Текст книги "Kissing Her Crazy"

Автор книги: Kira Archer

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 12 страниц)

Chapter Thirteen

Elliot sat across from his parents at the huge table in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. He’d just delivered his presentation. Handed them a brief but detailed business plan in professional-looking folders. Gone through his entire idea from top to bottom. He’d done well. For the first time in his life, he cared about doing well. It was a good idea, and it deserved a shot. The fact that his parents actually seemed to be discussing it, instead of shooting him down at the get-go, stoked the little flame of hope in his chest. He really, truly believed they might say yes.

He should have known better.

He knew what his father was going to say the moment he stood up, before he even said a word.

“Look, Son, I’m happy to see you focusing on something…worthwhile for a change.”

“But?” Elliot said, knowing there was a “but” coming.

“However…”

Elliot’s excitement evaporated on a wave of disappointment so strong he thought he’d choke on it. He should have known. He had known. He’d just been too stupid. He concentrated on controlling his breathing, slowing the surge of anger that was fast overtaking his disillusionment. Losing his temper wouldn’t help anything.

His father glowered at him. “However, we do not feel this is the direction the charity should go at this time. With the funds we raise, we help several charities—”

“Yes, but the problem is, we don’t ever use the money for the same charities,” Elliot cut in. “The charities we donate to can’t count on us for funds every year. I’m not saying that the ones we choose aren’t worthy of the money. But it’s like we sprinkle little bits here and there on whatever happens to be popular each year. If we concentrate on one specific area, we’d be able to make a huge difference.”

His mother chimed in. “The charities we donate to appreciate the money. Even if we wanted to take it in another direction, I’m not sure that I approve of the one you’ve chosen. There are those less fortunate and more in need of the help—”

“Are you saying foster kids don’t need help?”

His father’s scowl deepened. “Of course we aren’t saying that. However, they do have funds for their care provided from the state. There are others who would benefit more.”

“It’s not nearly enough. Those kids—”

His father held up his hand. “For now, we’d prefer you to keep the focus on the way things are currently run. Everything is already in place and runs smoothly. All you need to do is keep persuading the donations out of our donors.”

Elliot clasped his hands in front of him, his jaw clenching with the aching desire to respond. Sure. His family was happy to have him on board. As long as he kept his mouth shut and did what they told him to do. No rocking the boat, no new ideas. Just sit behind the desk and flip the switch like the trained monkey he was. His family didn’t really want him to be involved. There was just nowhere else to stick him.

But that wasn’t enough for him anymore. Maybe it never had been; he’d just been too lazy to do anything about it. Until he’d met Lena. She’d made him come alive. Made his desire to do something worthwhile with his life increase to the point that he’d never be able to go back to how he’d lived before. She’d changed him. For the better. And he liked the new him. If his parents didn’t… Well, maybe he didn’t need them in his life.

He couldn’t say a word of that to them, though. At least not at that moment. His sister was getting married the next day. He wouldn’t spoil her day with his nonsense.

His mother stood and he followed suit, his manners automatically kicking in. A lady stood, therefore so would he. Good monkey, treat for you.

She walked by and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You have a good heart, Elliot. You just need to make sure it doesn’t get…misdirected.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

She laughed a little. “Oh, come now. You’ve been running the charity for several years. You’ve never shown any sign of wanting to change things. Suddenly, you spend a few nights with that…girl… And you’re full of ideas about foster children? It isn’t difficult to see where that came from. I realize with her background, funding foster children might seem appealing, but that doesn’t mean we need to let her disrupt something that has run perfectly well for years.”

“First of all, I’m not sure why you think Lena’s background would make her predisposed to helping foster children. Other than the fact that they are children who could use some help and she has a child. Oz and Lena never spent time in the foster care system. Their parents died when they were both adults. Not that it would matter to me if they had. Second, this is something I’ve wanted to do for several years. I was never organized enough to make a real go of it. Lena isn’t disrupting anything. She’s improving everything.”

The disdainful disbelief on his parents’ faces was almost more than Elliot could take.

“I find the timing of this a bit…odd,” his mother said. “Up until now, your ideas had to do with making more money for the charity, taking what we’ve already established and making it better. Something we’d support if you came up with something substantial and executable. But now, that girl spends the night in your hotel room, and you suddenly want to revamp our charity into something unrecognizable. Benefitting one group of children instead of the many we currently help.”

Elliot shook his head. “The charity doesn’t help nearly as many as it could. The resources are spread too thin. Nothing is ever guaranteed. No one can really count on us. This plan,” he said, jabbing a finger at the folder in front of him, “gives us a true purpose. Yes, it focuses on one group of children, but it’s a group who can really benefit.”

His parents’ expressions didn’t change at all. Nothing he said was making a dent. He shoved the folder away from him, exhaling in disgust. “You never had any intention of letting me do anything useful, did you?”

“Excuse me?” his mother said.

“You’ve wanted me more involved for years. I’m doing exactly what you wanted. I came up with a good, solid idea, and it’s not just some whim I pulled out of thin air. It’s researched and thought out and planned down to the last detail. There’s no reason for you not to get behind this.”

“There are plenty of reasons, Elliot. If you’d spent more than only the last few days paying attention to how things are really run, you’d understand that. It’s encouraging that you finally want to become involved, but we are not going to restructure everything we’ve built because you slept with some girl and think you’ve had some sort of epiphany while on vacation.”

“Lena has nothing to do with—”

“Enough, Son. I don’t want this to turn into some sordid family feud. This isn’t really the time or place for an in-depth discussion. We’ve given you our answer. Now, let’s all move on and enjoy what we can of the rest of this week.”

“And when we get back?”

“Like I said, your interest is a step in the right direction. But we aren’t going to stake the future of the charity on you until we’re sure this isn’t another phase.”

Elliot wanted to scream, but he kept silent. Nothing he said would help. They’d already made up their minds about him. He was a screw-up in their eyes. It didn’t matter that he’d come to them as an equal, fully prepared and wanting to take the next step. You couldn’t prove yourself to people who’d already made up their minds about you.

His father walked around the table and clapped a hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze before moving to open the door and wait for his mother. She kissed him on the cheek and followed his father out the door, taking with them any hope Elliot had of actually doing something meaningful in his life. His foundation wouldn’t be developed. He’d just be a figurehead to charm money out of people—day in and day out.

And Lena… He’d screwed that up, too. His parents would never accept her any more than they were accepting him. He had nothing to offer her.

Perhaps it was for the best. No one trusted him with anything of any importance. He had no business getting mixed up with a woman like her, especially with a child involved. He couldn’t even pull his own life together. He had no business messing up theirs, too.

He slumped into a chair, any confidence he’d had in his future had disappeared through the door along with his parents.

Lena paced down the hall from the conference room where Elliot had been ensconced with his parents for the last half hour. She had a good vantage point of the door. The second it opened, she ducked out of sight. She’d caught a glimpse of their faces, but it was impossible to tell how things had gone. They always looked like they’d been sucking on something sour. But they didn’t look any more out of sorts than normal, so that might be a good sign.

She waited a few more minutes, but when Elliot didn’t follow them out, she decided to go to him. She found him slumped in his chair at the conference table, staring off into space.

“Hey,” she said quietly, not wanting to spook him.

He blinked and looked up at her.

“Hey.”

She came around to his side of the table and leaned against it, close enough that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted. He didn’t. He didn’t say anything.

“So. How’d it go?”

Elliot gave a harsh laugh, rubbed his hands over his face, then shoved them through his hair. He stood up and started gathering his materials.

“They appreciate that I’m showing more interest in the charity, but they do not feel that foster kids are worthy of more help and think that I should keep my mouth shut and keep doing what they tell me.”

Lena’s jaw dropped. “They actually said that?”

Elliot let out a coarse sigh. “Not in those exact words, but their meaning was pretty clear.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. She reached out to him, touching his arm, but he jerked away and continued to gather his things.

She tried to ignore his reaction and not be hurt by his rejection. His parents had really upset him. God knew they could be an ice-cold bitchfest of epic proportions. And a lot of men didn’t want to be coddled when they were upset. It was hard not to take it personally, but she did her best to put that aside for the moment.

“I’m sure they didn’t mean anything by it. Maybe it just wasn’t a good time to bring it up. The wedding is tomorrow, so I’m sure they’ve got a lot on their minds with that. After they get back from their trip in a few months, they could be more open to—”

Elliot was already shaking his head. “No, they won’t. They want me as a warm body on the scene, someone with the family name that can keep things going by my presence but who won’t really contribute in any significant way. I’m the monkey at the switch. That’s it. We were idiots to think this stupid idea would fly. Who were we kidding? There’s no way my parents were going to go for this. It was ridiculous to even try.”

Lena sucked in a breath. He’d loved the ideas they’d come up with, that she’d come up with. Her throat grew tight with tears she refused to let him see. This was all her fault. You’d think after years of coming up with one crappy idea after another she would have learned her lesson. It was bad enough she kept trying, but now she’d dragged Elliot into her vortex of failure. And sent him in to go up against his parents. What the hell had she been thinking? When he’d asked her for ideas, she should have gone with her gut and kept her damn mouth shut.

“I’m so sorry, Elliot.”

“It’s not your fault.”

She wasn’t so sure about that. “What are you going to do now?”

“What difference does it make?” he asked, his voice harsh. He had everything gathered up and headed for the door. He glanced back at her, frowning at the worry he must have seen on her face.

“Don’t worry. I’ll still fund your business. No reason for both of us to be failures,” he ground out.

Lena gasped. He closed his eyes for a second and sighed.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, his voice softer. “I just wanted to assure you that I will still help with your company, even if we won’t be working together on the foundation.”

She reached a hand out to him but dropped it before she touched him. He didn’t seem to want her comfort. “Elliot, no matter what they said, the foundation is a good idea. Maybe we just need to—”

“No,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. He pushed the door open. “The foundation idea is dead, Lena. Leave it alone.”

He walked out and didn’t turn back. She didn’t blame him. She sank into a chair, struggling to shove all the pain rushing at her back in its little box where she could keep it at bay.

She’d done it again. Ruined something else. Why did she keep thinking she had what it took to make it in the business world? Hell, in any world. She’d never been able to make a success out of anything in her life. She should have known better. She still had the rehearsal and dinner to get through that night and the wedding the next day. Then she could go back home, back to her regular life. She could forget about Elliot, box up all her craft crap, and burn her idea binder. Elliot could keep his damn money. She’d rather work three jobs the rest of her life than take his pity money. Time to stop dreaming and wake up to reality.

Her dreams never became anything but nightmares.

Chapter Fourteen

Elliot sat to the side in the gorgeous courtyard where Oz and Cher would be married in less than twenty-four hours. The rest of the wedding party slowly filtered in, but Lena hadn’t made an appearance yet. He jammed his fingers through his hair. He owed her an apology. The look on her face when he’d stormed out of the conference room that morning had been tormenting him for hours.

It hadn’t been her fault his parents hadn’t gone for their idea. They wouldn’t have gone for anything he suggested, no matter what it was. He realized that now. But instead of making sure she’d known that, he’d snapped at her and stormed away.

He got up and paced near the staging area. The shame crawling through him was an unfamiliar and unwelcome sensation. And the thought that he might have hurt Lena in any way physically hurt. Like someone had his heart in a vice that they kept tightening. He wanted to make sure she was okay. Needed to make sure. It wouldn’t change anything. But still… He had to know she was okay before they said good-bye forever. How he was going to get through the next day, he had no idea.

“Elliot!”

Tyler came bursting into the courtyard, Lena on his heels. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw him standing there, but Tyler barreled toward him at full steam. Elliot scooped the boy up before Tyler knocked him over. He swung him around and then put him back down.

Tyler grabbed his hand, chattering about his ring bearer duties. He even had the pillow to practice with. They walked back to where Lena waited with the other bridesmaids. Tyler kept up a steady stream of conversation that Elliot only half listened to. Tyler kept hold of his hand. And Elliot realized that the thing he and Lena had both been trying to avoid had already happened.

Tyler was getting way too attached to him. Not only that, Elliot was getting attached to Tyler. He was going to miss the kid when he went home. Like really miss him. That wasn’t something he’d remotely expected. But…letting them go was for the best.

He came up to Lena and almost reached out for her but hesitated at the last second. The rest of the wedding party was gathered near the wedding planner, listening to directions for how the ceremony would run. He should probably pay attention to that, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Lena.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

“You doing okay?”

She just stared at him, and the vice around his heart tightened another notch.

“Where’s my ring bearer?” the planner called out. She was getting everyone lined up and ready for their practice march up the aisle.

Lena patted Tyler on the head and sent him over.

“Lena?” Elliot asked softly.

She shook her head, not meeting his gaze. “I’m fine, Elliot. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because I was an ass this morning.”

Her gaze shot to his. “Not going to argue with you there.”

He offered her his arm. She hesitated a second but couldn’t really get out of taking it, since it was almost their turn to walk up the aisle.

“Look, Lena…”

“Don’t, Elliot. You don’t need to say anything. We both knew that this was just for fun. The wedding is tomorrow. The vacation is almost over. We’ll go back to our own lives, and that will be that.”

He frowned but couldn’t argue. “I still meant what I said about helping with your business.”

They started walking up the aisle, ignoring the wedding planner who was loudly counting out their steps.

Lena shook her head. “That’s not necessary.”

“Lena.”

“No,” she snapped, coming to a stop.

The couple behind them almost ran into them, and the wedding planner was waving them along.

Lena started walking again, forcing him to move with her.

“I don’t want your help, Elliot. That’s where all our problems started. The rest… That was fun,” she murmured, her eyes darting around to make sure no one else was listening. “But the business stuff… I told you I was no good at that. I didn’t want my bad luck to bleed all over you, too. I’m sorry I screwed that up for you. Let’s leave well enough alone and just go our separate ways, like we planned.”

It was almost the exact wording Elliot had thought of himself, but it hurt coming from Lena.

They reached the head of the aisle where Oz stood glowering at them. He’d obviously picked up that something was wrong. Elliot nodded at him, and Lena gave him a faint smile. He wanted to continue their conversation, but they had to split, her going to stand on the bride’s side, him the groom’s. They were far from done, though. As soon as the rehearsal was over, they were going to talk. He wasn’t going to let her throw away what little he could offer her and Tyler.

He finally cornered her after dinner when the rest of the wedding party was on the dance floor. She’d excused herself to go to the ladies’ room, and when she came out, he grabbed her hand and dragged her to a secluded corner hidden by a large potted palm.

“Elliot, what are you doing?”

“I want to know why you’re turning down my help.”

She sighed and tried to push past him, but he moved in front of her, slamming one hand against the wall to block her. She wasn’t trapped, but she’d have to shove him out of the way to get past him.

She glared at him. “I need to check on Tyler.”

Elliot shook his head. “I’m sure he’ll be fine without your constant supervision for a few minutes. We need to talk.”

Lena threw her hands up and nearly growled in frustration. “No, Elliot, he won’t be fine. He’s a child. One who is pretty good at wandering off and getting himself into trouble, if you hadn’t noticed. See, this is exactly why…”

“Exactly why, what?” he asked, his gaze burning into hers.

She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Yes, there is. I want to know why you won’t accept my help.”

“God, Elliot! Why do you care? What difference does it make if I take your money or not?”

“It makes a huge difference to you! You and Tyler could use that money, and you know it.”

“What is it to you? Some sort of pay off? You feel guilty for what happened between us, so you’re trying to buy me off or something?”

Anger burned through Elliot, slow and hot. “That’s a disgusting thing to accuse me of.”

She folded her arms, her eyes blazing with her own anger. “Well, I can’t figure out what else it is. Yeah, we had some amazing sex. That doesn’t mean you owe me anything. Why complicate everything?”

Elliot stared at her. She was right. Why was this so important to him?

A child’s laughter rang through the hall, and Elliot turned to see Tyler and Oz doing the chicken dance.

“I want to make sure you two are okay.”

Lena’s face softened. “We’ll be fine, Elliot. We were fine before I met you. We’ll be fine long after you’re gone. You need to…let us go.”

Elliot stared into her eyes. He wasn’t sure what he was searching for. She hadn’t said anything he hadn’t already decided himself.

“Fine.” He stepped back and nodded his head. “Fine.”

She moved away from the corner, back toward the rest of their group. She turned slightly, talking to him over her shoulder. “You’re a good man, Elliot. I don’t regret what happened between us.”

He nodded again and watched her walk away, taking with her everything that had made him truly happy.