A Win-Win Proposition (11 page)

Just come back to me.

 

“I'm doing fine,” Malcolm Ward said, pushing away Missy's attempt at dinner. “Don't you think it's time you went back to Houston? It's been three weeks.”

Missy stopped dragging her fork through the lumpy mashed potatoes and met her father's gaze. She hadn't told him she'd quit her job. He needed to focus on his recovery. If he had any idea she had no pressing reason to return to Houston, he'd start worrying about her instead of getting better. Not that her dad was any good at thinking about himself. Always, his congregation came first. Then his family. Then the rest of the world. Then himself.

Having a saint for a father had never been easy.

“I have over a month of vacation saved up. Sebastian doesn't have any problem with me using it to take care of you.”

“How much time do you have left?”

Three days.

“Plenty.”

She carried her plate to the sink and dumped the burnt meatloaf and overcooked green beans into the garbage disposal. Normally her father protested any waste, but not even he would wish that dinner on anyone.

“Who's filling in for you while you're gone?”

“They hired a temp. It's done all the time. Don't worry.
There'll be a job for me when I go back.” Someone would hire her. Or she could stay at Case Consolidated Holdings as the director of communications. If the position was still available.

“Your brothers like him.”

“Who?” She transferred a large slice of chocolate cake to a plate and set it before her father. Chocolate was one thing he let himself indulge in.

“Your boss.”

“Sebastian is terrific.” Thinking about him sent a sweet pain shooting through her body. During the three days her father had spent in the hospital, struggling to heal and overcome the infection that had kept him delirious, Missy hadn't had time to dwell on what had happened in Las Vegas or fuss over what the future might bring.

“Cares about you, does he?”

Missy sat down with her own wedge of triple chocolate delight. She couldn't cook, but she knew how to bake.

“I've worked for him a long time.”

“From what I hear, there's more to it than that.”

Her cheeks burned beneath her father's all-knowing stare. Who'd told him? David? She'd sworn him to secrecy. He wouldn't spill the beans for fear that she would tell his wife how much he paid for that new revolver.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“He's called here every day, sometimes twice a day.”

“That's about work.” She found little breathing room in the barrage of her father's questioning. “They've recently bought a new company.” In her absence, Sebastian had saved the deal with Smythe Industries. “There are a lot of details involved in integrating their employees into Case Consolidated Holdings, and he's calling me to help the temp with contact information and such.”

“And the kiss he gave you at the hospital?” her dad
quizzed, his tone conversational. “How were you planning on explaining that? Improved employer-employee relations?”

“Who told you?” Missy clapped her hands over her hot cheeks. She hadn't felt this embarrassed since her father had caught her and Wayne Stodemeyer necking in the tool shed when she was fifteen. “If it was David, I'll…” She let her threat trail off, unwilling to voice her intention to break one of the Ten Commandments to her dad the minister.

“Don't worry, your brother didn't rat you out. It was one of the nurses.”

“Great. Just great.”

“Is that why Tim broke up with you?” her father quizzed, revealing that his ability to know everything that went on around him wasn't quelled by the fact that he'd almost died three weeks ago.

Missy shoved aside that horrifying thought so she could deal with setting her father straight.

“No. Tim broke up with me because I worked too many hours and he was lonely. He found someone new. Sebastian had nothing to do with it.”

Nothing directly. Although in the past few weeks she'd analyzed her relationship with Tim and come to see that her crush on Sebastian hadn't been as over as she'd assumed. It had interfered with her priorities.

“I see. Are you two a couple then?”

“Sebastian and me?” The words exploded out of her on an incredulous laugh. “Of course not. I'm not his type. If he ever gets married again, he's going to choose someone gorgeous, wealthy and sophisticated. Three things I'm not and never will be.”

“Maybe you have it wrong.”

Not possible. She'd seen the way he'd looked at her small town. He'd been polite to her family, but he'd also been sizing everyone up. She wouldn't trade a single brother, sister-in-law, niece or nephew for anyone from Sebastian's well-connected
circle; but that didn't mean she was blind to their flaws or shortcomings.

None of her brothers had the sort of ambition that kept them working sixty hours a week at their jobs. The second oldest, Jacob, had taken until he was in his mid-thirties to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up. They were college educated and had successful careers, but they balanced work with family.

Sebastian wouldn't recognize the value in balance. He'd chosen business over family.

“Do you have feelings for him?” her dad persisted, breaking into her thoughts.

“Of course. And he has feelings for me. Just not the same sort of feelings.”

Or that's what she told herself. She really didn't have a clue what Sebastian wanted beyond her returning as his assistant—or her spending an indefinite amount of time in his bed. Back in Las Vegas, she'd doubted there was a future for them past Las Vegas. Now that he'd seen where she'd grown up, she doubted it even more.

If only she could get that goodbye kiss out of her head. The hungry strength in the arms around her. The way it seemed to take a long time for him to let go. She told herself not to read too much into his daily phone calls or the smooth caress of his tone as he asked her how she was doing.

She rubbed her arms as goose bumps appeared. Beneath her father's keen regard she finished her chocolate cake and went to start the dishes.

“Thanks for dinner,” he said, his arms sliding around her from behind. He kissed her cheek. “I think you should go back to Houston. You can't hide out here forever.”

Missy whirled on her father, a protest cocked and ready, but he was already out the door, moving better than he had since coming home from the hospital. He'd done that on purpose,
hit her with a blunt opinion and then fled before she could defend herself.

Was she hiding?

Damn right she was hiding.

Almost four weeks ago she'd quit her job and slept with her boss. Returning to Houston meant having to cope with both things. She wasn't ready to decide on anything more taxing than whether to bake another chocolate cake or to shake things up and try lemon.

“I'm going to the store,” she called, grabbing her purse and the keys to the truck.

“Can you pick up a prescription for me while you're out?” her father asked from the living room.

Missy made the drugstore her first stop. She could use a tube of toothpaste. All she'd packed before going to Las Vegas was travel-sized toiletries. A week ago she'd run out of her brand and started using her dad's and didn't like it at all. Another sign that she needed to go home.

Browsing the aisles, she added shampoo, lotion and dental floss to her basket. It wasn't until she passed the feminine products that she stopped cold. She'd been in town almost four weeks and in Las Vegas three days before that without having her period. Whipping out her phone, she keyed up her calendar and tracked backward.

She should have started two weeks ago. Either she'd skipped her period because she was stressed, or she was pregnant. How was that possible? She and Sebastian had been careful.

A wave of dizziness struck her. Except for that first time. They'd been so caught up in the moment neither one of them had thought about protection. But to get pregnant after one mistake? That just wasn't realistic.

She needed to find out for sure, and she needed to know tonight. But she couldn't buy the test here. Everyone would
know. Her father would find out. She'd head over a couple towns and hit a pharmacy where no one would recognize her.

In a fog, Missy paid for her purchases and headed to the truck. Forty-five minutes later she sat in the bathroom of a roadside diner and checked her watch for the fifteenth time in thirty seconds.

She was waiting for a blue bar, but she didn't really need it. She'd convinced herself she was carrying Sebastian's child. Time rushed at her like a charging bull. Regret squeezed her eyes shut. It was like high school all over again. Except she hadn't been pregnant then, just the victim of a vicious rumor. Not that it had stopped her boyfriend from dumping her when word got out.

And if she could count on one thing, it was that Sebastian would not react well to her being pregnant. He would think she'd done it on purpose. All her talk of getting married and babies. He would believe she'd tricked him, and who could blame him? It's what his ex-wife had done.

But he'd marry her. And spend the rest of his life resenting her the way he resented his first wife. Missy couldn't bear that. She loved him too much to put him through it. So, she wouldn't tell him.

Her phone rang. It was a Houston number, but not Sebastian's.

“Missy,” Max Case boomed. “I hope your father is doing better.”

“Yes, much. Thank you.” She stared at the stick and watched the blue bar coalesce.

Positive. Pregnant.

“Glad to hear it. Do you still want the director of communications position?”

She couldn't be pregnant. She didn't have a husband. No job meant no income, no health coverage. What was she going to do?

“I'm sorry, Max, you broke up.” What had he said? “Could you say that again?”

“I asked if you're still interested in Dean's job.”

This answered the problem of her job situation, but what about Sebastian? A second ago she'd decided that she wouldn't tell Sebastian he was going to be a father. Could she have his baby and stay working around him at the same time?

“Missy?” Max prompted. “Are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“So, what do you say?”

What could she say? “I'm still interested in the job. I'm just worried about Sebastian's reaction.”

“Don't let it stop you from what will be a wonderful career move.”

“You're right. I'll take the job. And thank you.”

“When are you coming back?”

She scrubbed her cheeks free of tears and shook her shoulders like a dog shedding water. With her spine as stiff as she could make it, she exited the bathroom and headed for the truck.

“I'll head home Wednesday,” she said, wishing she could linger in Crusade and hide from her troubles a little longer.

“I'll see you in the office on Thursday.”

“Max, can you let me tell Sebastian about the job?”

“If that's what you want.”

“It is.”

Missy sighed as she ended the call. Sebastian would be unhappy that she hadn't talked to him about staying on at Case Consolidated Holdings before accepting the job.

Hopefully he would be glad she was sticking around. From the start, he'd made it clear that his need for her started and stopped at the office. Besides, no matter how amazing the sex between them had been, they'd both known it was only a matter of time before Sebastian came to his senses
and relegated what had happened between them in Vegas to a massive mistake.

Or perhaps he'd figured it out already. Although she heard from him almost every day, their conversations were strictly business. She couldn't help but wonder if Sebastian had been going out with Kaitlyn. His mother wanted him to marry the wealthy socialite. Missy understood why. They were a perfect social and economic match. Sebastian was practical. Was it only a matter of time until he saw the advantages?

Could she work at Case Consolidated Holdings and watch him marry someone else while she raised his child on her own? Missy grimaced. It would be hell. And she'd spent enough years pining after a man she couldn't have.

Lightning arced across the sky overhead. A storm had blown in while she'd awaited the results of the pregnancy test. By the time she got a mile down the road, rain hammered the truck roof like angry fists. Visibility diminished to ten feet in front of her. Driving in these conditions was beyond reckless. But she couldn't shake an urgent need to get home.

The windshield wipers flew back and forth at top speed, but as quickly as they cleared water from the windshield, more replaced it. A pair of lights appeared before her, too close for her to stop. She swerved toward the shoulder and hit the brakes. The tires caught in the soft gravel, turned to thick mud by the downpour and pulled the truck even farther from the road. Coming to a full stop, she gripped the wheel hard. A jackhammer pounded away in her chest.

The near miss had brought crystalline clarity. No matter what happened between her and Sebastian, this wasn't just about them anymore. She was going to be a mother. Maybe sooner than she'd expected and without hope that the father would ever believe she'd had no ulterior motive when she slept with him. But she had a new focus for her life. Going
forward, every decision she made would be with her child's best interest as her priority.

And if that meant working as the director of communications for Case Consolidated Holdings and letting the love of her life never know he was the father of her child, that's what she'd do.

S
ebastian raced home, hoping to beat Missy there. Her plane had landed an hour ago, but the heavy rush-hour traffic from the airport would probably double her half-hour commute. He checked his cell, expecting an irate phone call when she discovered the car he'd sent to fetch her wasn't taking her to her house but to his.

Being separated from her for a month had taken its toll on him both professionally and personally. He'd gone through three temps, the longest one lasting nine business days before dissolving into tears.

“Impossible to find good help,” he muttered, turning into his driveway, his fingers tapping an impatient rhythm on the armrest as the wrought iron gates swung open.

The neighborhood where he'd built was an eclectic mix—mid-century ranches and twenty-first-century mansions. Close to downtown Houston and boasting a highly desirable school system, many people, himself included, had bought an older home on a large lot with mature trees and torn down the house to make way for a mini estate.

A black town car idled near the front door. He parked
behind the vehicle and got out. As he approached the car, the driver met him by the rear passenger door.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Case.”

“Hello, Burt.” Sebastian used this driver often when he traveled. “Did Miss Ward go inside?”

“No, sir,” the driver said, hand on the door handle. “She wanted to wait until you got home.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Ten minutes.” He opened the door.

Sebastian peered in, expecting to catch the brunt of Missy's annoyance and found her curled sideways on the seat, cheek cradled on her hand, asleep. The sight dismantled all the walls he'd erected around his emotions. In an instant he was transported back to their first night together when he'd spent an hour watching her sleep.

Crouching beside the car, he skimmed a russet strand of her hair behind her ear. When she didn't stir, he scooped her into his arms. “Bring her bag,” he told the driver as he strode up his front steps.

His housekeeper must have been watching from the window because the door opened as he neared it. Without pausing, he carried Missy up the wide marble stairs and down the hallway to his bedroom.

How taxing had her time away from him been that she'd fallen asleep in ten short minutes? Hadn't her brothers and their wives pitched in? Or had everyone taken advantage of her generous nature and let Missy shoulder all the nursing duty?

She woke as he eased her down onto the mattress. “Sebastian?” She reached up and touched his cheek, her eyes soft and barely focused.

“I missed you,” he admitted, stretching out beside her.

She rolled onto her side and snuggled against him. “Missed you, too,” she murmured into his neck, her warm
breath puffing against him. Her fingers tunneled beneath his tie and between his shirt buttons, finding skin.

Instantly aroused, he cupped the side of her face in his palm and brought his mouth to hers. Desire blindsided him. Going without her in his arms for a month had turned him into a ravenous bear. He feasted off her soft sighs and the press of her lithe body against his. Rolling with her across his king-size bed, he stripped her down to her underwear and settled between her thighs, his jacket, tie and shoes gone, his shirt ripped open by her impatience.

Breathing in her delicious scent, he drifted his lips down her throat and between her breasts to the lacy edge of her bra. Drawing his tongue along the edge of the lace, he savored the rapid rise and fall of her chest as his fingers tickled up her thigh.

“Make love to me,” she gasped, her fingers coasting down his sides and burrowing between their bodies in search of his belt. “I need to feel you inside me.”

Her words inflamed his already overstimulated body. “Don't rush me. I intend to get reacquainted with every inch of you before that happens.”

“I can't wait that long.” She rotated her hips, bringing his erection into better contact with her core.

Even through the layers that separated them, he could feel how she burned for him. That knowledge pushed him over the edge. In seconds he'd shed the rest of his clothes and come back to find her naked and waiting for him.

Driving into her tight sheath, he groaned as she closed around him, drawing him deeper inside. He buried his face in her neck. Her fingernails sank into his back as they moved together, as connected in soul as they were joined in body.

He struggled to hold off his climax, but her impassioned cries and urgent movements slashed the tethers binding his willpower. Reaching between their bodies, he touched her,
setting off the chain reaction of her orgasm. With a final thrust he let out a triumphant cry.

“That wasn't the homecoming I pictured,” he muttered, rolling over so her limp body draped across his chest like an erotic daydream.

She nuzzled his neck. “Really? It's all I thought about.”

Her round backside called to his hand. He followed the curve with his fingers, measuring the perfect rise from the small of her back to her thigh. Every inch of her fascinated him. Contentment settled over him as he stroked her hip with his thumb.

She raised her head and braced her forearm against his chest. Her voice may have been light and airy a second ago, but she wore a serious expression now.

“Something on your mind?” he prompted as the silence stretched.

“I'm just going to come right out and say this.”

But still she struggled with whatever she needed to tell him. Making love to her had pacified his earlier impatience. He kept silent and let her work out whatever was bothering her.

“I think it would be better if we got dressed first.”

She shimmied off his body, her long hair falling forward to conceal her expression as she retrieved her clothes and slid into jeans and shirt. Jerky movements and her lack of playfulness warned him something serious was up with her. He ignored the agitation that flared in his gut. The month-long separation had been harder on him than expected. Now that she was within his grasp once more he wanted nothing disagreeable to distract him from the pleasure of watching her.

She tossed his boxers at him. As he slipped them over his hips, the words erupted from her.

“Tomorrow I'm starting as the new director of communications.”

 

If the situation were reversed, and Sebastian had kept something this big from her, Missy would have stormed hard enough to level a house.

But Missy never knew him to thunder and rage like a summer squall. No, Sebastian had a calm, icy way of being furious that was ten times worse.

“When did this happen?” There was enough frost in his voice to ruin an entire orange crop.

“Your father mentioned the idea to me in Las Vegas.” She searched his rigid expression, assessing just how angry he was. “Then Max called me a few days ago and I said yes.”

“I see.”

What did he see? That she was perfect for the job? That discussing a job with his father and brother made her feel disloyal and low? That she loved him so much she'd rather spend every day thirty feet down the hall than never see him again?

“Are you okay with it?”

“We can't keep seeing each other if you work for Case Consolidated Holdings.”

“I considered that.” Was it wrong of her to choose something sensible like a fabulous job instead of a risky venture like dating Sebastian for as long as he wanted her? The old her, the impulsive girl who'd made a brief appearance in Las Vegas, would have chosen an uncertain future with Sebastian. Unfortunately, she'd spent more than a decade making decisions with her head, not her heart. “But we'd already agreed that once we left Las Vegas it was over between us.”

“That's what you wanted. I had something different in mind.”

She refused to feel guilty for disappointing him. It was ridiculous to think she could keep his interest long-term. “I'm perfect for this job.”

“Then if the job is what you want, you should take it.”

Throat too tight for words to escape, Missy nodded. Sebas
tian's impassive acceptance of her decision left her stomach in knots. But what had she expected? An impassioned plea for her to choose him over her career? Eventually he'd be glad she'd given him the perfect out.

Wrung out and miserable, she let Sebastian take on the bulk of the conversational duties as he drove her home. He asked her about her family and updated her on what had happened with the business since she'd been gone. By unspoken consent, they avoided discussing the elephants crowded in the backseat: her new job, how everyone at the office would react to her promotion and what had happened between them an hour earlier.

“Thank you for sending the car to pick me up,” she said as he carried her suitcase into the condo she rented. Feeling awkward for the first time ever around him, she fiddled with her purse strap and wondered if she should offer him something to drink.

“You're welcome.” He bent down and grazed his lips against hers.

Although the touch of Sebastian's kisses would forever cause her to melt like snow in the tropics, Missy's stomach clenched in despair. The brief kiss was goodbye.

“I'll see you tomorrow morning,” she said.

“I have a breakfast meeting. I'll stop by your new office when I get in.”

He left her standing in the middle of her living room, nodding after him like a bobble-head doll. He'd changed from ardent lover to supportive ex-boss so fast she had whiplash. She was glad she'd decided against telling him about the baby.

Once her pregnancy became public knowledge, she'd let everyone believe Tim was the father. No reason to let what had happened between her and Sebastian in Vegas create lifelong consequences for him. So what if her instincts told her what she was doing was wrong? She'd ignored her gut feelings
for fifteen years and let her head lead. She'd grown accustomed to weighing options. Logic dictated her actions.

Back when she'd been a teenager, she'd learned what happened if she let her heart run amuck.

Pity she hadn't remembered those lessons in Vegas.

 

Sebastian let himself into his parents' house. He was furious with his father for interfering in the running of the business again and angry with himself for not thinking of putting Missy into the communications director position himself.

“Sebastian,” his mother said, getting up from the computer in her office. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to Dad.”

She surveyed his expression. “What did he do now?”

“He offered Missy a job without telling me.”

“I'm sure he had good intentions.”

“You give him the benefit of the doubt too often.” Sebastian tempered his tone. After all, he wasn't angry with his mother. “Where is he?”

Following his mother's directions, Sebastian found his father in the library. “You offered Missy the communications director job?”

“Hello, Sebastian.” Brandon pulled off his reading glasses. “I did.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because she belongs with us. And she can do the job. You should've promoted her years ago. If you had, maybe she wouldn't have quit.”

Sebastian bit back a growl. As much as he hated to admit it, his father was right. Missy was overqualified to be his assistant. He'd been a selfish bastard to keep her as long as he had.

“You should have talked to me first.”

“I spoke with Max. She'd be working for him. He liked the idea.”

How could Sebastian argue? His father's logic was flawless. It was his methods that set Sebastian to grinding his teeth. Nor would he stop Missy from taking a job she so obviously wanted more than she wanted to keep seeing him.

He wasn't about to admit he'd realized he was glad she'd resigned. That he was glad she'd be sleeping in his bed instead of working for his company. Letting passion dominate reason went against everything he believed in. So, why did he want to hit something?

“Why didn't anyone talk to me about it?”

“Missy wanted to be the one to break the news.”

“I wish you'd come to me before speaking to Missy. I would have liked the opportunity to offer her the position.”

“Sorry we left you out of the loop.” Brandon didn't look one bit sorry that he'd bypassed Sebastian and asserted his authority once again. “After I found out she'd quit, the decision happened pretty fast. I spoke to her about it in Las Vegas, but because of what happened to her dad, she didn't give us her answer until a couple days ago.”

She'd kept this from him for a month.

“You've been busy with Smythe Industries,” her father continued. “I don't see why you're so annoyed. We're keeping a valuable employee.”

And Sebastian had lost the ability to pursue a personal relationship with her.

The temptation to ask his father to back off held Sebastian mute. He'd never felt less like a leader in his life. Leaders were the ones with all the answers. The ones in control. He was neither.

“Missy will make a terrific communications director,” his father said. “You'll see.”

Sebastian offered his father a tight smile. “I don't doubt that for a second.”

“Then this isn't about me interfering?”

“Do you want to be CEO again?” Sebastian wasn't sure
where the question came from. He only knew he was ready to walk away from the job he was born to do. Maybe he'd go work for a Fortune 500 corporation. Or start his own company. Do something that wouldn't involve family. “Say the word and I'm gone.”

From the surprise on his father's face, Sebastian could see he was finally getting through.

“I don't want to run the company. Retirement…”

“Is boring as hell. I get it. Mom wanted me to convince you to stay retired. She's enjoying having you around. Heaven knows why when all you do is golf.” Sebastian set his hands on his hips. “I think she's scared if you go back to work it will aggravate your heart problems. But maybe she's wrong to keep you from something you love so much.”