Ronnie closed the paper and leaned back against the headboard. Was Linette Laney his girlfriend? Why else would she be standing in such close proximity to him if she wasn’t? Even though there was another person in the picture, the two of them looked like a couple.
Ronnie’s phone rang at that moment. She rubbed her nose, sniffed and answered.
“Hello.”
“Ronnie,” said Giorgio in that Italian voice that came over like a low growl, “How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said forcing a cheerful tone into her voice.
“I called to invite you to test drive the Ferrari 488 GTB with me today. Remember, you promised me you would do me the honor. It’s been three months.”
Ronnie laughed and shook her head. Giorgio was nothing if not persistent.
For three months he had called her every week to invite her out. She had kept putting him off, telling him she was busy. For some puzzling reason, she had never told him no. He was just so sweet and charming, and their chats never failed to bring a smile to her face. And if she was honest with herself his attention was flattering, particularly since the man she was interested in never gave her the time of day.
“Giorgio…”
“Ronnie, this is an incredible opportunity. I am free this afternoon. I can be outside your building in fifteen minutes flat. This will give you enough time to dress for the drive. Oh, and tie back your hair. We’ll drive with the windows down. It is the best way to experience our 488 GTB.”
Ronnie decided to go out with Giorgio that afternoon. Anything to take her mind off David Jones.
“We’ll need a wide open stretch of road, Giorgio.”
“Bella, I know just the place. Leave it to me.”
~*~*~*~
David was physically tired, but emotionally he was feeling better than he had a week ago on the day of the photo shoot. The prayers had helped. He had achieved clarity and direction. Conscious that he could not do it all, he had met with his cousin Michael about assuming more responsibility at the company.
Michael, in his early forties, was the son of David’s father’s older brother, Harry. He headed the property law section, a place where his strength seemed to shine. He was a wealth of information when it came to those types of matters. He and David had always gotten along well. David acknowledged that while he may not have been the best of the litter among the senior partners, he had two things going for him that the others didn’t. First, he was family and Jones Law was a family business so it was proper that it should be managed by a family member. Second, David knew he could trust Michael implicitly.
Though almost a decade older than David, they had always gotten along well. Michael had never expressed any resentment that David had assumed headship of the company, even though he had been there first. He had welcomed him to the position as though he was the long-awaited king. He was impartial, objective, and honest – a good sounding board for David’s ideas.
In briefing Michael, David had told him he would continue to oversee the M&A. His decision had less to do with the fact that it was their biggest project, as Michael might have assumed, than Ronnie being the project manager. David had promised he would not abandon her and he kept his promises. Even though he had been very busy in the last few weeks, that hadn’t prevented him from checking in with her once a week to get a status update and offer guidance and support.
In addition to delegating more duties to Michael, David had also taken a leave of absence from the university for that semester as well as a break from his duties as youth choir director until after the election.
After all those decisions, he’d felt as though a load had been instantly lifted off his shoulders.
David arrived at the office to do a couple of hours of work before a lunch meeting. Instead of taking his personal elevator, he took the general elevator to drop by Ronnie’s cubicle first and let her in on the changes he had made following her intervention.
That was when he saw the large bouquet of flowers on her desk with the gift tag sticking out on the top.
They were all he could see!
David looked around for Ronnie but couldn’t find her. Then he heard a rustling coming from beneath her desk. He walked over to it and saw her backside sticking out. She appeared to be searching for something.
“Hi there,” he said.
“Hi,” came a muffled voice.
“Nice flowers,” he commented.
“Thanks.”
“What’s the occasion?”
He knew it wasn’t her birthday, he had already memorized the date.
“There isn’t any.”
“Who are they from?”
He couldn’t help asking even though it wasn’t any of his business.
“Giorgio.”
“Fabrizi?”
“Uh huh. I think he’s trying to woo me.”
“You don’t say.”
Good thing she couldn’t see his face. David was sure there was steam coming from his ears.
She gave a laugh.
“Yeah, he proposed to me…”
“He what!”
“…that I test drive the new Ferrari.”
Ronnie climbed out from under the desk and held up an earring triumphantly.
“Ah hah! Found it! What was I saying? Oh, yeah. He’s been asking for months that I allow him to take me out and test-drive the new Ferrari and then have dinner with him. I kept turning him down. But he was relentless. I guess that’s why he’s a car salesman right?”
David stayed silent as he tried to control his breathing.
“Anyway, I finally agreed. I test drove the Ferrari this weekend. It was amazing. Exhilarating. Afterward, we went out to dinner. His flowers are his way of saying thank you, I guess.”
David struggled to take this news in stride and not over-react. Why had he even introduced Ronnie to Giorgio? He hadn’t thought it would lead to this. That was why. Now he realized what a fool he had been. Giorgio had a reputation as a ladies’ man, and Ronnie was a beautiful woman. It had been like leaving a jar of honey out for a hungry bear to find.
“I’ll take care of it,’ he said shortly, already reaching for his phone to dial Giorgio up.
“Wait!”
David stopped and looked at Ronnie in surprise.
She quickly got up from behind her desk and came over to him.
“Take care of what?”
“You just said he’s bothering you. I’m the one who introduced you. This is my fault. I’ll fix it.”
“When did I say he was bothering me?”
“Oh, so you enjoy being chased by him?”
“And what if I do? How is that any of your business?”
“It’s my business because I care about you and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“How noble. But I’m a big girl. I can handle Giorgio.”
“You’re naïve if you think you can handle Giorgio Fabrizi.”
Stiffening her back, Ronnie drew herself up to her full height and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Naïve, huh?”
“This is just a game to a guy like him. That’s all I’m saying.”
“So you’re suggesting he couldn’t be seriously interested in me.”
“I didn’t say that. I didn’t mean that. I just know his type. He’s interested in having a good time and moving on. I don’t believe that’s what you want. I’m just going to tell him to back off. I think it’s for the best.”
“You think it’s for the best? You’re my boss. Not my father. I will deal with this myself.”
“Ronnie…”
“Mr. Jones, I wasn’t asking.”
She stared at him with eyes like flint.
‘Mr. Jones’ huh? Okay, he could take a hint. Let her go ahead and get entangled with Giorgio. See if he cared.
He took a step backward and held up his hands.
“Suit yourself, Miz Dickson.”
He turned to go into his office and then thou
ght of something and stopped. He swung around to face her.
“Just so you know, though, relationships between employees and clients are strongly discouraged.”
He walked into his office and slammed the door. Not on purpose, of course, that would have been childish, it just slipped as he was closing it.
~*~*~*~
Slam dunk.
David was really working up a sweat that Saturday morning. His workout partner, Kirt Brown, a running back with the Chicago Bears, had just begun football season and would basically be unavailable for the next five months. At times like these, and those when Kirt attended training camp for the two months preceding the season, David worked out solo in his home gym or outdoors; like now, when he was engaged in shooting some hoops in the backyard of his home at Lakeshore Drive.
Backyard was really too ordinary a word to describe the outdoor oasis that represented the area behind his house. It had begun as a bet with Kirt about three years ago when Kirt had totally dismissed his backyard as being uninspired and dreary. David had challenged Kirt there and then that by the end of that year his backyard would be something to behold. He had immediately gone to work enlisting the services of a landscape architect. Together they had created a backyard that was now the envy of all his friends and associates.
Being a sports enthusiast, a well-manicured lawn for playing football with his friends featured prominently. It was flanked by a plethora of trees, shrubs and flowers, a 100-foot lap pool, a 60-foot diving pool and a tennis/basketball court. Benches and fountains were strategically placed. There was even a duck pond.
David’s backyard was his pride and joy, maintained by his gardener, a 60-year Mexican gardener/genius, Juan Carlos, and his two assistants.
Any conversation about where to host whatever function usually concluded with him offering up his backyard. It was worth the inconvenience just to see the jaws of his guests drop as they walked through his gardens.
This desire to show-off had its downside though.
The last church social he had so graciously agreed to host in his backyard had culminated with one Linette Laney falling in love with his house and its environs. It made for an awkward evening when she didn’t seem to want to leave. He had pleaded fatigue in the end and shown her the door.
Linette was sweet, and he liked her as a friend, but he was not interested in her romantically. Any initial feelings of interest had gradually dissipated as his feelings for Ronnie had grown. He had been avoiding Linette. He was never available for dates, which was fairly easy given the number of engagements he had. Interestingly enough, Linette seemed to have switched tactics. Instead of inviting him out she had recently shown up at two events to ‘support him’ as she had put it.
David shook his head. He had hoped she would have moved on, but instead, she was now stalking him. He could see that he needed to come right out and speak to her frankly. Let her be clear that he wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship. He was not looking forward to that conversation. The last time he ended a relationship with a woman the drama that ensued could fill a full season of The Bold and The Beautiful.
David grimaced at the memory as he raced around the court. Not that he’d ever said anything to Linette to suggest that there was any future for them, but one never knew with women. They could be so unpredictable and irrational. Take Ronnie Dickson, for example. Who would have thought that a sensible girl like her would have allowed herself to fall for Fabrizi’s slick charm? He was sure she would have been more discerning. See past the good looks, and Italian suits, and fast cars, and fancy restaurants and flowers. She deserved better, someone sincere, who saw her as more than a beautiful face and a great body, someone who wanted her for more than just his bed, who saw how amazing she was, how smart and talented and caring. Someone like…
David stopped dead on the court to catch his breath as he realized what he was doing. He wanted to be that someone. And that was crazy because he couldn’t date Ronnie. Could he?
David shook his head and resumed play. He was well and truly a goner.
Shoot. Score!
“Lord, I really need your help. My feelings for this woman are getting out of control. They are clouding my judgment. I know I brought this on myself. Having her assigned to me was a foolish, dangerous move and now I’m paying the price. I was so convinced I could control my attraction for her. Instead, it has intensified. It’s now more than mere attraction. And that’s what makes it so dangerous.”
Aim. Shoot. Score.
“How do I turn back without making a bad situation worse? I can’t transfer her to another partner or send her back to the junior associates. That would destroy her reputation. They would be sure she’d done something wrong. And what about the M&A? She’s been amazing. There is no way anyone else can pick up where she left off without disastrous results.”
Dribble, dribble, Aim. Shoot. Miss.
David’s face was now drenched, and he didn’t have a towel with him. He rubbed the edge of his vest over his brow.
He heard the toot of a car horn.
Nestling the ball under his arm, David headed to the front of the house.
And there was the object of his desire, Ronnie Dickson, stepping out of her little canary yellow Audi R8 sports car. Shades covered her eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. She looked low key in her white tank top and faded blue jeans with trainers on her feet. Even so, she was a sight for sore eyes.
“What’re you doing here?” he asked.
She was the last person he had expected to see, especially after their recent showdown.
“Just came to drop off some documents I want you to sign before you take off for your trip tomorrow. I need to send them out on Monday.”
“Okay, sure. Come on in.”
David went to the side of the house and pressed the button to slide across the automatic gate.
Ronnie got back into the car, drove in and parked in front of his garage bay.
“Let’s go inside,” he said when she got out holding the documents.
She leaned back against her car and folded her arms. She didn’t remove the shades so he couldn’t read her expression, but her posture read resolve.
“Coming?” he asked.
“I’ll stay here if you don’t mind.”
“What, you don’t trust me?”
She looked down at her feet.
“I trust you just fine, sir. But you see, there’s a policy that speaks about relationships between employers and employees and going into your house with you alone may cross a line.”
This woman was quoting his own policy to him! Talk about a nerve.
David went over, plucked the documents from Ronnie’s hand, turned on his heels and went into the house through the back. He found a seat at the bar in the kitchen and took his sweet time reading through each document. In fact, he read through each document twice. Just to be sure he hadn’t missed anything the first time, of course.
A while later, he heard a movement and looked up. Ronnie was standing in the doorway, and the shades were now pushed to the top of her head.
“What’s taking so long?” she asked impatiently.
“Miss Dickson, are you rushing me?” he asked sternly. “Please have a seat until I’m done.”
She made a noise low in her throat, folded her arms across her chest and looked away. Instead of taking the proffered seat she leaned against the wall and glanced around.
“Nice digs,” she eventually commented.
“Why thank you. Do you want a tour?”
“No thanks.”
He capped his pen, got up with the documents in hand and offered them to her.
“Here you go. All signed.”
“Lovely.”
When she took them, their hands brushed. David’s heart raced at the accidental touch. Ronnie walked towards the opened door.
Say something quick. Don’t let her leave. You won’t see her for the next four days.
David
bent down to retrieve the ball where he had dropped it on the floor and stood again.
“So…you can still play ball? Or you all washed out now?” he asked.
She turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Can I still play ball? Is that even a question?”
Unexpectedly, he threw the ball at her head. She expertly caught it with one hand and didn’t even flinch.
“Good reflexes. But it’s easy enough to catch a ball. Can you stop me from getting it in the hoop?”
“You’re challenging my game now? Not cool. I don’t back down from a challenge.”
“Is that right?”
That was what he had depended on.
“Absolutely correct.”
“Let’s go then.”
“Lead the way. It’s your funeral.”
~*~*~*~
Ronnie followed David to the awesome-looking backyard of his huge house and wondered just what she thought she was doing. David Jones was not a man to play ball with. He was a man to stay clear of because he was a man who messed with women’s heads. He made them fall for him and then ignored them. And just when he thought they might be ready to move on with someone else, he threw a fit like a child who didn’t want to play with his toy until he saw it in someone else’s hand. Yes, his jealous ranting concerning Giorgio yesterday had clarified it all for her. And she had resolved to take a professional stance with the Jones man.
But for some reason, no matter how many lectures she gave herself when it came to David Jones, she couldn’t seem to act rationally.
Ronnie dropped her car keys and shades next to David’s phone on a nearby bench on the periphery of the court.
She couldn’t help commenting as she glanced around, “Nice yard. Yellow Stone Park has nothing on you.”
He smirked.
“I can get my gardener to give you some tips if you want.”
She raised a brow.
“I live in a high-rise, remember? The closest thing I’ve got to a yard is the geraniums growing on my window sill.”
A Case For Love (Royals Series Book 3) Page 15