by M. S. Parker
“Is there something between you and Terri?”
Aaron had been ignoring me for most of the evening, and finally tired of being ignored, I’d given voice to the question that had lurked inside me ever since I had seen them together after the meeting.
Aaron jerked his head up, staring at me across the coffee table where we were eating.
Tonight, it was Chinese takeout.
I’d asked if he wanted to go to the Asian Fusion place by the office, but he told me he wasn’t in the mood for that sort of thing. And here we were eating Chinese takeout. Again.
I was getting tired of takeout, but Aaron’s kitchen was sort of lacking on things like pots and pans. I’d told him I’d take care of buying what we needed, and he’d been all affronted, assuring me he could handle buying some fucking kitchen wear.
Lately, it seemed like he was affronted by everything.
Including the question I’d just put before him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded, eyes narrowing.
“Just that.” I dumped the last bite of moo-goo gai pan into the box and gestured abstractedly with my hand. “I saw you talking after the meeting. Looked…kind of cozy. And you’re always having these important meetings, but she seems to be the only one you’re ever leaving the office with. If it’s so important, why isn’t Brendan there? Isn’t he the head of marketing?”
“I don’t think I like what you’re implying,” he said, biting the words off.
As he threw his chopsticks down, I resisted the urge to apologize. I didn’t like the fact that I felt I had to imply it, but the fact was, something didn’t seem right with him and Terri, and I wasn’t going to ignore it.
“Should I start bringing itemized receipts so you can see who I’m meeting with, darling?” His tone was snide and cool, enough to make me want to smack him.
Before I could answer, he waved a hand and got to his feet. “I’m going to my office to finish up. Clearly, you’re not in the mood for my company if those are the thoughts you’re having about me.”
It wasn’t until he was closed up in his office that I realized he’d managed to avoid answering me…completely.
9
The trip into the mountains was beautiful although I couldn’t help but notice that the snow was pretty much gone. At least at this elevation. The caps of the mountains were still snowy white, but we hadn’t been near the peaks when we crashed.
Why couldn’t there have been weather like this when the plane went down? Then I wouldn’t have had to spend days trapped with Lukas, and maybe I wouldn’t still be thinking about him, even now.
I immediately had to quash those thoughts, because if I let myself, I’d find myself thinking about him too much and in very much the wrong way.
I was still carrying that thank you card, although it was getting more and more ragged by the day. I didn’t know why I was even bothering anymore. It was obvious I’d never see him again, but for some reason, having it made me feel better.
“Wow, check out the lodge,” Breanna murmured, poking me in the shoulder from the seat where she sat behind me.
I perked up and leaned into the aisle, craning my neck to see.
Huge log buildings jutted into the sky, glass windows sparkling in the sunshine, taking up large expanses of the walls. It would make for great views, I thought idly. I might even enjoy it, as long as there was no snow. Or wolves.
As we drew nearer, more details came into view, and it became pretty clear that this was a top-notch sort of place, the kind of retreat my dad might take some bigwigs he was trying to woo money from. It seemed the deeper the pocket, the more you had to do to impress them.
A place like this would certainly do the trick. I’d have to remember to pick up a card and send it to him, or email him. Dad was always looking for new ways to court sponsors for the non-profit the family ran, or to help support this cause or that…he was good at it. Gifted, even. And he knew exactly what he needed to do to charm the money from the right hands.
Places like this charmed all sorts of people.
Once the buses parked and we climbed out, people with clipboards were waiting for us, gesturing to the largest building – the main lodge, we quickly learned.
As we filed inside, Breanna fell into step on my right while Aaron lagged along a few steps behind me. He’d been quiet the entire trip up, but when I asked him if everything was okay, he’d just nodded.
Now, though, I had to wonder.
Once we were given the key to our room, I waved bye to Breanna and caught my bag in one hand. “You ready?” I asked him.
He gave me only the vaguest nod, and we walked silently to the room we’d been assigned. It was lush and opulent, done in a rustic style suiting the lodge itself. “I was kind of wanting to take a walk around, stretch my legs,” I said, turning toward him after I’d put my suitcase on the stand by the dresser. “Come with?”
“I’ve got a headache.” He offered me a tight smile and shrugged. “Maybe we can take a walk around after dinner.”
I didn’t bother pointing out it would be dark then, just nodded. “Sure. But I’ll go ahead, give you some peace and quiet.”
“Great.”
On my way out of the room, I noticed Breanna walking out of hers. I smiled at her hopefully. “I don’t suppose you’re in the mood to go for a walk, are you?”
“Please.” She glanced back at her room and then smiled back at me. “The room is gorgeous and all, but I’ve never been one to enjoy just lying around on vacation. I need to be doing something all the time.”
I grinned at her. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”
She made a face at me, and we both laughed as we fell into step and headed toward one of the paths branching off to the right.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“Just walk around. I’m the same as you,” I confessed. “I want to be doing something, not just sitting in a hotel room watching TV.” I wouldn’t have minded cuddling with Aaron, not that I was going to tell her that. That wasn’t going to happen, though. Aaron had been standoffish ever since the confrontation about Terri, and nothing I said or did was changing the distance between us. I was starting to think that distance might be permanent. Which didn’t fill me with heartache the way I would have expected.
It did give me a weird twist in my chest, but if that’s what heartache was, then I didn’t understand why people wrote songs about it. It was more annoying than anything else. The fact that it didn’t really hurt made me sadder than the actual fact that we just might be drifting apart.
I brooded over that as I walked with Breanna. We stayed within the confines of the lodge’s grounds. I’d told Breanna about my encounter with the wolves, and while she was more of an outdoors person than I was, she understood my reluctance to embrace the wilderness quite so openly just yet. She asked more about Lukas, and I told her only vague details. It wasn’t like I could tell her much more.
I suppose I could have told her about the fact that he was hot in a weird, wild, mountain man sort of way. Or I could have talked about the crazy episode in the shed, where he’d strapped himself with a belt. But I was reluctant to do that.
So I kept the details vague…he was grouchy and bossy and didn’t like to talk.
She hooked her arm through mine. “Speaking of bossy, I’ve a confession to make. Our new boss, I googled him and...wow.” Breanna grinned at me as we circled one of the saunas set up on the grounds. This was the third one we’d seen. People in the Rockies must love their saunas.
“How wow?” I asked dutifully.
“I’m talking melt your panties wow. And there’s more,” Breanna said without losing a beat. “I heard these crazy rumors flying around that he’s not exactly...vanilla.”
It took me a second to catch on to what she meant, and then my face flamed red.
“Are you talking about our boss’s sex life, Breanna, seriously?”
“Wait until you look at him, and he melts your pan
ties. I’m just hoping mine don’t turn to fire the second I see him.” Breanna laughed a little.
“You’re a tramp,” I said with a laugh.
“Somebody has to do it. Somebody’s going to have to do him.” She sighed lustily. “Might as well be me.”
Almost an hour had gone by and we’d ended up back at the lodge. I was about to thank her for the walk when her hands shot up, gripping my elbow.
“He’s here.” She stared past me, wide-eyed. “Honey, he’s here. Brace yourself...and grab hold of your panties.”
“What?” I asked, half a laugh forming in my throat.
Breanna squeezed my elbow tighter. “The new owner. Our boss. Pay attention. That’s him over there at the cabin.” She bit her lip, glancing from me back in the direction over my shoulder. “He’s by the large private cabin. That’s reserved for him. It’s not like he’s going to sleep in a regular room like us peons.”
I slid a look in the direction Breanna was looking.
“No!” She grabbed my arm. “You’ve got to be subtle!”
She started to walk, dragging me along a few steps. “There…look now. And again…hold onto your panties.”
It wasn’t my panties I needed to hold onto. Well, the man was definitely panty-melting.
Still, it was my jaw that I needed to catch hold of, because as I swept my gaze in the direction of the panty-melter, my mouth dropped open.
No way.
I was seeing things.
I had to be.
And…okay, maybe I was wrong. He was missing the beard, but those shoulders, the way he walked. The mouth.
Oh, fuck.
The new owner was Lukas.
10
I still hadn’t managed to make sense of this new twist of events when Aaron joined Breanna and me outside our room less than ten minutes later. We were expected to meet at the main building for dinner. It had been made clear in the materials provided that part of the team building was sharing dinner. Missing the evening meal was not acceptable. Neither was skipping breakfast. Lunch could be solo or in groups, but the first and last meals of the day were to be a ‘team’ thing.
The autocracy of it annoyed me.
What if I didn’t want to eat with everybody else? What if I had a phobia of people watching me eat? What if the sound of other people eating drove me or somebody else here nuts?
I doubted Lukas would care. He’d already made it damn clear he was more interested in throwing his weight around than anything else. That’s what this retreat was about. I had no doubt of that.
Lukas had been alllll about telling me what to do.
I huffed out an annoyed breath, and it was loud enough that Breanna glanced over at me. “Are you okay?” she asked.
I was tempted to confess the whole mess to her. If Aaron hadn’t been there, I probably would have, just to get it off my chest.
But Aaron was there, and I wasn’t about to let him in on the fact that our new boss was also my reluctant savior.
Giving her a weak smile, I said, “I think I’m just hungry.” Once inside, we all headed straight for the buffet. It seemed like lunch had been ages ago and everything smelled amazing.
To my surprise, I was starving. I hadn’t had much of an appetite ever since the plane crash. I told myself it was the change in altitude, but more likely it was the adjustment in learning to live with somebody. Somebody who mostly only ate Chinese takeout.
Now, though, I was starving, and I filled my plate until it almost overflowed.
Breanna joined Aaron at me at our table along with a couple of others I didn’t know particularly well. We made idle chatter for several minutes when we noticed abruptly that we were the only ones talking. A chill raced down my spine, and I had to resist the urge to close my eyes and shake my head.
Not yet. I thought. Not yet. But in the next moment, I heard Lukas’s voice boom out over the room.
“Good evening,” he said, his voice sending a shiver down my spine. “I’m Lukas Grayson. I’ve recently acquired your firm.” He paused a moment. I sat with my back to him so I had no idea what he was doing, and I refused to turn around and look at him. Others were craning in their seats or had half-turned them so they could see him. I was doing everything I could to not see him. Aaron glanced over at me with a frown on his face and did a little turn around motion with his finger.
I stubbornly remained as I was.
“This firm is just one of several I’ve purchased, and once I’m assured that it runs smoothly, I’ll be around less and less. That’s part of the reason for this weekend. I want to see how you work together, your strengths, your weaknesses.”
As he spoke, I had the odd feeling he was staring right at me, all but compelling me to turn and look at him.
Don’t be stupid. He doesn’t even know you work for the company. You know how big business works…this purchase was probably months in the making.
“We’ll be working on a project while we’re here, and I want to tackle it in a different manner. I’ve broken you into teams, and each team will prepare a marketing tactic for this project. I’ll be the judge of which team has the best approach, but I’m not just looking for creativity. I’m looking for teamwork, initiative.”
As he continued to speak, Aaron reached over and touched my hand. “We got this, babe,” he said in a low voice.
“I’ve already selected the team leaders,” Lukas announced. “Aaron and…Stella.”
I jerked at the sound of my name on his lips, and unable to resist, I finally turned and faced him.
He was staring out at the small sea of faces watching him.
He did glance our way, though, because Aaron had just risen to his feet, his charming smile fixed firmly in place. “Mr. Grayson, appointing Stella as a team captain hardly seems fair. She’s the least experienced employee, and she just graduated–”
“I’ve seen several of her current projects,” Lukas said, dismissing Aaron. “What she might lack in experience, she makes up for with creativity. And her co-captain will be Breanna. I believe Breanna does have the experience.”
My face flaming, I turned back around in my seat and reached for my glass of water. My hand was shaking slightly, but I didn’t know if it was because of what Aaron had just done…or because I was still trying to process Lukas’s appearance.
11
“You know, just because we’re on different teams doesn’t mean I can’t help a little bit.”
Aaron had joined me at the water cooler, and now as I sipped my water, I tried not to roll my eyes. This was the second or third time he had made such an offer, but there was something in his tone that kept rubbing me the wrong way. Of course, I could still be annoyed with him for how he’d embarrassed me in front of everybody, calling me inexperienced.
I wasn’t too concerned about the rules for this goofy game. But I was getting annoyed at Aaron’s insistence that I needed his help to come up with an ad campaign for charity.
I had been cutting my teeth on this sort of thing since high school.
“No, thanks.” I manage to smile. “I think I can handle this one on my own.” I glanced past him and saw Terri was watching us. There was a possessiveness in her eyes that was getting harder and harder to ignore, but now wasn’t the time. “I think your co-captain is looking for you.”
I refilled my water bottle, ready to get back to work, but as I turned to go, Aaron touched my shoulder. “You know, we should at least bounce our ideas off each other. We worked so closely together, with me helping you with your school projects and bouncing ideas off your head over the past couple of years, we think a lot alike now. I’d hate for our projects to sound similar.”
Speculation started to hum in the back of my head, but I squashed it. I didn’t know where he had gotten the idea he had helped me with my projects for school. Maybe I’d mention them from time to time, but that was it.
With another bright smile, I said, “I think we’ll be okay. There are enough unique voices in e
ach of our groups that we should be just fine.”
Striding back to the table, I tried to shove aside the idea brewing inside my skull, but it didn’t want to be shoved off to the side at all.
“You look annoyed.”
Huffing out a breath, I said, “I was trying to hide that fact.”
“Oh?” Breanna arched her eyebrows. “From who? Me?”
“No.” I slid a glance toward Aaron’s group, gathered on the far side of the conference room. But I said nothing.
“Ohhhhh…” She clicked her tongue, then shrugged. “I don’t think he noticed. You didn’t really start looking like you wanted to chew nails until you started back over here.”
“Good.” The rest of our group had yet to wander back from the break we had just taken, so I sat down and let my head fall back, one of my favorite positions to think. But I wasn’t thinking. At least not about the competition. How often had I told Aaron about things I was working on?
Enough, I realized. I’d told him enough.
And he would later tell me about the inspiration he had for one of his projects.
Sometimes, that inspiration had sounded oddly...familiar. I hadn’t let myself think about it. I’d done it on purpose too. Now, despite the fact that I didn’t really want to consider it, I couldn’t help but do just that. Was my boyfriend using me?
You’re imagining things, I told myself. But I didn’t think I was.
“Are we having a nice break?” a cool voice asked.
I lifted my head to see slate blue eyes studying me.
I batted my lashes at him, unable to resist the urge to try getting a rise out of him. “Oh, so nice.” If I had to keep faking smiles at people, my face was going to crack, but I summoned up one more for Lukas as he glanced from me to Breanna. Before she could comment, I said, “Research shows that people who take frequent breaks tend to be more productive. We’ve made progress.”
“I’m sure you have.” The corner of his mouth tucked up into a smile, and then he turned to go. He had been in the corner of my eye almost every time I turned around, but this was the first time he had said anything to me. It was actually the first time he had come within ten feet of me the entire time.