Braxton suddenly groaned. “Oh, hell, no. You did not just say that. Damn. Okay, you know, there’s nothing we can do here tonight that we can’t do in the morning. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes. Just...stay that frisky until I get there.”
Tom could almost hear the kid’s smile through the small speakers. He sounded so jubilant it reminded him of a long ago time when he’d been dating Maxine. The thrill of getting to see her again had always filled him, knowing that when he did see her, she’d let him do things her father would disapprove of.
“See you soon,” Braxton murmured. There was a pause as if he’d hung up. Ben leaned over to take the phone off the intercom but just before he pushed the button, their boss more quietly added, “I love you.”
Tom couldn’t help it; he glanced up to see the startled expressions on his co-workers’ faces, wondering if they were thinking what he was thinking: Braxton had been too chicken to confess his feelings before his little girlfriend had hung up. Then it struck him; great, his friends had sucked him into the soap opera of Braxton Farris too.
“Is he still talking to her or has he hung up already?” Tasha whispered.
“I want to marry you,” Braxton went on, “and grow old with you so that when we die, we can hold hands and go together like that couple on that movie you love.”
“The Notebook,” Tom murmured, blinking rapidly. When his co-workers glanced at him strangely, he shrugged. “What? It’s Lenna’s favorite movie.”
“Shut the phone off,” Charlie hissed suddenly. And Ben complied a split second before Braxton breezed back into the meeting room.
“Okay,” he announced, his blue eyes glittering with life and excitement as he rubbed his hands together. “I’m sure you all have homes you’d like to go to. Let’s wrap up and get out of here for tonight.”
* * * *
Lenna made a surprise visit to her parents’ house in the suburbs. She burst through their front door, almost ripping the hinges off in her haste.
“Mom! Dad!” she yelled, exploding through the foyer and heading straight toward the living room.
Her father was struggling out of his lazy boy when she bounded into the room. Maxine hurried in from the kitchen with a dish towel in hand.
“What in the world is going on?” her mom demanded to know, looking bewildered.
“I got a job!” Lenna screamed. She was so happy, she swept Maxine off the floor when she hugged her and spun her in a circle.
“You...” Maxine’s eyes turned as round as saucers. “Oh, Lenna,” she murmured in delight. “That’s wonderful.” She returned her daughter’s hug fiercely. “When? Where?”
Setting her mom back on her feet, Lenna described her new position at ProTech. She turned expectantly toward her father. He stood and listened to what she’d be doing. When she was finished talking, he gave her such a blank stare she couldn’t tell what thoughts swam through his head.
Finally, a grin spread across his face. “That’s my girl,” he announced, proudly.
As he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, Lenna’s pulse accelerated. Since she’d appeased her father by getting a job he could be proud of, maybe she could tell him about Braxton soon without him blowing his top. Grinning, she crossed her fingers behind her back and made her decision.
Definitely soon. As soon as she figured out a way to make sure he wouldn’t retaliate against Braxton, she would tell him.
CHAPTER 18
Wearing navy blue slippers and a matching terry cloth robe, Tom stood by his bed, grumbling his nightly mantra under his breath as he tossed a load of throw pillows onto the floor.
“Why in God’s name do we need so many damn pillows we don’t even use? No man should have to—”
“I think she’s seeing someone,” his wife announced unexpectedly as she appeared in the doorway that led into their connecting bathroom, her nightgown backlit by the bright bathroom vanity lights.
Tom frowned. “Woman, what in the world are you talking about? Who’s seeing someone?” He aimed a pillow to land exactly on top of another he’d already pitched to the carpet. His face contorted with displeasure when he missed.
“I think Lenna’s seeing someone.”
Halting his pillow party, Tom turned to blink at Maxine while she smoothed lotion onto her face, dabbing gently under her eyes.
“Lenna?” he repeated. He had to shake his head to clear the befuddled idea from it. His wife thought Lenna was seeing someone? No way. “Where in God’s name did that idea come from?”
“I don’t know.” Maxine shrugged and turned back, disappearing into the bathroom. “It’s just a feeling.”
“Max.” He sighed, his shoulders deflating because he wasn’t sure which subject she’d bring up next. First she’d been asking him about Braxton Farris. Then she’d moved on to his daughter dating?
What a shift from one awful topic to the next. Next thing he’d know, his wife would be depressing him even more by asking how much his retirement investments had gone down this year.
“She’s not dating anyone,” he muttered. “She’d tell us if she was.”
“Maybe,” Maxine voice came back, sounding cryptic.
Tom frowned. “Now, what’s that supposed to mean? What do you know?”
“I don’t know anything, Tom. It’s just a mother’s intuition, okay?”
“Honestly, dear,” he called back on a snort. “I don’t know where you get your ideas. Lenna is not dating anyone without telling us about it. We’d know.”
Unless…maybe her one date with Spencer’s youngest boy, Tyler, had gone better than she’d let on. Maybe she was going to surprise them with an engagement announcement. To be honest, he wouldn’t mind her being settled and secure with a Farris…just not the damn, infuriating Farris he currently worked for.
“Did you see her tonight?” Maxine asked. “She glowed. She absolutely glowed.”
“Yeah.” He rolled his eyes, even though his mind whirled. “Because she’d just gotten a real job.” If he were his youngest daughter, he’d add Duh right there, but he managed to hold himself back.
“I don’t think so,” Maxine said. “She’s been acting differently for over a month now. She hasn’t been coming to Sunday suppers as much, and her reasons for not being able to make it have always been so vague. Then there’s that gleam in her eyes lately. I can’t explain it. Something’s going on with her, Tom, something besides a career.”
Maxine finally strolled fully into the room, dressed in a long nightgown. She paused and frowned at the half-cleared bed where Tom had stopped messing with the pillows and was standing there frozen with shock on his face. With her own impatient sigh, she took up his job, ridding the bed of the excess cushions.
“I think she’s in love,” she finally said, tossing the last accessory into an armchair.
Tom shook his head. “Well, I think your motherly instincts are all out of whack. She’s just happy about her new job.” He refrained from bringing up the dreaded M word. But menopause had been starting to plague his wife lately. That’s probably what this was all about.
“Maybe,” was Maxine’s demure reply as she folded back the covers. “Maybe not.”
Tom rubbed his bottom lip between his fingers. Well, damn. She seemed so sure of herself. It made him think of that nineteen-year-old Farris kid again.
Lenna Farris?
Hmm. Didn’t sound so bad.
But he despised the idea of Maxine knowing more about Lenna than he did. Their oldest had always been a daddy’s girl, and he preferred to keep it that way. If Maxine had tapped into something about Lenna he hadn’t, he’d be...well, she was wrong. That’s all there was to it.
He could be cruel and remind her he’d always been closer to Lenna than she had. He knew more about their firstborn. But Maxine looked quite lovely in her silky, brown nightgown.
He appreciated the way the material kept sliding over her body and teasing him with glimpses of soft curves. Upsetting her was the last thing he w
anted to accomplish.
Reassuring himself he knew Lenna better, he agreeably murmured, “Maybe,” as he followed Maxine onto the mattress and between the sheets, not giving the Lenna-in-love idea another thought.
He flipped off his night light and reached for his wife.
* * * *
The Sunday before Lenna started her first day at ProTech, Braxton leaned against the opened door to her apartment as he watched her call her family and tell them she couldn’t make it to supper...again. Instead, the two of them went to a fancy restaurant and decided to celebrate her new job.
When they returned to her apartment afterward, they spent most of the evening sitting cross-legged on her bed, discussing the people she’d be working with the next day. Braxton fed her more information about her future co-workers than she could possibly remember. She merely watched him, nodding, as he grew animated, talking about his old position.
A small frown puckered her brow. “I still don’t see why you left,” she finally said.
Braxton paused and glanced away. “Because... my dad asked me to,” he tried to explain without explaining.
Lenna opened her mouth. He saw a “but” coming, so he quickly added, “Now, Donna Jorgensen is a real airhead. If you ask her to do something for you, don’t expect it to get done right. You’ll know her by her long, curly, red hair.”
He went on, detailing every ProTech employee he remembered, not providing Lenna the opportunity to ask him again why he’d left. He didn’t want to think about the reason he’d deserted his dream job in order to fill his father’s shoes at Farris.
To distract her, Braxton kissed her until they were both breathless.
She tugged his shirt up over his head to press her mouth frantically to his chest. “You should be ashamed, you know,” she panted while she batted his hand away from his zipper and lowered it herself.
Thinking she’d caught on to his diversionary tactic, he lifted his face, eyes wide and mouth already open to spit out an apology.
But Lenna only grinned as she reached inside his pants and cupped his testicles. “How could you turn a perfectly innocent goody-two-shoes like me into a complete nympho?”
Grinning in relief, Braxton kissed her lips and murmured, “Because I’m damned lucky.”
* * * *
Late that night, Braxton woke in the wee hours. After having a nasty dream about Tom Davenport stealing Lenna away so he could never find her again, he couldn’t get back to sleep. Next to him, she slept on, looking too peaceful to be experiencing her own disturbing nightmare.
Hesitantly, he touched her bare back. As he absorbed the rise and fall of her lungs moving in and out under his palm, he relaxed, glad he had this physical contact to reassure himself she was here and okay. He planned on keeping her that way for as long as possible.
Though he didn’t want to leave her, his bladder needed emptied, so he slipped quietly from the bed and crept across her small apartment to the bathroom. He made sure to fully close the door before he flipped on the light. After finishing his business, he flushed. But as soon as the loud crash of water drained down the pipes, he winced.
Hurrying toward the door, he cracked it open, hoping he hadn’t roused her. Lenna began her new job in the morning. She needed a good night’s rest without interruptions.
Braxton bit his lip as he peeked into the apartment. But as he watched the light from the bathroom spill over her sleeping form, he paused and straightened.
Oh, mother of God, she was breathtaking. He opened the door a foot wider and studied the resting woman. He knew he could gladly stand there for the rest of eternity, just watching her.
Wanting to capture this moment forever, Braxton tiptoed toward her desk where he knew she kept the camera he’d given her. Since Paris, they liked to pull the thing out and snap pictures of each other.
Slipping it from its case, Braxton flipped the on switch and turned all the settings to silence.
Then he set about snapping the most amazing shots he’d ever seen. When he was satisfied with the amount he’d taken, he turned off the power and ejected the memory card.
Deciding he’d get a few of the Paris shots printed off and framed for her, Braxton tucked the card away in his wallet and turned off the bathroom light before he eased back under the covers next to Lenna and curled his body around hers.
He sighed and closed his eyes, inhaling the familiar fragrance of her hair. Moments later, he was blissfully asleep, cuddled around the woman he loved.
* * * *
Monday morning, Lenna started her job at ProTech. Greg spent the first part of the day showing her around the office and introducing her to everyone. More than once, she had to hold in a giggle because she’d recall Braxton’s description of that person. He was so accurate it was hilarious.
Barely managing to keep her poise professional and her attitude receptive to meeting everyone, even the people he hadn’t given such a favorable review, she sent each new acquaintance the same friendly greeting.
Finally, Greg led her to the cubicle that housed her new desk and computer. There, he already had a stack of work for her to start.
Relieved to see her first assignment was to translate a French website, Lenna was so thrilled she sped right through the site and had a complete report translated and typed before noon.
When she took it to Greg’s office, he looked at the outstretched information, blinked once, and gawked at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? There’s no way you’re done already. I’ve had three people working for two months trying to decipher that site.”
Lenna could only shrug. “This one was easy. I actually knew the language.”
Greg scowled. “I have never given anyone a raise on their first day. Don’t make me break my rule.” Then his frown slipped into a smile, and he congratulated her.
Lenna returned to her desk, glowing. Hyped and ready to fly through the next site, she opened the next file. But it was in Spanish and she had to pause a lot to look up different words.
Near the end of the day, she gathered her purse and coat and tidied her desk—oh wow, she really had a desk. It was electrifying. She wanted to find Braxton and tell him about her entire day.
So, she was delightfully surprised to find him camped out on the floor in front of her apartment door, balancing a pizza on his bent knee when she got home. He glanced up as she approached, and the grin he sent her was full of pride and boyish sincerity.
“How’d it go?” he asked, pushing to his feet.
She went straight to him for a hug. Once he had an arm securely around her waist, and she buried her face snuggly against his chest, she murmured, “I liked it.”
He pulled away and gave her a solemn look. Slowly, he traced her cheek with a few fingers. “You don’t sound as excited as you did yesterday. Was it not what you expected?”
“No,” she answered and closed her eyes, sighing against his caress. She’d been so eager to see him and tell him everything. But now he was here, she just wanted to forget life and focus on him. “It was so much more than I expected. It was perfect, Braxton. I’m in awe I actually have a job I like. I keep expecting Greg to tell me he made a mistake and send me on my way.”
Braxton scowled. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Why not?” Lenna gasped. “Oh, God. You did force him to hire me, didn’t you?”
He rolled his eyes, but grinned. “No, I did not force him, or twist his arm, or pay him off, or blackmail, or even beg him to hire you. You got the job yourself. I’m just saying he wouldn’t dare fire you because I know you. You’ll work your butt off until you do a phenomenal job.”
Her shoulders eased. “Thank you,” she said, pausing to unlock her door. As she moved inside, he followed.
She went straight to her closet and pulled out a hanger before slipping off her coat. Braxton carried the pizza into the kitchen. Lenna hung her coat and un-wrapped the scarf from around her neck. She turned to watch Braxton open a cabinet and take down a drin
king glass.
“So, where did Greg stick you?” he asked as he filled the cup with ice. “Do you have your own corner office yet?”
Lenna stared in amazement as her lover made himself right at home and pulled one of her diet sodas from the fridge. He opened the tab and commenced to pour its contents over the ice.
“I have my own desk in one of the cubicles in the main part of the work room,” she said, still watching him as he carried the drink to her.
He winced, holding the cup out. “So, he stuck you out in general population, huh? Scanlon always was stingy about who he gave an office.”
“Oh, and I suppose you had your own office when you worked there, hmm?” she asked, accepting the proffered drink.
Braxton winked. “You know it.”
He returned to the kitchenette and took a clean plate from the cabinets. After placing a slice of pizza on it, he sprinkled it liberally with Parmesan cheese, just the way Lenna liked. He carried that to her next.
Her breath caught. “Thanks.”
She settled cross-legged on her bed and dove in. And as Braxton asked more questions about her day, he fixed his own supper.
He bypassed plates and cups, opting to drink a regular cola straight from the can and eat his pizza off a paper towel.
What she found so touching wasn’t his guy mentality that plates and cups were overrated, but the fact he’d fed her first and had known exactly how she preferred her meal.
For some reason, it made her want to cry.
He knew her so well, the man damn near completed her. Sometimes, Lenna couldn’t even remember how her life had been before he’d come into it. She was so content with him.
Everything else dimmed in comparison.
Their days together felt like stolen time though, and when the two of them were apart, Lenna’s doubts and fears rose. Once her dad found out about them, he would become a total butthead, making it completely clear how much he disapproved. It’d put a strain on everything. That was what she dreaded most: a strain heavy enough to break her and Braxton apart.