Chapter Four
DREW
Once we’d settled in, Ellie pulled her laptop out of her bag and we went over today’s schedule. I needed to review contracts for the expansion and make a few calls, while she went through my emails and decided which ones needed my attention.
I cleared my throat. “I figure by lunchtime we’ll get through the majority of what needs to get done today and then I can show you around. To understand Kingsley Jewelry is to know the town.”
“I’d love that.” She smiled and tapped her pen against her lower lip, then turned back to her screen and typed. “Adding lunch and a tour to your schedule.”
I grinned back. See, we could keep this professional.
I was stronger than my base instincts. Just because I wanted to kiss those curved lips until they were swollen with desire that matched mine didn’t mean I had to make a move.
My heartbeat may have been knocked off kilter, but I could keep that to myself.
I had to keep that to myself. The family business was at stake.
Throughout the morning we worked separately, only conferring as needed, just as we normally did. The only difference was that we didn’t have a computer screen to hide behind. I caught myself stealing glances at her more times than I cared to admit.
I’d just finished up a call when the theme song from Godzilla trilled at full volume.
At her desk, Ellie was frantically fumbling with her phone. She wore an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry. I thought I’d turned the ringer off.”
I settled back in my chair. “It’s okay to answer.”
She grimaced as she frantically swiped at her phone. “I’d rather not, it’s—”
“Eleanor? Why do you sound so far away?” A woman’s loud voice came through the speaker.
Ellie picked up the phone in front of her, fumbled it, and accidentally picked up a video call. She closed her eyes in a long blink before opening them and focusing on the screen. “Mom, I’m working right now. It's not a good time.”
The screechy, angry voice on the other end made me want to help, but it wasn’t my place. When she glanced my way, I stood, picked up my mug, pointed at it and the door. Want some? I mouthed.
With a strained smile, she shook her head.
I took my time in the break room, wanting to give Ellie space. After ten minutes I’d already gotten my coffee, chatted with Sheri, the head of our design team, and texted with the construction manager of our first expansion that was set to open just before the Christmas holidays in Boston.
After saying goodbye to Sheri, I headed back down the hall. My office was only thirty feet away, but I walked slowly, giving Ellie every extra second I could.
I’d just turned the corner when Karen stopped me on her way back from the copy machine, photo already out to show me pictures of her newest grandbaby.
I made the appropriate noises—“She’s beautiful,” “Look at all that hair,” “You must be so proud”—while my attention kept drifting toward my closed office door.
That’s when a classic floral scent hit me—Chanel No. 5 mixed with something uniquely hers.
Glamma.
She strode toward me like she was walking a Paris runway, somehow making ten o’clock on a Monday morning an appropriate time for the most outrageous fuchsia taffeta ball gown I’d seen outside of a formal event. Only she could pull something like that off.
“Good morning to my favorite grandson.” She pointed at her cheek with one perfectly manicured finger, and I obediently kissed it when she stopped next to me.
“So I’m your favorite today?” I asked, unable to suppress my smile. She regularly told all of us that.
“Don’t tell the others,” she scolded, though her eyes sparkled with mischief. She linked her arm with mine and began walking with me toward my office. “I was hoping to meet your lovely assistant. The one you can’t seem to stop mentioning at our family dinners.”
Heat crept up my neck. “I don’t—”
On the other side of the door, Ellie was arguing with someone, and she sounded distressed.
I took off past Glamma, her hand falling away as I twisted the door handle, bursting into the room.
Ellie sat on the chair next to the couch in my seating area off to the side of the room. “This is not a good time for me. I’m here working.” Ellie pleaded into her phone. Her voice was tight in a way I’d never heard before.
And I hated every second of it.
“It’s your duty to support your sister, Eleanor. That’s what family does.”
“Mom, I want Celia to be happy, I do, but can you appreciate for one second how awkward this is for me? Kyle is my ex.”
Ellie’s voice was laced with resignation, and I wanted to hurt this Kyle guy. I walked into the room slowly, hoping to get close enough to hear her mother’s side of the conversation.
I wasn’t being nosy. I was being supportive. I had to make sure my employee was okay.
I glanced at Glamma, and she shooed me forward waving her hands.
“We were together for two years before he and Celia—”
Her mother cut her off. “People can’t help who they fall in love with or when. And Celia and Kyle are perfect for each other. Besides, I thought you said you were seeing someone? Why should this even matter anymore?”
What the hell? My jaw clenched so tight I was surprised I didn’t chip a tooth. Ellie had never mentioned a boyfriend. I fought the urge to ask who the asshole was.
Ellie rubbed at her forehead and sighed.
I hated the dejected curve of her shoulders and wanted to take her phone and end the call, but she probably wouldn’t appreciate Glamma and I witnessing her personal issues.
“I … am.”
“What was his name again?” Her mother’s hoity-toity tone made it sound like she didn’t believe her daughter.
My entire body deflated at the reminder of the conversation I’d had with Ellie on the side of the road last night. If she’d been seeing someone, she wouldn’t have invented me as her fake boyfriend.
Ellie slumped forward, then went stiff as a board.
I took a step toward her, not sure what I was going to do, but needing to help her.
Last night aside, she and I had been communicating daily throughout the last three months.
She was a good, kind, dependable person.
And she had a wicked sense of humor. We’d become sort of penpals since she started.
Over time, we’d shared pieces of ourselves within our email communication, calls, and random texts.
I liked her as a person, a friend, and an employee.
No way did she deserve whatever this was.
Before I could open my mouth, Glamma bumped my hip, grinned, and swept past me with that Glamma-will-fix-it smirk on her face. “Oh, Drew, darling. Is this her? Your sweet dreamy dream girl?” she cooed.
Ellie’s head jerked in our direction, her cheeks a fire engine red, eyes wide knowing we’d caught part of her conversation.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. What was my grandmother up to?
She threw her arms around Ellie. “You must be Ellie! I've been so looking forward to meeting my grandson’s girlfriend. You’re even more beautiful than I imagined. And an incredible asset to our family business. I’m so glad my favorite grandson finally found his lobster.”
Girlfriend? Lobster?!
The idea wasn’t as shocking as it should be. Just as it hadn’t been last night either, once I realized the stranger was Ellie.
Now, Ellie, on the other hand, was sitting there frozen. “But … I’m … ”
Glamma didn’t hesitate. She cupped her hand over Ellie’s mouth to stop her from contradicting her. “Now shush. You’re the absolute best thing to ever happen to Drew based on how he gushes about you all the time. I’ll not have you minimizing that, sweetie.”
When Glamma pulled her hand away, Ellie’s mouth hung open.
I knew the feeling. Glamma was like a well-intentioned whirlwind. She swept everyone into her orbit and we either went along with her latest crazy scheme or got tossed to the ground and left behind.
“Glamma,” Ellie began and was completely drowned out by her mother.
“Boyfriend? Eleanor Mae, you said you were away for work.” Her mother’s tone was shrill.
“I … I am. It’s just …” Ellie glanced at me, the frantic, please help me, expression clear on her face.
“Oh, is this your mother?” My grandmother snatched the phone from Ellie, waved at the screen, and held it up to her face.
“Hello, darling! I’m Drew’s grandmother, Sofia.
I’m so pleased to meet your daughter. You are correct.
She is here to work. Drew, her boyfriend, is also her boss.
” Glamma’s matter-of-fact, joyful tone was in complete contradiction to the sputtering happening on the other end of the phone.
Ellie’s mom’s disapproving expression appeared across the screen.
Her blonde hair, so much like Ellie’s, was cut in a severe style that accentuated the lack of wrinkles or lines in her face.
While beautiful, the coldness of her beauty was off-putting.
“Eleanor! Do you think it’s wise to date your boss?
” The scandalous ring of censorship was unbelievable after hearing her condone Ellie’s ex-boyfriend and sister being together.
Glamma turned the phone on me. I waved as anger burned in my gut and didn’t hesitate as I strode over to Ellie, each step more determined than the last. She didn’t look away as I tipped her chin up, and pressed my lips to hers.
After a tiny squeak of surprise she melted into me.
Her chest pressed into mine, her free hand ran up my arm to clutch at my bicep, and a tiny greedy moan fell from her lips leaving me harder than a redwood.
A strangled gasp from her mother pulled me back to reality, and I reluctantly broke the kiss. Pride filled me at Ellie’s dazed expression, flushed face, and puffy lips.
I slid my arm around her, tugging her to me until she nestled against my side. She rested her hand on my chest. We stood together as a unified front against the woman on the screen.