Chapter 10
”Are you going to introduce me to your date?”
I was surprised it took my mother so long to ask. She had hovered nearby for at least the last half an hour. She’d spoken to all the people around her, but I hadn”t missed her eyes following me, aware of where I was the entire time. My father was beside her, pretending to be interested in the whole event. This kind of thing was even less his jam than it was mine.
I turned to my mother and forced a smile. ”Of course. Mother, this is Lexie. Lexie, this is my mother, Irena Ellison.” I stood back a little while both women appraised each other. Mother looking unimpressed, Lexie looking undeterred.
”It”s nice to meet you.” Lexie held out her hand. ”Gabe has told me all about you.”
Mother arched an eyebrow at me. ”I”m sure he has.” She gripped Lexie”s hand and shook it. ”No doubt, all of it was positive. Gabriel has always been the dutiful son.”
”I don”t remember him specifically saying anything bad about you, so I guess he must have only said nice things.” Lexie smiled sweetly.
I groaned inwardly. I was hopeful they”d get along, but they were both strong minded women who didn”t back down. I wouldn”t change that about Lexie and certainly couldn”t change it about my mother, but if they were going to be at each other”s throats, that would make the whole situation more difficult.
Mother took back her hand and looked as though she”d just bitten into something sour. ”How did you say you met?”
”We didn”t,” I interjected. ”I met Lexie through work. She has some exciting ideas to improve staff morale.” My mother was all for that. Happy workers were productive workers, who made us more money. She didn”t care how any of that came about, as long as it did.
”I don”t recall seeing her in the office.” Mother gave Lexie a scrutinising look through narrowed eyes.
”I”m a freelancer,” Lexie said. ”I work with all sorts of people. My job is to find out where they need to go and figure out the best way to get them there.” That wasn”t inaccurate. She did all of that, just not necessarily in the way she implied.
Mother hummed under her breath. ”So you think you know what our needs are in our office, and how to get us there?”
”Absolutely,” Lexie said enthusiastically. ”What every office needs. A good work/life balance.” She bit back a smile, obviously remembering our silly conversation about work/stick figure balance.
She glanced at me and we shared a moment of mutual amusement. Our own private joke.
”That does seem to be the catchphrase of the decade,” my mother said. ”The desire to work the least amount of time possible. A good work ethic has gone straight out the window, wouldn”t you say?”
”Actually, it”s been proven that working only four days a week, with set hours, increases productivity,” Lexie said. ”But I”m sure you know that. Is your office looking to make a change like that soon?”
”That”s a good idea,” I said at the same time as my mother said, ”Absolutely not.”
”Clearly we have some things to discuss and work on,” I said. Starting with my father”s retirement and moving him and my mother away to somewhere warm, preferably without a phone or internet. The sooner I could run things my way, the better.
”We certainly do.” Mother gave me a dark look.
”If you don”t mind excusing me for a few minutes, I need to go to the ladies’ room,” Lexie said.
”Of course, dear. I”m sure we can manage without your presence for a little while.” Mother gave her a sarcastic smile.
”Just a little while.” I leaned down to kiss Lexie lightly on the mouth. ”Don”t be too long.”
”I”ll try not to be.” She looked like she didn”t want to leave me alone with my mother, but hurried away through the crowds.
”This is why I”ve tried so hard to find you someone suitable,” Mother said as soon as Lexie was out of sight. ”If you’re left to your own devices, you”ll waste time with someone like that.”
I wasn”t usually given to bouts of anger, but her words ignited a fire of fury inside me.
”What”s that supposed to mean? You don”t even know her. Lexie is sweet and smart. I care about her a lot.” I did a lot more than care about her. I was head over heels for the woman.
”Do you know her?” Mother asked. ”Do you really have any idea who she is and what she wants from you?”
”She doesn”t want my money,” I said.
Mother snorted unpleasantly. ”Of course she does. That”s all women like her want. You think she cares about you? The moment she gets her hands on your money, or meets someone with a bigger bank account, she”ll be gone. Women like her always are.”
”She isn”t like that,” I argued. ”She”s genuine, not like the women you try to set me up with.” Mother had a knack of setting me up with the exact type of woman she was so quick to warn me about.
”She drives a limousine,” Mother said.
I took a step back in surprise. ”You noticed her?”
”Of course I noticed her.” Mother rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. ”You think I”m oblivious to everything that goes on around me? Just because you are doesn”t mean the rest of us are.”
”I”m not oblivious,” I said. Was I? She was starting to make me rethink too many things. Had I misjudged Lexie? I was sure I hadn”t, but it was possible I was blinded by my feelings for her. I could have spent the last decade building her up to be someone she wasn”t. That was a long time to look at someone through rose coloured glasses.
”I see you”re starting to understand what I”m saying to you,” she said. It was her turn to look smug now. What was it with my family today? Tom had his share of ego, now I was getting it from her. Was there any chance I was adopted? If I didn”t look so much like my parents, I”d seriously wonder about that.
”I care about Lexie and I want to see where it goes,” I said. That was all I needed to know right now. With or without my mother”s support, I wanted to keep seeing Lexie. And giving her orgasms. I had no regrets about sneaking away for that. The way her body moved against my hand, and the sound of her moans and ragged breathing were imprinted on my brain forever. I never wanted to hear another woman have an orgasm. I wanted to give them all to her.
”When you find out I was right about her, will you come crying to me?” Mother asked. ”Because I will say I told you so. Although, I have to admit she has me thinking. That nonsense about four day work weeks?—”
”It”s not nonsense,” I interrupted. It wasn”t something I”d given a lot of thought to, but after Lexie mentioned it, I was eager to look into it. For my staff if not for myself.
”I”m questioning your fitness to take over from your father,” she said. ”If you”d even consider something so ridiculous.”
I felt like she”d punched me in the stomach. The breath was knocked out of me for several moments.
”You can”t be saying…” I shook my head.
”I”ve been thinking for quite some time,” she said. ”This is just the last of many straws. The last thing your father would want would be to hand over his life”s work to someone who would tear it apart. Your ideas are too different to be the right direction for Ellison. I”ve course, it”s ultimately up to him, but you know he listens when I speak.”
”Mother—” I started to reach out a hand to her, but stopped and lowered it to my side. ”You”re wrong. I”m exactly what Ellison Enterprises needs.”
”Your lapse in judgement in bringing that woman here suggests otherwise.” She sniffed and walked away.
I stared after her in disbelief. She pulled more than the rug out from under my feet. She pulled the whole fucking building. If I didn”t run Ellison Enterprises, what the hell would I do with my life? They”d raised me to step into that role someday. They hadn”t given me much of a choice. Now she”d take all of that away from me with a snap of her fingers?
My head spun at the idea of it. At the heart of it was the understanding that this wasn”t about me. This was an ultimatum from my mother. I had to decide between Lexie and my legacy.