by Kay Harris
Three women and two men were standing in a circle smoking cigarettes at one end of the deck. Rebecca left Everett on the opposite side and approached the group. She said something to them Everett couldn’t hear. All five looked over at him, then with smiles and hugs for Rebecca, left the deck.
She slowly moved back over to him, smiling the whole way. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For coming. It means a lot to Elias. And for talking to me.”
Everett leaned back against the railing, hoping a splinter didn’t get him right in the ass. “You don’t have to thank me.”
She leaned her hip against the railing beside him and cocked her head. “But I do. I’m well aware of the villain I am.”
“You’re not.”
“I am. I ran out on you with your best friend. Then I sued you for half the company. I’m…I kinda suck.”
Everett ran a hand over his head. “It’s not that simple. We both know that.” He raised his head and looked into her familiar blue eyes. “I left you long before you left me, emotionally anyway. And when you and Elias took off together you left everything you had behind, you were scared about your future. A lawyer used that to talk you into the lawsuit.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You know about the lawyer?”
Everett ignored that. She obviously didn’t know the extent of his conversations with Elias. “Rebecca, you’re not a villain in this story. None of us are. And it’s our story. So we get to define this, no one else.”
She launched herself into his arms, her head pressing against his chest, her arms circling his waist. “I’ve missed you.”
He pressed his face to the top of her head and inhaled her sweet, flowery scent.
“You were always my friend,” she said through a soft sob.
Everett tightened his hold on her. “I still am.”
They stayed like that for a while, until their moment was broken by a couple entering the deck. Rebecca pulled away from Everett and made a motion to her friends. They quickly ducked back inside.
Rebecca wiped at her eyes and brushed at her dress. “So, the girl you brought. Is that her? The artist?”
“Yeah. That’s her.”
Rebecca looked up into his eyes. “She’s beautiful.”
He nodded. “She’s afraid of you.”
Rebecca frowned. “I’m going to talk to her.”
Before he could wrap his head around that, she slipped away from him and through the door into the reception hall. Everett warred with himself. Should he stop her? Or should he stay right here and contemplate the way the moonlight reflected off the still water and let whatever happens be?
****
Maya watched the model-worthy bride march toward her. Even as her insides twisted she took a casual sip of her strong drink. She tried not to compare her own fuller figure to the thinner woman coming her way. She tried not to be tempted to calculate how many fewer dress sizes Rebecca wore than herself. And she definitely tried to forget that Everett had once chosen this woman over her.
That was all insecure bullshit. And Maya was stronger than that. So she squared her shoulders, met the woman’s bright blue eyes with her own dull green ones, and smiled.
“Hi. I’m Rebecca.” The bride slid into place in front of Maya and rested one arm on the bar beside them. The other hand was held out.
Maya shook it. “Maya.”
Rebecca took her hand back, placed it over her other arm and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Maya.”
“Congratulations, Rebecca.” What the hell could she say? I’m glad you’re married to Everett’s sweet friend so I don’t feel threatened by you? It didn’t really seem like a good opening.
Rebecca asked for a glass of wine and the bartender rushed to get it to her and fill up Maya’s drink. They both took long sips from their glasses and gazed at each other.
“Everett was never mine.” The statement was made in a quiet monotone. But there was so much to those four little words.
Maya shook her head as if to clear it. “Come again?”
Rebecca took a long swig of her wine, half draining the glass, then set it down sharply. “Maybe in the beginning, when we first started dating, he was kind of mine. But it was casual then. He didn’t look at me the way he looks at you now, even at the start when it was fresh and new. Then you happened. And he was yours. Even for those four years when he was faithful to me and I wore his great grandmother’s ring, he wasn’t mine.”
Maya’s shock must have been painted on her face. She was unable to move, unable to speak. Still and mute, she stared at the woman in front of her.
Rebecca put her hand on Maya’s shoulder. “Things are right now. As they should be. He has you, and I have Elias.”
Rebecca looked over Maya’s shoulder and her expression was filled with love and adoration. Maya turned her head to see Elias standing a dozen feet away at a table, talking to an older woman with a tiny dog in her purse. Before Maya could figure out how to respond to Rebecca, the bride slipped past her and headed to her husband.
Maya turned, gripping the smooth round glass in her hand. Rebecca seemed to float as she crossed the short distance to Elias and wrapped him up in her arms. They smiled at each other and kissed, long and sweet.
A hand landed on Maya’s hip and she whirled around. Her body lined up with Everett’s and he leaned in, a question in his eyes. She answered him with a kiss.
****
Talking about what had transpired at the wedding was too exhausting of a prospect. But Maya needed a safe subject to discuss as they made their way to the hotel so she wasn’t tempted to make love to Everett in the back of the cab.
“Were Elias and Carlos friends, too?”
Everett’s thumb traced patterns on the back of her hand where it rested on his knee. “Yes. But I was always closer to both of them than they were to each other.”
“I bet you weren’t a big fan of Carlos’ first wife.”
In response to that, Everett just made a noise in the back of his throat like a grunt.
“I think he and Amy are really happy.”
Everett shifted in his seat so he could see her better. “You’re friends with Amy. What’s she like?”
“She’s lovely. Super sweet. Maybe a little innocent for her age.”
Everett raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
Maya didn’t really know all of Amy’s secrets, only that she had them. She’d recently learned Carlos was Amy’s first real boyfriend and she told Everett that. His eyes grew big. Since she couldn’t explain Amy’s love life, she shifted to talking about Amy’s career. She told him how Amy was trying to find the perfect job to suit her and how his new internship program was helping her to figure that out.
Instead of being happy about the praise for his idea, he grew quiet and thoughtful. Maya wasn’t sure what she’d said wrong, but by the time they reached the hotel she knew she had to get him out of his own head.
They entered the suite in silence. Everett toed off his shoes and pulled off his tie. Maya shucked her heels near the door and moved across the room, liking the way her dress slipped between her thighs. Ahead of her, Everett’s bare back came into view as he slid his shirt off and tossed it toward the side chair.
His hard muscle rippled in waves beneath his smooth, dark skin. Maya reached out on instinct and ran her hands from his waist up his spine to his angular shoulder blades. His head dropped back and he let out a soft sigh.
“Have I ever told you how much I appreciate your body?” As if to emphasize this she slid her hands back down his sides and around to his hard, ribbed abs.
Everett turned in her arms and placed his own hands on her hips. “It can’t come close to how I feel about yours.”
“Maybe we should have a contest to see who has the greater appreciation. Say…longest time worshiping the other’s assets wins?”
“Oh, you are so on.”
JUNE
Chapter 17
Everett
twisted the key in his hand, the tip just barely scraped his polished desk. He pulled the thing up to his face and examined it. He’d been planning to give it to Maya for a long time. But he hadn’t come up with a reason to. Not that he needed one. But she most certainly did.
Maya’s current work-in-progress was wrapped up and sitting on the dresser in his bedroom, waiting to be taken back to her apartment for the next few days. Seeing Maya prepare to essentially move her entire operation while he was across the country for a conference was what had prompted him to pull the key out of its hiding place.
Now he was less than two hours away from leaving. She hadn’t moved her stuff. They hadn’t talked about it. And all of it led to this moment.
Maya walked into his office like a cool breeze. “You summoned me.” She smiled. Her hair, pulled up in a bun, sat upon the top of her head in a chaotic tumble. The boxy work shirt she wore covered all her wonderful curves, and he wanted to rip it off her.
“Your painting is still on the dresser at my house.”
Maya closed the door and laughed. “I know. I didn’t want to leave it in the car all day while I was at work.” She walked over to the sofa that took up one corner of his office. “It’s okay. I have other stuff to work on while you’re gone.”
Everett moved quickly from his desk chair to the couch so he could sit beside her. “I have a better idea.”
Maya placed her hand on his thigh and leaned toward him. “What’s that?”
Everett opened his hand and held the key out in front of her. “I was thinking. You’re at my house all the time. Your work is there. Why don’t you just stay? There’s no reason for you to uproot your life just because I won’t be there for a few days.”
Maya took the key slowly. She held it up to her face for a second as if trying to figure out what it was. Then she lowered it to her lap. Her other hand drifted gently over his knee, back and forth.
Everett couldn’t stand the suspense. “What are you thinking about?”
Maya pressed a kiss to his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“That’s it?”
She chuckled softly. “What else do you want?”
“I guess I expected you to argue with me.”
She lifted her head and stared at him. “Do you want me to?”
“No. Of course not. I’m…I’m happy.” Everett leaned down and kissed her. Now would be a good time to ask her to go public, to be together out in the open. To be official.
“Good.” She stood, slipped the key into her front pocket and stepped backward. “I should get back before someone figures out I’m completely smitten with the boss.”
And just like that, he chickened out.
After Maya left, Everett sat on his leather couch and tried to shift his brain to the next conversation he had to have. The scent of Maya’s perfume lingering in his office was distracting, so he grabbed his cell phone from its spot on the desk and wandered up to the roof.
He’d always loved it up here. The building wasn’t tall by any city standards, but the roof was wide and open and gave him a view of a slice of bay in the distance. It was a warm day, and he sat on the picnic table he and Elias had once wrestled up here with the help of a security guard and a really big dude named Hill who still worked on the factory floor.
Everett took a deep breath and sent a text to Carlos. He needed to talk to his friend, not about his own woman troubles, but what Carlos was getting himself into. At first he’d thought the new relationship with Amy was a good thing for his reserved CFO. But then Maya had let slip how important Amy’s career was to her and how uninterested in men she’d been right up until she’d started things up with Carlos.
Then he’d had a visit from Carlos’ ex-wife Kimberly the other day. Usually he took everything Kimberly had to say, especially if it involved Carlos, with a major bent toward skepticism. But Kimberly seemed sincere when she expressed her concern over Amy and Carlos. Amy had worked for Kimberly for two years and Kimberly claimed to know the younger woman well. She’d said that Amy was out for a promotion, not a boyfriend. That, combined with what he now knew about Amy’s greatest wish, made him worry for Carlos’ fragile heart.
As Carlos came up onto the roof he steeled himself for a heart-to-heart with one of his best friends. But a nagging voice in the back of his head said that he needed to have a similar conversation with himself.
****
It should have felt strange to be rattling around in Everett’s house by herself. But it didn’t. Maya was perfectly comfortable working on the porch, showering in the massive walk-in, and cooking in the well-stocked kitchen. She did miss having a sexy man to roll around with in the huge bed, however.
With only a few hours left before Everett returned, Maya decided to tidy up. Everett had a cleaning service that came on Wednesdays. But he was coming back on a Sunday night and she’d made a bit of mess around the place because she’d been so focused on painting all weekend.
In the living room, she cleared the mugs and bowls from the random breakfasts and snacks she’d taken while sitting on the couch and watching gardening shows. Then she wiped down the coffee table and both end tables on either side of the couch.
It was when she opened the small drawer to the side table that all hell broke loose. She’d done it because she’d spilled her coffee that morning and she wanted to be sure none had made its way through the crack into the drawer itself. But instead of finding a beverage mess, she found a disaster of another kind.
Right on top of a stack of business cards was one from Melissa Mancini. Maya picked it up. It matched the one she had in her purse, except this was older, its corners folded, its bright white paper faded and yellowing. A handwritten note in blue ink said, “It was good to see you again and reconnect.”
Maya slumped onto the couch and examined the card. She was certain it meant what she thought it did. And this information would force her hand. A tear slipped out of her eye and she wiped it away with her palm. She would not let this break her. She would handle it with strength and maturity.
Maya picked up the phone and made a call that twisted her stomach into knots and created a sharp ache in her temples.
****
Everett was frantic by the time he reached his place. Maya’s little beat-up car was still in the driveway. But that was only temporarily a good sign. He parked his car behind hers and jumped out. He circled it, but it did not appear to be packed with the voluminous amount of things he knew she had in his house.
The call he’d gotten from Melissa as he’d driven back from the airport had sent him into a panic. Still feeling like he was losing his mind, he burst through the front door. He dropped his travel bag in the foyer and scoured the first floor. Not finding Maya, he climbed the stairs two at a time and jogged to the bedroom.
Maya sat on the bed, tucked under the quilt his family’s housekeeper had made for him when he’d graduated high school, reading a book. She looked up at him and smiled. “Hi. How was your trip?”
Everett was flummoxed. He expected her to be standing there holding a suitcase and threatening to leave, or at the very least with a pissed off look on her face and arms folded across her chest.
He approached slowly, toed off his shoes and kicked them under the bed, then sat on the edge of the mattress beside her. “Aren’t you mad at me?”
“No. Not really.”
“What does that mean?”
She set her book aside and took his hand in hers, resting them both in his lap. “I guess you talked to Melissa.”
He nodded.
She sighed. “I know you and she are old friends. You’ve known each other since high school. Your families were friends. I know you called her to ask her to look at my work and consider giving me a show.”
He swallowed hard. “Yes. That’s all true. I just wanted to help.”
“I know. I get that.”
“You do?”
Maya laughed. “Jeez. Now I’m starting t
o wonder what you really think of me. God. You look terrified. Come here.” She pulled on his neck and gave him a sweet kiss. “I get it, Everett. You wanted to help me. And I think it’s sweet. I was a little ticked that you didn’t tell me. But I get that, too. You were afraid I’d pull out of the show, thinking I didn’t get it on my own merits.”
He nodded, finally daring to breathe because she was taking this so well.
“And you were right. I did pull out.”
Melissa had said as much. But somehow, for a split second, he thought maybe it was all a misunderstanding. “Why?”
She rubbed his thigh. “I just told you.”
“But you did get the show on your own merits. She might have taken the meeting as a favor to me, but she picked you because of your work.”
“That’s what she said, too.”
Everett’s knee bounced. “It’s true. I heard the panic in her voice.”
“She’s panicked because I’m pulling out on short notice. I’ll find someone else, though. Don’t worry. I won’t leave her hanging.”
“I don’t want you to find her someone else! I want you to take the show!” It had suddenly become essential to his existence that he get her to do the show.
Maya shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
Everett took a deep breath. “How can I change your mind?”
“Melissa asked me the same thing.”
“Well?”
Maya bit her lip. “I don’t think there’s a way. How would I know if she wanted me for me or because of you?”
“I’ll come up with something.”
She tugged at his neck again. “Okay. In the meantime, I really, really missed you. Can you get naked and come to bed?”
“I’m pretty freaked out.”
“I know, Baby. I’m sorry.” She ran a hand over his back. “I didn’t mean to get you so worked up.”
He leaned down so his mouth was close to hers. “It’s really, really important to me that you do this show.”
She placed a hand on his cheek. “Why?”
“Because I’m in love with you.” It wasn’t planned. It just came out. But it was also true.