“So, what do you normally do on Saturdays?” I asked. “Do you have any plans with your friends?”
“Nah,” he said. “I don’t have many friends in this neighborhood, and Dad doesn’t like to drive me to where my school friends live. He barely knows any of their parents.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Well, the sun is shining, and it’s not too cold out yet. You want to go throw a baseball around in the yard?”
“Sure,” he said excitedly. “I’ll go grab some gloves and a ball. Meet you out back.”
“You got it.” I smiled.
He ran off to his room, a look of excitement in his eyes that made me smile. I walked out the back door and into the perfectly landscaped backyard. The grass was green, the birds were chirping, and it looked like a whole other world back there. The leaves were starting to fall from the trees, and the cascade of colors almost took my breath away. Growing up in San Francisco didn’t award me seasons like this, but it was like I imagined it would be.
Cooper ran up to me. “Okay, I’m ready. Here’s your glove and the ball.”
“Awesome.” I smiled, taking them from him.
We started to toss the ball back and forth to each other, and it was quickly very apparent to me that the kid had very little athletic ability. I knew Blake’s company was sports based and sponsored the NFL. I wondered if Cooper’s lack of athleticism was partly why he and his father didn’t seem to be super bonded. There were many things that could get in the way of their relationship, but they’d been sheltered by his mother. Now that she wasn’t in place to be that buffer, that connection, they might have had a hard time getting close again.
We tossed the ball back and forth for about thirty minutes. When he looked like he was losing interest, I walked over and tossed the ball back to him. He caught it and smiled, looking up at me.
“Let’s go get a drink,” I said.
When we got inside, Blake had finally come out of his office. I walked into the kitchen and got a couple of glasses of iced tea I had made earlier and took them to the guys. Blake smiled and took the glass, sipping it and setting it on the table.
“It’s Saturday,” he said. “Normally, unless I have something to do, you can be off on the weekends for the most part. I’m going to take Cooper out to the movies, so feel free to continue to get settled in.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, watching as he led Cooper out to the car.
I spent the rest of the afternoon getting my computer set up in my room and sifting through all my college information. I had to see where I needed to pick up, what classes I had to take or retake, and what kind of time was needed to get this degree done. Luckily for me, Blake had decided to pay six months’ wages up front. The money he’d given me was more than enough to pay for my entire semester plus leave money for my living expenses. It was exciting to know I’d be able to get through another semester and not completely kill myself in the process. Plus I got to work with an awesome little boy and a man who was sexier every time I saw him.
7
Blake
Monday morning was not at all what I had in mind for a fresh start to the week. I didn’t even get to sleep until my alarm went off, which was set for a lot later than when my eyes shot open. I reached up and grabbed my phone, groaning and growling through the movements. I pulled the phone down and looked at the screen to see Inez’s name on the caller ID. What in God’s name did my assistant want before the sun had come up? I pressed the answer button and put it up to my ear, sighing heavily and dramatically into the phone.
“Don’t sigh at me,” she snipped. “If you did what I asked you to do, the things you said you would take care of, then I wouldn’t have to call you before I’ve even had my first cup of coffee.”
“Is the building burning down?” I groaned.
“Physically? No,” she replied. “Metaphorically, it depends on what you consider a blaze.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, sitting up. “I get it, I’ve been absent lately.”
“Absent? Try a ghost,” Inez replied. “But that isn’t why I’m calling. I need you to put on a suit and get your ass into the office. We have a bunch of stuff to go over. I’m stirring my coffee now, in my to-go cup, and I suggest you do the same.”
“Yes, boss,” I said, hanging up the phone.
I groaned and dragged myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes before pulling on a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt. When I walked out of my room, I stopped, realizing I was going to have to knock on Aly’s door. I didn’t know why I was so nervous to do that, but for some reason, my feet were glued to the floor. I shook my head, scolding myself for being such a child about it and walked over to her bedroom. I knocked and stepped back, putting my hands in my pockets and smiling as she answered.
“Hey,” she said. “I was just getting ready to change and come out to start your coffee.”
“Don’t worry about that. I actually have to race in this morning,” I said kindly. “I wanted to know if you would drive Cooper to school?”
“Um, sure,” she said. “You’ll have to leave me directions.”
“I’ll set the GPS for school and home before I leave.” I smiled. “Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”
“It’s my job,” she said with a laugh. “But you’re most welcome.”
I walked back to my room and jumped in the shower, getting ready quickly. Before I left, I programmed the GPS for Aly and smiled, thinking about how sexy she looked in her robe with tousled hair. When I was done, I pushed the thought from my mind. I had a lot to concentrate on, and I needed to follow Hollis’s advice and get back on the train at work. It was important that I didn’t let everything in my life fall to shit. When I got there, coffee in hand, Inez looked at me, narrowing her eyes.
“What now?” I groaned.
“You do remember that Jordan is throwing a party, right?”
“Uh, sure, yeah,” I said, not really being honest.
“Yeah, okay, well you didn’t RSVP, and he’s more than a little pissed,” Inez said.
“Oh lord,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Fine. I’ll call him and smooth it all over. There’s no reason for him to get pissed. When’s the party?”
“Wednesday night.”
“Wednesday?” I asked. “Who throws a party on a Wednesday?”
“Your partner Jordan does,” Inez said sarcastically.
I nodded and walked into my office, pulling out my cell phone and calling Jordan. He answered the phone like an angry twelve-year-old, and it took everything in my power not to laugh. In the end, I smoothed things over with him and agreed to come. I thought it was damn stupid he was throwing the party on a Wednesday, but I didn’t tell him that. It would have caused even more of a problem.
“All right.” I chuckled. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I’ll see you on Wednesday night.”
I hung up the phone, my fake smile fading from my lips. I sighed and turned to my screen, moving the mouse and opening up my email. It was time I went through all the messages in there, and I hoped I hadn’t missed anything super important. Most of them were from clients and friends asking how I was, wondering if I had gotten over the whole widower haze that I’d found myself trapped in. I wrote those people back with a copy and pasted version, just to give them something to chew on.
When I flipped over to the business account, I started to notice emails from the NFL. After reading about six of them, I realized our sponsorship was about to lapse, which was a huge marketing tool for us. Immediately, I went to work, calling the different departments and scrambling to get everything in order. I couldn’t be mad at Inez about this. The task was mine to handle, and I had requested that it go through me personally. I had completely dropped the ball with it. It was kind of a wake-up call, to be honest, showing me how far I had fallen down the rabbit hole of depression. I had almost let the most important part of our business, the partnership that had pushed us to a new level, walk right out the door. It would have cost the company big time, and
if I had lost that that sponsorship, I would have probably paid for it with my place on the board as well.
“Boss, I need you to—” Inez stopped halfway into the office and lifting her eyebrows. “Oh, you’re working.”
“What do you need me to do?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing I can’t take care of later,” she said with a smile. “I’ll get more coffee for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, putting the papers together. “And can you mail this off same day to the NFL offices? It is our re-up for the sponsorship.”
“Of course,” she said, walking over and taking the large manila envelope. “Anything else?”
“No, thank you.”
She walked out of the office with a smirk on her face, surprised to see me putting in real work. I didn’t blame her. It had been a year of her staring at me as I stared off into space, and now all of a sudden, I was back in the game. I needed a breath of fresh air, and I wasn’t sure if it was Hollis or Aly who gave it to me, but it was enough for me to realize I needed to do something. Maybe it would stick, maybe it wouldn’t, but no matter what, today was going to be productive. When I was done marking down all the appropriate notations for the sponsorship in the files, I filed them away.
“Here you are, boss.” Inez breezed in with a fresh cup of coffee.
“What coffee shop is this?” I asked, staring at the label.
“The one in your lobby,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “You signed off on it last year.”
“I did?” I looked at her like she was crazy. How could I forget allowing a coffee shop in the lobby I passed through every day?
“Yeah, and you said you would love for the coffee to be closer.”
“Well, I do.” I laughed. “Apparently, I’ve been living in a bubble the last year.”
“More like a basement away from the world,” she replied. “But don’t let me interrupt. Keep going. You’re on a roll today. You might actually get through those emails.”
“On my list for next,” I said as she walked out the door.
“Look at you.” She laughed, closing my door behind her.
It was funny that she was more than surprised to find me actually doing something with my time in the office instead of just sitting there. I turned back to the emails and started to clean out the inbox, one email at a time. It would be nice to come back to the office the next day with a fresh start, everything taken care of, the sponsorship in the right hands, and everything ready to get rolling. When I was done with the emails, I went through my voice mails and messages from Inez from the prior week. There were several personal calls I would take later, but as for work clients, I picked up the phone and got straight back to them.
There were quite a few who were worried about the sponsorship, but I made sure they knew everything was on the right track. It felt good to have that confidence back from people again, though I assumed none of them had lost it. It had been in my own head. When I was done with the most recent missed calls, I started on the list of people I had been putting off for the last year. It was a shame I’d let myself get that far behind, but now it could all be a new beginning. Aly was going to provide a perfect amount of time for me to focus on work, but when I had gotten all caught up, I wanted to make it a point to spend more time with Cooper. He was the one who was really suffering through the whole situation.
Seeing him with Aly, laughing, playing video games, tossing a baseball, and helping with the cooking brought back old memories, and though they were painful, they were good ones. Aly fit in perfectly with Cooper, and despite having to behave myself, I kept getting a comforting feeling whenever I saw them together. She would never be able to replace my wife, but she was a needed influence in Cooper’s life.
Speaking of Cooper, I looked down at the time and thought about all the work I needed to finish before I could start the next day fresh and ready. It was an absurd amount, and I could use a long night in the office. I shrugged and picked up the phone, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to ask. I found Aly’s number and called her up.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey, it’s Blake,” I replied. “You busy?”
“No,” she said. “I was finishing up preparing Cooper’s snack for when he gets home from school.”
“Awesome. Listen, I’d like to have the time to get caught up on stuff at work. I was wondering if you could pick him up from school?”
“Sure,” she said cheerfully. “Should we expect you for dinner or just prepare the table for the two of us?”
“Go ahead and do just the two of you,” I replied. “I might be really late tonight. If you have leftovers, I’ll grab them when I get home, and if not, no big deal either.”
“Okay,” she said. “Sounds good.”
“If you have any questions feel free to call me,” I said. “This is great. I got really behind at work, and this will make my life a lot easier.”
“Of course,” she said. “It’s part of my job. Do you mind if Cooper watches a movie before bed?”
“No, that will be great. He’ll like that,” I replied with a smile. “And thank you so much for that.”
“No need for thanks,” she said. “I’ll see you when you get home later.”
I worked late into the night that night, Aly on my mind, my deceased wife on my mind, and the silence of the empty office around me. It felt good to be doing what was expected of me again, and I owed some of the thanks to Aly.
8
Aly
I had gone to bed about two hours after I put Cooper down to rest for the night. We both knew Blake was going to be late, so we watched a movie, had some ice cream, and then Cooper went to sleep. I tried to stay up to get ahead some more in class, but the exhaustion from the day started to build. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep. I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep before I heard the noise, but it woke me, forcing me to sit straight up in bed. I looked over at the clock. It was almost two in the morning.
Carefully, I slipped out of bed and onto the floor, creeping over to the door and listening for a moment. I thought I could hear someone, but I wasn’t positive. There were no sounds in the rest of the house. I had to be the only one who had woken up. Slowly, I exited the room and crept down the stairs. It was dark in the house, and there was no sign of Cooper, so whatever I heard came from something or someone else. I rounded the corner in the kitchen and grabbed a frying pan. As soon as I took a step forward, the light came on, and I screamed. Blake jumped and then stood frozen in the doorway, his hands up in the air and a confused look on his face.
I grabbed my chest and shook my head, trying to catch my breath. Laughing through my heavy breathing, I shook the frying pan at him. I felt completely foolish, especially since he’d told me he wouldn’t be home until really late. I looked back up, and he hadn’t moved a muscle, just continued to stare at me, almost awkwardly. I smiled and tilted my head trying to figure out why he was so silent. Slowly, I followed his eyes down and realized that all I had on was a very loose tank top and my blue bikini cut panties. Not only that but the shirt had shifted in my pathetic attempt to shield myself with a frying pan, and half of my breast was hanging out for the world to see.
My cheeks grew red while embarrassment flooding through my veins. I tried not to make a big deal about it. Instead, I lowered the frying pan, setting it on the counter, fixed my tank top, and crossed my arms in front of me. I looked back up at Blake as his eyes shifted up to mine, and his mouth quickly closed. I bit my bottom lip and forced my eyebrows together in irritation.
“You should let someone know when you’re coming in that late,” I grumbled. “You scared me to death. If I had been any closer, I might have hit you in the face with that damn pan, and then where would we be? You’d have a broken face, and you’d have to explain to everyone how you got it.”
I huffed and puffed, putting my arms down and stomping past him. I didn’t stop when I left the kitchen, either. I just kept going up the stai
rs and to my bedroom. Once I was in there, I closed the door and leaned up against it, covering my face and erupting into a quiet giggle. I couldn’t believe what happened down there. I went running through the house like a superhero to find my boss standing there staring at my boobs. The man acted like he’d never seen a pair before. I laughed again and shook my head, leaning back against the door. Once the adrenaline died down, I had the good sense to be mortified.
I groaned and walked over to the bed, falling face-first into it. It was so inappropriate what had happened. For god’s sake, it could have been Cooper down there. I didn’t even think about it before I went hustling down to the kitchen armed with metal pans and pretty much no clothes. I hoped he wouldn’t fire me over it. I needed this job, really cared about what I was doing, and was already making headway with school. I turned over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, mortified. Blake’s face blew through my mind, and without warning, a tiny smirk crossed my lips. Beyond it being horrifying, it was kind of sexy how blatantly he had gawked at my body. I couldn’t help feeling slightly turned on by his more than obvious desire for me.
He was much older than me, but that made it all the more hotter, didn’t it? He had the kind of experience I was pretty sure would melt me to the bed. The kind of pleasure that man could bring was more than I wanted to think about at that moment. I had to stop the thoughts and go to bed. They were as inappropriate as my parade through the house. I sighed and pulled the covers over me, falling asleep to the images of Blake’s sexy body floating through my brain.
When I woke up in the morning, I made it a point to make sure I was fully dressed, socks, shoes, and all before I even thought of leaving the bedroom. I even put on a shirt that left no possibility of seeing any kind of cleavage when I bent over. I was pretty sure if I could have put on a nun’s getup, I would have at that point. When I was completely satisfied I had covered any and every portion of skin that could be deemed inappropriate, I headed downstairs and started breakfast for Cooper.
Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set Page 4