Chapter 20 #2
Having him back in my life feels like the missing puzzle piece I’ve been searching for for decades, but how long until I lose it again?
He holds me tight for another moment, then pulls back and kisses me on the edge of my lip so quickly I almost miss it, then stalks off back into the restaurant.
To his date.
Nate
“Come on, Skye.” I coax her away from her favorite dog bakery, ignoring her hopeful eyes and wagging tail. “I need to get to work to see your mommy.”
“You’re a fucking loser,” Leo jokes beside me.
“How is Maddie doing? Other than killing it at work. Heard anything else?”
“Like what?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. How is she liking living in the city? Has she made any friends in the office? What are she and Addie up to?”
“What am I, the office gossip? How the hell should I know?”
“Because you make it your business to know everything.” He doesn’t answer, so I look over to him, texting away, smiling like a fool. “Who are you texting?”
He flashes me his screen, and I arch a brow. “When the hell was this?”
“Last weekend. Twin sisters.” He bites his bottom lip, shaking his head as if remembering his wild night out.
My phone rings as we near our building.
Harrison.
“Yo.”
“Hi. Checking you’re still good to pick up Claudina from school tomorrow and then the same time next week?”
“Definitely. I rearranged all my meetings, but Seb leaves for Dubai in two weeks, and asked to pick her up next week. He said he was calling to tell you.”
“Not yet.”
“He will. How’s Jules doing?”
Our sister-in-law Juliette is pregnant with our first nephew, and we’re all going out of our minds waiting.
“Good, just uncomfortable. She’s ready to meet the baby.”
“We all are. I gotta go, we’re just getting home from our morning walk with Skye.”
“All right, let’s all do dinner next week before Seb leaves.”
“Sounds good. I’ll book it.”
“Oh, and don’t let Claud lie and say she doesn’t have homework. She will.”
I laugh. “I’ll bribe her with ice cream.”
“Oh fuck. Claudina thinks she’s going to school with lipstick on. She’s fucking seven, and I’m ready to have a heart attack.” Then he hangs up.
“Who was that?”
“Harrison, and our niece is about to send him into cardiac arrest.”
He chuckles. “She’s getting feistier by the day. I love it.”
“You never answered about Mads.”
He lets out a frustrated huff. “She’s doing fine. A workaholic, which isn’t surprising. Linc might be giving her a hard time, but she’s tough, and he’ll get over it.”
I stop short and glare at him. “What do you mean by might? Why haven’t you told me? What’s his issue?”
We hired Linc when we first started M-Squared. He’s talented, but equally cocky about it.
“Calm down. She threatens him because he’s no longer the smartest guy in the room, well, beside me, obviously, and has a skill he doesn’t have. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over this. He’ll deal.”
I jam my finger into the elevator button. “No. You don’t let that prick deal about anything. I want to know every move he makes. If he so much as looks at her sideways, I want to know.”
“Jesus. Calm down. If HR could hear you now.”
“This is me calm.”
Leo crouches down and scratches Skye behind the ears. “Ask Lizzy to keep an eye out then. I’m too fucking busy.” He lets her lick her face. “Is our baby coming to the office with us today?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want Maddie to see her until we sort our shit out.”
He stands tall. “And how is that going?”
“Fine.”
“Sure,” he says, dripping with sarcasm. “She still engaged to another man?”
“Are you trying to get murdered today?”
My reaction only seems to amuse him more. “Meet you downstairs in thirty.”
“You’re early. Or late. I can’t tell anymore.” Amara, our head of the London office, turned good friend, answers on the second ring, yawning across the line.
I lean back in my chair, the glow of the city pulsing outside my office window. “Sorry. I owe you coffee. Or three.”
“By the tone of your voice, you might owe me some wine.”
“Fair enough.” I thumb through the plans on my screen. “I was reviewing your revisions for the rooftop layout in Shoreditch. The added green space looks good. But it’s pushing the solar array back further than we planned.”
“We were trying to get more visual relief from the street. The planning board wasn’t thrilled with the hard edges. Leo agreed.”
“Leo’s not on this project.”
“No, but we needed answers quickly, and you were on the plane and didn’t answer.”
“Got it. I just want to make sure we’re not sacrificing too much. I ran a quick model. Shade impact goes up fifteen percent.”
“That much?” Paper rustled on the other end. “What’s your suggestion?”
“I didn’t have time to think. I called you immediately when I saw the issue.”
“This project has given us nothing but issues.”
“That’s the truth, but once it’s done, it will be worth it.”
Over the next hour, we throw out a few ideas, figuring out how we’ll appease the planning board and our client at the same time.
A noise outside my door has my head perking up in alert.
It’s almost midnight; it’s not unusual for employees to pull all-nighters when we’re on a deadline, but I just took a late-night conference call with Seb and The Valencia Hotel Group—the Moraleses’ hotel chain Javier built from the ground up—and paced the floors as I listened.
I had only seen a few people who wouldn’t be up on my floor.
A shadow creeps along the frosted glass, pacing back and forth.
My curiosity spikes.
I switch on the security camera for the hallway, and to my surprise, my screen fills with a perfect view of the sweetest ass I’ve ever seen.
“You still there?”
“I’m still here,” I call out to Amara, who’s been on speakerphone. “Just…checking something out.”
I creep around my office door, and I see the most beautiful girl in the world bent over picking up papers she dropped.
“Now this is a sight to behold.” Maddie snaps up, eyes wide as I lean down and collect the papers that are scattered all over the place.
“I’m sorry,” she blurts, frantically trying to help. “The printer by me wasn’t working, so I had to use this one.”
“What are you doing here so late, and alone?”
She looks up and narrows her eyes. “You’re here alone.”
“That’s different.”
She drops the stack, planting her hands on her hips. “Why? Because I’m a girl and can’t take care of myself? Newsflash, I’ve taken self-defense classes. I could drop someone twice my size.”
God, she’s sexy when she’s defiant.
I bite back my grin. “There she is. My cherry bomb.” I pick up the rest of the papers and stand holding out my hand to help her up.
“I’ve been waiting to see her resurface.
And for the record, I said it’s different because I have direct access to all the security cameras, and the security team has my personal line in case of an emergency. ”
“Oh.”
“Seriously, Mads. Are you alone, or are others here?”
“Just me. But I’m leaving now.”
“Wait five minutes. I’ll take you home.”
She takes a step back. “I’m good.”
I grab her hand so she can’t flee and don’t miss the goose bumps that match mine scattering across her skin. “Don’t fight me.”
My stubborn girl.
I don’t give her a second to object; instead, I hold on tight and guide her back into my office.
“Hey, sorry. I’m back and have a special guest,” I call out to Amara.
“Mmm, past midnight in the office sounds like you’re about to have some fun.”
Maddie’s body goes rigid in my arms, and it’s these fleeting moments that tell me she still cares.
I raise a suggestive brow to Maddie and waggle slightly, causing a slight flush to creep into her cheeks.
“I wish.” I wink at her. “Maddie is here.”
There’s a pause on the other line. “Ahh. Hi, Madeline.”
Amara knows everything about Maddie and how special she is to me.
“Hi?” She shoots me a look.
“Amara is our head of London, you’ll meet her soon. She comes over at least once a quarter.”
“Amara.” Maddie smiles. “I’ve seen you copied on a few emails. Nice to meet you.”
“Same. Nate, love, should we continue our decision tomorrow?”
“Yeah. My girl is waiting for me at home,” I cryptically say, to get another rise out of Maddie, and my plan doesn’t fail.
Her eyes widen a smidge, her jaw and body tense.
It takes everything in me not to point out how I still affect her or how I watched every move and interaction between her and that jackass fiancé of hers, and they have less chemistry than two strangers.
But us…fuck we’re electric.
Amara chuckles, knowing exactly what I’m doing. “Have fun. We’ll figure out a plan that appeases everyone.”
Maddie’s curious eyes bounce between me and the phone.
“Actually, Am, Maddie might be able to help.”
I fill her in, and she doesn’t disappoint. Of course, she’d have the perfect solution.
“What if you stagger the panels along the east slope instead? You’ll keep the visual buffer and can optimize the slope to bring back that solar time.”
“You are an absolute genius, Maddie. I’m mad I didn’t think of it myself,” Amara gushes. “Nate, I’ll send over a revision later today. It’s late, you two need to get home.”
“Sleeping is for people not married to deadlines.”
“Now that I understand. Night, you two.”
The call ends, and Maddie yawns.
“Come on, Mads. Let’s get you home before you fall asleep standing up.”
“I’m a big girl, Nate. I can get home by myself.” She yawns again.
“I love that you think I’d ever let you go home at this hour by yourself. Let’s go, I already called a car.”
“Oh, you don’t have a private driver? Money must be tight,” she jokes, and it’s incredible to hear her laugh.
“Ha. Ha. Harrison is the only one with a driver because of Claud; we’re not that bad.”
Amusement lights up her eyes. “Seriously? You once sent me a private plane because I had a cough, and you didn’t want me to be uncomfortable on a commercial flight.”
“You could have been contagious.” I shrug, knowing it’s ridiculous, because she never let me take care of her like I wanted.
Too damn prideful.