Chapter Fourteen
IT WAS PROBABLY A GOOD thing Mr. Greyson and his plaything were out of the office on Thursday and Friday. I was more confused than ever about my boss.
Mr. Greyson was meeting with some prospects in Memphis and who knew what Ms. Manselle was doing.
Maybe she had gone with him. That thought bothered me more than it should.
I was also bothered by his behavior at Pierre’s.
What was he playing at anyway, interrupting my date?
Sure, I enjoyed talking to him and Sean more than my date, and I appreciated that they waited for Nicholas to leave before they left.
Not that I thought Nicholas would try anything, per se, but it was nice all the same, especially since my first instincts about him were spot on.
How could Mr. Greyson be such a pain in the office, but so Ian-like off the clock?
By the time I got home on Friday I was emotionally and physically drained.
The man was wreaking havoc on my life. I longingly looked at my “husband” list on my refrigerator while I contemplated what to make for dinner.
Was it really that hard to find a guy who met all my criteria?
I told my heart not to even mention you know who, who by the way didn’t meet my criteria, having been divorced.
Though that was more of a preference than a hard and fast rule. Ugh. It didn’t matter.
Saturday morning found me watching my nieces while my traitorous brother-in-law played golf with my boss.
I tried not to dwell on the man as the girls and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours at the pool.
But as always, as of late, Mr. Greyson showed up in his plaid shorts and well-fitting polo shirt and made sure I was dwelling on him.
I swore he looked like he had just done a photo shoot for J.Crew.
I looked down at my black swimsuit as I sat on the edge of the pool with my legs dangling in the warm water.
I felt vulnerable with so much skin showing.
Not like he hadn’t seen me in a swimsuit before, but it seemed different now.
His eyes lit up when he saw me. He strutted over to me with golf clubs slung over his shoulder.
I focused on my nieces for safety reasons, theirs and mine.
That didn’t deter him. He came right over and sat next to me after he deposited his clubs near one of the lounge chairs. In a surprising move he took his shoes and socks off and dipped his legs in the pool too. “You’re looking well today, Kelli.”
I playfully nudged him.
He leaned in and whispered, “But not as well as you looked Wednesday night. That red dress, stunning.”
Goosebumps erupted all over my body. Where was a breeze when you needed one? He knew those bumps didn’t appear because I was cold, and he seemed quite delighted by it.
“Why did you go to Pierre’s that night?” I asked.
“I told you. I heard it was the best place in town, and Sean was only here for the night.”
“Your Greyson white lies don’t work on me anymore.”
His left brow quirked. “So, what does work on you? I noticed Nicholas sure didn’t seem to do it for you.”
“Yes, thanks for ruining my date, by the way.”
“I’d like to take the credit, but I think you and I know better.”
I turned my attention back toward the girls. He was right, but I wasn’t admitting it.
“I know men like Nicholas, too, and I was . . .”
I looked back over to him, to find him tenderly looking at me. Why did he have to look and act like Ian?
“I wanted to make sure you were treated like you deserve.”
I was completely taken aback. I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Thank you, but I don’t think that’s part of your job description.”
“Have you actually seen my employment contract?” he teased.
“You’re in a mood today.”
His finger lightly skimmed my shoulder. “Maybe it has something to do with the Nashville scenery.”
Thank goodness the girls swam up to us and splashed us both in the process because my body was about to come unhinged from his soft touch.
“Girls, I want you to meet someone. This is my boss, Mr. Greyson.”
“The idiot?” Sam said with no regard or qualms.
Courtney giggled.
My sister and I needed to quit talking around them.
Embarrassed, I bit my lip and turned toward Mr. Greyson who had his eyebrow raised sky high at me, but he didn’t address me. He turned to my nieces. “What else has your aunt said about me, ladies?”
“Oh no, no, no . . .” I cut in.
The girls laughed harder, and I knew I was in trouble. “Well . . .” they said in unison.
That was it. I jumped in the pool and tried to grab the little troublemakers, but they swam off to the other side of the pool laughing all the way. I wiped the water off my face and looked up at Mr. Greyson.
“So, this is what you really think of me?” he asked.
There was no sense in denying it. “Believe me, I’ve thought worse things of you.”
It was like I had sucked out all the sunshine in his soul. His entire body deflated. I felt terrible, even though it was true. Did he not understand how much he hurt me so long ago? But still, I should have held my tongue. “Ian . . . I mean Mr. Greyson, I’m sorry.”
“No Kelli, I’m the sorry one.” With that he got up, gathered all his things, and left.
I watched him walk away, and part of me ached. When he was no longer in sight, I sank under the water and wondered why I was letting him have such an effect on me.
I didn’t see him the rest of the weekend, which was probably a good thing.
His actions confused me, and by Monday I was even more confused.
I was finally going to see why we were wasting company funds on Ms. Manselle.
I was at least happy to know she had actually done some work.
Whenever I saw her, she wasn’t designing anything—unless you counted her designs on Mr. Greyson.
Matt and I showed up to the conference room, waiting to be dazzled by her new designs.
The meeting was supposed to start at nine, but the two love birds were all cooped up in Mr. Greyson’s office.
I guess they needed a warm-up session. I still didn’t get it, and I didn’t get him.
What did he see in her? Personally, or professionally?
They came in fifteen minutes late. Alexa looked frazzled and Mr. Greyson looked out of sorts.
Maybe they’d had a lover’s spat, but then the presentation started and the kindest word I could think of to describe it was “awful.” I could tell Mr. Greyson thought so too, but it didn’t keep him from trying to smooth it over.
He kept saying things like, “Just visualize this or that.” It was pathetic.
I mean how could I visualize incomplete and blank slides?
I kept my mouth shut, but Mr. Greyson kept looking at me like he was daring me to say something. I didn’t have to, the erratic, incoherent presentation spoke for itself.
Matt’s comments tied it up nicely. “I can’t work with this. I think it would be better to stick with our current interface.” He threw his pad of paper on the table.
I tried my hardest not to smirk, but it was really hard. It was even harder not to go and get my designs. I was even tempted to tell Matt about them and secretly show them to him, but I refrained.
“We’ll get this right,” Mr. Greyson assured us.
I gave into my urge and smirked at him. Matt shook his head in disgust, and Ms. Manselle pouted.
I will say this, it seemed to light a fire under her. I saw her more at work than at play for the next couple of days.
Thursday rolled around. It happened to be my birthday.
I was tempted to give myself the best present ever and not go to work, but Mr. Greyson and I were presenting on Friday to Premier Bank in Nashville.
They were a billion-dollar asset financial institution, so we needed all the prep time we could get.
At least I was going to be able to have dinner with my family that night before they left for the Magic Kingdom the next day.
I came in at a normal time. I figured I deserved the extra sleep.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Delfia had placed a large bouquet of balloons in my office for me before I arrived.
She really was the best. Her hug and homemade blueberry muffins weren’t bad either.
Just the two of us enjoyed the muffins together in my office.
We didn’t feel like dumb and dumber were worthy of them, but I felt kind of bad about it later that morning when I got a surprise delivery of flowers.
They weren’t just any flowers, either, they were my most favorite of all-time flowers, that only one person would know about.
I stared at the beautiful pot full of columbines in disbelief.
I didn’t even know you could order them like this.
There was no note, which made Delfia super curious, but I had no doubt who they were from.
Columbines were Colorado’s state flower.
They grew wild in the mountains. FYI, it’s illegal to pick them, but Ian—I mean Mr. Greyson— forgot to mention that to me until it was too late.
I still had those illegal flowers pressed in a journal somewhere.
I loved the white and purplish-blue petals.
I delicately touched the ones right in front of me.
Why did he have to be nice to me? And why did I have to remember lovely hikes in the mountains, breathtaking views, and kisses with the only man I ever loved?
I knew I needed to go and say thank you, but I was hesitant.
I considered sending an email, but I had better manners than that, even though he may not agree.
I reluctantly got up and opened my door.
Delfia was still trying to guess who the flowers were from. She listed off five more men. I shook my head no at each wrong name. “Is Mr. Greyson in?” I interrupted her.
She looked at me suspiciously. “Yes.”
“Is he with anyone?” And by anyone, I meant Ms. Dumber. She shook her head no.