“Yes,” Paige answered tautly, her shoulders stiff and eyes on her computer screen. “Alright…alright! I’ll make some calls!” She took the stack of folders and began sorting for input.
She made it through most of her work before indulging her curiosity and giving Charlotte a call. She winced at the shouts happening behind the scenes when she was asked to hold on. It was definitely not a happy kitchen.
“Hello?”
Paige almost dropped the phone at the hard, brusque voice. “How about lunch? I’m buying. I’ll be there in a few to pick you up.”
“Paige…I…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to bark at you. I’m really swamped…”
“You have good people. You told me. Lunch? You sound frazzled,” she listened to the low growl and then the long, slow exhale.
“Alright. Give me fifteen, I’ll meet you outside,” she said before ending the call and going to clean up the mess she made.
The outdoor section of the small café was almost empty. With the exception of two women leaned back in comfortable chairs and staring at one another. Charlotte reached up and pulled the band from her hair with a little more force than it had taken, the band clenched tightly in her fist.
“Rough morning?” Paige had waited until they’d placed their order before trying to talk to her. “In the friendship disclosure thing…do you know where his office is?”
Charlotte studied her friend, the soft curse that left her lips followed by a pair of slim hands shoved into her hair and pulled.
“I have never been so furious with a human being in my life,” she said after a long pause.
“He wasn’t real happy this morning,” Paige commented mildly. “Did dinner go badly?” She didn’t like the idea of finding out one of her bosses had a problem when it came to women. Especially if the woman was one of her friends.
“Dinner was nice,” Charlotte said honestly, her tone a little wistful. “Really nice. Just talking and laughing about stuff. Nothing much…I took him to Martha’s. Nothing really crazy…life talk, I guess you’d call it. Learning about each other. It was about eleven when he dropped me off. But this morning…” she let her head fall back, long, thick red hair flowing behind the chair. “Was a nightmare. I wanted to strangle him.”
“What happened? It can’t be that bad if the date went good.”
“Oh? Seriously? The man believes I troll the internet to find dates,” she growled angrily, the last ten minutes wasted as all the frustration boiled back into her blood stream.
Paige felt her jaw drop and snapped it closed as the toothpick stabbed sandwiches were placed on the table, a large order of fries drizzled with feta cheese added before they were left alone again.
“One more time,” she said carefully.
Charlotte lifted half her sandwich and took a large, toothy bite. Pale red lashes narrowed and staring at her friend as they ate.
“I didn’t tell him I was the person gaming with his kids. Who are a week away from being eighteen, but we won’t go there for the moment,” she said with an elegant sweep of her hand. “He believes I made friends with them to get to him. Why? I don’t know and quite frankly at the moment I’m too pissed off to care what his insane reasoning is. The more insulting thing is that he’s got this…this idea that I am that desperate for dates to have to troll the internet to find someone who would take me to dinner.”
“Charlie, I don’t think he believes that…” but she winced. Evidence didn’t look good at the moment, she admitted, dragging one of the crisp fries through ketchup.
“He wanted to know if I selected them purposefully because of who he was,” Charlotte bit down on a couple fries and closed her eyes. “I can’t think of this. I’ll get indigestion. I booted him out of my shop and if he’s got a single brain cell, he’ll never enter it again.”
“He doesn’t game, Charlie,” Paige shrugged. “So he doesn’t know how things work. But it’s probably best. Doesn’t sound like he’s your type anyway.”
“Then how come it felt nice,” Charlotte sighed and ate some fries. “No matter. Thanks for listening, though.”
“He was slamming around the office all morning until he left for the site. I feel for the contractors working the site.” Paige shrugged and shifted to any other topic she could think of. She didn’t like the sadness Charlotte was trying so hard to hide. “Hey, we’re having an inaugural party tonight. It’s Friday. I know a lot of cute engineers that will be there. Come out tonight and I’ll introduce you.”
Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re not serious.”
“Little black dress, kick-ass heels and a dash of perfume,” Paige winked and took out her phone, quickly texting the address to Charlotte’s number. “Six. I’ll expect to see you tonight.”
“I’ve seen that devious look before.”
“So? Lots of guys to flirt with,” Paige popped a potato into her mouth with a crooked grin. “I’ll be there. It’ll be fun. Music and good food.”
“Hmm….I could use a little mind numbing nothing and that sounds perfect.”
Chapter Five
His mood hadn’t improved through the day. And if possible, became worse when he went to the suite to change for the event introducing the contractors and owners.
He stood just inside his son’s bedroom, watching for a minute at the child who had grown into a man before his father was prepared for it to happen, he realized suddenly. Jamie was relaxed on the bed, a book open and pen moving rapidly over the top sheet in his note pad.
Dark eyes met one another, the younger waiting patiently. There were seldom closed doors in their house but this evening, his father had closed the door behind him.
“What’s up?” Jamie arched a brow and held his pen patiently. It was evidently something he didn’t want to talk about with his sister. “Jenna okay?”
“Fine, reading, like you,” Jesse rubbed at his neck, the shirt he wore still open at the collar and tie hanging freely. “I wanted to talk to you and…”
“And not her?”
The surprise was obvious in Jamie’s voice.
“Two pissed off females in my life right now is not something I ever want, okay? I just…I need to know what you know about Charlotte Bell,” he pushed the words out quickly before he changed his mind.
“Know…Charlie?” He tossed the pen down and pulled himself to sit cross legged on the large bed. “She’s kick ass in the games she plays. Great at strategy and tactics, though I’m a little better, which is how I got through the screening for the team,” Jamie was still staring at his father oddly. “I don’t know what else you want to know, dad….give me a hint…”
Jesse almost laughed at the slight discomfort on his son’s face. He wondered when he had become so paranoid that he worried people spoke to his children just to get to him. He wondered when his ego and arrogance had fallen into that track. How did he slide between worrying about his kids and keeping people who might use them, away from his money? Was there much difference, he wondered tiredly.
He had long talks with the twins about this move, this involvement in the new city growing out of the reclamation. He’d rarely denied them. But he hoped he had taught them.
Especially about entitlement and earning what they want in life. He also hoped he’d taught them to share, properly share with the people who helped you achieve your goals and dreams.
They understood and it had choked him up when his daughter told him how proud she was at the decision and maybe, just maybe, she whispered to him when she hugged him, maybe it would spread and people would learn something vital.
“Um….she has red hair,” Jamie continued in the silence. “She’s your age, I think but she’s not old looking…”
Jesse sighed thickly. “I don’t know what I’m fishing for, Jamie.”
“Did you meet her?”
“We had dinner last night,” Jesse admitted, pacing across to the window and leaning his palms on the short lip, the breeze from the ocean barely noticed as the sun began
its descent across the Sound.
“Alright. I’m confused,” Jamie admitted with two hands mimicking a gesture of his fathers, raking the straight brown hair back from his forehead. “You had dinner with her. On a date. So what’re you asking me about her for? Charlie’s pretty talkative. She’s a girl, sometimes they don’t shut up.”
“I didn’t know who she was…I mean I knew…I didn’t know she was the woman you’d been gaming with until this morning when I stopped for coffee,” Jesse couldn’t recall the last time he felt like an idiot trying to hold a conversation. “I knew her name, she introduced herself when I asked her out. Charlotte Bell.”
“What’s the problem then?”
“Did she ever ask questions about your parents when you gamed?”
“I…” a light went off and Jamie nodded slowly to himself. “Not to hit your ego, dad, but we talk game stuff. I knew she made coffee only ‘cause one of the other teams whined about needing a coffee fix before we could launch the mission. Just like we know Faith’s a computer geek works in the IT department here. We didn’t know how old they were until we met them a couple days back. We didn’t even know their last names or that stuff until then. We only knew her as Charlie,” he said with a shrug, searching his memory. “I guess we kind of talked about the move. Mostly how long until we could get our own stuff back…things like that. I think Jenna and Faith talked about the major building going on and how they’d definitely need doctors who wanted to care about people more than money.” Jamie considered his next question carefully. “Are you dating her?”
“Interesting question,” Jesse replied with a light scoff. “At the moment, I’m trying to work out how to apologize for being an ass.”
Jamie met the eyes of the man he’d never seen in doubt with a half shrug and a crooked grin. “Just blame it on being male. It’s in our genes.”
“You need to stop listening to your sister.”
“Can’t…she’s right too often,” he grumbled, thinking of a few of his own missteps dating. “And she does think like a girl. Charlie is pissed at you?”
“Yes. And maybe following your theory, I earned it.”
“So fix it. You’re good at that stuff,” Jamie returned to his stomach, lifting his pen again.
So simple, Jesse thought. “Thanks. I’m out for a while.”
“Have a good time,” came the absent farewell.
Jesse met the curious eyes as he walked back to the main room of the suite. He wanted the house finished, too, he decided, making a mental note to check on things on Monday.
“Another date tonight?” Jenna had hinted for information about his date with Charlotte. “You took Charlie out last night, didn’t you? I asked Faith, so I already know.”
“Is that a problem? I’ll try not to intrude on your gaming time,” he said dryly.
“Not a problem for me unless it throws her game off,” Jenna answered easily. “Do you like her?”
“Private life,” Jesse said flatly, working the tie into a taut black bow and checking inside pockets before striding to the door. “Don’t wait up.”
“That’s not good,” Jenna said with a little frown, staring at her phone, fingers tapping and then closing it with a snap and a resolute sigh. “They’re adults. They’ll manage.”
Jesse Hunter didn’t stop and think why Paige wasn’t with Sebastian when they stood talking with several of the building contractors. Until he saw two redheads laughing across the large banquet room, several men joining them. It wasn’t difficult to see the way their eyes went along the curving forms, long legs and short dresses. He didn’t try and stop the male in him from going to the floor and following the long tanned legs higher.
“Is Charlie the reason you’ve been slamming things all day?” Sebastian snagged a glass of wine from a passing tray and took a casual taste and watched his friend try not to study the redhead flirting with their contractors.
“Charlie?” Jesse followed his move and caught a glass of white wine, one hand shoved in his pocket.
“Charlotte Bell,” Sebastian nodded toward the two redheads. “Paige decided to introduce her to some of the single engineers and contractors.”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
“The men hovering? Paige is mine…just as I’m hers,” he shrugged. “She also comes armed and isn’t afraid to make a scene if one of them gets out of line. If I don’t have trust with her, we don’t have much.”
“Paige, you do realize that this has just shown him that in addition to trolling the internet and my own coffee shop, I troll other people’s office parties for dates,” Charlotte walked with her friend away from the men with a shake of her head.
“However, being the strong and independent woman that you are,” Paige offered her a narrow goblet of wine. “You really don’t care what he thinks.”
Charlotte tossed the thick, free flowing red hair over one shoulder, tipped her head and drained the glass of wine she held in her hand. Pale amber eyes sparkled with laughter.
“No, I don’t,” Charlotte agreed brightly. “And since you were kind enough to give me a lift, I can catch a cab home and intend to enjoy the wine and even a little dancing.”
“I’ve never known a girl named Charlie,” commented one of the engineers she’d met minutes before. “However, I’d be glad to volunteer a dance.”
Charlotte was positive he was a few years younger than her but she didn’t care and offered him her palm. “I would love it, thank you.”
Sebastian caught Paige’s palm and led her to the quiet dance floor, his palm taking one of hers to his lips. “You do realize you’re going to be the cause of a war.”
“I’m not about to discuss my opinions of one boss with one of the other bosses,” Paige told him with a tip of her nose.
“So it’s his fault?”
“Any comment I make would seem like office gossip,” she returned with a bright smile. “Besides, you told me to mind my own business.” She managed to hold the laughter inside at his shocked expression all of one second, her arms up and around his neck, slender fingers toying with the strands of gold straw he’d allowed free tonight.
“And when did you start listening to me? That memo I’d have framed,” he snorted happily.
Charlotte Bell decided half way through the dance with Rory Chambers that she really did prefer to be making up new coffee blends if this was her alternative. She figured her lips were frozen in place and the smile wasn’t one that was coming easily to her at the moment.
And a great deal of the rest of her froze in place when she saw the feral gleam in Jesse Hunter’s eyes as he strode out of the milling people in the large ballroom and seemed to know exactly what his target was. She swallowed hard and waited, too aware of the warmth buzzing in her middle.
Jesse watched his presence register in her eyes. He wondered at her arrogance comment when he decided she wasn’t having a good time with the guy holding her too close for the dance.
Arrogance or wishful thinking, he mused briefly, dark lashes narrowed a bit when the man’s hand slid to the rise of her behind and she offered no protest.
He hadn’t slept much the night before. He knew his children. He knew them well enough that they didn’t brag about him or his worth. They were more likely to talk about things they’d done or arguments they’d worked through.
He knew from conversations with them they’d often shut people down who questioned that they sometimes rode in a limo or ate at a certain place and it was broadcast on some social network.
Then he saw his intent register in her eyes and felt a thin slice of his hide carved off and resolutely accepted that he deserved it. Jesse met the eyes of the younger man holding onto Charlotte and applied the appropriate male expression, his gaze cruising over the woman in the middle.
“May I cut in?” Jesse offered his hand. He knew etiquette, he knew manners. He also knew the younger man worked for him and wouldn’t dare refuse, though he did see a sliver of annoyance in his eyes
before he covered it.
Charlotte had been traded in dances enough time to know it really didn’t matter to the males what the woman wanted, something that continued to irk.
“My pleasure,” Rory tipped his head slightly. “I’ll find you later, Charlie.”
“I’m not sure I care for him,” Jesse announced simply, his hand quickly fitting into hers, the other at her waist before she could bolt.
“You requested a dance. Nothing was said about conversation, and I certainly do not need or want your opinion of whom I choose to associate with,” she informed him stiffly, setting her teeth firmly together and staring at his shoulder. She didn’t pretend to smile and tried to make her mind focus on the music, not his cologne or how amazing he made the black tux look.
“You didn’t have a happy look in your eyes when you were dancing with him,” Jesse watched the slightly tinted mouth purse a little tighter.
“I don’t know what you do for a living, but I’m guessing you’re in high level management since you don’t take instruction well,” Charlotte ground her teeth together. “Dance. No conversation. I’m angry at you.”
“I owe you an apology.” He said as if she hadn’t spoken. This time he did see the faintest flicker of something but she continued to stare at his shoulder. “I wouldn’t have thought you the type to withhold forgiveness from a politely given apology,” he laughed at the sudden shift of her eyes to his, the myriad of expressions too many to count. But he was pretty sure fury still ruled.
Charlotte returned her gaze to his shoulder, trying to remember just how long the song was that was playing. Soon, something told her, teeth grinding and his palm sliding possessively along her back. His palm was still technically on her back, right? She wasn’t quite sure how much further she’d let his hand slide before she said something. And hoped it didn’t come out as the soft mew of pleasure she felt brewing inside her.
Her brain was flipping between how nice it had been to see him this morning and how much she wanted to kill him, all before seven in the morning.
WindSwept Narrows: #21 Charlotte Bell & Natalie Templeton Page 4