"Dude, Abby wants a mommy and to be a big sister!" I tell him, knowing that he is not going to laugh at me like Angela just did.
"Shit!" He says as his own face turns a shade of red.
"And maybe you should stop taking her to the market with you," I continue as I grab my jacket from the couch.
"Do I even want know why?" He asks.
"Because she overheard some woman saying her daddy is a one hot sa-ma-ma-bitch," I say the last part in a child's voice to drive my point home. Angela loses it, laughing so hard that tears start rolling down her face.
"Yeah, definitely never taking her with me again," Connor scowls.
"Don’t exaggerate," Angela says as her laughter tapers down a notch.
"You ready to get going?" I ask Connor.
"Yeah man, let’s get this night over and done with," he answers on sigh. "Thanks for babysitting sis," he says to Angela.
"Anytime, bro," she answers.
"See ya Ang," I greet as Connor and I make our way out.
"So, that woman that came in to your office today. Who is she?" I finally ask about towel girl, she has been on my mind since the first time she bumped into me.
"There were a lot of women going in and out my office today bro," he answers as the car's engine comes to life.
"You know, the tall one with the plump full lips, brunette, big blue eyes with a body to fucking die for who was wearing a black skirt, beige blouse and those fuck me beige heels," I say, trying my best to describe how she was this morning and not last night in that towel that barely covered her wet, sexy as hell body.
"This morning?" He asks.
"Yeah man, the one with the sad eyes. I think Sunette said her name is Parker?" I say.
"Oh yeah. Nicole Parker, she will be the new marketing director "
"I see," I say. Nicole Parker, eh? I can finally put a name to the sad looking woman that has been on my mind for the past two days.
"Any particular reason why you paid so much attention to her?" Connor asks as he turns a corner.
"I didn’t pay any attention to her, I was just wondering," I lie. I was totally paying way more attention to her than I normally do any woman.
"Mace, you just described every single thing about her, you even noticed that she had sad eyes," he persists.
"So, how long will this dinner be?" I ask instead of commenting on his spot-on assessment.
He chuckles at my obvious change of subject. "Nah, we can just show our faces then leave," he says.
"I don’t get why I also have to be there, I mean these are your employees," I tell him because I would rather be at home watching the game right now instead of being at a damn company dinner.
"Well I need you to be my wingman," he laughs.
"Dick," I say.
"Come on, I'm sure it won't be that that bad," he says when we pull over at the restaurant. We walk in to find everyone already there and waiting. Great, let’s get this night started.
After an hour of chit chat around the table and women ogling me and my brother shamelessly, I'm bored out of my damn mind and more than ready to get the hell out of here.
"Okay, I've shown my face, now I'm ready to go," I tell my brother who, by the looks of it is starting to enjoy himself.
"I don’t think you are going to want to leave after what I'm about to do," he says, smiling at me like he has a secret.
"What?" I'm confused.
"Hey, Miss Parker," he says, his eyes glued behind me.
The fuck?
"Mr. Maynard, good evening," a feminine voice says and my head spins around to see if it really is her.
"Would you like to join us, this is just a monthly company dinner and seeing that you will be joining the team on Monday, it might be a good way to meet everyone." Connor tells her.
I study her closely, she has exchanged the black skirt for light blue jeans but kept the rest of her earlier attire.
"Thank you sir, but I can't," she declines politely.
"Why not, are you here with someone?" I ask before I can stop myself.
Her eyes land on me and a light blush creeps up her cheeks, causing me to smile. I wonder if she's thinking about how she was checking out my shirtless body last night.
"No, I just wouldn’t be comfortable seeing that I am not officially part of the team just yet," she says looking back to my brother.
"I like your honesty," Connor tells her.
"Have a good night sir," she says in response before turning to leave.
I watch her... Okay, I watch her ass as she walks to a table and takes a seat. A waiter immediately presents her with a menu and I watch as they exchange words.
"You're drooling all over the table bro," Connor snaps me out of my staring.
"I don’t know what you are talking about," he laughs at my blatant obvious lie.
"So, you ready to get out of here?" I can hear the mock in his question.
I take one more look at the brunette piece of hotness across the room and decide I should just leave her alone. Her eyes are filled with unmistakable heartache and I don’t need that kind of stress in my life.
"Nah, I think I'll stay a while. I'll grab a cab home," I tell my brother, completely contradicting my thoughts as I stand to make my way to her table.
"Thought so," he laughs and I flip him off over my shoulder.
"Hi," I say when I reach her table. She looks up startled and as soon as her eyes land on me she blushes again.
"Hi," she replies, looking confused.
"I thought maybe I should come and properly introduce myself, seeing as you have bumped into me a couple of times," I say watching as her face gets redder with each word coming from my mouth.
"I'm Nikki and I'm so sorry," She says.
Well my approach might not be original but it seems to have worked.
"Mace," I say extending my hand to her. I ignore the slight electrical shock that shoots up my arm when she places her soft, smaller hand in mine and shakes it.
Fuck, what the hell was that? Did she feel it too?
"Can I join you," I ask.
"I..." Her forehead creases from an adorable frown as she lets her word hang between us like a grey cloud.
Fuck, she is going to blow me off!
She sighs. "Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t hurt if you did," she says motioning for me to take the seat opposite hers.
"So, Connor tells me you are going to be the new marketing director at the company," I say as way of starting a conversation.
"Yes," she answers. She looks so nervous right now, it makes me wonder if she isn't used to men paying her any attention, which I seriously doubt because this woman is absolutely fucking gorgeous.
"You work there too?" She asks before biting down on her dark pink bottom lip.
"No, I don’t work there," She frowns at my answer and I notice the cute V that forms between her eyes. "And that look, were you hoping that I was?" This time she blushes.
"I just thought you work there seeing that I bumped into you there and tonight you are here with the staff," she says frowning again like something else just crossed her mind.
"Connor bullied me into coming tonight and as for this morning, I just went to drop a few things off."
"I see," she says.
The waiter comes back to take her order. He frowns when he sees me sitting with her. He looks from me to her in quick succession before clearing his throat.
"I'm sorry, can I bring you a menu Mr. Maynard? I was not aware that you were dining with the lady," He says. I can see him struggling not to frown again.
What the hell is his problem? Does he have his eye on Nicole?
"That’s okay," I tell him. "What will you have Nikki," I ask her, deciding to ignore the waiter's frowning.
"I'll have the steak, well done, with roasted Garlic and cilantro butter," her eyes widen almost immediately after placing her order. "On second thought, I'll have the steak, well done, baked potatoes with sour cream and a side veg, please," she says.
&nb
sp; "Mr. Maynard?" The waiter asks when he finishes writing her order, luckily I never ordered anything to eat while at the company dinner and thank the fucking stars above that I only had a few glasses of wine, not enough to get me drunk. Otherwise this would have gone way different as drunk me has no fucking filter to speak of.
"I'll just have the same as Miss Parker but I’ll have my steak medium rare and bring us a bottle of Borsao Tres Picos Garnacha 2013." The waiter writes everything down and turns to leave.
"You eat your steak well done, where are you from woman?" I ask shocked. You do not eat steak well done, everyone knows a steak is best medium rare.
She rolls her eyes before answering. "Yes, I like my food to be well done. I'm from Erendale but that has got nothing to do with how I eat my steak." She bites.
Whoa, Miss Parker has got some claws. I like!
"Sorry," I smile.
"So, you are a regular here?" She asks.
"You could say that, why?"
"Well the waiter just called you by name," she says. "Speaking of which, you are also Maynard?" She asks.
My smile broadens. "Yeah, Connor is my big brother." I answer her, omitting that I'm actually the owner of this restaurant and that is why the staff know me and I don’t even mention the fact that I'm the owner of the hotel she lives in too. The reason I was in her room the night before is because I sometimes fix shit myself, and I was told that the lights in that room where flickering something crazy. When I went in, my mind was on the blonde haired, blue eyed woman who bumped into me earlier. I couldn’t get the fact that tears filled her eyes when she almost fell. And thus, I didn’t register that there was someone in the bathroom taking a shower.
"Oh,"
Our food arrives and we eat in silence. I have noticed that ever since I joined her, she hasn’t smiled. Not even once, and for some reason I feel like I need to make her smile or laugh. But that means I'll have to get to know her.
"So, what made you want to make the big move?" I ask when we've finished eating.
"I guess I just needed a new start," she replied, averting those big beautiful eyes from mine. Well then, I guess she doesn’t really want to talk about it.
"Thank you for joining me but I've got to go," she says as she signals for the waiter to bring the bill.
Fuck, my question must have scared her off.
"It was my pleasure." I tell her. "Can I see you again?" At this, she frowns as if she is confused.
"I-"
"Think about it," I cut her off because I know for a fact that she was about to turn me down.
She doesn’t say anything as the waiter arrives with the bill, giving it to me instead of her. She tries to reach for it but I hold it out of her reach.
"I got this," I tell her.
"I'll pay half of it. How much is it?" She asks. What in actual fuck, she doesn’t really expect me to let her pay, does she.
"Don’t worry about it," I insist.
"But-"
"Tell you what, if we end up dining again, I'll let you pay." I lie, hoping that she drops this. I'm a man who pays for the fucking dinner at the end of a date, well this might have not been a date but to-may-to to-fucking-mah-to.
"O-kay," she reluctantly drawls as she stands.
"Goodnight Mace," she says before walking away.
The sound of my name rolling off her tongue makes me forget my recent annoyance with the fact she wanted to pay for dinner and instead takes my mind to a place it shouldn’t be going. It makes me imagine her screaming my name in pleasure.
I curse the bulge forming in my pants. Shit, this has never happened before. I better get ahold of myself if I want to be her friend and get to know her better so that I can learn how to provoke a smile from her. I'm sure there is a beautiful smile hiding underneath all that seriousness on that gorgeous face.
CHAPTER FOUR
NICOLE
I'm lying on my bed reading through the contract my soon to be boss gave me when my phone starts ringing. I grab it and see that it’s my mother.
"Hi, ma." I answer.
"Hello honey, how are you doing? How did your interview go? Are the people nice to you?" She bombards me with questions.
She's asking all this like I'm a fifteen-year-old who's away from home for the first time. And that is definitely not the case, I am a twenty-six-year old full grown woman who is fully capable of taking care of herself, but the way my parents treat me sometimes, one could never tell.
"I'm okay ma, and the interview went great, I actually got the job," I tell her rolling on my back to look at the ceiling.
"Oh, that's great news honey," she says, trying but failing to sound enthusiastic. Well she gets an A for at least trying.
I know my mother was hoping I would stay in my hometown forever, and I was planning to but after what happened, I just needed a new start. A new life, away from all things that will remind me of the worst day of my life.
"Yeah ma, so you and dad can go ahead and sell my house," I tell her.
"Okay honey," she replies.
"What did she say?" I hear my father ask in the background.
"She got the job," I hear my mother's reply.
"That's great pumpkin!" My dad speaks a bit louder so that I can hear. And unlike my mom, he genuinely sounds happy that I got this job. "I'll start making calls about your house early in the morning," he continues. He must have taken the phone from my mother because now I can hear him clearer.
"Thanks dad," I say. "I need to go, talk again soon. Love you both," I say when someone knocks on my hotel room door.
I'm still new around here and don’t know anyone, so I'm confused as to who would be knocking at my door at this time of the night.
"Good evening Miss Parker," the bell man from yesterday says when I swing the door open. The single rose in his hands causes me to frown.
"I'm sorry to bother you so late Miss, but I was told to give you this," he says, handing me the dark red rose and a piece of paper.
"Who's this from," I ask, hoping that the rose is not from him. Don’t get me wrong, this guy is hot but I'm just not interested. I'm not interested in any man actually.
"The note will explain. Have a good night Miss," he says as he turns and walks away. I proceed to close my door and unfold the piece of paper that came with the rose.
An unexpected smile tugs at my lips when I read the note;
Thank you for letting me dine with you tonight
Mace
I sigh as I hunt for something that could work as a small vase. I didn’t really want Mace to join me tonight but I just didn’t want to seem like the new rude woman in town seeing that I had already turned down his brother's... my soon to be boss's invitation. And because he brought up the fact that I literally bumped into him more than once, I felt inclined to agree.
The dinner went well until he asked me why I decided to move here. It’s a question I knew would come from someone at some point but I just wasn’t ready for it so soon.
He said that he wanted to spend more time with me and I don’t think I will be allowing myself to do that. He looks like a guy I might get attached to and I've made a promise to myself to stay away from men and all relationships. I refuse to get hurt again. Whether you are in a romantic relationship or a friendship, people will rip your heart out while laughing out loud.
With that, I decide to stop thinking about Mace and finish reading through the contract and then look online if there are any affordable houses in the area.
I got burnt once, I'm not about to let it happen again. Ever.
For the first time in what feels like forever, I wake up happy and rejuvenated, ready for the day ahead. I'm ready to make this whole new beginning thing work. I mentally start ticking off the things on my to do list for today. First, I have to go drop off the signed contract at Maynard Inc, go shopping for more clothes as I only packed enough clothes for three days and then roam the internet for houses for sale.
I hop out of bed, make my way
to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a shower, all the while humming a made-up song and dancing to it.
Thirty minutes later and I'm all dressed and ready to go. I grab my laptop bag where both my laptop and the signed contract is neatly packed and my purse. I decide that I can't start my day without a decent cup of coffee and some breakfast so I walk past my car and make a detour to the coffee shop next to the hotel.
I order a coffee and a blueberry muffin. I take out my laptop and fire it up when I notice the sign saying that there is Wi-Fi in shop. I open the search engine and start searching for property in the area. One house in particular catches my eye. It says that it’s a three bedroom with one bedroom having an en suite bathroom, bathroom, open plan living dining area, kitchen and one car garage.
It sounds perfect for me so I dial the number given on the ad and contact the agent. Five minutes later, I'm done talking to the agent whose name is Frank and he told me that he can show me the house tomorrow.
If I wasn’t going to look like a complete crazy, I would totally fist-bump myself right now. It’s not even eleven AM yet and I have managed to find a house.
I start humming my made-up song again as I finish my muffin and coffee.
Things are starting to look up, operation start a new life has taken off with a bang!
CHAPTER FIVE
MACE
I'm sitting in a meeting with my team, discussing expanding my hotel franchise when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I take it out to see a text from my brother.
Connor: Did you get laid little bro?
I roll my eyes and decide to ignore his message. A few minutes after I've put my phone back into my pocket, it vibrates again and I can't resist checking it. This time it’s my sister.
Ang: Connor tells me you found yourself a girl!
This time I inwardly groan. Why do I have to have such nosy fucking siblings? My phone vibrates again with a text from Connor.
Connor: I'll take your silence as your confirmation that you didn’t.
This time I decide to reply. If I don’t then he will be blowing up my phone the whole fucking day. Sometimes I wonder who runs his business for him if he has all this time to text.
Healing Nicole Page 3