Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Thunder cracked and lightning split the sky as Riley shrugged into her jacket on the way out the door of the club. With the deluge coming down, she was glad, for a change, to have the SUV brought to her. Perspective was a powerful thing.
Ducking under Colton’s arm, she scrambled into the back seat. “Get in on this side,” she called back over her shoulder as she slid across the seat behind Paul.
“Good idea.” He climbed in next to her and shut the door against the onslaught, both of them brushing raindrops off the shoulders of their jackets.
“Brrr.” She shuddered as they pulled away from the curb and rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
Colton leaned forward to remove his brown leather jacket, revealing the shoulder holster and gun she usually found easy to ignore since the guys always wore coats. Except dancing close to him on Monday. She’d been aware of it then, even under his tuxedo jacket.
“Here.” He draped the coat around her shoulders. “That should help.”
“Thanks. But aren’t you cold?”
“I’m fine.” The rain beating against the window drew his focus. “It’s getting bad. I got a flash flood notification about an hour ago, but I didn’t expect the cold. Mid-November is early for such a strong front.”
“I hope you guys get home all right.” She curled her arms up under the jacket and tucked it close, the warmth from it being on Colton’s body all evening seeping through her layers to her skin. “You could stay at the estate tonight, although clothes might be a problem.”
Trevor shook his head. “We never know what the dress code might be, so we always have extra duds with us. And toothbrushes. But we’ll be fine getting home. No worries.”
“I shouldn’t have kept you guys out this late, but I wanted to be with Barbara for her birthday. And after the week I’ve had, I needed to blow off some steam. Thank you so much for your indulgence.”
“Are you kidding?” Paul said. “Val and I have been dying to get to this place for months, but it can take a week to get a table. We’ll have to make plans to come back here when I can plan something farther out than a few hours.”
“After you’re through babysitting me, that is.” Guilt squeezed her chest. Her guys couldn’t even make dinner plans in advance with their loved ones due to her schedule.
“We keep telling you not to worry about it, Riley.” Paul gave her another glance in the rearview mirror. “Most principals don’t give us a second thought. We know it’s the job. You should relax.”
She shrugged. “I can’t help it. I worry about you guys.”
“Because you want to take care of everybody,” Colton said.
She narrowed her eyes. “Pardon?”
“You want to take care of people.” He turned to her. “For some reason, you need to make sure everybody’s happy, everybody’s taken care of. It’s like an obsession.”
And that was a bad thing? She stared at him in the darkened confines of the vehicle.
He probably hadn’t meant for the comment to have a bite.
He’d simply stated the facts, as she’d learned over the past six days he was prone to do.
But he’d inadvertently struck a nerve. She did have a need to help people. She always had.
Because, for some reason, God had seen fit to bless her immeasurably more than she deserved.
Born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth.
Grew up in a mansion with a cook, maids, drivers, gardeners, a maintenance crew, and a private security team, not including her current detail.
She’d gone to elite schools and had traveled the world.
She spoke three languages and drove a new car every year or so.
And she loved clothes. Designer clothes.
They were her one weakness, but she’d found a way to make that work for others as well.
Whatever she spent shopping, the same amount would make its way to some lucky charity the next day.
Every time she cleaned out her closet, all her business clothes went to help welfare mothers dress for success as they applied for and started new jobs, while her gowns went to a program that provided girls in low-income areas with dresses for prom or their quinceanera.
Most of them probably had no idea the gown in their prom pictures cost thousands and had been worn only once.
Charity work had been her life’s passion since she was a teenager. She’d worked in soup kitchens, spearheaded clothing and toy drives, took part in walk-a-thons, phone-a-thons, and still manned a booth every year at the county fair to educate the public about the plight of the homeless in America.
She had a heart for people. And with her bankroll and education, her contacts and family name, there was much she could accomplish. She’d only scratched the surface.
Sinking into her seat, she pulled the coat up to her chin and closed her eyes, the swish-swish-swish of the wipers and earthy man-scent mixed with leather from Colton’s jacket pulling the tension from her body.
“Riley.” Colton’s voice sounded far away until she opened her eyes. “You’re home.”
“Oh.” She lifted her head and pulled her hair back with her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“No problem. How you keep going on your schedule is beyond me.”
She handed him his coat. “I plan on sleeping in tomorrow, so you guys should too. I have no plans to be anywhere until dinner.” If she didn’t cancel it. Sharing another meal with Graham sulking wasn’t what she’d call a good time.
Except they did need to have a heart-to-heart about their relationship. A conversation she dreaded as much as she knew it had to happen.
Colton laid his jacket across his lap. “You promise you won’t leave the house?”
“Cross my heart.” She drew an imaginary X across her chest with her finger.
“I have a million calls to make and tons of work to do. Correspondence, flyers for the Christmas toy drive, some last-minute things for the shelter Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday, that sort of thing. I’ll be busy all day. Please. Take some time off.”
He addressed his cohorts. “Okay, then. I’ll see you both tomorrow, say, four o’clock?”
“Copy that,” Paul said. “My kid will love having me home for a while.”
“Enjoy your time.”
Colton opened the door and stepped onto the stone pavers in front of the steps, offering his hand to help her out.
Riley took it as she’d been doing all week, but the spark of awareness hadn’t lessened from the first time.
She let him go and hunkered down into her scarf as they hurried up the steps to the front door.
Once inside, he helped her off with her coat.
“Thank you.” She unfurled her scarf from around her neck and handed it to him to hang with the jacket in the foyer closet. “You’re quite the gentleman.”
He closed the closet door and walked back over to her. “But I offended you. I’m sorry about that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Avoiding his eyes, she brushed an imaginary piece of lint off her borrowed red sweater.
“Come on, Riley. I’m trying to apologize here.”
She let out a breath. “So, I’m a little sensitive. Don’t apologize for telling the truth. I am a little obsessive about taking care of people. I probably should have been a nurse or doctor or something.”
“I’d say you’re doing plenty with a law degree. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
“Not your fault. Now, since I’m staying put, you should go home and spend the night in your own bed. Before the weather gets worse.”
“Maybe I will. I need to get some more clothes, anyway. I asked your house manager if I could do some laundry, but she told me to bring it here and she would take care of it. I hate to make work for somebody else, though.”
“Yeah, good luck getting Irene to let you do any of your own laundry. Any of your own anything. That’s her domain. And, to be honest, she loves serving people. She and Hilda are cut from the same cloth. They’ve both been with us since I was little, and I adore them like family.”
“Okay,” he said with a shrug. “Then I’ll grab it too. I could get spoiled staying here much longer.” He looked down at her outfit and back up again. “Do you and your friends make it a habit to switch clothing mid-evening?”
Riley laughed while at the same time her heart skipped a beat. “Noticed that, did ya?”
Averting his eyes, he cleared his throat. “Being observant is part of the job.”
Of course. The job. She was the job. It would do her good to remember that.
“Yes, to answer your question. We’re constantly wearing each other’s clothes. We shared a house while we were all at Stanford, and when we were packing to move back here, it was impossible to remember what belonged to whom. I think I got to Boston for law school with clothes from each of them.”
“You’re fortunate to have such great friends.”
“I am. They’re amazing.”
He nodded, his expression thoughtful, before he straightened. “I’d better hit the road. Sleep well, Riley.”
“I intend to,” she answered over her shoulder as she started up the curving staircase to her suite of rooms. At least, she hoped she’d tired herself out enough to get more than the snatches of sleep she’d had the past week. “Please be careful going home, Colton.”
“No sweat.”
On the way through her study to her bedroom, her gaze landed on the cards she’d received.
The first on Monday, another Wednesday, and yet another this morning.
The video footage showed a different man each time.
Tall, skinny, with long hair and a mustache on Monday, a heftier man with curly black hair and dark sunglasses on Wednesday, and today a bespectacled man in a business suit carrying a briefcase.
The handwriting on the cards themselves hadn’t changed, while the deliveryman had. Yet, somehow, they all seemed familiar.
She picked up the card she received that afternoon but didn’t open it. After reading it three times at the office that morning, every word had etched itself into her brain.