Текст книги "Fighting For You"
Автор книги: Sydney Landon
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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 15 страниц)
“Well, you should have driven yourself, Mr. Dictator,” Emma huffed. “Oh wait, your car was blocked in so you couldn’t. Wow, it seems like I did you a favor.”
“You call almost killing me a favor,” Brant said incredulously.
“Please tell me you aren’t staying,” Emma moaned.
“Fuck me,” Declan whispered, “What’s wrong with them?”
Jason shook his head while Claire smiled. “I think they’re kind of cute.”
Ella nodded in agreement.
Suzy raised a brow, “I think it’s some kind of redneck foreplay.” Gray patted her shoulder and rolled his eyes. John, Gray’s father, looked amused as he studied the bickering couple.
Beth and Suzy’s parents came to the hospital a few hours later and, after exchanging a few words, they retreated to the waiting room across the hall. Ella knew things were strained there, but she was glad they had come to the hospital to support their daughter. She looked around at the rest of their group. No wonder people were staring at them as they walked by. She was sitting here in her wedding dress, while the rest of them looked like they were going to the prom. The women still had on their long bridesmaid dresses and the men were in their tuxedos.
They had been waiting almost three hours when Nick’s mother walked into the waiting room crying softly. Everyone jumped to their feet and her husband walked to her side, lovingly embracing her. With tears still rolling down her face, she said, “We have a new baby. Henry John Merimon was born twenty minutes ago and weighs seven pounds and ten ounces. He’s . . . perfect.”
Ella saw tears in John Merimon’s eyes. He had looked surprised and touched to find out that Beth and Nick had named the baby after him and his wife’s father. Suzy was wrapped in Gray’s arms and they looked a little teary over the new Merimon family addition.
A few minutes later, Nick walked out with the baby. A nurse was hovering behind him to take the baby to the nursery for his first checkup. Ella felt her own tears gathering as she looked at Nick with his new son. The look of awe and happiness was enough to have everyone in their group a little misty eyed. She couldn’t help but imagine Declan standing there showing off their baby. She must have been pretty transparent, because she felt his hand slide across her flat stomach and rest there. Maybe in the near future, Evan would have a new brother or sister to play with. Between her and Declan, and Julie and Graham, that was bound to happen sooner rather than later.
Epilogue
It was her first Christmas as a married woman and Ella was giddy with excitement. She had been married for four months and she still had to pinch herself to make sure it was all real. On Christmas Day they would be having lunch with her parents and dinner with Declan’s family including Julie, Evan, and Graham. They had all become a family unit and had even double dated with Julie and Graham a few times. Understandably, Graham had been thrown when Declan entered their lives. He had been afraid of losing Julie and Evan. When he finally understood that there was nothing romantic there, he had been happy that Evan would have two father figures in his life.
Beth and Nick were settling into their roles as new parents. The first few months had been a little rocky for them and they still looked terribly sleep deprived, but Beth had never looked happier. Unlike Claire and Jason who were happy to have anyone hold Chrissy, Beth and Nick were just the opposite. They were terrified of someone dropping Henry or giving him some kind of illness. Beth joked that Nick had turned into a major phobic about germs and was driving her crazy with his constant nagging about her hand washing. Suzy had even overcome her aversion to kids for her new nephew. Nick had grudgingly allowed her and Gray to babysit one evening so that he and Beth could have some time alone. Gray had snapped a picture with his cell phone of Suzy’s reaction the first time Henry spit up on her. In one word . . . it was priceless.
Declan walked in as Ella placed the last wrapped present under their tree. She could still remember how choked up he had gotten as they had decorated their first tree together. He hadn’t had a tree since his parents were alive and it was an emotional moment for him. He helped her to her feet and pulled her into his arms. “Hello, wife.”
Smiling she said, “Hello yourself, husband. Where have you been?”
“Getting your Christmas present.”
She looked around, not seeing any bags on the floor. With a mischievous smile, she lowered her hand to his crotch. “Should I start by looking here?”
He groaned, giving her a sexy laugh. “Um . . . there is definitely something in there for you, Ellie. But right now, we need a car to go get your first present.” Pushing his hardening cock against her hand, he added, “You can have that present when we get back.”
She rubbed her body against his, teasing him. “The car, huh? I think the seats recline—”
Declan pushed her away from him saying, “Ellie, behave yourself or we’ll never make it to your present tonight.”
Intrigued, Ella let him bundle her into her coat and settle her in the car. They appeared to be heading toward Gray and Suzy’s. Surely a visit with their friends wasn’t on the agenda for tonight. When they passed Suzy and Gray’s she asked, “Where are we going?”
“Just a little further, baby.” After a few more miles, Declan turned into the driveway of a two-story colonial house.
Confused, she asked, “Who lives here?”
Tweaking her nose, he said, “We do,” before leaving her in the car with her mouth hanging open.
She was still stunned when he opened her door and helped her out. “We do?” she repeated weakly.
“Yep.” He took her hand and led her up to door. “Apparently, when you work at Danvers, you get married and buy a beach house. Claire and Jason are a few miles further down the road and I think you saw Suzy and Gray’s house on the way. I have some insider information that Nick and Beth will be moving into the neighborhood very soon as well.”
Ella was still in a state of shock when he put the key in the lock and opened the door. He picked her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold. “Welcome home, Ellie.”
“Oh my,” she whispered.
When he lowered her to her feet, he took her hands in his and, with his voice full of emotion, he dropped to his knees and said, “Ella Stone, love of my life and woman of my dreams, will you live with me in our house, make it a home? Will you be the mother of our children and teach them to love just as you do? Will you love me every day as you do today even when you want to kill me? Will you—”
Ella put her fingers across his lips, whispering, “Yes. The answer to all of your questions is yes.” She moved his hand lower, placing it over her stomach. “I have a present for you and I brought it with me.”
He looked down at her and it took a moment for her meaning to sink in. He reverently lifted her shirt and looked in awe at her still-flat stomach. When he looked up at her, she nodded her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. He placed his lips against her stomach and she ran her fingers through his hair, holding him against her. Pulling back he gave her a wicked grin, “I guess it only takes one time, huh?”
She burst out laughing thinking of the night they had been out of condoms. She stopped taking the pill after they were married because they wanted to start a family in another year or two.
One night when things were hot and heavy, Declan reached for a condom. They were horrified to find the box empty. Declan’s famous words at the time were, “Just one time isn’t going to hurt, right?” She was so hot for him at that point, that she would have agreed to anything.
Ruffling his hair, she said, “Sometimes, once is all it takes.”
Then Declan pulled her into his arms and they started christening every room in their new home.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A huge thank-you to all of you who have embraced the Danvers series and continue to support it so enthusiastically. I am so touched by your letters and your comments on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for keeping me going and not letting me slack off!
A special note of thanks to my dream team. My agent, Jane Dystel, who has been a constant source of invaluable information and support and my editor, Kerry Donovan, who turns my vision into a work of art. It is always such a pleasure working with you both.
Now that you’ve enjoyed the latest book in the Danvers series, don’t miss WEEKENDS REQUIRED, where it all began for Claire and Jason! Keep reading for a special preview.
WEEKENDS REQUIRED is available now from Signet
“Holy smoking buns, a butt like his should be illegal.” Claire looked up in time to see the object of her coworker and best friend’s admiration walk past their table in the cafeteria. Jason Danvers truly did have a butt to admire. At well over six feet tall with dark brown hair that tended to curl up at the ends, compelling ice-blue eyes that looked right through you and a rugged and tanned, athletic build, Jason Danvers was very hard to ignore. His presence always seemed to dominate a room. His every movement impatient, Jason never seemed to relax. Every lady in the cafeteria was craning her neck to get a better look.
“Suzy, keep it down before Mr. Smoking Buns hears you.”
“Oh, puleeze. Don’t tell me the drool isn’t pooling in your mouth as we speak.”
“Suz, you’re too much—what’s Jeff going to do with you?”
“Well, I don’t know what Jeff has in mind, but I’ve got thoughts of handcuffs and whipped cream, myself.”
Claire had met Suzy on her first day at Danvers International, and it hadn’t taken long to form a bond with the outspoken, flashy, and hopelessly sex obsessed wisecracker. Suzy was what every little girl wanted to grow up to be: gorgeous and confident. With long dark red hair, a tall, slim build with curves in all the right places, Suzy loved pushing the fashion envelope at the office. She handled special events for Danvers International and, as she often told anyone who would listen, she was damn good at her job.
Her boss had long ago given up trying to stress the importance of the professional dress code to her and now suffered in silence when Suzy showed up for work in various forms of leather and lace or neon-colored T-shirts with catchy slogans. Claire suspected that Suzy was so beautiful that no one actually cared what she wore, as long as they could admire her every day.
Claire considered today to be a subdued day for Suzy, wearing only a blue-jean miniskirt and a rainbow-colored shirt with a peace sign on it. She often wondered how they’d bonded so quickly. Suzy had a colorful and sexy fashion style, to say the least. Claire preferred a more tailored look. Classic slacks and tops or pencil skirts in neutral tones were her usual work attire. Whereas Suzy favored I’ve-just-had-hot-sex hair, Claire’s tresses were long, auburn, and tended to curl when loose, so for the most part she kept her hair pulled back from her face in a discrete ponytail.
Suzy also loved the tanning salons, even though Claire often lectured her on the dangers of that particular pastime. Wherever they went, men stopped to stare at Suzy, and Claire might as well be a picture on the wall or a potted plant for all the attention they paid to her. Suzy always begged Claire to let her do a makeover. Claire shuddered at the thought.
“I don’t know how you work so closely with him without attacking him.”
“I value my job, and I just don’t think of him in that way—or any man for that matter right now.”
“You’re way too uptight. Live a little, Claire. You might actually enjoy it.”
Thankfully, Suzy seemed to run out of steam in a relatively short time with her “live a little” pep talk, and packed up her tray. “Want to catch a movie later or check out the new bar on the corner?” Suzy asked.
“I’ve got to run over to mom’s to pay her bills for the month.”
“One day you’re going to have a wild moment, and I hope I’m still young enough to appreciate it,” Suzy said with a dramatic sigh. “Okay, catch ya later—and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do with Hot Buns.”
No matter what the differences between them, Suzy was a breath of fresh air in Claire’s otherwise dull daytime routine. She laughed under her breath and thought to herself, If Suzy had any idea what I was doing last night she would probably die of a heart attack on the spot. She hoped that would be over before anyone ever knew the lengths she was forced to go through to pay her mother’s medical bills. She gathered up her own tray and headed to the front to drop it off.
“How’re you doing today, my love?” George asked. George had been with Danvers running the cafeteria for thirty years, hired back in the day Marshall Danvers, Jason’s father, started the company. George always had a smile for everyone and, in truth, a soft spot for Claire.
“I’m good, George. Thanks for asking.”
“When are you going to let me take you away from all this?”
“Now, what in the world would Sara say, George?” Sara was George’s lady friend, as he called her, and the two were just a perfect match.
“Sara would understand if I had to trade up. We got an understanding.”
“George, you wouldn’t even know how to get up in the morning without Sara. You better hold on to her with both hands. She’s a keeper.”
“That’s true, but a guy can dream, right?”
“You’re hopeless, George. You have a good day.”
“You too, love. See you tomorrow.”
* * *
Claire walked down the hall to the elevator bank. No corners were cut with the decor of Danvers International. Everything here was gleaming: white marble floors, soft off-white walls, and stainless steel elevators with mahogany walls inside. As she stepped into the elevator she once again forced herself to remain calm. Confronting her fear of enclosed spaces was what forced her to take the elevator every day instead of the stairs. While the stairs might be better for her physically, conquering her claustrophobia was far more important.
Danvers International was a huge glass-and-steel building with twenty-five floors. Jason Danvers’ office was on the twenty-third floor, and his personal space was on the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth floors. The door to Jason’s large office was closed, as usual. Putting away her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk, she settled into her chair in the reception area.
Jason liked the office to be very impersonal and she was always careful to have no personal items on her desk. His one concession to some type of informality was to address her by her first name, and he liked to be addressed by his as well.
She had been working as Jason’s assistant for three years. Her job generally required her to handle all the liaising with clients, suppliers, and other staff. She was Jason’s right hand and ensured that all appointments, meetings, and projects were scheduled and staffed as needed. Her office life was never slow or boring. He was a fair boss and always treated her well. In the time they had worked together they had managed to create a comfortable relationship. It wasn’t exactly a friendship, because they didn’t have personal conversations. It was more of a mutual respect for each other’s abilities.
She was checking her e-mail when the office door opened and he strolled out. His normally wavy brown hair was rumpled as if he had been running his hands through it, and his mouth was pulled in a tight line.
“Claire, could I have a word with you in my office?”
Normally he just relied on the telephone to give orders, so it was somewhat of a surprise to be summoned personally. He waited for her to step out from behind her desk and precede him into his office. Claire was initially surprised at how at odds Jason’s office seemed to be with his personality. Jason was very direct and a person of few words. His clothing favored darker colors with his style usually expensive and conservative. At thirty-five years old, he could easily pass for someone in his twenties. His office, however, had a nautical motif. Jason had several beautiful colorful pictures of the ocean and various beach scenes, and the room was reminiscent of an expensive seaside hotel.
She had been shocked the first time she’d entered his office at how comfortable and soothing it was compared to the rest of Danvers International. She’d heard from various employees that Jason loved the sea, which was a major reason Danvers International headquarters remained in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, rather than moving to bigger cites that would offer more benefits to a company of its size.
She’d spent a lot of time in this office imagining rolling around on the floor buck naked with her boss—carpet burns be damned! Just because Suzy was her best friend didn’t mean she had to tell her that her fantasies of Jason were probably better than anything Suzy had dared to imagine. Carefully schooling her face into a neutral expression, she looked at Jason with what she hoped would pass for professionalism and not “do me” desperation.
“Claire, I need you to work this weekend. I know I usually don’t impose a weekend work schedule; however, the contracts for Mericom are supposed to be finished on Saturday, and I’ll need you to be on hand to handle any last-minute changes that may take place.”
“That’s not a problem. What time should I be in the office on Saturday?”
“That’s the problem. Unfortunately I’ll be going out of town this evening to Columbia, and I’ll need you to travel with me. My friend Harold is getting married on Sunday, and I’m expected at his home for the weekend since I’m in the wedding party.”
Oh, great. I’ve not worked weekends for over a year and rarely travel on business and now I’m being asked to do both!
“Jason, I have a previous family engagement for the weekend, but I’ll be glad to be in the office during the day on both Saturday and Sunday.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t going to work. I don’t need to remind you how big this deal with Mericom is to Danvers, do I?”
He had been working for close to a year on the acquisition of Mericom. Danvers International was the second biggest communications company in the U.S., and with the addition of Mericom, Danvers would move firmly into first place.
“No, that’s fine. Would it be a problem if you gave me directions so that I could meet you tomorrow morning?”
“I guess that’s okay. I’ll e-mail the information to you shortly.”
When Jason’s cell phone rang, she took the opportunity to excuse herself from his office. Crap, crap, crap, what am I going to do about this weekend?!
Continue reading for a special preview of
BETTING ON YOU
Available from InterMix January 2014
Mia Gentry walked through the glass doors in the lobby of the Danvers International building while singing to the music piping through her earbuds. At twenty-eight, she supposed she should feel like some dirty old lady for listening to Justin Bieber, but she loved his music. She stuck the foot of her hot-pink pump in the door of the elevator to hold it. Suzy and her husband, Gray, were standing just inside the door as she made her way inside. God, she felt like such a frump standing next to her fashion idol and her GQ man. She wondered idly if they were into threesomes. She had never tried that, but she had a bit of a girl-crush on Suzy, and Gray was smoking hot. Yeah, she wouldn’t think twice if they asked her. She smiled and muttered “Morning,” as the doors closed.
Oh my god, he had his hand on her ass. That was it for Mia. Any man confident enough to feel up his wife in a corporate America elevator was the total shit as far as she was concerned. She knew she had just found some new material for the session with her battery-operated boyfriend tonight. Suzy and Gray stepped out on the fourth floor and as the doors were closing, Suzy flashed her a grin saying, “I love your shoes.” Luckily for Mia, she managed to contain her squeal until the elevator was moving again. Yeah, this day was looking up. Her fortune cookie from last night was right: good things do come to those who wait.
She stepped off at the sixth floor into the hub of the Installation and Support department for Danvers International. This place was heaven for a geek such as herself. She had worked there for three years now and loved every minute of it. She had started out doing customer support and eventually moved up to site installation. She supervised a crew of ten people, and depending upon the job, some or all of them traveled to each site. Although, when she had moved into management, she had given up a lot of the travel that once had been required. She now went onsite for only a few days for the larger jobs or to fill in as necessary.
She grabbed a cup of coffee from the break room on her way to her corner office. Her space was small, but she treasured the window with the view of downtown Myrtle Beach. It was a big upgrade from her starter cubicle in the cube-farm down the hall. Just as she was running through the emails that had accumulated since yesterday, her boss, Hank, walked in and sank down in the chair in front of her desk.
“How’s it going, kid?”
She smiled at his standard greeting. Hank was in his forties and saw everyone around him as his kids. He had a thick mane of gray hair and if she squinted just right, he reminded her of Richard Gere. He had more than a few admirers in the office, both male and female, so apparently everyone else agreed with her assessment of his looks. “It’s going, no problems to speak of.”
Hank shook his head, giving her a rueful smile before saying, “Well, I’m about to mess that up for you. I know you’ve got half of your crew in Alabama this week, and Nikki is out with her . . . um . . . lady problem, but I’ve got a local install that just came through and it’s VIP.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “First of all, Nikki just had a baby; how is that a ‘lady problem?’ And secondly, who’s the local VIP? Unless we’re talking about something for the city, it should only require a couple of technicians, tops.”
“You know the Oceanix Resort?” Mia nodded even though it wasn’t really a question. Most locals could never afford to stay there but everyone still knew of the Oceanix Resort. It was high-end luxury. She would never voluntarily admit that she had been there to her coworkers, but she suspected that Hank knew she might be familiar with the resort. “They’re replacing their entire system with ours and the Myrtle Beach location is to be the first install. If things go well, the other nine locations will be next. The catch is they want to start on Monday, which means that the preliminary work needs to be laid out this week. Since you’d normally send Nikki on a local job, that leaves you, kid. This needs to go off without a hitch so we can’t send some wet-behind-the-ears newbie and besides, those are your people, aren’t they?”
Indeed they had been at one time. You didn’t grow up as the only child of Jefferson and Madeline Gentry without rubbing elbows with some of the privileged elite. Her parents were what you would call “old money.” If there had ever been a poor Gentry in the family tree, it was too far back to be found. She had bowed to parental pressure and attended an Ivy League college, which was probably why Hank suspected that she was from money. After she graduated, she had started to pull away from the crowd she had grown up with. The pressure to fit in had long ago gotten old and she had been eager to experience life without a constant safety net under her.
Of course, her parents had been less than thrilled with her choices. She would have thought her computer science degree would have tipped them off, but apparently they just assumed she had spent four years in college to study a hobby. When she moved out of her gated childhood home in a posh oceanfront section of Garden City Beach, they had been quite vocal in their disapproval. She had struck a compromise with them and had moved into a condominium that her father owned in nearby Surfside Beach. She wanted to hate it, but truthfully she loved her two-bedroom home right on the ocean. It was a small twelve-unit building and even though she was well paid at Danvers, it would have been out of her price range.
She rarely saw any of her childhood friends anymore. Most of them just didn’t understand her these days. As was often the case, they had all moved on. She had new friends now, such as her good friend and coworker, Nikki, who was currently on maternity leave and had named Mia the godmother of her first child. Indeed, life was different, but much better now. Her parents might never understand her, but she hoped in some tiny way they respected her need to make it on her own.
Hank snapping his fingers jerked her from her trip down memory lane and back to the present. Damn, what was his question again? Oh yeah, her people, hmmm, how to answer that? “I don’t know about that. I’m not familiar with the owner or owners.”
He grinned, obviously amused with her efforts to sidestep his question. “Have you ever been inside the Oceanix Resort?”
Well shit, he had her there and he knew it. “Er . . . a few times. They have a good Sunday brunch.”
“Whew, I can only imagine how much a meal in that place would set you back.” Without waiting for an answer, he continued on. “So, at least you’re familiar with it. Bullshit aside, Merimon asked that we send you.”
Mia’s heart stuttered. Oh my God, Gray Merimon knew she existed? Maybe that threesome idea wasn’t all in her head. “Wow, okay. If Gray asked for me.” Before she could start mentally picking out lingerie, Hank busted her bubble.
“Gray? No, the other one, Nick. He handled the contract and requested the team leader. He even mentioned you by name.”
Talk about having the rug pulled out from under you. It wasn’t that she didn’t find Nick attractive; he was delish. His fiancée, Beth, was hot as well, but she was pregnant. It seemed wrong to have a fantasy about someone knocked up. Oh well, it was probably for the best. She would just continue to admire her idol from afar. “Yeah, I’ll head on over there this morning and get everything started. Who do I need to ask for?”
Hank pulled some paperwork from his shirt pocket and handed it over to her. “Seth Jackson is your contact. He also indicated that you can speak with someone named Margie if he isn’t in.” Then Hank’s name was paged for a call and he left her office with a curse.
Mia spent the next hour answering emails and returning calls. She packed a bag with her iPad and a notebook to jot down some quick notes. She stopped off at the restroom to survey her reflection before she left. She had dressed a bit casually for a customer visit, but it would have to suffice. She was wearing black skinny pants, with her high-heeled pink pumps and a matching pink-and-white striped top. Her wavy brown hair was styled in the usual intentionally messy look, and her makeup consisted of pink blusher and a sheer lipstick. Yeah, it would have to do. She seldom spent a lot of time with management in the preliminary stages anyway.
