Perfect Timing

by Brenda Jackson

  After they hung up the phone she took off her jacket and tossed it across the back of a chair. She then opened her laptop to e-mail Garrett, knowing he would get on-line after putting the boys to bed. Things were still pretty tense between them and knew when she returned to Dallas, they would need to sit down and resolve the problems plaguing their marriage.

  “Hi, it will be late when I call tonight. Meeting time was changed to later. I hope practice went okay today. Love, Mya.”

  Shutting her laptop down she then decided to undress and lie across the bed and rest. Her last thought before closing her eyes was that Robert Noble had a nice sounding voice.

  Impeccably dressed, wearing a navy blue linen business suit, matching navy pumps, pearl earrings, and carrying her leather briefcase, Mya arrived in the hotel lobby a few minutes before five. She didn’t wait long before the man she recognized from photographs as Robert Noble, walked through the revolving doors. Dressed in what she saw to be a very expensive business suit, there was something about him that demanded attention.

  And he was getting it.

  She noticed a number of people’s gazes, especially females, turned his way and she could see why. He had a walk of a man who was self-assured, comfortable with his surroundings and with anything else he came into contact with. He was tall, well built, and handsome. She mentally compared him with Garrett and decided where her good-looking husband had an athletic air about him, Robert Noble seemed to be all about business.

  She was glad for that, because so was she.

  “Ms. Rivers?” he asked extending his hand to her as a broad smile touched his lips and male appreciation shone in his eyes.

  She smiled. He may be all about business but she could tell that the man in him had noticed her a woman. She didn’t have a problem with that since she had definitely noticed him as a man. There was nothing wrong with appreciating the opposite sex as long as it went no further than mere appreciation. She couldn’t help but note he had walked directly over to her like he’d known just who she was although the two of them had never met. “Yes, Mr. Noble, it’s nice meeting you and I’m looking forward to working with you.”

  “Likewise,” he said easily. “I suggest we leave now. Traffic this time of the day is crazy, but I promise to get you to the restaurant in one piece.”

  She laughed. “Thanks, I would appreciate that.”

  During the drive to the restaurant, they talked about where her company wanted to take him and precisely just where he wanted to go. He made sure she understood that although he enjoyed working, he wanted to retire before he reached fifty.

  She chuckled. “Trust me, Mr. Noble. I’ll have you retired long before then.”

  “It’s Robert,” he said, once again giving her a mega-watt smile that was sexy as sin. “I still think of Mr. Noble as my father. And I hope you don’t mind if I call you Mya.”

  She shook her head. “No, not at all.”

  “Good.”

  Dinner was pleasant and she was able to cover a lot of information with him that he seemed receptive to. It was quite obvious that he was highly intelligent and knew just what questions to ask.

  “I’m sure you’re aware that I’m thinking about taking my company public,” he said smoothly, after the remains of their dinner had been taken away and they were enjoying coffee.

  “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

  “That’s the reason I need you to spend the next two days here, working closely with my Vice President, Simon Prentice. He has a lot of concerns. He wasn’t too happy when I severed my ties with Skylark.”

  Mya nodded. She wasn’t clear on the details of what had ended the relationship. “Well, I hope to convince him that you made the right decision in coming to us.”

  After dinner he had taken her back to the hotel. Letting the valet park his car he walked her into the lobby. “After studying the information I gave you tonight, call me if you have any questions. I’ll be up rather late going over items for my meeting tomorrow with Mr. Prentice,” she said.

  “I hope you don’t plan to be up too late. I don’t want to be the cause of your exhaustion tomorrow.”

  She chuckled. “Trust me, I’ll be very alert tomorrow. For some reason I think I’ll have to be, with Mr. Prentice.”

  He laughed good-naturedly. “Don’t let Simon intimidate you, which I’m warning you he will try to do. Just be as thorough with him as you were with me tonight and he’ll buy into anything you say.” His eyes turned a darker shade of brown when he added. “You’re a very persuasive woman, Mya, and definitely an asset to Monahan Investments.”

  “Thank you, Robert. I’m glad you think so. Will you also be at tomorrow’s meeting?” she inquired politely.

  “Unfortunately, no. I have an important meeting in Miami tomorrow. I’m flying out in the morning but will return before you leave on Thursday. Let’s get together again on Wednesday evening when I return and you can bring me up to date.”

  “That will be fine,” she said quietly. It didn’t look like she would make it back home early after all.

  “Thanks again for coming,” he said shaking her hand again.

  “And thank you for doing business with my company.” She then watched as he left, walking back through the revolving doors.

  As soon as she was back in her hotel room she placed a call to Garrett. She was surprised when Mrs. Butler answered. “Mrs. Butler? Is Garrett available?”

  “No, Ms. Rivers. He called earlier and said he would be delayed and to go ahead and feed the boys and put them in bed.” Mya could tell by the sound of Mrs. Butler’s voice that she was as surprised as she was. Garret always made it a point to come straight home from practice each day, no matter what. “The boys are okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am, they are fine. Of course they miss you.”

  Mya nodded. Her first day away was usually the hardest on the boys. “And I miss them too. Well, I had better go. Don’t forget to let Garrett know that I called.”

  “Yes, ma’am.

  “Goodnight, Mrs. Butler.”

  “Goodnight, Ms. Rivers.”

  After ending her conversation with Mrs. Butler, Mya went into the bathroom to take a shower. Afterwards, she sat at the desk in the room and worked, preparing for her meeting with Simon Prentice tomorrow. It was close to eleven when her phone rang. Thinking it was Garrett she picked up on the first ring. “Hi, sweetheart.”

  There was a chuckle on the other end. Then a deep voice said. “I’ve been called a number of things lately, but sweetheart isn’t one of them.”

  Mya smiled in embarrassment when she realized the caller wasn’t Garrett but was Robert Noble. “Sorry, Mr. Noble, I thought you were my husband. I was expecting his call.”

  “Then I won’t hold you. I was wondering if you could look over some papers that I’m leaving with Simon. They’re a summary of all the services I had with Skylark. I just want you to review them to make sure we’re on target with your company.”

  “Yes, I’ll be glad to look at them.”

  “Good. Well, goodnight, and I’ll see you Wednesday.”

  “Yes. Goodnight.”

  Mya yawned after hanging up the phone. She was about to shut down her laptop for the night when the phone rang again. Deciding not to take any chances as to who the caller might be, she answered in her professional voice. “Mya Rivers.”

  “Mya?”

  She relaxed when she recognized Garrett’s voice. “Garrett, hi, I thought you had forgotten me.”

  “No, I didn’t forget you. I hung out at Mark’s house tonight. I guess you heard, since it’s been all over the news, that he got cut from the team.”

  Mya’s heart jumped. “No, I hadn’t heard. I haven’t been watching television.” She sat down in the desk chair remembering her conversation with Mark’s wife, Danielle, two weeks ago. “How is he taking it?”

  “Not good. So some of the guys and I went over there after practice.”

  “I’m sure he appreciates everyone’
s support.”

  “Yeah, he would prefer having his job back but we all know that isn’t going to happen.”

  Mya nodded. “Has any other team called him yet?” Sometime a player would get a call within hours of being cut from a team.

  “No. You know Mark’s temper. Some coaches see him as a liability.”

  “You can’t blame them with the number of penalties he usually gets each season.”

  “But still, he was a damn good player.”

  Mya heard the irritation in Garrett’s voice and knew he was upset. “How are you handling things?” she asked. He and Mark shared a close friendship.

  “Okay, I guess. A lot of us are still in shock. Mark did a hell of a job on the team—penalties or no penalties.” After a slight pause he asked. “Will you be coming home early?”

  “I had hoped so but now it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to.”

  “Oh.”

  Even with that single word, she heard the disappointment in his voice. “But I hope to be back early on Thursday hopefully before lunch.”

  “It would be nice to come home and find you here.”

  Mya flinched, knowing he hadn’t meant it as a compliment but was being sarcastic. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said quietly, not wanting to fight with him tonight.

  “Yeah, right. Goodnight, Mya.”

  “Goodnight, Garrett. I love you.”

  They hung up then. Mya was a little hurt that Garrett hadn’t taken the time to tell her that he loved her, too, before hanging up but she decided not to let it bother her.

  Her thoughts moved to Danielle and Mark. She wanted to call Danielle but it was too late to do so tonight and made a mental note to do so first thing in the morning. Shutting down her laptop she called the front desk for a wake-up call in the morning. Moments later she got into bed wondering what Mark and Danielle would do now that Mark didn’t have a job, and from what Garrett had said, he didn’t have any prospects. A short while later after saying a prayer for the Hughes family, Mya dozed off to sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “Are you feeling better, Mr. Chandler?” Christopher’s secretary asked when he walked past her desk as he headed for his office.

  “I wasn’t sick, Mary,” he said with an answering smile.

  “Oh, I just assumed you were, sir. I’ve never known you to miss a day from work, especially on a Monday.”

  “There’s a first time for everything,” he responded in a lighthearted mood. “Has Gabe arrived yet?”

  “Yes, sir, he came in thirty minutes ago.”

  Christopher nodded. “Ask him to come see me when he gets the chance.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Christopher entered his office and closed the door. Placing his briefcase on the desk he opened it and began removing the files he had come by his office to pick up on Sunday afternoon after taking Maxi to the airport. He had intended to work on them but had found he’d been too keyed up after her visit to concentrate on anything.

  And yesterday instead of coming into the office, he had spent most of the day relaxing and making airline and hotel reservations for their trip to Las Vegas, something he was looking forward to. If anyone had told him he would be this anxious to get a woman pregnant he would not have believed them.

  Goose bumps broke out on his arms when he thought of making love to Maxi again. He had had sex with a number of women but he had never actually made love to any of them. In the past all his focus had been on seeking pleasure in a hot feminine body but with Maxi it had been more than that. Never before had he experienced anything so beautiful, so wholesome, so sensuous, and above all, so pure. Nothing had ever felt so right. She had taken him into the very essence of her body and had satisfied him more than any woman he’d ever had, because everything Maxine Chandler did, she did from her heart and a part of him knew that also included making love to him. And he had given her a part of him that he had never wanted to share with any other woman. Yet he had given it to her without any reservations or misgivings because in his heart Maxi was deserving of anything and everything he had.

  “So you decided to remember you need to earn a paycheck?”

  Christopher glanced up. Gabe had entered his office, closed the door behind him and was leaning against it with his hands shoved deep into his pants pockets. “I take it you missed me yesterday, Blackwell.”

  Gabe smiled. “Envious of you is probably a better word. I figured you had talked Maxi into staying over until Monday and that was the reason you played hooky.”

  Christopher chuckled. “No, she left as planned on Sunday but now that you mention it, that would not have been a bad idea. Too bad I didn’t think of it.”

  Gabe walked over and stood in front of Christopher’s desk. “So what was the reason you didn’t come in? Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I think you spend too much time in this place anyway.”

  “The reason I didn’t come in was because I just wanted to stay home and chill…and to remember.” He met Gabe’s gaze. “I enjoyed having Maxi here this weekend.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you did. I like her, Christopher.”

  A low chuckle rumbled in Christopher’s chest. “Yeah, and she mentioned that she likes you, too.”

  “You’re going ahead with your plans to get her pregnant?”

  “Yes, that’s what this is all about.”

  Gabe lifted a brow. “You sure about that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yet you claim she means a lot to you.”

  “She does. Maxi has always been able to make me feel something I usually don’t feel around other woman.”

  “What?”

  “Special. Even when I was young and was going through my worst moments, she never made me feel like a charity case. She always made me feel special and without a whole lot of effort in doing so. She has that knack.”

  “Yet, you won’t consider marrying her.”

  “No, because as much as I care for Maxi, I’m not in love with her. I’ve outgrown those feelings I once had for her. I don’t think I’m capable of loving a woman. I like a lot of women but I don’t love any of them. It’s just that simple.”

  Gabe nodded, wondering if Christopher really believed that. He glanced at the pile of mail that had accumulated on Christopher’s desk. “Well, it seems you definitely have a lot to do today, so I’ll leave and let you get to it. What did you want to see me about?”

  “Just to let you know that I’ll be out of the office a couple of days next week. Maxi and I are flying to Las Vegas for the weekend and will probably stay through Monday.”

  Gabe nodded. “Okay. Will she be coming back here?”

  “Why would she? After she gets pregnant I probably won’t be seeing her any more until probably after the baby is born.”

  “And she has agreed to that?”

  Christopher met Gabe’s gaze. “Yes. I offered Maxi a baby, Gabe, not my life. She understands that once she gets pregnant it’s business and pleasure as usual for me.”

  “In other words you go back to screwing anything in a skirt and reinstate your philosophy that, ‘there’s nothing like getting between a great pair of legs’.”

  “Whatever works.”

  Gabe shook his head. “You know whatever you do, you have my full support. But I don’t think you’re thinking straight with this thing involving Maxi.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning any man in his right mind can see she’s the marrying kind.”

  “Yeah, and she’s also the mothering kind. All she wants is a baby and that suits me just fine because that is all I’m prepared to give her.”

  “Well, you better hope Mom never meets her because she’d do anything to get us married off. And if she ever finds out you plan to get Maxi pregnant without marrying her, you may as well—”

  “What the hell!” Christopher’s loud voice cut into Gabe’s words.

  Gabe frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  Christopher handed him the
large photograph he had just taken out of the envelope. “Take a look at this.”

  Gabe did. He smiled. “Good looking woman from what I can see. However, it’s hard to do so with your mouth planted so firmly on hers. Who is she and what is this about?”

  “That’s Tori Smithfield.” Christopher knew that was all he needed to say. Although Gabe had never met Tori, he knew about Christopher’s occasional affair with the journalist who worked for CNN. “She came to Detroit on business a month before I went on the cruise.”

  “Who took the picture and why was it taken?”

  “The hell if I know. I don’t recall anyone around with a camera that night and even so, Tori and I don’t have to sneak around since we’re two consenting adults. We’re both single, so this photograph doesn’t make sense.”

  Gabe nodded. “It seems that someone wants you to know that they are aware of the two of you together.”

  “Yes, but who and why?”

  Gabe didn’t say anything for a moment as he studied the photograph of the scantily dressed woman locked in Christopher’s arms. He then looked up and met Christopher’s gaze. “And you’re sure she isn’t married? The only reason a person would send a photo like this is because they feel it could in some way be damaging to either one of you.”

  Christopher shook his head. “When I met Tori three years ago she was single and as far as I know she’s still single.”

  “If I were you I would make sure, Christopher. There’s a reason someone sent you this photograph. Since we know for a fact that you’re single and this picture won’t have a damaging effect on you, that won’t be true for Tori Smithfield if she’s married.”

  “I don’t mess around with married women, Gabe,” Christopher said curtly.

  “Not if you know they are married. What if she was married all along and just didn’t tell you?”

  Christopher drew a long steadying breath, not liking the feel of things. He couldn’t believe Tori would deceive him that way. They had been open in their relationship, which had been one based on sexual need, nothing more. Now with what Gabe was saying, Christopher couldn’t help but recall just what he did know about Tori. He had never wanted to get into her business like he had never wanted her to get into his. But he was fairly certain that she hadn’t been married when they had first started seeing each other. She had told him that straight out. Had she gotten married but hadn’t told him and intended to keep things between them as they had been before?