Be My Forever: The Complete Series Box Set

by Lauren Wood

  I called Keenan when I got home and had the tapes couriered over to him. I made sure that I kept it short. I was feeling weird and the way I felt right now, I didn’t want to talk to my boss. I just wanted to take a shower and sleep. I hadn’t done much of that the night before and I still had a crick in my neck from sleeping on the beach.

  When I heard a knock at the door, I was irritated because I had just gotten undressed, but there was also a hope that I refused to acknowledge that it was Chris at the other side of the door.

  Pulling a towel around me, I opened the door a crack and saw that it was Aunt Ashlyn. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “I just came by to see what you were up to.” She saw what I was wearing as she pushed her way through the door. I didn’t know what to say to her, not after the weekend I had. “Who were you waiting for?”

  I looked down. “No one. I was about to get in the shower.”

  “Well I will wait.”

  She had a tone that threw me off and made me worry. Why would she wait?

  “No need. The water isn’t running or anything.” I closed the door behind her as she moved into the small apartment. “So what’s up Auntie?”

  Ashlyn flashed a smile at me. “How was your trip?”

  I shrugged. “It was okay. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but nothing ever is.”

  “I see. So I heard that you ended up staying there with Chris Humphin?”

  “Yeah. That was interesting.”

  “Did anything happen?”

  I looked at her and I wondered what she knew. Did she know that me and Chris had kissed? It was so unprofessional and so embarrassing.

  “No, not really, why?”

  She shrugged and walked into the kitchen to get some water. “I just know how Chris is. He is one of those men that I would have warned you about.”

  “Why is that? He didn’t seem that bad.”

  Ashlyn gave me a look that I knew well. She was calling my bullshit. He was a mess and if I hadn’t reined it in when we first met, there was no telling how my time with Chris would have ended up. I was thankful that it hadn’t gone anywhere, but it could have if he had pushed it more.

  “Chris is a horrible womanizer. Never found one that he couldn’t have and let’s face it Stacy, you are every man’s dream.”

  I felt uncomfortable with that comment. I had heard it before, but it wasn’t always said in a good way. It made me feel like I was never going to be taken seriously in business if everybody only seen the outside of me.

  “Well he was fine. I think you are just thinking they are like that. He was a perfect gentleman.”

  “Really?” Her brow went up and I looked away, not willing to have my eyes give me away.

  “Yes really.”

  “That’s good. Keenan thought the two of you were off to a rocky start when he left, but the tapes you had made for him made him happy. He called to tell me that you had done such a good job and that is when I found out he left you there. Are you sure everything was okay?”

  “Yes, everything was fine. Really Ashlyn, you don’t have to worry.”

  “I can’t help it Stacy, especially if you are going to be alone around men like Chris. You are too sweet sometimes for your own good.”

  I may be innocent, but I didn’t particularly think of myself as sweet.

  Chapter 9

  Chris

  “Sir?”

  “What?”

  “The meeting? Everyone is waiting for you. It started half an hour ago.”

  I looked up at the clock on the other side of the room and cursed to myself. What the hell was I doing?

  “Sorry Bill. Tell them I will be there in just a moment. I was getting some figures together for the merger.”

  Bill was one of my many assistants and he was rather meek. I had never raised my voice to him, but my temper proceeds me and the rumors of it. He thanked me and then backed out of the office. I tried not to show my aggravation at his temperament. If I was honest, it wasn’t just Bill that was getting to me nowadays. It felt like everything was bothering me and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I had a one-track mind and the person I was thinking of, wanted to have nothing to do with me. It was insane that I was bothered so much by Stacy, but it was silly to act like I wasn’t bothered to the core. There was nothing I could do about it though. It was just the way it was.

  Stacy was a hard woman to get a hold of, especially when she didn’t want to see me again. I was close to finding an investigator to find out where she worked, something had to be done to see her again.

  Ever since my weekend on the island with her, things had changed in my life. I no longer wanted anyone else. I wanted her and it became clear after I couldn’t bring myself to bring another woman to my bed, that Stacy was the only one that was going to scratch the itch that I had. It was constant and she held the only key to my relief.

  Bill knocked on the door and said my name. “What?”

  “The meeting?”

  I looked back up at the clock and another fifteen minutes had gone by. My mind was a wreck and I was starting to see the resemblance between me and Keenan. I bet I had that same idiot grin on my face as he had. This was why I never wanted a woman in my life. They complicated everything and I just didn’t need it. Life was already complicated enough as far as I was concerned.

  “Right, I am going now.”

  I got up and struggled to pull myself together. The meeting was like pulling teeth and even though I was the one that had called the meeting, I let other people have their say. I didn’t want to be there and I finally called it off early. Bill had a cocked eyebrow for me, but I was ignoring him and the surprised looks from everyone else. They acted like I had never left a meeting early before.

  Maybe I hadn’t.

  Leaving the building, I drove over to the bistro for lunch and called Keenan to see what he was up to. I was really calling to see if I could get some information on his assistant, but I wasn’t going to come right out with that. I still wasn’t sure what this obsession with her even was and I didn’t want anyone to know about it.

  “Keenan?”

  “Chris, how are you doing?”

  “Not too bad. Hadn’t talked to you since Jamaica. How did everything go with your wife and the baby?”

  “They are fine. The doctor says that it is normal. She just got so freaked out and had me worried. You know how women can get sometimes.”

  “Yes I do, but I try to stay away from all of that sort of thing.”

  “You shouldn’t. I have never been happier.”

  “So I hear. What are you doing right now? I am around the corner at Sunny’s if you want to have some lunch. I remembered that you live not too far from here, right?”

  “Yeah, well I am not doing much of anything right now. Sunny’s sounds good. Order me a burger and I will be down in ten.”

  I told him that I would and waited for him to show up. I was in the mood for information and I was going to get it. I wanted to see a friend sure, but it was Stacy that I had in mind. I wanted to see her again, no matter what I had to do to make it happen.

  ***

  “I haven’t been here in months. Life is so hectic right now. How is it going with the Bayar merger?”

  “Pretty good. I will make a tidy sum and I only had holdings on it for a few weeks. It was worth the investment.”

  “Still making the world move.”

  “You still out of the game?”

  “Mainly. I pulled a lot of my money out and I am just going to put it in less risky investments that are more liquid.”

  “Do you know something I don’t?”

  “Not really, just can’t take the risk anymore. I used to risk it all because I would make it back up, but now I am thinking of the long term. You know with a family, there is another generation to worry about.”

  The conversation was heading to domestic Ville and I wanted to steer him back in the right direction. ”That’s
why you need to take the risk and build it bigger. The way of inflation in the last decade, you have to take on a certain amount of risk just to keep the value of your money up.”

  “I know Chris. Why are you pitching me? Have you heard of anything that I need to get into? You know I am always good for a short sell.”

  I smiled. “That’s the man I was looking for. Do you want me to set it up with your little assistant?”

  “Which one?”

  “You know, Stacy, the one that was in Jamaica.”

  “You remember her name? Impressive. That tells me that you must not have slept with her. I don’t know why that makes me so happy.”

  I frowned his way and that just made him chuckle more. Was I that obvious and was it that easy to see that I was constantly forgetting a woman’s name. Was that why I knew it, because we hadn’t slept together?

  “She is still your assistant, isn’t she?”

  “Why are you so worried about it Chris?”

  He was going to make me say it and I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to admit that I was attracted to her and that I thought about her all of the time. It was embarrassing to say the least and I just didn’t want to. But Keenan was going to make me. I let out a sigh and he smiled bigger. He was enjoying this far too much.

  “Because I would like to talk to her and see her again. If she is your assistant still, I imagine that it will be easier to find her.”

  “Why?”

  “What does it matter?”

  “Because you know she is Ashlyn’s niece. Which means she is off limits. Besides, if you didn’t convince her on a tropical island, what makes you think you are going to do any better now?”

  He had a good point, but I wasn’t interested in that. I wanted to see her and I wasn’t going to question how she felt about me or my skills. I didn’t like to think about the fact that I had never wanted a woman and not being able to convince her to give me what I wanted before. It was new territory and maybe I was kidding myself, but I had a feeling if I could get another shot, I would make it happen.

  “Do you know something that I don’t know?”

  He shrugged and asked me what I meant. “Well I mean, do you know anything about Stacy that I should know?”

  Keenan still didn’t get what I was asking. “Do you know why the girl doesn’t want to fuck?”

  He busted out in laughter and I didn’t find it amusing. “Is that what has you all uptight? Chris you can’t have them all.”

  “I have before.”

  “Maybe you are getting old.”

  I was finding my old friend less and less funny by the moment. He was having a good old time at my expense though, his face practically red from laughing so hard.

  “I am not getting old. There is something about that chick and no matter what I do she will not give me the time of day. There has to be something wrong with her. Is she lesbian or something?” I just wanted to know what it was because she was driving me absolutely mad. I should have had her underneath me a week ago and I still couldn’t fathom why. I was quite a damn catch after all.

  “Maybe you just aren’t her type, but I don’t think she is gay.”

  “Have you asked?”

  “Why would I Chris? She works for me and I am married.”

  “Yeah but Keenan that is one hot piece of ass right there.”

  “I told you before that if you find the right one you won’t look anymore.”

  I told him that he was full of shit, but really I was just mad because I was sick of wondering and he wasn’t helping me out at all.

  “Okay look Chris, I will not give you her number because I don’t want Ashlyn or Stacy mad at me, but I will tell you that she is going to be at the Radisson with me tomorrow. There is a meeting at the ground floor restaurant. I am meeting with my father-in law. You are more than welcome to pop up and see what happens.”

  That wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but it was going to have to be enough. I felt like I owed him something, so I gave him a jump on a short sell that I was about to do as well.

  “Just wait until the morning to make the move. I don’t want us to do it too far apart. Once we drop, so many others will as well.”

  Keenan agreed, but I was already thinking about Stacy and seeing her again. I didn’t know what my excuse was going to be to see her again, but I knew that I was going to find a way to make her mine. It was all consuming, this need to have her and the more I thought about her, the more I was sure that she had put some kind of spell on me. It had to be what it was. What else could it be besides that?

  I left the bistro with a little hope in the back of my heart. I wasn’t sure if it was warranted yet. Nothing with Stacy had gone the way I thought it was going to go, but that was okay, I told myself. It was the differences that made me want her so much, so how could that be bad?

  Chapter 10

  Stacy

  The work week was going by quickly. Between the bar and helping Keenan out, I was staying pretty busy which was just as well. I had a lot on my mind otherwise, thoughts and feelings that I just didn’t want to deal with.

  When I got to work Friday afternoon to meet with Keenan for a lunch meeting, I was exhausted from working the night before. Bartending paid the bills, but it was hard to work nights sometimes. This was one of those times.

  “Good to see you Stacy. Did you bring what I asked?”

  Keenan was so impressed with the tapes of the meetings at the conference that he wanted to start doing it with all of his meetings now. He said he liked to have a record. He said he was so distracted half of the time that he was there, so it was better to be able to go back and hear it all again. To me, it was boring enough the first time around for me to ever want to hear it again. But I couldn’t say things like that, no matter how badly I wanted to.

  “Of course Keenan. Here you go. Are we early?”

  He checked his watch. “We aren’t, but he is late. That is always the way with Ronald. He thinks that when he is there, the time is right. He has a bit of a complex about it, so don’t mention it.”

  I nodded my head, not sure if he was joking or not. Keenan liked to kid around a lot, but when he did so, he had such a straight face that I really wasn’t sure what he was thinking. So I didn’t know if he was being for real or not. I wasn’t going to mention it though, just in case.

  We sat down and waited for another ten minutes or so until his father-in-law showed up. Ronald was a legend that even I had read about and heard about. He was filthy rich much like all of the rest of the men I met through Keenan, but Ronald was some kind of stocks guru from what I have gathered. He was the type of guy that people waited for, even people like Keenan. It was interesting to see the hierarchy of the rich. It was fascinating, if not a little boring. I had more entertainment from trying to figure out the people, far more than I tried to figure out the job or what it even was that they were talking about.

  Everyone was looking at menus while the waiter brought drinks. Since working with Keenan, I noticed that my taste buds were taking on culture. I could never afford even a lunch from this particular restaurant in this swanky hotel, but I knew already what I wanted.

  Closing the menu, I looked over and groaned a little too loud because Keenan heard me. “What is it?”

  “Your friend is here Keenan.”

  He looked where my attention was and he smiled. “Oh well small world, isn’t it?”

  I agreed, but I was trying to figure out what in the world was he doing here? I had thought I would never see him again and now he was walking towards the table and my body responded in the only way it apparently knew how.

  If we would have been alone, I would have asked Chris what the hell it was that he was doing here. I didn’t know what to say though and his dark eyes landed on mine and didn’t let them go.

  “It’s uh, good to see you too Chris.”

  He smiled at me and my heart flopped in my chest for some reason. Why did he have such a pull on me? It wasn’t
fair or right and I wanted that to change more than anything else that was going on. I wanted to be free of the feelings of Chris. Ashlyn had warned me about him and I knew that she was right to do so. He looked at me as if I was his next meal and I didn’t like to be thought of as the fodder.

  “Why don’t you join us Chris? We were just about to order.”

  Chris broadened the grin on his face. I knew that he had gotten exactly what he wanted. Chris always got what he wanted in the end. That is what he had told me in Jamaica and I was starting to see what it was he was talking about.

  “Well I don’t want to intrude.”

  “Not at all, old friend. It’s about time you met my father-in-law anyways.”

  The two men met and I watched Chris and his demeanor. There were three open chairs, but of course he chose to sit down next to me. It was like he knew what his closeness did to me and he didn’t care. That or he was trying to drive me absolutely mad.

  “It’s good to see you again Stacy. I told you that I would.”

  “Yes you did. So what are you doing here Chris?”

  “Business. I just finished a meeting in the hotel, but I didn’t get to have lunch. It was a good thing that I saw you guys here.”

  “Yeah, good thing.”

  I didn’t trust him. He was up to no good and the glint in his dark eyes told me that he knew exactly what it was he was doing. I was just a part of his plan and the idea of that scared me a little bit. I knew that nothing good was going to come from this chance meeting, if that was even what it was.

  The men talked about business and I only had to start the recorder. Keenan let them all know that he was recording the conversation and Chris pulled out his own. “It’s a good habit and it jogs my memory if I had too much to drink the night before.

  “Well son, you should really get a handle on that drinking. I used to drink, years ago when I first met my wife. She made me stop almost immediately and you know that was when I started to really make some money. I didn’t realize how much it was affecting my performance.”

  “I do okay Ronald.”