Chapter 9
NASH
“Since it’s Friday afternoon and the seminar ended early, are we free to go home instead of back to the office?” Allen asks as we leave the hotel where the conference was held.
“Pretty please!” Harper leans toward me with a hopeful smile.
I glance at my watch for dramatics, but I already know it’s around one-thirty, and I already know I’m not making my employees go back to work for the rest of the afternoon. That would just be cruel. Plus, I’d also love an early start to my weekend.
“I guess you’re free to go.” I say it like it’s such a sacrifice, but I’m sure everyone figured we’d be done for the day.
“Best boss ever!” Victor slaps me on the back as he walks by.
“Yes, thank you!” Harper spins, facing me as she retreats. “I’m going to go get a pedicure.”
“I’m taking a nap.” Reggie salutes us before leaving.
My gaze skitters to Sadie. She has her phone out, searching Google Maps.
“Looking for something?” I step toward her, leaning in to see if I can help with directions. A hint of her perfume carries up to me with the outside breeze. I’ve spent enough time around Sadie these last three months to know she doesn’t wear the same scent every day.
She has a perfume wardrobe. Some days, it’s a floral smell. On other days, I catch a scent of warm vanilla. Today, I sense a whiff of jasmine. All I know is, Sadie smells amazing every time I get close to her.
Her head lifts. “Isn’t that big silver thing around here somewhere?”
Amused by her description, the corner of my mouth rises. “Are you talking about The Bean in Millennium Park?”
“Yes!” Her eyes brighten. “Is that around here somewhere? I’m embarrassed to say I’ve lived in Chicago since July and haven’t seen it yet.”
“I’ll take you there.”
“You?”
The wideness of her eyes makes me rethink my offer. “Unless you don’t want me to.”
“No, I’d love that. I just figured you’d have something more important to do on a Friday afternoon.”
“I’m an important guy. Obviously, I have important things to do at any given moment, but I’m offering my tour guide services to you. Free of charge.”
“Well, if they’re free, how can I say no?”
A smile breaks loose over my lips as I tilt my body in the direction of The Bean. “We’re headed this way, then.”
As we walk, I keep my hands in my pockets as a signal to Sadie that this is a completely platonic tour. It’s still work hours, and ever since I overheard her conversation with Stetson at Tate’s funeral, I’ve pulled back on the flirting I had already pulled back on. Flirting twice removed. I don’t think that makes sense, but it sounds good, so I’m keeping it.
“You know, The Bean is just a nickname. It’s actually called Cloud Gate because the steel plates reflect the city skyline and clouds.”
“I didn’t know I would get commentary and facts with my tour.”
“I aim to please.”
“If you do a good job”—she throws me a side smile—“maybe I’ll tip you when the tour is over.”
Nervous laughter puffs out as I scratch the back of my head, trying really hard not to let my mind run away with how Sadie could tip me for services rendered.
She bounces ahead, completely unfazed by the molten pool of desire she just caused in my stomach. “Is that it?”
“Yep,” I say, even though it’s obvious we’ve arrived.
She spends her time walking around the entirety of the structure and takes a few selfies with it behind her.
“Do you want to see it from the best angle?”
“Yes, of course.” An excited giggle accompanies her smile.
I gesture to the middle, walking under The Bean until I’m in the center. Then I lie down on my back, with hands clasped together, resting on my stomach.
“You can’t do that.” She anxiously glances around at all the tourists taking pictures.
I lift my head, staring at her. “I just did.”
A hesitant smile spreads across her mouth as she debates joining me on the ground.
“Come on.”
It only takes a few seconds before Sadie drops to the cement beside me, matching my position.
She sucks in a deep breath, exhaling out as her body wiggles into a comfortable spot.
“You’re right. This is the best angle.”
“I’ll be expecting that tip now.”
Her head swivels to me, with gleaming brown eyes. “You might have just earned it.”
Inches separate us—separate our lips .
Tension builds as we gaze into each other’s eyes.
Around us, people move and laugh and live, but for me, it’s like the world stopped spinning.
Sadie is the only thing I see.
Intense attraction stretches, pulls, and begs me to do something. My mind is going places, wondering what it would feel like to touch her. A piece of her hair lifts with the breeze, floating over her cheek and into her lashes.
I slowly glide my fingers down her skin, removing the stray strand. Her chest lifts and falls in heavy movements, and her eyes momentarily close, but she doesn’t move.
Doesn’t flinch.
It takes every fight inside me to pull my hand away from touching her face, but I do. I don’t want her internship to be about this , about me.
“Off the record,” I say. “If I wasn’t your boss and you didn’t have a kind of boyfriend, I’d kiss you right now.”
“Off the record,” her words are slow and deliberate, “if you weren’t my boss and I didn’t have a kind of boyfriend, I’d let you kiss me.”
But I am her boss.
And Stetson does exist in her world in some way.
And no matter how much I hate it, real life is always on the record. I’d never want to do anything that put Sadie in a difficult position or made her regret her actions.
So I stay statue still.
“Necesitan levantarse.” A homeless man taps my shoe with his toe, breaking the moment. “No pueden estar aquí.”
We sit up, staring back at the man and his hectic hand motions.
“?Por qué no podemos estar aquí?” I ask.
Sadie whips her head to me, astonishment coloring her eyes. “You speak Spanish?”
“A little.”
“What’s he saying?”
“Tienen que salir de aquí.” He waves us away. “Están bloqueando a todos.”
He wants us to move, says we’re blocking everyone, but that’s not what I tell Sadie.
“Uh, he said I’m very good-looking.”
Her brows drop. “No, he didn’t.”
The man motions for us to get up. “Apárense del camino.”
“He thinks you should forget all other men and just be with me.”
Sadie laughs.
The homeless man kicks his leg out, showing he’s kicking us out of here. “Los estoy echando de aquí.”
“He says I should kick your ex- boyfriend in the groin and then the head.”
She laughs even harder.
“No, no.” Frustration crosses over the man’s face.
“Not in the head?” I ask in English.
“No entiendo lo que estás diciendo. No, Inglés. Solo Espa?ol.”
“Oh, sorry. The head, then the groin,” I clarify to Sadie. “The order of where I kick your ex- boyfriend really matters to him.”
“I understand enough Spanish and body language to know he’s not saying that.” Sadie rolls her eyes, pushing my shoulder before she stands.
“Está bien?” I stand too, shaking my new compadre’s hand.
But the homeless guy is still stuck on moving us along from our spot under The Bean. “La gente puede caminar hasta aquí ahora.”
“Sí verdad.” I agree with him that people can walk through more easily now. “Yes, she’s very pretty. I know.”
“Now, I know you’re lying.” Sadie laughs as she tugs on my arm, pulling me away. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I wave over my shoulder. “Gracias, amigo!”
“Haha. You’re very funny.” She lets go of my arm but keeps walking.
“You think so?”
“Sometimes.” She bites back her smile. “Where did you learn to speak Spanish like that anyway?”
“I lived in Belize for two years after high school.”
“All by yourself?”
“No, my brother Nolan came too. We thought college was a scam and wanted to see the world. That’s actually how I got the idea to start my business. We worked construction in Belize and remodeled a hospital, and they were always short-staffed on doctors and nurses. It was a huge problem. I wondered if that happened in the United States too. When we moved back, I decided to look into healthcare staffing, and the rest is history.”
“I should’ve known you were self-made.”
“Crap, you think less of me now, don’t you?”
“It’s the opposite. I admire everything you’ve accomplished. You’re very impressive. You’re not even thirty yet, and you have this successful business.”
“I believed I could, so I did.” I shrug like it isn’t a big deal.
She looks straight ahead. “Now what?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re my tour guide, aren’t you?”
If Sadie wants to keep hanging out, I’m not turning her down.
“I am your tour guide.”
“So what’s next on the Nash Carter Chicago tour?”
“Have you done an Architecture Boat Tour since you’ve lived here?”
“No, but I like the sound of it.”
So do I.
Pretty much, I like the sound of anything as long as I’m with Sadie.