Toronto Collection Volume 1 (Toronto Series #1-5)

by Heather Wardell

Kegan turned to me. "Something sitting down would be better for your leg, right?"

  I shook my head. "I'm fine to stand."

  Our eyes met for the first time that day and a memory jolted between us. Me standing. In his arms on New Year's Eve. Kissing him. Heat flashed through me, and I saw it blaze in his eyes and knew he could also see it in mine.

  He looked down at his clipboard and cleared his throat. "The bar is covered in dust. Could you get rid of all that, and maybe wash the glasses if they need it?"

  "Of course."

  "I'll help you, Mary."

  Fear flickered through me. Something in Crystal's tone told me she'd seen my connection with Kegan. What would she say to me?

  He must have thought the same thing. "No, that's okay. I need you on the windows." Once everyone had tasks, he said, "And I'll be cleaning out the wine room."

  We all set to work. The bar area was indeed filthy, but seeing the lovely granite countertop gradually emerge was satisfying. The others chatted a bit, between Crystal's complaints about how much she hated washing windows, but I was too far away to join in and frankly didn't want to.

  I couldn't stop thinking of Kegan and our potential relationship. The alcohol might have fueled the fire between us, but it was clearly still there sober. I so wished I knew what he wanted, how he felt.

  After about an hour Crystal stepped outside to answer a phone call, after first looking at her phone and proclaiming, "I simply must take this. It could be about Brash," even though nobody had tried to stop her. The door had barely closed behind her when Dorothy reached me.

  "My New Year's resolution was for Crystal to find another job. Let's hope that's really what this call's about."

  I laughed. "She does rave about that Brash place a lot. Maybe they do want her back."

  Dorothy shook her head and leaned closer. "They didn't want her the first time."

  "But I thought she was a big part of the place. The way she talks—"

  "I happened to be in New York last year and went to Brash. When I mentioned her name the server burst out laughing and said she'd lasted three weeks before they fired her for picking a fight with the head chef."

  Crystal returned before I could respond, shaking snow off her bleached hair and saying, "Interesting call, that," to nobody in particular.

  Dorothy muttered, "We all know she's full of it," and returned to her work.

  Surprising that Dorothy would have told everyone about Crystal's misrepresentation of her career. But then, Crystal was frequently nasty to her so maybe she'd felt justified.

  Only three weeks. Did Kegan know?

  Thinking of him wiped Crystal's situation from my mind, and I cleaned and daydreamed about my boss's mouth on mine until noon when a man knocked on the door.

  Crystal called, "We're closed."

  He shook his head and held up a cardboard florist box. "Delivery."

  She unlocked the door and reached for the box, but he said, "Mary?"

  "That's me." I came forward and Crystal backed up, although I could feel her hovering behind me as I accepted the flowers and relocked the door.

  Everyone was clearly ready for a break so they crowded around as I set the box on the now-clean bar. A movement in the hall caught my eye, and I looked up to see Kegan, standing apart from the others, watching me.

  My heart began to pound. Charles didn't know where I worked, and he wouldn't have sent me flowers anyhow. Brian had no reason to either, and he would only have done it if I'd given him the money; I'd had to lend him another twenty bucks "so I can buy my mother a Christmas present". Annoyance at myself snapped through me but I pushed it away, not wanting Brian to taint this. It had to be Kegan.

  I untied the ribbon holding the box closed, then lifted the lid and stared at the contents.

  A dozen perfect red roses. Twelve. With one finger, I brushed the nearest's cool velvety-damp outer petals, hardly believing what I was seeing.

  "There's a card." Crystal reached into the box and pulled it out.

  I plucked it from her hand before she could open it. "Thank you."

  "Who're they from?" Dorothy was nearly as excited as she'd been about her grandchildren. "A nice man, I hope."

  Feeling Kegan's eyes on me, I read the card silently, holding it close enough that Crystal couldn't see it.

  "It's not original, but I mean it. One for every amazing month I want to spend with you this year."

  I read and reread the card, my face pulling into a smile I couldn't hold back and my body flooding with a warm rush of happiness. He hadn't been that drunk if he remembered the roses my friend had received every year from her husband, and he'd sent them so he must want to be with me. My delight proved to me that I wanted to be with him too. We'd make it work somehow.

  "Look at that grin." Dorothy elbowed me. "He is a nice man, right? And you said you didn't do anything special on New Year's."

  I slipped the card into my pocket and elbowed her back, so excited I wanted to dance. "I can't give up all my secrets, you know. But yes, he's a very nice man."

  "Good. You deserve one." She looked to Kegan. "Can I help Mary get them in water?"

  "Of course."

  I turned to face him, longing to thank him but knowing I could hardly do that in front of everyone. "Want to see them in their box first?"

  He laughed. "Roses in their natural habitat? Sure."

  He stood close beside me, looking down at them, then touched the same one I had. "Soft. And gorgeous. But Dorothy's right, you should get them out of there." He didn't look at me. Probably good; I might have thrown myself on him if our eyes had met again.

  The giddy Dorothy and I took the box to the kitchen. Once there, though, she sobered at once. "Keep them in the office and take them home tonight where they'll be safe."

  I wouldn't have left them at work anyhow, but her insistence that I shouldn't surprised me. I frowned, but before I could speak she said, "Please. Just trust me."

  I leaned in and lowered my voice. "You know things you're not telling me."

  She swallowed hard and nodded.

  "You can trust me."

  "I know." She jumped as another worker came in for a fresh bucket of water. We didn't speak until he left, then she said, "You can trust me too. I can't tell you now."

  I didn't like it, but there wasn't much I could do. "Tell me when you can."

  "I will."

  We finished arranging the roses then stood looking at them. "They really are gorgeous, Mary. He must be a nice man."

  If I wanted her to trust me, I'd have to trust her. And I did, so I turned to face her, looking directly into her eyes, then flicked my gaze to Kegan's office door and back at her.

  Her eyes widened and a grin lit up her face. She mouthed, "Kegan?"

  I nodded, grinning too, and she grabbed me in a hug. "Good girl," she whispered. "You two will be great together."

  "I hope so," I whispered back.

  She released me and took a breath to ask what would no doubt be the first of a barrage of questions about my relationship with Kegan. Questions I didn't even know the answers to yet.

  Before she could start, though, the man himself appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Nearly done? I'm finalizing an order for candles and need to know if you want anything special for Magma."

  I was afraid Dorothy would make it clear I'd told her, but she was a better actress than I'd have expected. "We're finished, I think. I'll go back to my napkin folding. Mary, you're right to take the roses home tonight. I will miss them, but you should get to enjoy them every morning. And maybe even with the man who provided them?"

  She gave me a sweet smile and disappeared down the hall.

  Kegan took the heavy glass vase for me and I followed him into the office. He set the vase down on my desk then closed the door, and the window blinds, and returned to my side. We stood looking at each other for a long moment before he said, "So."

  "So."

  We were standing almost where we'd been on New Year's,
and I wanted to kiss him again more than anything.

  So I did. I slid my arms around his neck, said, "Thank you so much, they're gorgeous," and kissed him on the mouth.

  In broad daylight, no candlelight or champagne, with our staff roaming the restaurant just outside the office door, the kiss was easily the equal of anything we'd shared on New Year's, maybe even better. Shorter, of course, but deep and sweet and strong, and the way his eyes glowed when it ended sent shivers down my spine.

  "I left on New Year's," he said, holding me close, "because we'd both been drinking and I didn't want anything to happen that you'd regret later."

  "Or that you'd regret?"

  He shook his head and brushed his lips over mine. "I meant it, with the roses. I've known for a while but New Year's made it definite. I like you, and I want to see where it goes."

  Tingling at his words and his light but delicious kiss, I said, "I want that too, but—"

  "But you're still married."

  I blinked. I hadn't even thought of that. "Legally, I guess I am, but I haven't felt married in a long time. I was thinking about work. This career means so much to me, and like we said on New Year's I don't want to risk it. But I do like you, and..." I shrugged helplessly.

  He gave me a squeeze. "I feel the same way. But I honestly think we'll be okay. We're both professionals, and most of the plans are set anyhow. If we get on each other's nerves, we can reconsider, but I don't think it'll happen."

  I wanted him to be right. "I hope not."

  He smoothed a hand over my hair. "If you want to, of course. If you don't want to date me, if New Year's was a mistake, let me know."

  I smiled. "If I thought it was a mistake, would I have kissed you here?"

  His fingers curved around the back of my neck and he drew me closer. "Good point." He kissed me again. "Mary, will you have dinner with me tonight? Our first real date?"

  Oh, definitely.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I waited with the rest of the staff but couldn't find it in me to relax and chat like they were. The inspector had spent two full hours that afternoon examining every inch of Steel, and he and Kegan had been locked in the office for a good forty minutes. What could they possibly be discussing?

  The contractors had done an amazing job, and we seemed to be well on track to being ready for January fifteenth, but had the inspector spotted something that would prevent the opening? Kegan had his heart set on it, and I didn't want to see the sadness and disappointment he'd feel if it didn't happen.

  I still had reservations about falling for my boss but I was doing it all the same. After a blissful dinner out for our first real date, we'd spent an even more blissful half hour kissing goodbye in my apartment. Before he left we made plans to go out for breakfast, and ended up spending the entire weekend together, alternating between work and kissing with perhaps a little more time devoted to the latter. Sunday night we went out for dinner and to a movie with Tess and Forrest, who had fun teasing us every chance they got about the foolishness of hooking up with someone from work.

  I adored kissing Kegan, but also loved just being with him. Every moment we spent together made me happy and I could tell he felt the same way. I didn't want to lose the glow, and if the inspector—

  Footsteps in the hallway, and my heart kicked against my ribs as the men appeared. Kegan looked tired but not upset, and the inspector seemed calm. Kegan shook hands with him and locked the door behind him, then dropped onto a barstool and looked at us all, ending with his eyes on me. "I'm glad that's over."

  "Are we still going to open on time?"

  He smiled at me. "Absolutely."

  My shoulders released tension I hadn't realized they were holding and I grinned at him.

  He grinned back, but it faded and he again looked around at the others. "But we have a ton of work to do. Most of it, frankly, is little and picky, but if it's not done when he comes back next Wednesday then he'll stop the opening. So let's make sure that can't happen."

  After assigning everyone a job he left the list of tasks on the bar so we could pick up new ones when we needed them. Crystal, in the corner with her buddies replacing light bulbs, muttered about how this wasn't the work she'd been hired to do and how at Brash she'd never have been forced into it, but everyone but her friends ignored her. It wasn't the work any of us wanted, not even Kegan, but he was right there taking on the biggest jobs and not seeming to notice as his pale gray shirt and black dress pants got steadily dirtier.

  He and I kept our interactions thoroughly professional, since we'd agreed that the staff didn't need to know about our fledgling relationship. I had admitted that I'd told Dorothy, not wanting any lies between us, but he said, "She's no problem," then blushed adorably and confessed that Crystal had been after him at one point. "I doubt she cares now, but why tell her? There's no need for her to know about us. Not yet anyhow."

  A little part of me wanted him to want to tell the world we were together, but mostly I knew keeping quiet was smart. Our romance was great so far, but it wasn't even a week old.

  Still, Crystal seemed to sense it. Her mutterings dropped off whenever I was nearby, and I felt her eyes on me whenever I spoke to Kegan.

  Knowing how vicious she could be, remembering how she growled at Isaac, made me nervous but I did my best to act normal. It was tough, though, and when Kegan went to his office to request some estimates for the work we couldn't do on our own I felt myself relax.

  Maybe too much.

  Carrying a bucket of water with both hands, I stepped around a pile of dirt on the floor and dragged my arm along the wall. Pain flashed through me, and I set down the bucket and pulled open my ripped cardigan sleeve to see my anti-coagulated blood pouring from a cut that stretched nearly the length of my upper arm.

  Gripping my arm to try to stop the bleeding, I slid down the wall to sit on the floor. The wound didn't hurt that much, really, but the sight of the flood made my knees weak.

  Dorothy, up on a ladder replacing a light bulb Crystal had claimed was too tightly installed for her to remove, nearly fell rushing to my side. "Mary, what happened?"

  "I cut myself. I think there was something on the wall."

  She helped me out of the cardigan then grabbed a stack of clean napkins from the top of the bar and handed me one.

  I wrapped it tightly around my arm but quickly soaked through it.

  She gave me another. "Push harder."

  I squeezed with all my might despite the extra pain it caused, but when we peeked beneath the makeshift bandage after a few seconds Dorothy shook her head. "It's not slowing at all." She turned toward the office and called, "Kegan? Mary's hurt."

  He was there in an instant, crouched down before me. "What happened?"

  I shook my head. "It looks worse than it is. I bumped into a nail or something and it won't stop bleeding."

  "I'll call an ambulance."

  "No, don't. It's really just a big scratch."

  "But with the anti-coagulants... at least call your doctor, okay?"

  He waited until I agreed before fetching my phone from the office, then found the number in my contact list, dialed, and held the phone to my ear for me.

  Once I'd finished talking to the nurse on duty, I said, "Okay, you can hang up," and Kegan closed my phone and said, "Well?"

  Embarrassed at now being surrounded by the curious staff along with Dorothy and Kegan, I looked down at the bloody mess of napkins on my arm. "I'm supposed to keep it elevated and apply pressure. If it doesn't stop in thirty minutes, or if I feel sick or dizzy, I have to go to the hospital. Otherwise, I'll be okay."

  "If you feel bad at all, you'll tell me, right?"

  I nodded. I did feel freaked out, of course, but not like I'd lost too much blood.

  Kegan brought over a chair so I could put my arm up on it, then checked the wall until he found the half-attached drywall staple I'd cut myself on. He pulled it from the wall and threw it with force into the pile of dirt I'd dodged to avo
id before returning to my side and taking a seat next to me on the floor. "How is it?"

  I eased the napkins back. "Not good."

  He re-wrapped my arm firmly but gently, then piled a few more cloths on top and closed his hand tightly around the bandage.

  "You don't have to—"

  "I want to." He rubbed the underside of my arm with his thumb.

  The contact sent shivers through me despite the pain and the situation, and I let myself lean into him.

  He returned the favor, then looked up. "Back to work, guys. I'll stay with her."

  Crystal, eyes narrowed, stared at me for a moment before heading off. Dorothy studied me too, but her motivation was clearly concern.

  Once they'd all left us alone, Kegan said, "I'm going to kill that contractor."

  I shook my head. "It was an accident. I just didn't see it."

  "There aren't supposed to be accidents here."

  "Kegan. I'll be fine. If I weren't on the anti-coagulants it would be no big deal."

  "But you are, and it's a big deal to me." He leaned closer. "Don't want my new girlfriend getting hurt at work."

  A warm glow spread through me. I hadn't been anyone's girlfriend in a long time. "Well, I don't want my new boyfriend upset about it, so we're even."

  He winked at me. "Indeed we are."

  *****

  Twenty-nine minutes after I'd been cut, the bleeding didn't resume when we tentatively peeled back the bandages, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "So didn't want to go to the hospital."

  "I know. Remember how long we waited when I took you for your shot?"

  "Forever."

  "At least." He gathered up the blood-soaked napkins. "Think I'll throw these out. They might wash clean, but..."

  "I doubt the inspector would be thrilled if he found out."

  He smiled. "Definitely not." He stuffed the napkins, and my ruined sweater too after checking with me, into a garbage bag then held his hand out to me. "Ready to get off the floor?"

  I nodded and he eased me upright and into the chair. Once we knew I wouldn't pass out, he helped me get to my feet. "Feeling okay?"

  "Yeah. Thirsty but otherwise fine."