Cuddle bear, p.14
Cuddle Bear, page 14
Again the effort on his part was nice, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Our new relationship was good but stressful because there weren’t any problems. My head was a bigger mess than I’d realized.
Tuesday afternoon rolled around, and it was a nightmare because Wick had back-to-back team meetings scheduled, and he expected me to both assist him and keep the office running, which was impossible. Something inevitably got half-assed when he tried to do all his meetings in the same day, and he insisted that he wanted me with him to take notes, so everyone who tried to reach either of us would go to voicemail.
He wasn’t always a perfect boss.
It would be a pain in the ass to go through all the messages later, but no matter how much I tried to convince him to do things differently, he simply wouldn’t. My soul shriveled as I handed Wick lists of material prices and other things as he asked for them while he had a tête-á-tête with each group. He normally never sat down, so I couldn’t either, and by late afternoon my feet were aching because my leather dress shoes weren’t made for this much running around. I internally rejoiced as the minutes wound down on the last meeting.
“Does anyone have anything important to add?” Wick asked from in front of the projection screen in the conference room. He looked delicious today in a cream summer suit with his silver hair combed to the side, and I had trouble keeping my mind on the task at hand.
“I’m not excited about having our project yanked for a new one.”
I fought not to roll my eyes. I liked nearly everyone we worked with, but there were a few people I would rather avoid. I watched Wick from the corner of my eye, but this was where he flourished, as if he was born to lead, and he only nodded seriously.
“Xadrian, I get where you’re coming from, but your team doesn’t have the expertise to handle the new hotel by the highway. Based on your preliminary plans it was clear letting you create a mockup for the full project would be a mistake. A waste of time.” Wick didn’t back down or sound angry or mean—he was stating facts.
I shuffled closer to Wick as Xadrian glared at him from a seat at the middle of the long table on the right-hand side. He was tall and should’ve been handsome with his narrow face and wide blue eyes, but he always looked as if he was getting ready to say something rude with a curl to his pink lips. He was damned good at his job, though, so Wick had hired him the second he laid eyes on his resumé and wouldn’t fire him without good reason.
“It’s a hotel,” Xadrian said. He drummed his fingers on the table. “What’s there to know? We make seventy rooms that mirror each other and call it a day.” The other three members of his team nodded, backing him up. In my head I referred to them as his flunkies because they all tended to wear white polos that matched Xadrian’s every day, as if it was a uniform.
Wick hung his head and chuckled. My blood ran cold. It didn’t happen often, but occasionally it was possible to piss him off. I took a step to the side and braced myself. “No. If you give the company a design like that, they’re going to reject it and go with a competitor. I want you to take your folks on a field trip around St. Loren—hell, go to New Orleans, too. We’re not building a big box hotel. People want something with charm or they will go elsewhere. Galyon Wilkes needs to make money on this venture. There are no hotels near the highway, but folks in this area will blow past someplace lacking curb appeal, despite the fortuitous location.”
There was grumbling from the team, and mostly thanks to Xadrian, who liked to argue and fight about everything, the rest of the men didn’t have great attitudes, either. Compared to Tony’s team, with Edgar, Shelby, and Bern, they were a nightmare. Sometimes I hated when Xadrian was last for the day because he brought a low-level anger to every situation and left me in a bad mood for the evening.
“When should we do this research, sir?” Xadrian asked, slamming against the back of his chair. “I don’t like to work without getting paid.”
“As soon as possible. That’s all,” Wick said, and I could hear the fury starting to bubble in his tone. He took special pride in treating his people well. Would he blow up? If Xadrian managed to cross the line with Wick, he would regret it. His team would get the boring projects for the next couple of months, something a lack of vision wouldn’t mess up.
Wick sighed and slung his arm over my shoulders, leaning against me, and I tensed but didn’t want to tell him to stop. We’d discussed being slightly more open about our relationship, and it wasn’t like he was making out with me. Xadrian and the other biggest troublemaker on his team, Hartlee, stared at us as they stood and carried their computers out the door. Hartlee was Xadrian’s opposite in every way—short, platinum blond, and before he met Xadrian, sweet. I wasn’t sure what had happened there. The rest of the team followed after them, and nervousness radiated from the other two men as they whispered together on their way out the door.
“Relax, it’s okay,” Wick muttered.
“I didn’t like how they were looking at us.”
He shrugged and bopped his forehead against my temple. “It’s fine. What’s next?” He shifted so he could stare down into my face intently, and I knew he did this with every person he talked to when he cared about their answer, but my cheeks heated. I cleared my throat. He gave me a tiny smirk I hadn’t seen anyone else ever receive, and my body burned with a fever he’d caused. I wanted to violate my own work rules and drag him into a kiss. He carefully slid my glasses up my nose.
Hell, what did he ask me? I held up the iPad to display his schedule and cleared my throat once more. “Caterers,” I croaked out, enlarging that block on the calendar.
“Caterers?” he asked, frowning.
“Yes, your party is only two weeks away. There are a million things you need to do to get ready and that Mrs. Riggins refuses to be responsible for. She said, and I’m quoting here—‘I’m not touching a single bit of that damned foolish mess the boss calls a party.’ She’ll make sure the house is clean and the grounds are spotless, but she won’t be involved in anything else.” I knocked my hip against his.
He chuckled. “I may have taken advantage of her hospitality over the years.”
“Apparently.”
Wick shrugged. I held my breath while he glared at the door because I was certain he was thinking about Xadrian and his bullshit, but he rolled his shoulders, as if he was trying to force himself to forget the stress from the meeting, then smiled at me again. “Will you come with me to check over the menu? We’re having meat delivered and cooked at the house, but there are a few side dishes and finger foods that will be brought in. Plus desserts.”
“Why can’t this be an email?” I narrowed my eyes on him.
He waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “We get to taste test the food. It’s bound to be a treat because Bon Repas is rated perfectly everywhere I checked.”
Excitement squirmed through me along with a little apprehension, but he bounced on his heels and his enthusiasm was catching.
“Okay, I’ll go with you.”
My heart nearly stopped as he pressed a kiss to my cheek, but no one was around and he was so happy, so I turned and lightly brushed my mouth against his before I grabbed his sleeve and hauled him toward the door.
Not only did we go to the Bon Repas test kitchen—which meant we didn’t need to eat dinner because we were stuffed when we left—we visited an old man missing all his front teeth, in a small, strange-smelling garage on the outskirts of the city. The walls were blanketed with Danger! Explosives! signs.
“The fireworks display is an annual tradition. The neighbors send thank-you notes,” Wick said, and old man Heyward laughed, knocking his ballcap back. His eyes twinkled, and the lights overhead buzzed as if in approval of his good mood.
“We’ll do it up right, Mr. Guidry. I have new ideas for this year. Yes, I do.”
Wick nodded eagerly. “Take notes will you, Maurice?”
“Sure,” I said out of habit, then scrambled out to the car and back again with a notebook.
I couldn’t believe Wick stood there for the next hour and a half and let the old man ramble, but he did, with all the excitement of a kid at Christmas.
“My son and grandson will help me on the day, of course. They do most of the work these days, but I’m the brains of the operation.” Old man Heyward winked at me.
“You’ll do the red ones that look like stars, right?” Wick asked, for the third time.
“Yes, yes,” old man Heyward said, nodding. “But we do have some new tricks this year.”
By the time we left they had three pages full of ideas that I emailed to old man Heyward’s son, and I absolutely didn’t want to know how much this would all cost. Even if Wick could write off the party as a work function, it would still be a positively obscene hit to his bank account.
That night I went to his house and stayed over because it was too late for me to consider going home, which for some reason always felt like the most responsible choice. Anything I did that was fun must be bad, or at least, that was what the critical voice in my head said. The sky didn’t fall in, though. It was so late when we got to bed that all we did was cuddle, and there was nothing better than Wick snuggled up against my chest. He’d started using me as a pillow and I loved it.
There was something related to the summer bash that needed to be done every single day after work, right up until the evening before the party. I had no idea how, but I found myself at Walmart in gray sleep shorts and an old T-shirt buying skewers at nearly one in the morning because the caterers had run out and were in a tizzy. I also wasn’t entirely certain how this had become my problem, except I had an inability to say no when it came to anything work related.
Wick poked around on the candy rack beside the register, and of course he was adorable in his plaid sleep pants and spotless white tank top. He’d even found a pair of flip-flops somewhere to slip on, and I wouldn’t have thought he owned such a thing if I didn’t see them on his feet. He let out a shout of triumph, then held up Reese’s cups. His grin was wide even if there were dark smudges under his eyes, and my heart squeezed. I nodded, and he tossed the candy onto the conveyor belt.
“Ugh. I’m beat,” I said.
He laughed and leaned against my side, and his warmth and muscles were a balm to my brewing foul mood. “It’s like this every year. Always something. Why were we here last year at midnight?”
“Bug spray, because the guys setting up everything were getting eaten alive. They work overnight roasting pigs, so you’d think they would’ve known better.” I shook my head, and he rubbed the back of my neck. I grunted and leaned into the attention.
“Ah, yes,” he murmured.
“And you came with me then, too.” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.
He shrugged and grinned. “What can I say? I enjoy spending time with you.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine, and my heart kicked up into high gear. He’d never done anything like this in such a public place, and the woman who had started ringing out our purchases giggled, though it didn’t sound as if it was in a mean way. I felt a little like I was going to sink through the floor, but he only turned and smiled at her, being his usual engaging self as he paid for everything.
I felt both exposed in a dangerous way and humbled that someone like him didn’t care who saw us making out. I knew I was still working through things in my head, but I didn’t quite know what to say when he had all the bags hooked in his right hand and offered me his left one.
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep,” he said, still sounding far too awake as we headed toward the front doors.
“Maybe I can help you with that.” I couldn’t believe those suggestive words had come out of my mouth, but he only grinned and tugged me along faster.
The next day the party didn’t technically begin until 5:00 p.m., but at half past four the lawn and house were both packed with guests. Apparently no one had heard of being fashionably late, or maybe it was the allure of a free top-notch dinner that had everyone in a tizzy. I was being run off my feet by Mrs. Riggins, who did help with the preparations despite her resolution not to do a single thing. Since she wasn’t in charge, every problem someone needed an answer for became mine, so I had to personally race out to grab Sterno cans and extra extension cords—and that was only the tip of the iceberg. It was after six o’clock before I had a chance to take a break, and when I did, I immediately searched for Wick.
The lawn was decorated more beautifully than some weddings I’d been to, with long tables covered in red cloths. Poppies made up the floral centerpieces and candles in hurricane vases stretched in a line on either side. The effect of the shimmering flames was mesmerizing. There was a firepit going with seats arranged around it, and an outdoor dance floor, which was currently only occupied by a single elderly couple shuffling along to a relaxed jazz song played by the live band. I recognized the singers from the bar Wick and I had gone to after we were measured for suits, and I loved that he’d hired local people.
But where the hell was the host?
The party wasn’t restricted to the grounds, and the interior of the Guidry mansion had been decorated to match the outside. There were snack tables at intervals and caterers circulated through all the downstairs rooms that overflowed with guests who were only too happy to socialize. I was starting to sweat by the time I found Wick in the large ballroom at the back of the house. I’d only been in the glamorous mirror-walled room once, during the prior year when he’d decided to open it up. A string quartet played a familiar song to a fast beat, and there were a few couples dancing while everyone else milled and mingled.
My heart stilled, then picked up pace at top speed when I caught sight of Wick. He was devastating in a black suit. The color made his silver hair pop, and for a moment all I could focus on was the way he flashed his perfect smile at whoever he was speaking with. He stood along a wall with a tumbler of amber liquid in his hand. After a few seconds of ogling my boyfriend, the full picture slid into focus as Indy Yves took a step closer and beamed up at Wick like he hung the sun and the moon.
My heart dropped to my toes.
Indy looked fantastic in a lilac suit. I’d never seen anything like it, but it made him seem like an anime character come to life, especially with his neon-purple hair. Jewelry sparkled at his throat and drew the eye to the slim lines of his neck. I wanted to go over and say something to Wick because he’d asked me—or more like threatened me—not to work all night, but even though we’d been sleeping together and we’d made love several times in the last week, I couldn’t get over how pretty Indy was. Anyone looking at them would assume they were a couple before they would think Wick and I were one. I rubbed my chest and went to check with Mrs. Riggins to make sure no more fires needed to be put out.
Time got away from me and darkness settled over the Guidry Estate as I ran around trying to help Mrs. March find her cell phone. She was the wife of one of the more important clients at Émeraude Technologies, so I felt compelled to come to her rescue; however, the stunningly beautiful brunette in a dazzling black velvet dress had no idea where she’d been this evening, and it seemed as if she’d been everywhere and nowhere all at once.
I almost swore at her when she laughed and pulled the phone out of her clutch purse after I’d emptied two garbage cans and peered under about a thousand chairs.
When I came back to the ballroom, Wick was still talking to Indy, and they were laughing and having a good time. It hurt to see them getting along so well, but I couldn’t bring myself to be mad about it. Wick was standing close to Indy, but he was just being himself. Mostly I couldn’t shake the sensation that I was losing him, even though he was only across the room. Had we ever looked like that when we were having a conversation? And if we didn’t, was it his fault or mine?
“Who are we spying on?”
Lacey shocked six years off my life as she rested her chin on my shoulder and grinned at me. Edgar gave me a wide smile from her side. I almost swallowed my tongue because she’d gone all out tonight. Her short hair was up in a sweeping style that made her look like a princess with tiny gems securing it in place, and she wore a red sleeveless evening gown that matched her shiny new ring.
Edgar almost looked frumpy in a suit at her side. “Hey, Maurice.”
I nodded at him.
Lacey stepped closer to me and scowled when she noticed Wick gesturing and leaning toward Indy while he spoke. I thought he was probably retelling the story of the day we’d sandbagged outside the school, by the way he was mimicking hefting bags, and I felt a little better and couldn’t fight off a smile.
“You should go over there and give Wick an earful,” Lacey muttered. She used her glass to gesture his way, and Edgar reached for it as if he thought she might toss it, then smiled while she glared at him.
“He’s not doing anything wrong. He’s at a party, his party, and he needs to talk to everyone.” I bit the inside of my cheek.
Indy rested his hand on Wick’s arm, grinning up at him, and the flirty smile was a knife in my heart. Wick laughed and shook his head.
“Go over there, or if you lose your man, it’s your own fault,” Lacey said, and she wasn’t trying to be quiet. Several people nearby turned to glance at us, including Xadrian and his clique from work. I wanted to throw myself into the nearest convenient ditch and lie there until everyone left.
I shushed her.
She stomped her foot.
“Be quiet.”
She kicked my shin. “Scoot.”
The pain wasn’t much, but I didn’t want to wait around for her to land her hot little hoof on me again, so I started toward Wick and Indy, with Lacey giving me a tiny thumbs-up as if she hadn’t just assaulted me into action. What am I doing? I nearly changed course but made myself keep walking.
