Chapter 11
Maryellen
His arms were amazing to look at. He had one bent over the top of his head, and the other under me.
They weren’t very comfortable though; the muscles were hard and not very pillowlike.
But they were sexy. He had great biceps.
Not too big, not too small. And, my god, the abs peeking out from the sheets.
I wanted to run my fingers along them like I did last night.
At least my hand was already on his chest. His pec muscles were perfect.
Firm, but not so big that he appeared to have boobs.
Some guys get them too big, but not his.
He wasn’t too hairy, either. Just the right amount sprinkled across his chest.
I was so confused. My heart wanted him. No, more than my heart: my body, my soul, every part of me wanted to try this with him, except for my damn brain. I wished I had more control over how my brain worked, but I didn’t. It kind of controlled me instead of the other way around.
I hated I was playing with his heart with my mixed signals.
“Are you done analyzing me?” Chase asked.
“I didn’t know you were awake.” I peeked up at his face, and his eyes were still closed.
“I could feel it, your eyes were drilling holes through my body.”
As I started to sit, he yanked me onto his lap. I yelped, and my hands landed on his chest to center myself.
“Do you like what you see?” he asked.
His hands went around to my ass, giving it a squeeze. It put pressure against me, pushing me down against his hard dick. The sensation went straight to my core.
I knew exactly what he was doing.
“Chase…” I picked up my phone. “I have to be in the office in less than an hour.”
He abruptly sat up, holding on to me as he did, while reaching for his smartwatch.
“Holy shit, how did I sleep this late?” he barked.
He gently moved me from the top of his legs, grabbed his clothes from the floor, and hustled to the bathroom.
“Mare,” he said from the other room, “I’m sorry, but I gotta go.”
He came out dressed and walked straight to my bedside.
“Can we do dinner tonight? Maybe talk more then?” he said.
This had already been an overwhelming week.
“I don’t think I can go out on another work night this week, I’m sorry.”
“OK, how about tomorrow then?”
I was about to say yes when I remembered I already had plans with Garrett. When I paused and didn’t answer right away, Chase slowed his manic movements.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I didn’t know what I should do. Chase and I were not together. I wasn’t even sure if getting back together was an option I should be considering.
I could cancel the date and see Chase. But that wasn’t the safe choice. Going out with Garrett and seeing where that went was. Garrett was the safer bet in my life. Which highlighted how much of a mistake last night was. I should not have let him do what he did.
“I already have plans tomorrow,” I said. “Another night?”
Chase’s demeanor changed. He stopped moving altogether as he stood and stared at me blankly. His lips pressed together as if he forced himself to hold in words he shouldn’t say. He only gave me a small nod as he grabbed his puffer. He came to my side and leaned in.
“I’ll see you at the office.”
I stood, reached for my robe, and walked with him to the door.
“Chase,” I said as he grabbed the lock and started opening the door to leave. “Thank you for the flowers and thank you for coming over. I enjoyed it and I do want us to talk more.”
He still had his back to me, and I wasn’t sure he was even going to say goodbye. Then he turned and abruptly took my face in his hands. The kiss was soft yet passionate at the same time as his tongue swiped my lips. It was short but powerful, leaving me breathless when he pulled away.
“I’ll see you in a bit.” He gave me a megawatt smile and walked out the door.
The rest of the day was business as usual at the office.
Chase gave no indication to me or anyone else that we had spent the night together.
We had several meetings with Gage to prepare for the days he would be away with Harper.
Another meeting to discuss Chase’s schedule for the coming week.
An additional meeting with the construction crew regarding his office.
Not a single flirtatious comment.
At all.
I almost missed them.
But I would never tell him that.
“All set for your weekend?” I asked Gage. It was a big one for him.
“I think so. You said it’s all squared away down there, right?” He was busy packing his computer into his bag. Even though he was going away, he would never not bring work along with him. “The in-house people have it all set and ready for us when we get there?”
“Yep,” I told him. “You won’t have to worry about a thing. I even made sure the pictures were framed and put where you wanted them. And everything will be on the kitchen island like you requested. Spoke to Fiona yesterday, and no, Harper doesn’t know what the flowers are for, so don’t worry.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly. I knew he wanted everything to be perfect for this proposal.
“OK,” he said, a bit absentmindedly. “OK, I’m heading out. You should, too. It’s late.”
Looking at my watch, I hadn’t realized how late it already was.
“Gage, have a great weekend.”
He stopped, turned, and smiled.
“Thanks for all your help with this, Maryellen. I couldn’t pull this off without you.”
My smile was immediate. He ran to the elevator, obviously anxious to get on with his special long weekend.
I couldn’t blame him, I was excited for them both.
I sat back at my desk, giving my schedule one more glance.
It was then I realized there was another meeting on the calendar with Mr. Parker and his boys for the end of next week.
I half thought I should call Gage to remind him but decided against it.
He didn’t need that information going into his time with Harper.
Dialing the number I knew by heart, I decided to make sure he was still expecting the meeting to take place. He’d been busy with his new girlfriend lately, and maybe they wouldn’t be in the area.
“Hello, Maryellen? Is that you?” Mr. Parker asked through the line.
“Hello, sir. How are you?”
There was a pause on the other end, and I could hear him shuffling his feet and talking to someone, probably Sara, as he most likely was moving into his office.
They now lived most of their time in Palm Springs, California.
He was rarely in New York, but when he was, he expected his sons to be ready to give him the time he wanted.
“I’m well, darling. How are you doing?” I cringed a bit at the darling, but he was so old school and never quit the habit of using those types of phrases in the office, or with me. “And how is PFA? I know it’s truly in your hands, so give it to me.”
We discussed some business details for a while.
I brought him up to speed about the changes happening with Chase, all of which he knew already.
My allegiance was to Gage and Chase now, but their father didn’t need to know that.
I made him feel as though he got some dirt on the company every now and then.
He rattled on about all the adventures he and Sara had been taking and the places they’d visited.
These were not necessarily phone calls I looked forward to, but ones I felt I needed to make, for a variety of reasons.
Today there was a specific reason, and I wanted to get to it.
So, when there was a break in the conversation, I took it.
“Sir, I have one more thing I need to discuss. There’s a meeting on the books for the three of you next Friday. We need to reschedule. Neither of your sons are available that day, business takes them out of the office.”
He had no idea I was lying. And neither Gage nor Chase knew about this meeting to begin with. They wouldn’t mind missing a meeting with their father, or at least it being pushed off a bit.
I was the one who didn’t want Robert Parker around right now.
“Is there another date, say next month, that you can make it to New York?” I asked.
There was silence across the line and muffled sounds of which I could only imagine was him looking through his datebook.
I heard pages flipping as he hemmed and hawed.
While he did that, I put the call on speaker so I could start to pack my bag.
This was taking longer than anticipated and I wanted to get out of here.
“I was looking forward to seeing my boys,” he said. “But it would probably be better to give Chase some time in his new role before we meet, anyway.”
Some more shuffling of papers on his end.
“How does the end of February look for them?”
I was bent over shoving my computer into my bag when Mr. Parker finished talking.
When I popped up, Chase stood in front of my desk.
His eyes were wide as he stared at my phone, making me fumble for the headset and take it off speaker.
My hands faltered trying to find the right buttons as Mr. Parker awaited my response on the other end.
“Maryellen, darling, are you still there?” Robert said.
My heart sank.
“Gage is away this weekend,” I said, finally hitting the right one. I worked hard to avoid the questioning stare from Chase, but I couldn’t. My eyes continued to be drawn to his as I spoke to his father. “Once he returns, I will check with him and get back to you with a date. How does that sound?”
There was no response as I waited.
“We should probably touch base and catch up about you, too, don’t you think?” he asked.
I wanted to pull the headset from my ear and throw it to the ground.
“Yes, we should, sir.”
In my ear, Mr. Parker said, “That’s good, Maryellen, Thank you. And remember, I’m not your boss anymore.”
My heart hit my stomach.
“Right, yeah, OK, I’ll talk to you soon, Robert.”
The line went dead.
As I pressed the button to end the call on my end, I noticed my hand shaking. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to face this head-on.
I was talking to his father, my previous boss, which was all this was. As I turned to look at the man who had my heart in a vise grip, his look almost brought me to my knees. I couldn’t have him thinking anything more was going on here.
“What was that about, Mare?” he asked.
Standing, I smoothed my skirt and reached for my coat, alerting him I was on my way out and that this would not be a long conversation.
“He was my boss for quite a few years before he left, ya know?” I didn’t mean for there to be so much bite to my words, but I was flustered. “I still set up his meetings with you, and he likes to check in sometimes.”
Chase still hadn’t removed his gaze, which was almost a glare, from me.
He was processing this, but he would have to process it as I headed out.
I needed space, from him, from this office.
My steps were quick, and I even contemplated taking the stairs, knowing he wouldn’t follow.
But forty floors were a lot to walk down. We both stopped at the elevator.
I chose not to look at him as we waited. Thankfully it arrived quickly, and as I stepped in, I expected him to join me, thinking he was leaving as well, but he didn’t. Instead, the doors simply closed as he walked away.
I was left with an uneasy feeling deep inside me. I had no idea what he made of the part of the conversation he had overheard. And it annoyed me. Because I finally had a night to myself, with nothing to do but cozy up on the couch and catch up on my shows, alone. Normally that would make me happy.
Unfortunately, now I simply felt alone.