Chapter 7
Ramsey~
B ecause I was obsessed with my wife, I had access to her daily calendar, and she had access to mine. So, armed with knowing every move that she made throughout her day, I had decided to surprise her for lunch, though I doubted that she’d view it as much of a surprise. Most days, Emerson’s dedication to her job made her too busy for me, but I missed her, so she was just going to have to make my visit work.
Now, the Port Lucia CPS offices were exactly as you would imagine them to be. They were located in a four-story building with crowded cubicles, crap vending machines, and overworked employees. Luckily for Emerson, she’d been working for them long enough to have her own office, but it wasn’t much of an office by decent square footage standards. Still, it was better than working in the bullpen, and while Emerson wasn’t a supervisor, she had earned her office by taking on the cases that no one else wanted to take on.
At any rate, my face was familiar enough that no one stopped me as I made my way into the building and towards the third floor. The top floor was occupied by all CPS management, housing the director, a couple of managers, and about six supervisors in total. Because of my obsession with my wife, I knew all about the working conditions at CPS, and I paid attention to every detail whenever she told me about her day at work. Hence, that is how I knew who was in charge around here.
I was also allowed to walk freely through the hallways because RMM had sponsored a lot of appreciation events for the employees of Port Lucia’s CPS. We’d given away paid vacations, homes, cars, utility certificates, etc. for the stressed-out employees, and so most of these people were happy as hell and grateful whenever they ran into me, Deke, or Liam.
However, once I stepped out of the elevator and onto Emerson’s floor, what I hadn’t expected to see upon entering my wife’s office was a man huddled up next to her, a little too close for my liking. In fact, I had serious issues whenever it came to anyone that wasn’t family getting too close to my wife.
“Am I interrupting?’
Both heads shot my way, no longer looking at whatever they’d been looking at on the man’s phone. Like any wild animal, I kept my eyes on the man that looked to be about six-foot-one, had dark red hair, and intelligent hazel eyes. He also looked like he took the time to keep in shape, but confident men didn’t intimidate me. In fact, no one did. You had to care what other people thought of you in order for them to be able to intimidate you, and that just wasn’t me.
“Ramsey, what are you doing here?” Emerson asked happily as she made her way towards me.
When she reached me, I wrapped one arm around her waist, hauled her close, then kissed the side of her head, finally giving her my attention. “I thought I’d surprise you for lunch.”
Emerson’s entire face lit up. “Really?”
I nodded. “I missed you.”
“I always miss you,” she replied, and I had to smirk. While it might be true, I knew that she was only saying it to calm me down.
Turning from her, I looked at the guy ruining our moment. “I’m Ramsey Reed, Emerson’s husband.”
“Oh, crap,” she rushed out as she stepped out of my arms. “Adrian, I’d like you to meet my husband, Ramsey Reed.” Looking back up at me, Emerson added, “Ramsey, I’d like you to meet one of CPS’s newest supervisor’s, Adrian Cossacks.”
I walked over to the man, then stuck my hand out to shake his. “Nice to meet you.”
Adrian took my hand in his, and knowing better than to start a pissing match with me, he kept his hold firm and professional. When I let go of his hand, he took a step back as Emerson saddled up next to me again. While she was doing her best to keep me from making a scene, it was barely working.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he lied, his eyes giving him away. “Emerson and I were just going over the list of children’s charities that she emailed me earlier.”
“Yes, there’s no one that knows more about the local children’s charities than Emerson,” I replied smoothly. “Her passion is a benefit to local children everywhere.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he replied just as smoothly.
“So, where are you taking me to lunch?” Emerson asked, trying to lighten the mood.
I looked down at her. “Wherever you want to go.”
She grinned, her smile genuine. “I think a cobb salad from Demitri’s would make me happy.”
“Then a cobb salad from Demitri’s it is,” I replied easily, willing to give her anything.
“A person can never go wrong with Demitri’s,” Adrian chimed in, and my animal instinct was telling me that I was going to need to watch this man.
“Do you eat there often?” I asked civilly.
Adrian shook his head. “I’m so busy that I’m lucky to grab a sandwich out of the vending machine to eat at my desk.”
“I understand completely,” I said, ignoring the implication that I didn’t work as hard. “Luckily, I was able to put those around-the-clock workdays behind me years ago. Nowadays, I’m able to rearrange my workday around having lunch with my wife.”
“It must be nice,” he remarked, his jaw ticking a bit.
“It is,” I agreed. “In fact, it’d be nothing to cater lunch for the entire building today if that’ll help get some of you through the day.”
Now, was it crass to throw my wealth in his face? Yes. Yes, it was. Did I give a fuck? No. No, I didn’t. As far as I was concerned, there were no rules when it came to my wife. Emerson was the only thing on this planet that I couldn’t live without, so there wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t do to make sure that I kept her by my side.
With Emerson watching, Adrian smiled graciously. “While that’s very generous, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
“Well, in that case, I think we’ll be on our way,” I told him, my voice as even as possible.
“Of course,” he replied simply before looking at Emerson. “Enjoy your lunch.”
As soon as Adrian Cossacks walked out of Emerson’s office, she shot me a look. “Seriously, Ramsey?”
“I didn’t like the way that he was standing so close to you,” I told her, not bothering to lie.
“We were going over the charity list that I sent him,” she replied, repeating what he’d said earlier.
“I don’t care if you guys had just discovered more of the lost Dead Sea Scrolls,” I retorted. “I did not and do not appreciate how close he was to you.”
“While I can appreciate that you’re not right in the head, that was very unnecessary, Ramsey,” she said. “The man is not interested in me.”
She was wrong.
She was so fucking wrong.
Nonetheless, I wasn’t about to get into an argument with her at her work. While a lot of people didn’t learn from their mistakes, I liked to believe that I’d had. Years ago, I had humiliated Emerson in one of the worst ways possible, and I’d done it in front of hundreds of people. While my motives had been honest at the time, when I’d found out how wrong I’d been about the entire situation, I had tracked her down, then had begged for forgiveness in a way that had surprised even me. Before Emerson had walked into my life, I’d sworn that I’d never get on my knees for anyone, but she’d proven me wrong, and I thanked God every day that I’d had a big enough throat to swallow my pride back then.
At any rate, ever since that day, I did my best to act like an asshole only in private, but I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t a constant struggle. Luckily for me and our marriage, Emerson wasn’t weak. If she were, then it’d be easy for people to believe that she was in an emotionally abusive marriage, but she wasn’t. Emerson’s demons were just as twisted and unhealthy as mine were, and if anyone ever saw one of our fights, they’d start taking bets on who would win. Granted, Emerson would always win because there was one very important fact in our marriage that was quite simple; Emerson could live without me, whereas I could not live without my wife. At least, not without turning violently rabid.
“Can we just go to lunch?”
Her silver eyes regarded me carefully, narrowing a bit. “I mean it, Ramsey. The man is not interested in me.”
“And you still don’t know how beautiful you are, all these years later,” I retorted.
Emerson rolled her eyes before saying, “You’re lucky that I’m starving.”
I grinned. “If that’s your way of picking your battles, I approve.”
Her lips twitched. “You’re such an asshole, Ramsey.”
I reached for her, then hauled her next to me. “I know.”
“Just for that, I should make you cater lunch for the rest of the week,” she chuckled.
“It’s Wednesday,” I pointed out. “Two days of lunch for your office will hardly break us.”
Emerson stepped out of my arms. “Keep talking crap, and I’ll make you do it for a whole month.”
Little did she know that I’d do it every day for the next ten years if she really wanted me to.