Covet (Splendor Book 1)

by Janet Nissenson

  Once the meeting ended, a few of the attendees returned to their offices, but most of them stayed behind to converse in small groups. One such group consisted of Julia, Henri Bissette, Keegan Whittaker, and Ian. As Tessa began to discreetly clear away the dishes and cups from the table, she couldn’t help but overhear Tessa and Henri chatting in rapid French, with Ian joining in every so often. He was laughing, something he seldom did at these meetings, and Tessa couldn’t recall a time she had seen him in such a relaxed, jovial mood. Julia had quite obviously been responsible for this dramatic change in her normally reserved, very formal boss, bringing out an almost flirtatious side of him that Tessa had never seen before.

  Tessa belatedly remembered that she’d hung Julia’s coat up, and went to retrieve it from the hallway closet. When she returned to the conference room, she froze in place as she observed Ian clasping Julia’s hand between his own, and smiling down at her warmly as she and Nathan made their farewells.

  “What a delight it’s going to be to work with you, Julia,” Ian said with enthusiasm, then gave Nathan a quick wink. “You’ve got a real treasure here, Nathan. I hope you and Travis treat her well. Not only beautiful but extremely talented as well.”

  Nathan gave him an answering smile. “Yes, I think we’re well aware of Julia’s talents.”

  Once again Tessa sensed something simmering beneath the surface between Nathan and Julia, noticed how the interior designer’s cheeks flushed prettily at the compliment.

  “Well, if they don’t treat you right, my dear, come and see me straightaway. I’d be honored to have you working for my company,” declared Ian.

  “That’s very kind of you,” Julia replied, “but all is quite well at the moment.”

  Tessa hovered in the background a bit uncertainly, Julia’s beautiful gray wool coat still in her arms as she waited for an opportune moment to hand it over. Ian happened to glance up just then, meeting her eyes all too briefly, and his expression sobered instantly. Gone was the warm smile he’d bestowed on Julia, replaced by the rather grim, austere face he normally presented.

  Tessa felt like kicking herself for intruding on what had obviously been a personal conversation, and she wondered dejectedly if she’d interrupted Mr. Gregson from doing something like asking Julia for her phone number. Or inviting her out to dinner. Suddenly anxious to be anywhere but here, Tessa kept her eyes downcast as she held the coat out.

  “I’ve brought your coat, Ms. McKinnon,” she said demurely. “I didn’t want you to forget it.”

  Julia reached for her coat but Nathan beat her to it, holding it as she slid her arms inside. “Thank you, Tessa,” she told her gently. “And thank you for helping us out today.”

  Tessa merely nodded as she felt her cheeks flush, all too aware of Ian’s unsmiling presence. “It was my pleasure,” she murmured, before hastily making her exit.

  Terribly afraid that she’d displeased Mr. Gregson, Tessa made sure to remain firmly in the background as she tidied up the conference room. She refused to even glance in his direction again as she finished clearing off the big table, stacking the used dishes inside the large plastic tubs that the caterers would pick up later today, and covering the uneaten food with plastic wrap. It wouldn’t take long at all for the administrative staff to wander in here and whisk away plates of leftovers, something that Tessa had learned early on was an accepted practice.

  One by one she returned the easels to the storage closet where they were kept, before retracting the screen used to display PowerPoint presentations. She grimaced to discover several smudges on the conference table, and retrieved the package of furniture wipes kept in one of the cabinets. Normally the night cleaning crew would have taken care of this, but she knew from the master schedule that Mr. Gregson had another meeting scheduled in this room later today, and that he wouldn’t be at all pleased if the table was left in this state. And since she had evidently already displeased him a short while ago, she took the task of polishing the table upon herself.

  Tessa’s spine shivered with the sensation that someone was watching her as she worked, and she grimly assumed it was that lecher Jason, probably staring at her ass or her breasts and thinking up something obscene to murmur in her ear. She ignored whoever it was, intent on finishing up here and making her escape back to her cubicle, where she could retreat back into her safe little world.

  ‘Just like Cinderella scuttling back to her little corner by the fireplace,’ she thought tiredly. “Except that there’s no Prince Charming waiting around the corner to sweep you off your feet.’

  Ian had clenched and unclenched his fist at least a dozen times already, struggling to control his anger and annoyance, and resisting the urge to pull Tessa away from her rather manic tidying up. It always bothered him to see her clearing away dishes and putting away equipment, as though she were nothing better than a waitress or a maid. But to covertly watch her scrubbing that damned table made him want to throw something across the room.

  She was better than this, he thought fervently. She deserved better than this. Tessa should be the one who was waited on, catered to, instead of the other way around. He knew from his own observations that most of the other team members didn’t pay this much attention to detail when it came to cleaning up the room after meetings, leaving the bulk of the work for the catering staff. But the rest of the team hadn’t been trained by Francine Carrington, and Ian grimaced as he imagined how tough the old battleax must have been on someone as young and gullible as Tessa. Mrs. C. would have impressed upon her the need to do everything perfectly, to pay close attention to detail, and to never shirk her duties. And Tessa being Tessa would have taken all of that to heart, no matter what task was assigned to her.

  But he doubted that even the exacting Mrs. Carrington would have expected Tessa to actually clean the table, would have assumed she’d leave that task for the janitorial staff. As usual, though, Tessa was taking her job much too seriously, undoubtedly anxious to please him, and make sure his exceptionally high standards were not only met but exceeded. Even Andrew didn’t go to such lengths, he acknowledged, especially since his PA considered a great many tasks beneath his dignity.

  Unlike Tessa, he realized, who was too meek and introverted to stand up for herself or delegate tasks to others. He hated seeing her working so hard, knowing for a fact that she was almost always the first of the team to arrive and the last to leave each day, and silently cursed her husband yet again for his inability to provide for her. If she was his –

  ‘No,’ he told himself sternly. ‘Don’t go there right now, mate. You’ve got to stop thinking that way, got to knock off this daydreaming about what it would be like to have her with you. And she must be happy with that boy. Otherwise, why would she still be married to him? There’s obviously a great deal more than meets the eye in that marriage, and it’s none of your business. Just like Tessa isn’t your business, especially outside of the office.’

  But it still broke his heart to see her work so hard, and to guess how deprived she must be. He knew, of course, what her monthly salary was, and with the input from a friend who worked for a major international news agency had estimated how much – or, more accurately, how little – Peter Lockwood likely earned. After their rent and other expenses, there wouldn’t be much left over for things like eating out, vacations, or clothes. He knew the skirt and sweater Tessa had on today were items that she wore often, and that her wardrobe in general was very far from being extensive – and certainly not in the least bit expensive.

  The latter fact had been driven even further home this morning when she had stood next to Julia McKinnon. Both women were startlingly beautiful, but it was rather obvious that the interior designer was also very much a fashionista. Ian knew quite a bit about women’s fashions, knew that the quality of Julia’s dress and scarf were top notch, and that those very sexy shoes had cost close to a thousand dollars. He longed to send Tessa a pair of those exact same shoes – anonymously, of course – simply for the
sheer pleasure of seeing how her long, shapely legs would look while wearing them.

  As he returned to his office – not trusting himself to remain in the same room with Tessa a moment longer and not yank those damned furniture wipes out of her hand – Ian thought briefly of the very pretty, very stylish, and very charming Julia McKinnon. She had been a delightful surprise after the dour and dramatic Sonya, and he’d admittedly flirted with her here and there during the meeting. And while she had been witty and engaging in return, he hadn’t picked up any vibes that she had anything but a professional interest in him.

  But there had most definitely been some rather intense vibes between her and Nathan Atwood. Even if Ian hadn’t been honing his skills of observation for nearly two decades, he would have been sure to pick up on the wild chemistry that existed between the architect and his new interior designer. The attraction that both of them seemed to be pretending wasn’t there was nearly off the charts, and Ian hadn’t missed the frequent, covetous looks Nathan had sent Julia’s way throughout the two hour meeting. Or the way that Julia had tried like hell to ignore her boss, while at the same time doing her damndest to get his attention.

  A smile played about the corners of Ian’s mouth as he walked down the hallway towards his office. He knew that Nathan was engaged, had even met his fiancé once or twice, and wondered how in hell the architect was dealing with his unwilling attraction towards Julia.

  ‘Probably the same way you’re dealing with your ridiculous obsession with Tessa,’ he told himself scathingly. ‘Ignoring it, denying it, pushing it to the back of your mind. In other words, not really dealing with it at all.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  September

  It had been months since she’d woken up with a bad feeling in her tummy, the all too familiar sensation that something awful was going to happen today. But, realized Tessa as she reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, this was a Wednesday after all, and she should have known that sooner or later life was going to deal her another of those unexpected obstacles. And based on the number of goosebumps on her arm, and with her spidey-sense on full alert, it was going to be a doozy this time around.

  The first thing she did was to power up her old laptop – the used one Peter had bought for her when she’d still been a senior in high school – and check on his flight status. He was due to fly home today from Cambodia after another three-week assignment, and she’d learned over the past couple of years that flights departing from that part of the world were rather notorious for being delayed. But so far his flight was scheduled to arrive on time, and she breathed a little sigh of relief to learn he was already airborne. She still worried whenever he had to make one of those long distance flights, always offered up a little prayer that he would arrive home safely, and did the same thing this morning.

  She hurried through her breakfast – a slice of whole wheat toast with jam and a cup of tea – before getting ready for work. It was full on Indian summer in the Bay Area right now, with warm, sunny days and balmy nights, so she selected a lightweight dress of pale peach with tiny white polka dots. The dress was sleeveless, belted at the waist, and had a pleated skirt. Because she was running a bit late, Tessa left her hair loose and kept her makeup light. After hastily making up the bed and grabbing her cardigan, purse, and lunch tote, she dashed out of the apartment towards the bus stop.

  The unsettled feeling she’d woken with only got stronger during the crowded bus ride to work, and she tried desperately to quell her nerves, telling herself that maybe this time nothing bad would actually happen. She had to stand on the bus, as usual, and she assumed her normal position of never really making eye contact with anyone else on board. Most of the people riding the bus at this time of the morning were either going to work like her, or to school, but there were definitely a fair number of weirdoes along, too. She was continually reminded of the fact that San Francisco was a very diverse city, with people of varying ethnicities, sexual orientations, and socio-economic classes, and Tessa was pretty sure she’d seen a really good sampling of them all in the two years she’d been living here and riding the city buses.

  The bus left her off a block away from her office building, and she exited the stuffy, crowded vehicle with relief. She thought that even if she’d been riding these buses for a dozen years already that she would never really get used to the experience, and definitely not enjoy it.

  As Tessa entered the building, she hoped that Peter would arrive home later today with good news about his job. He was hoping to find a better position that didn’t require nearly as much travel in addition to offering a regular salary, and had recently begun sending out resumes and doing some networking among the contacts he’d developed. She knew he’d had a couple of solid leads lately, though he had been oddly closed-mouthed about sharing too many of the details. Perhaps, she assured herself, he simply didn’t want to get his hopes up – or hers – and was waiting until he had more information before discussing any potential jobs with her.

  Things in general had been sort of – off with Peter as of late, not that their relationship had ever been a normal one. But over the past few months Tessa had begun to feel more and more disconnected from him, had feared that he was deliberately keeping her at a distance, and not confiding in her about certain things. His increased absences were part of that, of course, but there were other factors, too. Like the fact that when he was away on a trip he didn’t communicate with her nearly as often as he used to, only emailing her every four or five days, and then only a few brief lines. Or that when he was home he kept himself closed off from her, claiming that he needed quiet time to do research or polish up a story. More recently the excuses had revolved around his search for a new job. The last time he’d been home – almost a month ago now – they had spent very little time together instead of going for their usual hikes or watching TV or Peter simply recapping his most recent trip for her.

  Tessa didn’t want to think too hard about what all of this meant. With most any other man she would have suspected him of having an affair. But knowing all too well the extent of Peter’s emotional and sexual issues, the idea was almost laughable. Whatever was going on with him had nothing to do with an extramarital affair. She was, however, determined to get to the bottom of the matter, and vowed that they would have a long, involved talk as soon as he arrived home this evening – even if she feared she wouldn’t like the answers.

  She was the first one of the team to arrive, as she was nearly every day. Tessa sighed a bit wearily as she booted up her computer and put away her cardigan and purse, wondering if she was destined to remain in this particular job for the rest of her career. It wasn’t that she didn’t like being part of the team – and the various little perks that came along with it – but there were days when she grew weary of doing the same sort of mundane tasks over and over. She would have greatly preferred being a PA for one of the executives here on this floor. Not only was the salary considerably higher but the position carried more prestige and responsibility, with some of the PA’s even traveling with their managers on occasion. But she also knew she would need a college degree before she could even think of applying for a job like that, and going back to school at this time just wasn’t in the cards. Her super-tight budget would never allow for college tuition and books. And, ironically, even though she and Peter lived in a cramped apartment in a questionable neighborhood, couldn’t afford to own a car, and ate a lot of cereal, ramen noodles, and peanut butter sandwiches to stretch their dollars, they now earned too much money for her to qualify for most grants or scholarships. It was a cruel sort of Catch-22.

  Andrew arrived less than five minutes after she did, but she knew he’d likely been at the office until early evening yesterday, and had probably dealt with phone calls and emails after hours as well.

  She offered him up a warm but businesslike smile as he passed by her cubicle. “Good morning, Andrew.”

  He gave her a brief nod. “Hello, Tessa. First one in agai
n, I see.”

  Her cheeks pinkened and she gave a small shrug. “I got the early bus. It’s a bit less crowded than the next one.”

  “Mr. Gregson is going to need some spreadsheets done today,” he told her briskly. “I’ll be sending the information your way shortly.”

  ‘What else is new?’ she thought grimly. It seemed that she spent three quarters of each day working on the complex Excel files that their boss relied on so heavily. But all she said in response was, “Of course, Andrew. Send them along whenever you like and I’ll get right to them. I don’t have anything else pressing on my schedule for today.”

  “Good to know. I’ll email you the supporting data within the hour.”

  Tessa knew that Andrew was nothing if not precise, and that he would more than likely be emailing her in less than the appointed time. She had a couple of other items to take care of before tackling the spreadsheets, and made quick work of them. She’d been at her desk for more than half an hour, even having grabbed a cup of tea, before any of the other team members arrived. Marisol was the next one in, yawning as usual and carrying an oversized coffee cup. Shelby was next, giving Tessa a little wave as she continued to chat with someone on her cell phone, giggling every so often with her chirpy laugh.

  Gina and Alicia arrived a couple of minutes later, causing Tessa to grit her teeth in annoyance at their whispered conversations and sly laughter, and she wondered who this morning’s unfortunate victim of their vicious gossip might be. Gina gave her an overly-friendly smile, while Alicia greeted her with a saccharin sweet “Good morning.” Tessa tried to ignore how both of them none too discreetly checked out the dress and shoes she’d worn today.