Alice's Wish (The Wish Series Book 3)

by Kay Harris

  She nodded. “Maybe that sucks. I don’t know.”

  “I kinda got the impression this summer that you really liked him.”

  “I did. He grew on me.”

  A strange expression crossed Darius’ face. “I see.”

  “Thanks for tonight.”

  “Let me give you my number.” The hand that had been on top of hers flipped over, and he held it in front of her.

  She dug her phone out of her pocket and gave it to him. He typed in his number quickly and handed it back to her. She shoved the phone into the pocket of his huge jacket and tugged the coat tighter around her.

  “Call me anytime,” he said.

  Alice leaned over the console and gently kissed his scruffy cheek. She took another deep breath, pulling in his warm scent, and then hurried out of the car.

  She vowed to herself she’d never see Darius Fleck again.

  FEBRUARY

  Chapter 5

  Alice took one deep breath after another. Her eyes were closed. Her body, folded into child’s pose on the floor of the sales department conference room, refused to relax.

  Darius Fleck was in the building somewhere, schmoozing with Everett no doubt. She was furious at him, at herself, and she wanted to be furious with Everett, but she’d never told him about Darius. Or rather, she’d told him the whole story, but she hadn’t ever mentioned names.

  How on earth had this happened? How had she never mentioned to her adopted brother that she knew the famous football player? How had she never said, “Hey, that guy is the one I told you about who rescued me from my tormentors?”

  Because her crush on Darius, which began at the tender age of fourteen, was her lifelong secret. Because while she spilled all her other secrets to Everett, she hadn’t wanted to give that one up. The guilt over wanting Derek’s brother before, during, and after she dated Derek still ate her up. Which was incredibly stupid given that she hated Derek after what he’d done to her.

  But there it was. All things Darius Fleck were so damn complicated it was just easier to keep him at arm’s length. Only that was going to be difficult now that he was the official company spokesman, a fact Alice had only discovered twenty minutes ago when Everett announced it during the all-staff meeting. Darius had stood beside Everett looking all gorgeous and nice and downright spokesperson-y as Everett had presented him as the new face of Tranquility Candles.

  Alice let out a long sigh. Her breathing exercise was completely failing her. Giving up, she righted herself and pushed off the floor to stand. She’d barely made it to the door when it swung open and Julia’s entrance nearly knocked Alice off her feet.

  “Oh, Alice, Sweetie, so sorry.” Julia put her hands on Alice’s shoulders to steady her. “I expected you to be on the floor meditating or something.”

  “I was. How did you know?”

  “Well…Becky said you came in here looking like someone had just slashed your tires and asked not to be disturbed.”

  And, yet, here was Julia, disturbing her. “I gave up trying to meditate. What’s up?”

  “Let’s sit down, shall we?” Julia gestured to the table.

  Alice plunked roughly into a chair. Julia sat beside her. Swinging her chair around, Alice faced her birthday buddy and tried to put on a smile. “Sounds like you have quite an ad campaign planned.”

  Julia’s eyes grew wide with excitement. “I do! I’m very excited about it. And I want you to be involved.”

  Alice blew back in her seat. “What? Me? What? Why?”

  Julia laughed. The sound was strangely soothing. “Because you are, without a doubt, our best salesperson.”

  “Um…what does that mean?”

  “It means, you know the product and our clients better than anyone. Better than me. Probably even better than Everett. We want you to work with me on this new campaign. As a consultant.”

  Alice’s stomach flipped. “We?”

  “Yeah. Me and Everett. I talked to him about it, and he loves the idea. Becky is a little bummed because I’m gonna be taking up a lot of your time for the next two to three months. But she’ll live. She doesn’t really have a choice. I mean, Everett’s the boss.”

  “Wait.” Alice held up her hand. “What does working with you entail, exactly?”

  “You’ll come with me to meetings with the advertising agency to work on creative. And you’ll come with me to shoots and stuff.”

  “And Darius Fleck…”

  “Basically, me, you, and him. We’ll be a team. He’s not just the face. I want him involved. He knows what he’s doing. He has a pretty great business mind.”

  Alice nodded her head. She’d gone numb and didn’t seem capable of processing a way out of this. “He’s very smart.”

  “This is gonna be great!” Julia leaned forward and gripped Alice in an awkward seated-hug. Then she jumped up and ran out of the room before Alice could say another word.

  Alice plopped her head on the table and groaned.

  ****

  Alice pointed the neck of her beer at Everett. “I cannot believe you didn’t tell me you hired Darius freaking Fleck to be our spokesperson.”

  “I didn’t realize it was such a big deal. I certainly didn’t think you’d be mad. I figured you’d just be excited. You love him. We’ve watched every one of his football games, and you always drool all over him whenever he’s on the screen.”

  Alice rested her head against the back of Everett’s massive couch and sighed loudly. “So remember the hot big brother of the asshole I dated who bullied me when he found out I was bi.”

  “Derek’s brother?”

  “Yeah.”

  Everett had been lounging on the opposite side of the couch, lying over the arm. Now he sat up straight, his eyes wide, his mouth forming an ‘O.’ “Wait. That’s Darius?”

  Alice nodded and took another long drink.

  “Now it’s my turn to chastise you for leaving out a detail like that.”

  Alice looked down at her beer bottle. “Yeah. It’s kinda…a detail I didn’t want to talk about.”

  “Why?” Everett leaned forward. His lips turned down.

  “I had a crush on him back then.”

  “So?”

  She looked up at the man who was, for all intents and purposes, her brother. “Like, I had a crush on him the whole time I was dating his brother. It made me feel bad. And so, I kinda left all that out.”

  Everett sat back. “Huh.”

  “Then you go and hire him, and Julia arranges it so I have to work with the guy.”

  “You still have a crush on him?”

  “Dude, have you seen him?”

  Everett chuckled. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”

  “We hung out over Christmas.”

  “Yeah?”

  “He was very nice. We had a good time. But then he asked me out.”

  “And this bad because…?”

  Alice finished her beer and got up from the couch. “Give me that.”

  Everett threw his head back and sucked the last drops from his bottle before handing it to her. She took her time wandering to his kitchen, rinsing out the bottles, and chucking them in the recycle bin.

  She felt at home at Everett’s place, and she pulled open the refrigerator just like she would at her own place. She wasted a little time contemplating which of Everett’s fancy brands she wanted to try next before pulling two identical beers out and opening them.

  Finally, she moseyed back into the living room and sat on the couch, handing Everett his fresh bottle. “He’s not on the list of potential spouses.”

  Everett rolled his eyes and groaned. “Not the freaking list again.”

  “Yes, the list. It’s well thought-out, Everett. And he does not fit into it.”

  ****

  Alice glared at the man before her.

  “Are you ready for this meeting?” The future Hall-of-Famer looked like a dog afraid of being kicked as he stood in the entryway to Alice’s cubicle.

&
nbsp; Alice leaned back in her chair and looked up at him—way up. “Why didn’t you warn me about this whole spokesperson thing?”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

  Alice stood, but it didn’t make her feel any more powerful since she still had to crane her neck to see his face. It did, however, seem to have an affect on Darius. He took a step back.

  Alice used her sternest voice. “I don’t buy that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You say that a lot,” she grumbled as she pushed past him and stalked toward the conference room.

  Julia and the two representatives from the advertising agency were already in the room. Alice introduced herself to Trey and Glen before dropping heavily into one of the leather chairs. Darius breezed in behind her and greeted the two men, whom he’d obviously already met. Alice suppressed a groan as he took the seat right beside her.

  “We are so excited to be retooling the project with this team,” Glen said.

  She didn’t believe that for one minute. The ad agency had created an entire campaign that was now being scrapped, and they were starting from scratch with three people, only one of whom knew a damn thing about advertising.

  “So, what we thought we’d do today is simply brainstorm,” Trey said.

  “We want to get all your ideas about how to sell your product, who the target audience is, and what you think will work best,” Glen said.

  And with that, they began a four-hour meeting. By the end of it, Alice was hungry, tired, and needed a drink, the kind with a lot of tequila in it. It was also after six in the evening and the entire building was deserted. Not even the consummate workaholic, Carlos, was still around.

  “Dinner and wine,” Julia announced, grabbing both Alice and Darius by the elbow as soon as they’d said goodbye to Glen and Trey.

  She led them both to Darius’ huge SUV. “You drive, Darius. Let’s hit Clive’s.” Before Alice knew what was happening, Julia had shoved her in the front seat, crawled into the back seat and pointed Darius in the right direction.

  Twenty minutes later, once they were seated and had ordered drinks, Julia turned to them both and announced that she just remembered she had a date. She left her glass of wine for Alice, told Darius she’d catch a cab, and took off.

  “I feel like I’ve been set up,” Alice said.

  “Pretty sure that’s what just happened,” Darius agreed.

  Alice blew a puff of air at a long strand of black hair that had migrated in front of her eyes. “Sometimes she’s impossible.” She pierced Darius with her gaze. “You told her about our past, didn’t you.”

  “Just that we knew each other in high school.”

  “Is that what this is about? Me on this makeshift advertising team?” She leaned forward, the heat in her voice distinguishable.

  “No. No. Julia said your opinion mattered because you are the best salesperson.”

  Alice sat back and took a sip of her wine. “Well, that is true.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why do you sound so surprised?”

  Darius shook his head. “I’m not. I just wonder…”

  “What? What do you wonder?”

  The waiter appeared, asking if they’d decided on dinner. Darius gestured to Alice. She ordered a New York strip steak with all the fixings. This seemed to amuse Darius. He grinned, but didn’t say anything. Then he ordered a burger and fries.

  “I’m a simple man,” he told her after the waiter left.

  A dimple graced his left cheek, and Alice had to look away for a minute to gather herself. Returning to the conversation, she asked him, “What do you wonder?”

  “Oh.” Darius leaned forward, his forearms on the table, his neck stretched toward her. “I was wondering why—”

  “Aren’t you Darius Fleck?” A large man and his star-struck female companion stood beside Darius with expectant looks on their faces.

  Darius held out his hand and shook with the man, then signed an autograph. As other people began to approach the table he told the couple loudly that after he’d had his dinner he might be able to sign more autographs. The crowd, which was creeping toward them, drifted back to their respective tables.

  When they were alone again, Alice smiled. “That worked.”

  “I’ve learned a lot of tricks to keep my space without sounding like a dick.”

  Alice nearly got lost in his sky blue eyes. She shook it off as she remembered her frustration over getting an answer to her question. “What do you wonder?”

  “Oh, yeah. Why you aren’t the VP of sales?”

  Alice shrugged. “I don’t have a degree. I’m only twenty-three. Take your pick. It’d be hard to unseat a seasoned professional even if I am a better salesperson. I don’t have any supervisory experience and I don’t have any formal education.”

  “Maybe I need to tell Everett how smart you are.”

  “He knows. Everett loves me.”

  Darius scrunched up his nose. Alice saw an opportunity to torment him. “What? Do you think he’s too old for me?”

  “No.”

  “I should hope not. He’s only a couple years older than you. In fact, you’re closer to his age than mine by about six months.”

  Darius leaned back in his chair, took a long, slow sip of wine, and stared at her over the rim. “So, are you telling me you and Everett are dating?”

  “No.”

  “So you’re just playing with me?”

  Alice sighed. “Yes.”

  Darius grinned and his stupid dimple made another appearance.

  “Everett and I are very close friends,” she explained. “He’s like a brother to me. We hang out a lot. But most of the people at work don’t know that. I don’t really need the whole ‘teacher’s pet’ thing. And believe me, there are people there who are that immature.”

  “So, you’re really close?”

  “I am closer to him than I am to any member of my family. Yeah.”

  “So, is that why he doesn’t promote you? He doesn’t want it to look like favoritism?”

  Alice waved her hand in the air. “I don’t think he cares about that, honestly. He’s going to pay for me to go to college and get my degree.”

  Darius’ eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”

  “I start in the fall. I’m going to cut back to working part-time. I’m doing a business administration program. And I figure I can finish my bachelor’s in five to six years. I’ve saved enough and earned enough sales bonuses over the years I can just barely afford the living part while Everett is paying my tuition. When I get out, Becky will be close to retirement.”

  “So, Tranquility is your present and future, huh?”

  Alice shrugged. “I don’t have anywhere else I want to go. Though I’m free to. Everett isn’t making me sign a contract or anything. He says he’s paying for my college the way he’d pay for his little sister’s schooling.”

  “Are you excited about going to school?”

  “Yes. I am.” Alice examined him. “What about you? Did you enjoy college? Or did football kind of overshadow everything?”

  “It came close. But I was really interested in what I was studying. I think the biggest issue for me in college was the stress of balancing it all.” Darius rolled the stem of his wine glass between his thumb and forefinger. “But I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.”

  Alice asked Darius for every detail of his college career, and he granted it to her as they ate their hearty dinner. Then she wanted to hear about the five years he spent in the NFL. She didn’t ask him to talk about the injury that ended his career. It seemed to her that everyone always wanted to make him talk about that difficult event in his life. Instead, she skipped over it and asked about his new path as a model/actor/public figure.

  Darius became shy talking about the ads and endorsements he’d done, and he totally avoided talking about his volunteer speaking engagements for groups like You Can Play, which Alice was particularly interested in.

  Instead, he as
ked her about the things she liked to do. That led to a discussion of Alice’s athletic pursuits.

  They talked long after their plates had been cleared away. And eventually, Alice told Darius he needed to take her home. They occupied themselves on the ride to her apartment from the restaurant with a conversation comparing and contrasting different eastern martial arts.

  When Darius pulled up to the curb outside her apartment building, Alice’s brain flashed back to that night so many years before when she’d kissed his cheek and left the car wrapped in his jacket.

  She thought about that jacket, still stored in the back of her closet. She liked to pull it out and throw it over her legs sometimes when she was lying on the couch watching a movie. But that was not something she planned to reveal to Darius, ever.

  She also didn’t plan to revisit the grateful, probably longing, look she gave him that night. So, this time, she simply said goodbye and rushed up to her stoop.

  ****

  Six and half years ago…

  “You’re going to Greg’s cabin for a whole week? Really?” Darius leaned on his brother’s car.

  Derek threw Alice’s bag roughly into the trunk and slammed it closed. “Yeah, so?”

  Darius stared at Alice as he answered his brother. “Just seems like a lame place to take your girl is all.”

  Derek didn’t get mad at that. In fact, as far as Alice could tell Derek never got mad at his big brother. She wished she would get the same treatment.

  Derek threw an arm over Alice’s shoulder. “She’ll love it.”

  Darius twisted up his lips. “Really? Drinking and playing cards all week in a smoke-filled cabin of douchey high school dudes sounds like fun?” This time he asked Alice the question directly.

  She shrugged. She didn’t know how to explain to Darius that there was something suffocating about her relationship with Derek. It held her breath in her chest the same way her relationship with her parents did. And outside of her friendship with Kyle, which featured a different set of pitfalls, it was all she knew. Being held down emotionally, taken for granted, and given a strict set of expectations was comfortable for her. She felt too delicate and confused about life at the moment to challenge those comforts.

  So she simply smiled at the gorgeous, intelligent, kind man in front of her.