“I’m fine. It’s Dad.”
“What about Bill?”
“He’s had a heart attack.” Her voice cracks.
I can hardly believe what I’m hearing. “What do you mean, he had a heart attack? He’s as strong as an ox.”
“Just get to the hospital. Dad needs you.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at home with the baby. John is already there.”
I grab my balled fist to keep from punching the wall. “John?”
“John’s the one who found him.”
“Found him where?”
“At the house.”
“What was John doing there?”
Liza sighs as though she’s already weary of our conversation. “Just go, Nolan.”
“All right.” I end the call.
11
What is she doing here?” Kelsey, Nolan’s ex-wife, asks.
At the office, Nolan asked if I would accompany him to the hospital so that we could work on the payout checklist for the year. It’s a tedious task, but we have to pay people who invested in our REITs.
On the ride over, I read aloud each name and gave him the amount. Nolan then told me which numbers to recheck. He looked to be in anguish from the time we left the office until we arrived at the hospital, where he did something totally unexpected. Nolan held my hand from the parking lot until we reached the information station. It was so surreal. I have no idea what he meant by it, and at the moment, he’s too distraught to ask.
Now we’re in the hospital hallway, and Nolan’s ex-wife and I are glaring at each other. I really don’t want to dislike her, but she’s making it extremely hard for me to feel any other way about her. Nolan doesn’t appear to have much patience for her jealous inquiry.
We’re right outside Nolan’s father’s room in the intensive care unit. Nolan is distracted by John, who is standing at the nurses’ station, speaking to one of the nurses.
Nolan puts a hand on the small of my back, and I feel his warm breath on my ear. “Stay here.”
He storms over to the nurses’ station, his eyes still fixed on John. I’ve often seen Nolan agitated but never this infuriated. The situation must call for some mediating because Kelsey tears her eyes away from mine and trots off behind him.
“How did this happen?” Nolan asks the nurse.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” the nurse asks.
“I’m his son.”
“So am I,” John says.
Out of nowhere, Nolan grabs the collar of John’s jacket. Kelsey gets in the middle of them and drives Nolan back away from John.
“Did you have something to do with this?” Nolan says as he lets go of John.
“You’re crazy,” John yells, straightening his jacket.
“You both need to get yourselves together,” Kelsey says.
Nolan’s breathing like an angry bull. “What are you doing here anyway?” he asks Kelsey.
“I’m here for Bill,” she says.
Nolan shakes his head. “He was perfectly fine when I spoke to him this morning.”
“You know how suddenly these things can happen,” John says.
Nolan mutters something indecipherable. A nurse goes into Bill’s room, and Nolan rushes in behind her. John follows them, and Kelsey scowls at me before she enters. I heard that look she gave me loud and clear. It said, “Back off, bitch.”
I stand in the hallway for at least five minutes. Finally a nurse asks me if I want to sit in a nearby waiting room. Before I answer, I listen to the voices coming out of Nolan’s father’s hospital room. Nolan’s expressing how he doesn’t understand how a perfectly healthy man could have a heart attack then fall into a coma in the hospital. The nurse tells him that that doctor will stop by soon and he’ll be the appropriate person to answer any questions Nolan may have. I feel as if I’m intruding on their private family affairs.
I smile at the nurse. “Yes, I’ll go to the waiting room.”
She smiles sympathetically. “I’ll show you.”
I follow the tiny woman out of the intensive care ward.
“Your husband is really angry,” she says.
It takes me a moment to realize that she’s referring to Nolan. I feel obligated to tell her the truth. “Oh no, he’s my boss.”
“He’s handsome.” She opens the door to the waiting room.
I measure with two fingers as I walk past her. “A little.”
We share a chuckle.
“I’ll let your sexy boss know where to find you.”
“Thanks.”
She closes the door. I sit down and take a health magazine off the table to read. I’m halfway through an article on diabetes when the door opens. I look away from the page at Nolan’s miserable face.
I slowly stand. “How are you?”
He lifts his eyebrows as if that should answer my question. “Look, I’m not going to leave this place until my father is released. I called you a cab.”
“Right, I understand.”
Nolan walks over to stand in front of me. His nearness makes me chew nervously on my bottom lip.
He twirls a lock of my hair, releases it, and puts his arm along his side. “I’ll be in the office when I can. Can I rely on you to hold down the fort?”
“Sure. Absolutely.”
Someone pulls the door open. “Nolan, the doctor is back.”
He turns his head to look at Kelsey. “All right.” Nolan faces me again. We stare into each other’s eyes.
“He doesn’t have time to wait for you, Nolan,” Kelsey says.
She’s so snippy—beautiful but snippy.
“I’ll walk you to the lobby,” he says to me.
I think he’s perfected the art of ignoring her. I put my hand on his chest. Touching him feels so good. “No, go see to your father. I can find my way out.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“Nolan?” Kelsey snaps.
He holds up a hand, gesturing her to stop. I feel as if we should kiss, but we’re both aware that we shouldn’t do it in front of present company.
“I’ll call you soon,” Nolan says then walks to the door.
Kelsey glares at me as though she’s starting a war between us. I break eye contact by looking at my boots, and I don’t look up until they’re gone.
Leaving the hospital feels so good. I hate hospitals. I spent months in the hospital, watching my grandfather then my grandmother die. The ICU is the worst part.
I get lost in the maze of hallways. I was so excited about being next to Nolan that I didn’t pay attention to how we arrived at the ICU. I finally find an elevator and hit the down button. The door slides open after a short wait.
I’m taken aback by who I see. “Misty?”
For a brief moment, she looks at me like the cat that just swallowed the canary, but Misty has always been quick. She puts on a fake smile. “Abby?”
“What are you doing here?” I say.
“I have an appointment.”
“Oh,” I say.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
“Nolan asked me to come with him.”
“He did?”
I can hear what she’s insinuating in her tone. “We had a lot of work to do. Now he’s going to stay. So he called me a cab. That’s all.”
One of her eyes narrows. I notice she does that when she disapproves of something. “Right…” She checks her watch. “I have to go.”
I flinch, taken aback. I’m shocked she isn’t finding some passive-aggressive way to scold me for being here with Nolan.
“See you tomorrow,” she says and takes off down the hallway.
I watch her curiously. Something about our brief encounter seems off. Regardless, I push the down button again, and when the elevator opens, I get in.
The cab is waiting for me at the main entrance. The driver drops me off at the office, and I get back to work. By the time I’m ready to call it a day, I still haven’t heard
from Nolan.
I make it home, strip out of my clothes, and put on my pajamas and a T-shirt. After making and eating basil and tomato pasta for dinner, I still haven’t heard from Nolan. I figure that I shouldn’t take it personally. He’s under a lot of stress. I watch a little TV and go to bed.
I pass through Tuesday and Wednesday without seeing hide or hair of Nolan. On Thursday morning, I finally receive an email from him. He wants me to take over a meeting he’s scheduled with Chef Clark. He leaves detailed instructions of what’s to be accomplished. It’s all fairly straightforward. Our company wants to buy and franchise Chef Clark’s restaurants, and the chef’s lawyers need a provision added to the documents. At noon, I meet with the chef by videoconference, and our conversation is short, sweet, and successful.
Misty walks past my desk, carrying a stack of files. For some reason, seeing her puts curious thoughts into my head. As long as I’ve worked with her, I’ve never seen Misty cart around that many files at once. It makes me wonder, are the acquisitions and deeds files back in the basement? It’s still strange that they were moved without my knowledge. I don’t consult paper copies anymore, but nobody knows that but Liza, Nolan, and myself. No one accesses the information in those files more than I do. I should’ve been sent an email, a memo, or something.
Misty said that a storage company carted them out of here. It couldn’t have been during regular business hours or Kristin, the receptionist, would’ve called me.
“Kristin…” I say as I think.
Misty always uses Kristin to do her personal stuff. I shoot out of my seat and head to the main lobby. Tony, one of the realtors, is at Kristin’s desk, flirting with her.
“Hi, Tony, Kristin,” I say, interrupting them.
At first she looks at me as if I’m a bother, but then she perks up. “Hi, Abby.”
Tony says hi too.
“Listen, I have a question for you.” I look at Tony with a look that asks him to give us some privacy. Thank goodness he takes the hint.
Tony pats the top of the booth Kristin sits behind. “Talk to you later.” He looks at me. “Bye, Abby.”
I wave at him. “Good-bye.”
Kristin raises her eyebrows as if to say, what is it?
“Have you given Misty any names of storage companies in the last few months or so?”
She ruffles her eyebrows. “I don’t think so, no.” It appears as if she’s still thinking.
“What is it?” I ask, hoping she’ll give me key information about why those files were taken out of here.
“She gave me a key to the basement and asked me to leave it in my top drawer. The thing is, I remember the key. It had a small L etched on it. You could barely see it, but…”
“It was Liza’s key!” I say.
“Yes, it was. I remembered that you sometimes put Ls on Liza’s keys so you wouldn’t get them all mixed.”
My smile feels as big as the sun. “That’s right, I did. Did she say why she needed you to leave the key in the drawer?”
“Only that someone would be here on the weekend for it.”
“Do you remember which weekend?”
“Sure!” Kristin gives me the date.
I thank her for the information. “One more thing…”
“What is it?” Now that we’ve developed a rapport, she seems ready to flood me with all that I need to know.
“Do you still have that key?”
She opens her desk. “It’s right here. Misty never picked it up.”
I ask her could I have the key, and she gives it to me. I have one more thing to do before I draw my conclusion. When I get back to my desk, I call Liza. I use my cell phone, and she picks up right away.
“Hi, Abigail. It’s been a while!”
I tell her how well she sounds and promise to stop by to see the baby as soon as I can. I also tell her that I heard about her father and hope that he recovers soon. She asks me how everything is working out with Nolan.
“Fine,” I say.
“Good. I knew you would get along with him. You get along with everyone.”
“Ah, how sweet,” I say. “Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Sure.”
“I didn’t receive your key to the basement. Do you know what happened to it?”
“I put it in the box,” she says without hesitation.
“No, it’s not in there.”
“I’m sure I put in there. When I gave the box to John—”
“You gave the box to John?” I ask.
“Yeah, why?”
I don’t want to tell her that I think her husband and Misty conspired to move files out of the office. The question is why? “No reason. I’ll just look through the box again. Maybe I missed something.”
“Okay.”
She goes on for another ten minutes about the joys of motherhood and how much she loves her new baby. I listen with grace. I can’t wait to tell Nolan what I’ve discovered.
12
I, along with the Christmas party committee, spent all day preparing for tonight’s soiree. I took a break to call Nolan twice, but both times, my call went straight to voicemail. Why didn’t I leave a message? Maybe because I took personally the fact that he didn’t answer. Regardless, by six o’clock, the top-floor grand conference was set up, catering had started preparing the food, and the band had arrived. So I drove home, showered, and changed, and now I’m back, wishing I were walking into the party hand-in-hand with Nolan. I’m not even sure he’s going to show up. Nevertheless, Christmas is in the air, and everybody seems to feel it.
My outfit looks great too. My brand-new red sateen skinny pants fit my ass perfectly. My white blouse accentuates my breasts without being too revealing, and I’m wearing green suede ankle boots. Red, green, and white—what a way to say Merry Christmas!
I pass the bar where my co-workers are already getting wasted. Thank goodness we thought to get a number of designated drivers lined up ahead of time.
Among the familiar faces, I see many faces that aren’t. I pass a larger group from one of the other local offices. I stop to say hello and thank them for coming. They tell me how nicely decorated the space is, how good the food is, and how great the band sounds. When the pleasantries are over, I duck out of the circle and continue crossing the room. I’m searching through the sea of faces, looking for what, I don’t know. Perhaps I’m looking for Nolan, but instead, I see a not-so-bad-looking guy checking me out.
My attention turns toward the window. I see the spot in the parking lot where Nolan and I had our little fun, and I smile. I can also make out the reflection of that guy who was checking me out, and he’s rapidly approaching me. The thought of having to amuse some good-looking man, when the only good-looking man I want to amuse is Nolan Patrick, makes me tense. I rub the back of my neck.
“Long day?” the good-looking guy says.
I turn to meet him. “Long month.”
“Yeah, this time of year, they can get to be that way. I’m Lance,” he says.
“I’m Abby,” I say entirely out of courtesy.
He extends his hand. “Hi, Abby.”
I shake his hand, smiling. He’s clearly charmed me. “Hi, Lance.”
“Nice boots,” he says.
I look at my feet. “Oh, thanks.”
“So you work out of this office?” he asks.
“I do. And which office do you work out of?”
“I'm in the Normandale suite.”
My eyes scan of the room. “Oh, I've heard it's nice over there.”
“Yeah, we have a lot of fun.”
I nod. I feel myself becoming uninterested in this conversation, so I work like crazy to change that. The first thing I do is smile.
He smiles too. “So what do you do over here?”
“I’m an executive assistant.”
“Oh.” He tries to sound impressed, but it doesn’t work. “Who do you assist?”
“Nolan Patrick.”
“Oh.” Now he does
sound impressed.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to keep the conversation going. “He’s a nice guy. Good boss.”
Lance nods. “He’s a good guy and the sharpest crayon in the box.” I chuckle, and he stares deeply into my eyes. “Why don't we grab a drink sometime?”
I exhale heavily as I scan my feelings to determine exactly how I want to reject Lance. By chance, I turn my head to the right, and lo and behold, I lock eyes with none other than Nolan Patrick.
13
Nolan’s face brightens almost simultaneously with mine.
“Abby,” Nolan mouths.
I look at Lance, who is still making an effort to court my attention. “Excuse me,” I say and my eyes shift from his face to find Nolan.
I begin making my way through the crowds of partygoers. Nolan nods toward the exit. My eyebrows rise. He smiles and moves in the direction where he just pointed. My eyes remain affixed on his back. My pulse is racing with excitement as I follow him out into the hallway and down the stairs. I lose sight of him for a second, but when I make it outside, I see him. Nolan glances back at me as he walks along the side of the building. He increases his pace until he finds a spot far enough from people that we won’t be heard.
He stops, leans against the wall, and I stop right next to him. We’re both looking at the building next to ours. The sexual tension between us could be extracted from the air.
Nolan’s right hand touches my left hand. “Hello, Abby,” he says, still looking forward.
I exhale. “Hi, Nolan.” I also keep looking forward.
His blue eyes are beaming. “You look spectacular.”
He's draped in his full-length dress coat, left unbuttoned and revealing his suit. His neck is partially concealed by his silk scarf. His dark-brown gloves match his shoes.
“You too,” I say.
Nolan turns, his chest now just an inch from my nose. He shifts his weight, moving his pelvis closer to mine. I can feel his bulge. He lifts my left hand above my head and firmly pins my wrist to the wall. His lips delicately graze mine.
He inhales. “You smell so fucking good.”
My lips are against his face, and I’m dazed. “Fucking good?”
The Boss' Desire (Her Perfect Man Contemporary Romance) Page 7