She pointed to the stacks of contracts on her desk. “I have work to do.”
“And I am part owner of this company. Your work can wait.” His firm expression slackened. He leaned on the desk. “I want us to be friends again. I miss talking to you.”
Her spine stiffened. “Talk to Angelica.”
He stood straight. His eyes hard. “Meet me at my car in five minutes.” Ryan spun on his heel and strode out the door.
Mikayla picked up her phone and texted Andre.
Hey you. Got a long day ahead. I fear I may backslide.
She waited for him to respond. Nothing came. Ryan knocked on her door, asked if she was ready. Mikayla stuck the phone in her purse and followed him out.
*
Mikayla and Ryan didn’t return to the office until well past seven. The empty parking lot meant no one worked late that day. He parked next to her car, turned off the ignition, leaned back in his seat, and blew out a breath. Facing her, a huge grin spread across his face. Mikayla’s smile matched his. The day was a success. Though many more details still needed to fall into place, for the most part they’d secured the agreement from the school district and the community development office. They would begin talks of incorporating their plans with the land Caldwell Development owned.
As much as Mikayla wanted to keep her distance with Ryan during the trip, doing so was impossible. They’d been good friends because they worked well together. Halfway through their first meeting with the superintendent, they’d fallen back into their tag team approach.
“We did it,” she said.
“No, you did it. I just sat back and let you do all of the talking.”
Mikayla laughed. “Since when do you let anyone do all of the talking. I just brought us back to the topic whenever you started floundering.”
He pressed a hand to his chest, mock disbelief on his face. “I never flounder. Get that right.”
“Correction, you tend to go off on tangents and I bring you back on course.”
He swiveled in his seat to face her. “That you do.” The smile on his face softened as he watched her. “We work well together.”
She broke eye contact. Things were quickly becoming too chummy between them. They may have had a good day at work, but it didn’t change the fact that they were no longer friends.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She reached for the door handle, he placed a firm hand on her arm.
“Mikayla, can we ever get past this?” He asked solemnly.
“Ryan—”
“I know, I shouldn’t ask. I shouldn’t care, but I do. I care about you Mikayla.”
She held up a hand. “You don’t care about me, you’re mad that I won’t fall over myself to forgive you.”
“No, I care. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Too late, you already did.”
He ran a hand over his face then shifted in the seat. When his eyes met hers, wariness reflected in them. “I know I did, but it wasn’t just a random incident. You know me, I wouldn’t have done that to you if it weren’t…” he sighed. “I told you the story, you know, what happened in Paris. Angelica was the one that got away. I was overwhelmed and I didn’t think, just reacted. I love her, Mikayla. You’ve been in love before. You know how love makes you feel.”
His words struck home. She was falling in love right now with Andre. Rational thought went out the window when it came to Andre. All, she wanted, was to talk to him, be close to him, so she could relate to Ryan in that.
Mikayla’s phone vibrated. She pulled it from her purse and Andre’s name and number lit up the screen. A giddy grin spread across her face and tingles traveled through her body.
Ryan grabbed her hand. One glance at the screen and his lip curled in a snarl.
“This is who you’ve been texting all day? He’s the one making you smile whenever you check your phone?”
Jerking her hand out of his, she dropped the phone into her purse. “Goodbye Ryan.” Mikayla opened the car door and hopped out.
His door flew open and he bounded from the car. “Mikayla, I know I was wrong, but you can’t do this. He’s using you.”
“He’s not using me.” She marched over to the driver’s side of her Rav 4.
He hurried around her car and held the door shut. “You don’t know how my family works. Andre is only trying to get back at me through you.”
“We’re just friends.”
“No man is friends with a woman unless he’s trying to have sex with her.”
“Oh really.” She placed a hand on her hip. “We were friends without having sex.”
He scoffed. “And if you would have given me the time of day I would have slept with you months ago.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved his arm from her car. “You’re disgusting. This isn’t about worrying about me, you just don’t want me sleeping with him when you didn’t.”
“Mikayla, I know I fucked up, but don’t sell yourself short by getting with Andre.”
His words made her doubts swirl. Her dad thought she’d sold herself to Ryan. Ryan accused her of the same thing with Andre. She took a mental stranglehold on her reservations. She had to trust herself.
“I’m through talking to you, Ryan. Who I see is not your business. Stop worrying about me and concentrate on someone who wants your attention.”
She jerked open the car door, jumped in, and sped off.
CHAPTER 19
Andre stepped out of his car and checked his phone to see if Mikayla called. His disappointment at missing her calls and text messages only increased his guilt after the meeting with Senator Leventis. An unfamiliar feeling for him.
He’d returned to the office in Greenville after lunch, but his mind couldn’t focus on work. He was curious to know about her day. Her first text indicating her day started badly upset him. He hated that Mikayla worked with Ryan every day. Ryan posed no threat, but Andre believed what his dad said. If Ryan discovered he and Mikayla were seeing each other, he might try to work his way back into her life. He doubted Mikayla would fall for any reunion schemes from Ryan. The more he got to know her, the more he trusted what she’d said about not wanting Ryan back.
Jonathan called right after he exited his vehicle. “What’s up?” he asked.
“I’m downtown, near your condo,” Jonathan said over the murmur of music and conversation.
“And what do you want me to do about that?” He said just to annoy his friend.
“Just walk your ass over here and meet me for a drink. You probably need it.”
More like two, he thought. “What makes you think I need a drink?”
“I know you, you need a drink.”
Andre nodded even though Jonathan couldn’t see him. He took down the name of the bar and hung up. Putting his bag with his laptop and other work files in the trunk, Andre loosened his tie and walked the short distance to the bar. He would have preferred to drive to the country tonight. As usual, work kept him closer to the office. There were several new contracts he needed to negotiate, not to mention the new landfill they were moving the methane project to. Which brought his thoughts back to the way he was unintentionally hurting Mikayla.
Yeah, he needed a drink.
Within a few minutes, he reached his destination. He walked into the bar and deeply inhaled the smoke filled air. Andre needed a cigarette too. He pictured the way Mikayla’s lips curled around the tip of that one cigarette they’d shared. His blood heated and his crotch throbbed.
The crowd was light and expected on a Monday. Might as well be the weekend based on the way the top 40 hits blared from the speakers. Jonathan sat at the bar a bottle of beer in hand, watching the television highlights of the weekend’s games. While Andre could appreciate a good football or basketball game, Jonathan loved sports.
“What are you doing downtown?” Andre stood beside Jonathan at the bar.
Jonathan shook his head and took a long swig of his beer. He was dressed up, for him, in a grey button up shirt
and khaki pants. His curls were cut shorter, and he didn’t have the hint of a beard he seemed to always carry. Disappointment clouded his friend’s eyes.
“You alright?” Andre asked.
Jonathan nodded. “Yeah. I came down here to see Karen.”
Andre frowned and sat at the bar. The last he’d heard, Jonathan worried Karen wanted things to progress faster between them. Andre agreed. The woman was always around whenever he called Jonathan. He’d been so wrapped up in his thing with Mikayla, he forgot to ask about her when he visited Jonathan the week before.
The bartender came over. Andre pointed to Jonathan’s beer and held up two fingers. The bartender nodded then walked off. “How did it go?”
“Another guy answered the door.”
Andre cringed. When the bartender brought the beers Andre slid one Jonathan’s way. Despite the concern of his friend, Andre knew Jonathan cared about Karen. The woman had everything his friend loved. A voluptuous size sixteen figure, she knew her way around the kitchen and looked good without being flossy or high maintenance.
“That’s fucked up.”
Jonathan scoffed. “Tell me about it.”
“That’s why we’re drinking tonight?
“Nah. I’ll never let a woman get to me like that. I wish her and her new man well.” Jonathan drained his beer, then reached for the other one. “Where were you all weekend?”
Andre looked up at the television screen. “You don’t want to know.”
“That tells me all I need to know. You’re still messing around with your cousin’s ex-girlfriend. Are you trying to end up like me? Going to your girl’s place and having another man answer the door?”
“I thought she wasn’t your girl. Maybe that’s why there was another man up in your spot.”
Jonathan scowled. He held up the bottle but pointed a finger at Andre. “We’re not talking about me.”
“Yeah, well,” he brought the bottle back to his lips. “Your problems are the reason we’re here, not mine.”
Jonathan twisted in his seat and eyed Andre. “Why were you with her? I thought you weren’t doing the family rivalry anymore.”
“My family business has nothing to do with her.” Andre shrugged. “I like her, alright. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing would be wrong if she were anybody but your cousin’s ex. You’ve told me how your family works. Do you really want to fall for a woman who has ties to him?”
Andre sipped the beer, remembered the strawberry lager she’d given him over the weekend and smiled. “She’s different.”
Jonathan snorted. “Famous last words.”
“I’m serious, man, she is. Yes, she works for them, but she’s planning to leave. She even faced down Renee when she burst into her apartment like a damn eighteenth-century chaperone. I want to see where this goes.”
“I get it. You and this woman connected over mutual embarrassment. Maybe you’re both even convinced there’s something there. But based on what you’ve told me about your family rivalry, I’d take into consideration that Ryan may try to come between you two out of spite. Keep that in mind.”
Before he could respond, his phone rang. Seeing Mikayla’s number drove away the day’s tension. He turned away from Jonathan and answered the phone. “Hey you.”
“Hey you.”
He frowned. “How was your day? You sound tired.”
“Good actually.” She said with a bit of a laugh.
“Really? Your text earlier made me think you were having a bad day.”
“It started that way but turned out to be okay. I think I found a way to salvage the purchase in Hartsville.” Excitement brushed away the exhaustion from earlier.
He frowned then pressed a finger to his other ear hoping to hear better. After their meeting with the Senator, he doubted anything could salvage Dalmtrix moving to the low country. Unless, for some reason, the Senator doubted his dad would expose what they knew. Foolish of the Senator if that were the case.
“How so?”
“Ryan and I went to Hartsville today. We spoke with the school district superintendent and the community development director. I think we’ll have another way to develop the property even if Dalmtrix doesn’t locate there.”
“Whose idea was it to go to Hartsville?”
“Ryan’s, but I was thinking along the same lines. It’s not the first time we’ve been on the same wavelength.”
His hands tightened around the cell phone. “So you two are cool now?”
Mikayla paused. He heard a song playing in the background. She must be driving. “Not really. We’ve come to a truce. Since we work together a professional truce makes sense.”
“I thought you were leaving?”
“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “If this new deal works out, it’ll be worth staying to see through. But enough about my day. Where have you been? Before I had to leave town, I’d hoped to see you again. Are you still in Columbia?”
“No, I’m back in Greenville.”
“Oh,” Disappointment cloaked her voice. “I…thought about you today. Wondered if you were doing wrong.”
His heart rate picked up. “Wrong, how?
“By smoking.” She said with a laugh.
Relieved laughter burst from his lips. The guilt over Dalmtrix was out of control. “I haven’t had a cigarette. I ate lunch at the Capital City Club then had to get back here.”
Another pause. “I see. Do you know when you’ll be back in town?”
“Not sure. But when I come back I’ll drop by.”
“I’d like that.” She said quickly.
He smiled at the urgency in her voice. He felt the same thing. Wished he had a reason to be back in Columbia so he could see her again.
“I’d like that too. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Can’t wait.”
He heard the smile in her voice. In his mind, he visualized the sexy curve of her lips and the enticing twinkle in those sexy brown eyes. The image brought a smile to his face.
He ended the call and stared at the phone for a few seconds after the screen darkened. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of her spending the day with Ryan, but the tone of her voice said her mind was still on him. Good, because she’d effectively ruined him from thinking of another woman.
“You are really into that woman,” Jonathan said, breaking him from his revere.
He took a deep breath, dropped his phone on the bar and sipped from the beer. “I hope it doesn’t backfire.”
“Let me meet her. I’ll tell you in a second if she’s no good.”
“The same way you figured out Karen was no good?”
Jonathan’s grey eyes crinkled with his scowl. “Don’t start. I knew Angelica was bad news the second I laid eyes on her.”
“Worry about your love life, let me worry about mine.”
Jonathan shrugged. “Have it your way. But don’t get too wrapped up until you know for sure she’s not trying to get back with Ryan. Make sure this woman is worth your time.”
“I hear you.” Andre focused on the television, and Jonathan did the same. Their heart to heart over. But Andre’s concerns this thing he had for Mikayla might backfire made him order two more beers to drown out the thought.
CHAPTER 20
“My dad thinks you’re taking advantage of me.”
Andre’s deep laughter came through the phone. Mikayla’s skin tightened. The man’s laugh could charm a nun out of her panties. Her body buzzed with an electrifying tingle. Lounging on the bed, she rolled over and stared at the ceiling. Even though they’d talked earlier, he’d called again. She wished they were together instead of on the phone.
“My best friend thinks I’m going to come to your apartment and find Ryan already there.”
“That will never happen,” she said.
“You know that I’m trying not to mislead you,” he paused. “Or take advantage of you.”
She pulled a pillow close to her chest. “By saying you’
re trying not to, makes it seem like you eventually will.”
“My relationships don’t always end perfectly.”
Her heart thudded. We’re in a relationship. “Why?”
He sighed into the phone. She imagined him rubbing a hand across his face. “In the end, no matter how much I don’t want it to, the demands of my family pull me back into the bullshit.”
She slowly sat up on the bed and clenched the phone. “Are you calling me because you want to talk to me, or because of something else?”
“Because I want too. But my family drama has a way of creeping into every aspect of my life. My dad expects me and my brother to give up everything, do everything, for the betterment of the company. I spend all of my days doing whatever it takes to grow C.E.S. Some of the things I’ve done aren’t pretty.” He said in a grim tone.
Mikayla wanted to wrap her arms around him. “Working hard to grow your company isn’t a bad thing.”
“For most people it isn’t. When you’re Curtis Caldwell’s son it can be.”
“So what are you saying? Are you involved with anything illegal?”
“What I’m saying, is that when you’re raised by someone who is incapable of showing decency, indecency can creep into your personal life. It has before. I don’t want that to happen with you.”
He didn’t answer the question. She stopped short of asking again. A small part didn’t want to know more. “As long as you’re honest with me, that won’t happen.”
“I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
She pulled the phone away and frowned at the screen. “That’s cryptic.” Mikayla put the phone back to her face. “Are you saying you’ll lie to me?”
“No, but you don’t need to know everything my family is involved with.”
“Because I might run and tell Philip and Ryan?”
“Because you might run away from me. I don’t want you to do that. I want you to come closer to me, not farther away.” His voice lowered to an octave that was like drugs to her system.
Her lips parted with a shaky breath. Slowly her nipples puckered beneath her nightgown.
“I want to see you again,” He said. “Come to Greenville this weekend.”
Show Me How to Love (Caldwell Family Book 1) Page 14