she could go out drinking with her friends.”
My jaw dropped as I imagined how Chase had reacted to that news. “Are you serious? But I don’t get it. They had the money. Why not just get a nanny?”
“Apparently her lawyer told her it could hurt her case, make it look like she wasn’t making her kids a priority, since she was supposed to be a stay-at-home mom. I suspect it also had something to do with the fact that the nanny’s wages would have come out of her alimony check and she wasn’t willing to share.”
“Sounds like the kids have been through a lot.” First their parents’ divorce, then being shuffled from one home to another. “They’re only five and six, right?”
Kara nodded. “Babies, really. And I can’t imagine how difficult it is for a big, tough guy like Chase to handle two spoiled prima donnas.”
We shared a smile. I suspected our father would have referred to us the same way when we were their age.
“So how is he handling it?” I wondered what I could do to alleviate some of his stress. He was such a good man, and I hated to think of his life in turmoil, especially since he was only trying to do what he thought was best for his kids.
“Well, his parents have been a huge help with the kids and have done their best to mediate any conflicts. Thankfully Elsie and Emily adore their nana and papa. I know they sleep over there a lot when Chase is working late or whatever, but they’re in their seventies. Chase worries it’s too much of a burden to place on them.”
“I can imagine.” Getting closer to Chase would mean developing a relationship with his daughters, and I couldn’t imagine how they would respond to me if they were having trouble with their father.
“Anyhow,” Kara said, “I’m sure he’ll figure things out. They just need a little more time to adjust to all the changes.”
Which meant developing a relationship would be at the bottom of Chase’s priority list right now. It was disappointing, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be his friend and hope that it evolved into more when the time was right. “I guess you’re right.”
“Have you decided what you’re going to do about a job?” Kara asked.
My sister knew I was a workaholic. I hadn’t been without a job since I was seventeen, so I couldn’t pretend I was taking some time to figure things out. She would never buy that.
“This is going to sound even crazier than the house thing,” I said, rubbing my temple as I prepared for her lecture. “Chase’s company hired me. Only he doesn’t know about it yet.”
“What?” Kara shrieked, inching back on the couch. “How is that even possible?”
I shrugged, thinking it wasn’t as ludicrous as she made it sound. Oh hell, who was I kidding? Yes, it was. I bit my lip, thinking about how easily things had come together for me, almost as though they were meant to be. “I noticed a posting on their website for a project manager, and that’s when my plan started to take shape. I emailed my resume to his human resources manager, and she called me the same day because, let’s face it, I have a lot of experience in commercial construction projects, right?”
Kara nodded vigorously, rolling her hand. “And? Did you tell her about your relationship with Chase?”
“No, of course not. I couldn’t.” Nor could I risk crossing paths with him if I came in for an interview. “I told her since I lived in Chicago, it would be difficult for me to manage face-to-face interviews, so I suggested we Skype instead.”
“And she went for it?” Kara asked, sounding incredulous.
“Yeah, it wasn’t the first time they’d hired a qualified candidate from out of town that way.”
“So let me get this straight,” Kara said, raising her hand as she shook her head. “You’re not only living near Chase, but you’re working for him too? And he doesn’t know?”
“Living across the street from him actually.” I blushed when Kara stared at me as though she was waiting for me to tell her I was just kidding. “What? The house is great. Sure, it needs some minor cosmetic updates, but—”
“This is the craziest thing you’ve ever done,” Kara said, covering her face with her hands. “I’ve always known you’re not afraid of change and you embrace risk, but come on, sis, this is just…”
“I know.” From her perspective, it must have seemed as if I’d taken a break from reality, but I honestly felt more centered and grounded than I had in a long time. “But this just feels right. Remember when I told you Chase said he was falling in love with me but I couldn’t say it back?”
Kara no
dded. “Yeah, it was that night you spent together in the hotel, right? That’s when you decided to go back to Chicago because you realized you could never give Chase what he needed.”
“Yeah, well, the problem wasn’t that I wasn’t in love with him.” Before she could interject, I said, “I know that’s the way I made it sound, but I was in love with him. I knew that even then. I just didn’t think I could be what he needed me to be.”
“I don’t follow.”
“When he talked to me about his ex, I saw so many similarities between us that it kind of scared me, to be honest.”
Kara scowled. “From what I’ve heard, she’s a selfish bitch who puts herself above her kids. You would never do that.”
I appreciated my sister’s faith in me, but I’d had to do a lot of soul-searching before I could be sure. “I loved him too much to take him on another emotional roller coaster ride the way she did. I had to go home and figure things out before I could say for sure that I was willing to go all in with him.”
“Now you can say that without a doubt?”
“I can.”
Kara squealed before pulling me into her arms. “I’m so happy! You have no idea how long I’ve been hoping you guys would work things out.”
“Then you think he’d be willing to give me another chance?”
Kara looked thoughtful before her face broke out in a wide grin. “I think he’s going to make you work for it, but that’s half the fun, right?”
That wicked gleam in her eye told me it was time to put on my big girl panties ‘cause I was about to embark on a wild ride.
Chapter Two
Chase
Since it was Monday morning, I should have been well-rested and ready to tackle the challenges of a new work week, but Elsie and Emily had put me through the emotional wringer with their temper tantrums all weekend. I just wanted to go home, fall into bed, pull the covers over my head, and forget that hundreds of people relied on me to put food on their table.
My human resources manager, Wendy, popped her head in my office door. “Chase, can I have a word with you? It won’t take long. I have a new project manager I want you to meet with in a bit, and I thought I’d fill you in about her first.”
I wasn’t in the mood to hear about someone else we’d added to the growing roster of people we needed to keep up with the demands for our services, but Wendy was one of my most valued employees—and she reminded me just a little bit of my mother—so I couldn’t take my bad mood out on her. “Sure, come on in.”
She offered me a sympathetic smile. “Rough weekend?”
I scraped a hand over my face, sighing. “Is it that obvious?”
“To someone with three children and six grandchildren, it is.”
“How did you and Randy do it? Most days I feel like pulling my hair out trying to manage two of them.” My daughters were my world, but some days they didn’t make it easy to love them.
“We worked as a team. If you’d married a woman you could’ve counted on instead of that—” She clamped her lips firmly shut, and I smiled.
Few people would have dared remind me of the biggest mistake I’d ever made, but Wendy had been with me since day one, ten years ago, so I gave her a lot of freedom. “Can’t change the past, Wen. I can only move forward, right?”
“Speaking of moving forward…” She slid a nondescript folder across the desk. “My new hire.”
I opened the folder and was stunned when I saw Catia’s name at the top of the resume. A distinctly familiar address was listed on the attached forms. “What the hell? You hired Catia Starkis without talking to me? Why would she want a job working for me? She works for her father.”
Wendy shrugged, obviously trying to look innocent. “All I know is she was the most qualified person for the job, boss.”
I didn’t believe her for a second. Sure, Catia may have been the most qualified candidate, but I didn’t believe that was the only reason Wendy had hired her. Wendy knew that we’d worked together on the restaurant and I’d been a mess when she left town.
I tried to process what I was reading. Not only was she working for me, she was now living across the street from me? Since when? I racked my brain, trying to remember if I’d seen a sold sign on the Parkers’ old house when I drove by that morning. I didn’t think so. As far as I knew, it had been vacant since Mr. Parker was transferred to Connecticut last month.
“I don’t believe this.” The last thing I needed right now was Catia sweeping into my life, creating more drama. I got enough of that from my kids. I swiped a hand over my hair. “What kind of game is she playing?”
I remembered all too well the night we’d spent together, when I told her I was falling in love with her and she told me good-bye. I still got a pit in my stomach every time I thought about it. And whenever my friends asked me why I wasn’t dating, I recalled that moment, knowing it had changed me more than my divorce.
“I don’t think she’s playing games,” Wendy said gently, drawing my attention back to the present. “I asked all the right questions just to be sure, and she seems intent on making this her home base for the foreseeable future.”
“Why?” If she was ready to start over somewhere else, she had a standing offer to join Kara, Darius, and Dustin, so why get hired on by my company when she could have been a partner with them? “Cat isn’t used to taking orders from anyone. She’ll be a lousy employee, you know.”
Wendy chuckled. “She did seem a little headstrong, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Especially since she’ll be dealing with a bunch of stubborn men all day. In fact, I think it’s practically a prerequisite.”
She had a point. “I can’t do this today,” I said, closing my eyes. “I don’t think I can see her. Not now.”
Just the thought of seeing Catia again reopened old wounds that had never really healed. The few times I’d seen her since she abandoned me and the project we’d been working on, I’d shut her down when she tried to talk to me, convinced it was the only way to protect myself. But how the hell was I supposed to protect myself now that she’d infiltrated every part of my life?
“I’ve never known you to run away from anything,” Wendy said softly. “You’re the one who’s all for tackling a challenge head on.”
“This is different.” Business problems I could handle, but this was intensely personal.
“So what do you want me to do?” Wendy folded her arms and looked down her nose at me over her dark-rimmed glasses, shaking her head slightly to let me know she wasn’t impressed. “Tell her she can’t work here after all? The poor girl has bought a house and everything,” she said, sounding even more irritated.
“Hey, don’t blame this on me,” I said defensively. “If anyone should be pissed, it’s me. She applied for a job here knowing this is the last place I would want her to work, and you hired her knowing I wouldn’t have. As far as I’m concerned, you two can share the blame for this mess.”
“Fine, if you don’t want her, you tell her,” Wendy said, standing.
“Excuse me?” I asked, tipping my swivel chair forward. I gave Wendy a long leash, but if she wasn’t careful, she was going to hang herself with it. “I thought hiring and firing people was your job. Since you hired her, you can damn well fire her.”
Wendy glared at me as she paused at the door. “Fine, I’ll just invite her in and let you watch me fire her.”
“Goddammit, Wendy,” I said, slamming my hand on the desk. “Just get her in here. Go back to your office. I’ll deal with Catia.”
As Wendy tried to hide her triumphant smile, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I didn’t know why I was nervous. If anyone should have been on edge, it was Catia.
I swallowed convulsively when I looked up and saw Catia standing in my doorway. She was wearing a tight black suit with a short skirt and blazer covering what appeared to be a shimmery black tank. In what universe was that appropriate office attire, especially for a woman working on construction sites? If she eve
r wore that to a job, half the guys would stroke out.
I glanced down to see her four-inch spiked heels and muttered, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Hi, Chase,” she said, dipping her head. Her long dark hair fell forward, partially covering her face, and I realized she was more nervous than I’d ever seen her. Apparently Miss Calm, Cool, and Collected was worried about getting tossed out on her perfect little derriere.
Just thinking about how perfect her body was, how it aligned with mine as though we had been made for each other, made me shift in my seat, trying to find a more comfortable spot. “Come in.” I gestured to the chair across from mine. “And close the door behind you.”
She did as I asked, setting her huge designer purse in the seat next to her before crossing her bare legs. “I guess you’re wondering what I’m up to, huh?”
“In deference to your sister and brother, I’m trying really hard to keep my temper in check, but you better start talking. Tell me how the hell you wormed your way into my company and why you thought that would be a good idea.” I’d deal with her house purchase later, when I figured out what her angle was.
Her gaze met mine and held as she lifted her chin. “You know I’m good at what I do. You should be happy to have me on board.”
She was one of the best project managers I’d ever worked with. Any company in the city would have been happy to have her, which begged the question, why mine? “That’s not the point, and you know it. Why are you here? I thought you were so happy living in Chicago. That is why you went back, isn’t it?”
“I went back because I was confused about a lot of things. Being there helped me gain the clarity I needed.”
I wanted to know what the hell that meant, but I was determined to stay focused on my work, and I suspected she’d had revelations of a personal nature. Like a child, I wanted to tell her, “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.” “Why not go to work with your siblings?”
Looking thoughtful, she asked, “What is it they say about working with family? It’s never a good idea.”
Catia (Starkis Family #6) Page 2