“Damn!” I said, seeing that I’d managed to misalign the one. I went through the motions again, this time getting it right.
Then I pushed the ends of the shirt down into my jeans. I could feel the heat in my cheeks brought on by the sudden panic.
“Okay,” I said, brushing some loose hairs back behind my ears in the moment before Dash pushed the door open.
He certainly takes over a place when he’s around, doesn’t he? I thought.
“How do I look?” I said.
He cocked his head and took me in. More heat fluttered around in my chest, and I hoped it might stay there where he couldn’t see it.
“Tuck it in more. You look like a pirate from a Disney movie.”
Wordless, I turned to the tall mirror in the corner by the dresser. It was true; I hadn’t tucked the shirt in enough and the white fabric billowed around my midriff. I shoved the shirt down farther until its shoulders, which came down almost to my elbows, tightened against me.
I looked at the digital clock on the dresser and swallowed. If I left right then I could make it to my shift and only be a few minutes late.
“Are you going to be here when I get back?” I said.
“I have to be,” he replied, nodding at my new shirt, “I need that back.”
I found that I hoped that was true. Even though I also knew that him staying around just meant more trouble for the both of us.
Even though I knew I was crazy for even suggesting he stay in the first place. Still, something inside encouraged me to trust him. Though that had me wondering if I could even trust my own judgment.
My track record with men wasn’t exactly the best.
I couldn’t get an exact fix on the reason why this still, small voice within said what it said.
But then I couldn’t think about it any longer, didn’t have time to debate myself; I had to get to work.
Chapter 5
DASH
I should go now, I thought while I watched Ellie back out of the driveway in her old Ranger pickup, its engine a deep rumble that vibrated the glass window in the door.
My bike sat in the driveway, ready to go. I could be out of this town in ten minutes, tops.
But then Ellie’s words intruded into my thoughts, asking where I was heading to.
She’d asked the wrong question, of course. It wasn’t a question of where I was headed.
It was a question of what I meant to leave behind.
I made my way back to the kitchen. My cheek throbbed hotly where Bobby’s fist had crashed into it.
She’s pretty though, isn’t she? I thought as I sat down and picked the freezer pack up again. Especially in that shirt.
There weren’t many things sexier than a woman wearing your shirt.
It had been quite a while since I’d had thoughts like that, and they surprised me. I thought I’d left all that behind when I’d hopped on that motorbike and ridden away from it all.
But there was something about this place, something about that girl, that kept bringing things out in me.
I wondered if they had a TV where she worked. I wondered if that TV might play my story, and whether Ellie might come back here knowing who I was. Or who I used to be, at least.
I pressed the freezer pack, still wrapped in its tea towel, to the hot spot on my face. I winced at the sudden cold, then sighed with the relief it brought.
Seven Months Earlier, New York City
“Sir? Mr. Beaumont?” Stacy said, her legs pumping to keep up with my long stride as we made our way down the nicely air-conditioned hall.
The usual office noises buzzed around us. The buzz of conversation and tapping of keys along with the near-silent whir of copiers. The sounds of orderly business that were such music to my ears.
“What is it?” I asked, lifting my eyes from my iPhone for a few seconds.
Stacy thrust a file folder at me. It was one of many she cradled in her arm. We stopped in front of the bank of elevators, where she pushed the button to call one so we could go up to my office.
She was a pretty strawberry blonde, and sometimes I caught myself admiring the way her grey skirts hugged her ample hips. I never let it get any further than an admiring glance, because I knew the trouble an office affair could bring.
There were constantly stories in the news about that sort of thing, and I couldn’t afford to bring that sort of press onto the company I’d worked so hard to build.
Besides, Stacy was a good secretary. And the old cliché was true: good help was hard to find.
“Those are the quarterly projections you need to sign off on. The CFO is also flying in today, and needs to see you in person. And then you have that meeting with the board after lunch. Have you decided where you’d like to have lunch yet, sir?”
I ran my fingers through my hair. I kept it cropped short, presenting the image of a clean-cut businessman.
The elevator door slid open in front of us. A man in a suit started stepping off. Then he looked up and saw me. Recognition and panic widened his eyes.
“Excuse me,” he said, stepping aside so that I could step past him. I had that sort of effect on people.
A few years ago I wouldn’t have liked it. Now I came to expect it. Why choose between fear and respect when you could have both?
Stacy and I stepped into the elevator, and she pushed the button for the top floor where my office waited for us.
In that small space, I caught the somewhat fruity scent of her perfume. I studied her from the corner of my eye.
She always flushed a little when we were this close. I knew that she was open to an affair. That she probably even fantasized about it.
“There’s one other thing,” she said, glancing at me then down to her files. She seemed hesitant.
“Yes?” I said, wondering what flavor her lip gloss was.
“Your mother called again earlier. I told her you were very busy and that you’d get back to her when you could.”
The elevator chimed softly each time we passed a floor.
“Did you?” I muttered, my arousal dissolving. “Good.”
Stacy swallowed and glanced at me again, then her eyes went back to the floor indicator.
“Yes, what is it?” I said, irritation prickling in my chest.
“It’s just… I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, Mr. Beaumont, but when are you planning on returning her calls? I could check your schedule, if you like…?”
“Don’t concern yourself with her,” I said, a little more harshly than I meant to.
She almost said something, then decided against it. Like I said, she was a good secretary. She knew when to keep her mouth shut even when something like curiosity burned inside of her.
I hadn’t spoken to my mother in almost five years, and for some reason in the last few weeks she’d begun trying to contact me.
Thinking about her made me remember how she used to drag the two of us across the country, never staying in one place more than a couple of years. I could almost smell the dust of the road just thinking about those times. Times I’d done my damndest to forget.
Those memories seemed like someone else’s. Like a movie I’d seen long ago and only half-remembered.
We reached the top floor and made our way to my office. It was a corner unit, the walls floor-to-ceiling windows that gave an incredible view of the New York skyline.