Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
“Y ou sound tired, love.”
“I’m fine.” Stark switched his phone to his other ear, and one finger typed at his keyboard. “Did you talk to your doctor about the heart palpitations?”
“I did.” His mother sounded as carefree as she always did. “They did some tests and said it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about?” Stark stopped typing. “There is absolutely something to worry about. I want you to get a second opinion from Dr. Moren. I’ll call and book you an appointment.”
“You mean you’ll have Hollis call and book an appointment,” his mother said with a laugh. “I’m perfectly capable of booking my own doctor’s appointment, darling.”
“You are, but I know you, and it’ll slip your mind the moment we get off the phone. Hollis will call you and coordinate a time that works, okay?”
“Sure,” his mother said. “How are things going, dearest? You really do sound quite tired.”
“Just a long day,” he said.
“Any luck getting the third property from your neighbour?” she asked.
He grimaced. “No, but I did have to rescue her from my tree a few days ago.”
“That sounds like a fun story,” his mother said. “Do tell.”
He relayed the entire story, skipping the part where he had Rayna’s tits in his face, and was amused by his mother’s reactions despite how tired he was.
“Oh my goodness,” his mother said when he was finished. “I think I might love your neighbour.”
“Don’t, Mom,” he said. “She’s the enemy, remember?”
“Isaac, how can someone so dedicated to saving innocent animals be the enemy?”
“She’s deliberately not selling me her property because she hates me,” he said.
“You don’t know that for certain,” his mother said.
“I do. The property is great, but the house is falling apart. The amount I offered her is way above the value of her property. I’m being nice, and she has no reason not to sell it to me.”
His mother laughed. “No one has ever accused you of being nice, sweetheart.”
He ignored the little jab of hurt he felt. His mother wasn’t being malicious, and besides, she was right. He wasn’t a nice guy and never would be.
“Have you tried asking her why she wants to keep the property so much? Maybe if you can find common ground, you can -”
“We have nothing in common, Mom. She’s a plumber who runs an animal rescue, and I’m… me. She has a million animals at her house, and all of her clothes come from Walmart.”
“Don’t be a snob, Isaac.” His mother’s tone lost its playfulness. “I didn’t raise you to be judgmental about others.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said.
He knew why she was so pissed. He had sounded scarily similar to his father, and he hated that there was even a part of him that was anything like his old man.
“It won’t happen again,” he said.
“See that it doesn’t,” she said, her voice still sharp.
There was silence before she sighed. “Sorry, dearest. I shouldn’t take my trauma over your father out on you.”
“You didn’t. I was being a judgmental asshole and deserved to be called out on it,” he said. “I’m sure Rayna Abrams is a perfectly nice person, but she has something I want and -”
“And you’re not used to being denied what you want,” his mother said.
“Pretty much,” he said.
She laughed. “Oh, my love, I do adore you. Try not to be the big bad wolf to the poor girl, though, would you? Take it down a notch and maybe be her friend, or at the very least, be civil with her.”
“She’ll probably feed me to a dog if I show any sign of weakness around her.”
His mother laughed again. “Well, I do hope she doesn’t turn you into dog chow, dearest. Listen, I must run. I’m having my usual Thursday night dinner with Sandra Wilkinson, and you know how she abhors tardiness. Love you, my boy.”
“I love you too.”
Stark ended the call and stared blankly at his computer screen before leaning back and spinning his chair around to stare out his office window. Snow fell softly, and he studied the flakes for nearly five minutes before rubbing one hand against his jaw.
He was tired and in a bad mood. Work had been nothing but putting out fires all week, and he was seriously considering leaving tonight for New Cassel instead of tomorrow night. Lucas, James, and Hollis could handle anything that came up at the office, and it had been forever since he’d had a three-day weekend. Hell, it’d been forever since he’d had a weekend. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was a workaholic and didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Not when he had nothing else in his life.
Whoa, where did that come from?
He muttered a curse and shut down his computer. He liked his life. No, he fucking loved his life, and just because he’d had a bad week and was feeling rattled and out of sorts didn’t mean he was suddenly questioning every decision he’d ever made.
Besides, everyone felt lonely occasionally, even assholes like him.
He stuck his laptop in his bag, grabbed his phone and shut off the office light. He would go to New Cassel tonight. He’d relax in the luxuriousness of his penthouse, drink five hundred dollar scotch, and enjoy the company of a beautiful woman.
His mind immediately conjured an image of Rayna, with her fiery brown eyes and how her lips looked soft and lush, even when thinned with anger. He pictured those lips wrapped around his dick and said appendage immediately hardened.
He grunted with annoyance and banished Rayna’s image from his head. He adjusted his dick, waiting impatiently for his erection to subside before leaving his office. He popped his head into Hollis’s office. “Hey, I’m taking the day off tomorrow.”
She blinked at him, and he took more than a bit of pleasure in shocking his normally unflappable assistant.
“Okay,” she said. “Not available day off, or working from home day off.”
“Only available for emergencies day off,” he said.
“All right. Enjoy your weekend, Mr. Stark,” she said.
“You as well, Hollis.” He hesitated. “Do you, uh, have any plans for the weekend?”
She arched one perfect eyebrow at him. “Nothing in particular.”
“Right. Well, have a good one.”
She nodded. “Before you go, James is in a meeting and isn’t available. Can you sign off on paying the Sneaky Leak’s invoice?”
He dropped his computer bag on the chair and scrawled his signature on the paper Hollis held out to him. Trying to sound casual, he said, “She finished it quickly.”
“Yes, she did,” Hollis said. “And she only had to remove two tiles to do it.”
“Seriously?” he asked.
Hollis nodded. “Yes. I’ve arranged to have the backer board and tile replaced next week, and because Rayna fixed the leaking pipe without cutting a huge hole, she’s saved you money on both materials and labour. I sent you an email about this.”
“Right,” he said. “It’s been busy this week, and I haven’t had the chance to read it.”
That was complete bullshit. He had avoided all things Rayna related because anytime he thought of her, it typically led to some very lucid and dirty fantasies of how she might sound when he went down on her.
Christ. He really needed to get laid this weekend.
Hollis was staring at him like she knew he was full of bullshit, and he decided to make his damn escape. “See you Monday, Hollis.”
“Enjoy your weekend, Mr. Stark.”
* * *
Stark set his computer bag on the side table in the hallway before walking to the kitchen. He didn’t bother to turn on the light as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and checked the weather app on his phone.
It was supposed to snow off and on all night, but there were no weather advisories regarding travel. He would pack an overnight bag and leave before -
“What the hell?”
He stared out the window over the sink. It faced the backyard, and he could see a light bobbing along the fence line. It stopped in front of the tree before shining up into the branches.
“Shit,” he said. “Not again.”
He whipped open the back door and stepped out into the yard, stalking silently through the snow until he stood behind Rayna.
She was staring up into the tree as she scanned the branches with the flashlight. “Molly,” she said in a soft voice. “Molly, honey, are you up there? Come to Mama.”
“Planning on climbing my tree again, Ms. Abrams?”
She shrieked and whirled around. Stark winced and held his hand up to block the light shining directly into his eyes. “Can you lower that?”
She pointed the flashlight at the ground. “You scared the crap out of me! Why are you sneaking up on me in…”
“In my own backyard?” he asked.
She flushed, and he crossed his arms over his chest, giving her a pointed look. “You’re trespassing again.”
She turned around, ignoring him completely, and scanned the tree again.
Immediately annoyed by being ignored, he said, “Is there a reason you’re in my yard, Ms. Abrams?”
“Molly got out again,” she said. “Have you seen her? She’s the pregnant calico cat - orange and black and white.”
“I haven’t seen her,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” he said.
She turned to face him, snowflakes catching on her lashes as she chewed at her bottom lip. Even in the dim light of the flashlight, he could see the worry on her face. She swept the flashlight around his yard before pushing past him. “Okay, thanks.”
He watched in astonishment as she grabbed the top of the fence separating their properties and nimbly pulled herself up and over it. She dropped into her yard with a soft grunt, and he marched over to the fence.
“What are you doing?”
She was studying the dark forest behind their yards. “I’m getting warmer clothes and a better flashlight and searching the woods for Molly.”
“There are wolves in the woods, Ms. Abrams.”
“I’m aware,” she said.
Before he could say anything else, she headed across her yard and toward her house.
Thrown off by his immediate anxiety over her going into the woods, he shouted, “It’s just a cat! You’re going to get eaten by wolves over a damn cat?”
Without turning around, she held her hand out and popped her middle finger at him.
“Real mature,” he snapped, his anxiety for her disappearing in an instant.
He stalked back into his house, slamming the back door before walking toward his bedroom. “She’s crazy,” he said. “Certifiably insane. She’ll get herself killed, and then I’ll never get her damn property.”
You can’t let her go out there alone. It’s too dangerous.
“Fuck!” he shouted before stalking toward the closet. If he was about to be tromping through the fucking woods as a potential snack for wolves, he wasn’t wearing a goddamn suit for the festivities.
He paused in front of the closet. He’d left the door half open this morning, and he cocked his head at the soft meow coming from inside of it. He opened it fully, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me?”