Chapter 27—Willow
Two Weeks Later
“Yes, Mama. No, Mama.” I hear Bobby groan.
I smile as I poke my head into his office and catch him on the phone. Alfonso told me to go in, but I still check before letting myself all the way inside.
He sees me, because he always seems to know when I enter a room, and rolls his eyes as he gestures me forward while he keeps talking on the phone.
“Of course, Mama. I’ll ask her, Mama. Okay, I have to go. Love you, bye.”
He hangs up his desk phone and stands, moving around the desk and coming to me. He gives me a soft kiss on the lips. I wish they would stay there longer, but we are at work. And despite what we did on his desk the Friday before last, I shouldn’t expect that to always happen. Or want it.
But I secretly do. Having a man like Bobby come completely unraveled and claim you on his desk is the equivalent of winning a Nobel Prize. A once-in-a-lifetime experience I hope to have many more times.
I still can’t believe we’re… well, I’m not sure what we are. I just know there’s no hiding what’s between us anymore. The girls know, his family knows, and I suspect everyone in the office already knows, even though we keep the PDA down everywhere we go.
This is still new, though, and I want to keep it mostly between us for as long as we can.
We have family date nights, and other than the occasional lunch date with just him and me, we haven’t seen each other much.
We keep in contact. He got better about that with the phone, but we still live two very different lives with different time zones between us. Or so it feels like some days.
“What did she want?”
“She wanted me to see if you’d reconsider being a part of Milly’s wedding.”
I shake my head, not in anger, just disbelief.
“Your mama is relentless.”
“I know.” He guides me over to the couch on the far side of his office, taking my laptop from my hands and putting it on the small coffee table before sitting next to me.
“And I’ve told her as much. Besides, Milly wants to keep the wedding small.
I think she was even thinking about a courtroom ceremony until Mama screamed bloody murder at her.
If Mama keeps trying to make this bigger than she wants, Milly’s likely to say fuck it and just do what she wants instead. ”
I still can’t believe she expected me to be in her daughter’s wedding.
It would be one thing if I knew Milly in some way, but I haven’t even talked to her on the phone.
I don’t even think she knows who I am, unless Cynthia or Bobby told her.
Which I wouldn’t put past either of them. This family is the sharing kind.
Cynthia’s entire reasoning is that I would look good in the pale purple bridesmaids’ dresses.
That’s it. Or so she claims. Well, that and she thinks my daughters would make excellent flower girls, but I’m pretty sure Milly has enough friends in Kansas that she doesn’t need anyone in my family to be part of her wedding. Unfortunately for Cynthia.
“Maybe if you agreed to at least come to the wedding, it might settle her down,” Bobby says casually as he leans forward and pours us each a cup of coffee. Something he seems to have available every time I come into these daily meetings we now have.
Letting the girls know there’s something between Bobby and me feels easier than going to a family wedding on his arm. That seems more… vocal. Like announcing it to the world in a way I’m not sure I’m ready for.
“I’m still thinking on it. Maybe after this week I can give you both an answer.”
“Right. Sorry. I should have remembered. What time is Trevor picking up the girls?” He leans back on the couch, resting his arm on the back and pulling at the end of my ponytail.
“Right after school. He already had someone come by and get their bags this morning.”
I should have known that Trevor would double down after Ivy’s class project event.
The very next day, he sent me a text stating he would take the girls for Thanksgiving.
Not asking if he could, just expecting it.
Didn’t matter that the last holiday, Labor Day, was his.
He canceled it, and in his mind, that meant he could just take the next.
I’ve gone along with it in the past because the girls need to spend time with their father.
Or so I thought. But after they’ve had time with Bobby, I don’t see how any interaction with Trevor is a good one.
“Want Marco to go with?”
I smile because I know he’s a thousand percent serious about the offer. Still, I shake my head.
“No, it should be fine. I might never get used to them being away from me for a few nights, but I have to find a way to deal with it. Having someone go and give me the play-by-play will only increase my anxiety, I’m afraid.”
“So, what you’re saying is you need a distraction, huh?” His eyes do this intense thing, and he lets go of my hair to softly wrap his hand around my neck, applying just enough pressure to make me go breathless at the thought of a night in his arms again.
We haven’t had a moment alone in that way since we defiled his office.
“You free tonight, Wildflower?” he growls, making parts of me want to spread my legs and let him do whatever wicked things he has on his mind right now.
“Yes,” I whisper, and he squeezes a bit more before releasing me and turning back to his coffee.
He seems to be able to control his urges more than me lately. I just want to jump him all the time, but he’s the one who’s always teasing me with lingering kisses here and there but then not moving forward. Perhaps because he knows we can’t finish what we start. Until now.
“Good. Now, tell me what the team found.”
With the office shutting down for the Thanksgiving holiday, today’s meeting is actually a real one, not just a shared meal with lingering touches and kisses.
We’ve been learning about each other slowly while working because, as I expected, Bobby works all the time.
He’s constantly on his phone or laptop while at the office.
When we go out with the girls for dinner, though, he’s very present.
The few times we see him for lunch or a moment on the weekend, he even stops working for us.
But when we’re in the office, even though I’m here, he still takes the call.
Sure, he does it with his hand on my thigh, or with a tweak of my nipples.
He’s been playing with me constantly, even if it’s only me getting the pleasure in the end.
The entire lunch is a buildup, but the release is quick before I get back to the office.
No full-on lovemaking, just him making sure I feel him all over me and that I get off in a way that I’ve gone without for most of my life.
Unfortunately, today is not one of those times that will leave me fulfilled. Sure, I’m going to make sure I get my happy ending tonight, but I still want to pout as I pull my laptop onto my lap and power it up.
“Keep making that face, Wildflower, and I might be forced to put you over my knee.”
“I don’t think that threat is as intimidating as you want it to be,” I say as I focus on typing in my password.
“Is that so?”
I feel my cheeks burning, knowing he’s watching me fully. Especially when he runs the back of his finger along one side of my face. I only shrug, because talking seems impossible right now.
“Interesting. Perhaps we’ll explore that tonight. Now, quit distracting me and tell me what your team has found.”
Right, work. Focus, woman.
“As you already know, the investor accounts were where we found the initial issues. We checked the internal operations, specifically the charities to start with, plus some of the other main treasury items linked to the main Leone Holdings, and they came out clean. However, we’ve seen a few trends in the asset management sections. ”
“Which area?”
“Specifically, the consultations and private equity structures. We’re still running all of them down, and it will take some time, as it’s a larger area than the others.”
He nods. “Yeah, we went to 50 percent consultants about six years ago to cut down on paying for when people weren’t needed.”
“Exactly. So it’ll take a few weeks, if not months, before we can truly narrow some things down. But the team has already flagged a few areas.”
“Show me.”
I tilt my laptop so he can see, as I chose not to print anything out this time. It would be way too much paper this go-round.
“We’re looking into this one and this one just because they seem to be repeat work.
But this is the one I really think we should flag.
” I open the file and put the laptop on his lap so he can read it in full.
I’ve already memorized it. “‘Strategic aviation logistics consulting for executive travel infrastructure review’ keeps coming up, which is way too vague to be anything real. Everything else has very specific details.”
“What consultant is this with?”
“T.H. Aviation Logistics LLC. I looked them up and can’t find more than a mailing address to a PO box in Queens.”
“That’s interesting. Especially since we don’t have any consultants in aviation.”
I raise a brow. “You don’t? What about the helicopter ride we took?”
He shrugs as he sets the laptop back on the table with it still open. “Marco secures it through connections he knows through the famiglia. None of it is through Leone Holdings.”
“Oh.” My eyes widen as I reach for the laptop and start typing away. “Then you probably wouldn’t be sending them a consultation fee once a week from $48,000 to $72,000.”
“No,” he growls, and it gets me more than it should. A shudder rises up my spine, but for something completely inappropriate and not out of fear, which I’m sure was his intent. Not at me, but the one stealing from him.
“They also seem to transfer funds semimonthly to a Hastings Capital Trust. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“What was that name again?” he asks, voice low.
“Hastings Capital. Ring a bell?”