Fall into Forever (Fall into Him Book Three) (4 page)

His vague comment about being a dumb kid.

Jennifer fought to keep her face blank as her mind went through the
facts rapid-fire to bring her to the conclusion she couldn't believe she hadn't
come to before. Philip's father had been the cause of the scars. So many things
made much more sense now.

“Was there something else you needed, Jennifer?” Philip's question
interrupted Jennifer's thought process causing her to jump a little.

“O-oh, yes, I just wanted to fill you in on the Tom Evans situation.”
Jennifer suddenly remembered the original reason she'd come over. She sat down,
flipping through her notebook as if she needed to reference the material. What
she really needed was a moment to compose herself. The realization that
Philip's father had been abusive made her see things in such a different light.
She'd only lived with an emotionally and verbally abusive boyfriend and, as a
result, she had self-esteem and trust issues. She could only imagine how much
worse things would have been if she'd been subject to physical abuse on top of
that. Especially by someone who was supposed to take care of her and love her
unconditionally. She might have a hard time trusting men in romantic
relationships, but at least she did have examples of good, pure love in her
family. How could Philip believe that anyone could care about him, without the
constant threat of pain, when he faced abuse growing up?

“Were you able to reach Mr. Evans?” Philip was still keeping his eyes
down, but his voice revealed none of his inner turmoil or lack thereof.

“Yes,” Jennifer answered. She was trying to focus, but kept finding new
questions popping into her mind. Were the scars the results of beatings or of
some singular accident during an argument, like getting shoved into a mirror or
window? She answered Philip's question since she couldn't answer any of her
own. “It took a bit of convincing, but Mr. Evans finally accepted that I was
investigating him on your behalf.”

“He was rude?”

Jennifer considered telling the truth, that Tom Evans had been a
complete ass-hat, but she decided against it. The odds of it ever coming to
light were small. “Not really after he realized who I was and who I worked
for.”

“So he didn't try to fight you on giving over those files?”

“He agreed to send everything over in twenty-four hours.” Jennifer only
partially answered the question.

Philip's eyes narrowed and Jennifer knew he was seeing that she was
being purposefully evasive. “You don't like him.”

“It doesn't matter if I like him,” she hurried to say.

“Yes, it does.” Philip countered. “I value your opinion, Jennifer. I
wouldn't have asked you to take charge if all I wanted was you to make phone
calls for me. What does your gut tell you?”

He trusted her opinion on the type of person Tom Evans was? This wasn't
just a business decision that could be made with logic. This took a level of
discernment and insight that required a different type of decision making. Brad
had always resisted taking her opinion about anything, and when it came to her
judgment specifically about people, resistant was far too mild a word. He'd
always told her that her ability to read people was awful and that he was much
better at it. While she'd suspected that it had been another way of him
controlling who she spent time with, she'd never really trusted herself when it
came to people. Now, her boss was expressing his faith in something she herself
didn't think she had.

“Jennifer,” Philip reached towards her, and then drew his hand back as
if realizing that it was too personal for a professional conversation. “I want
to know your thoughts on this. What's your take on Tom Evans?”

“I don't trust him,” Jennifer blurted out. She flushed and then hurried
to explain. “Anyone who's that rude to someone representing his boss isn't
showing his true colors to other people. After he finally realized that he
needed to work with me, he became very patronizing and condescending.”

Philip's mouth tightened and Jennifer paused. He gestured for her to
continue. She took a deep breath and went on. “He never said that he didn't
think he had to give us the files or even ask what they were for, but when I
mentioned which ones I was asking for, he hesitated. I just really had the
feeling that he was thinking of ways to get out of handing them over.”

“Do you think he's going to try to hide or destroy some sort of
evidence?”

Jennifer considered the question. “I don't think so, but...”

“But what?”

“I wouldn't be surprised if he just doesn't show up for work one day. I
doubt that he did anything really illegal, just unethical.” Jennifer surprised
herself by offering that final insight.

“What makes you say that?” Philip sounded honestly curious, not as if
he didn't believe her.

“People, who treat others just like he talked to me, generally aren't
brave enough to do something illegal. They're usually cowards who try to make
themselves feel better by putting others down.”

Philip nodded. “I agree.” He leaned back and folded his hands on his
lap. “So what do you think we should do?”

Jennifer already had this answer ready. “I think we should wait to go
through the files before making any decisions. It's always good to make sure
everything's all organized and we have all of the relevant information. Better
to be patient than make a big mistake.”

As she said the words, Jennifer was struck by how true that was for any
major decision. She needed to know all of the information before she could make
a choice, and there remained one more thing about Philip she needed to know.
Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to ask him about Eloisa.

“I agree,” Philip said again. He glanced at the clock. “I'll tell you
what, if the files won't be here until tomorrow, why don't you go home early.
That way, if you need to work over tomorrow when we get the files, you'll have
had a slow day today.”

“Oh, okay,” Jennifer was surprised by the offer. She'd half-expected to
be staying late again, for things to have progressed again. On the other hand,
it didn't exactly seem like he'd retreated behind his mask again. He honestly
seemed like he wanted her to go home because he was worried about her working
too much, not because he didn't want her to be there.

“Jennifer,” Philip touched her hand. “You did excellent work. I'm glad
you came back.”

“I am too,” Jennifer voice was soft, her hand burning where Philip's
skin met hers. It never failed to amaze her how just one touch from him could
make her body respond.

They sat in silence for a minute before Philip reluctantly pulled back.
“Go ahead and go home, but be prepared to work for a while on those files
tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Jennifer stood. She turned, then paused and turned back. “If
you’re going to have more work tomorrow, you should leave early too.”

“I might.” Philip sighed as he looked down at the papers on his desk.
“But I really do need to get through all of these.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jennifer hoped he'd understand
that her offer wasn't for work alone. She couldn't imagine trying to deal with
that type of history all on her own.

“Thank you, but no.” Philip glanced up at her, the expression on his
face saying that he'd understood her intentions perfectly. “I really do
appreciate the offer, but it's something I need to do on my own.”

“All right,” Jennifer said. “But if you change your mind, you have my
number.” She picked up her purse from her desk and then added, “Which, of
course, you can always use for other purposes as well.”

Philip smiled as Jennifer left the office, making her feel a little
better about leaving him there with that mountain of paperwork seeped in bad
memories. She was still thinking about Philip and his father and the mere bits
she had figured out about their situation when the elevator dinged at the
lobby. She walked out of the elevator but quickly froze when she heard a
familiar voice.

“
Pardonnez-moi
, do you know if Mr. Philip Haas is still in his
office?”

Jennifer felt a surge of jealousy, quickly followed by her usual
feelings of inferiority. One look at Eloisa next to the building’s front desk
and it wasn't hard to see why. Today, those dark red curls were so perfectly
coifed it looked as if Eloisa had stepped straight out of a hair stylist’s
chair and into the office building lobby. Her slender frame wore an elegant
black dress as if it had been made for her, which, Jennifer realized, it
probably had. Despite the casual look of the dress, it was obvious that it had
cost more than Jennifer made in a month. Again, Jennifer thought of how much of
a better fit Eloisa and Philip would be for each other. The idea hurt more than
Jennifer had thought it would.

She started down the hall, intending to slip past Eloisa and head home
for some serious soul-searching regarding the decision she had to make. She had
stepped just past the French woman, catching a whiff of something very
expensive, when a hand touched her arm.

“Miss?”

“Y-yes?” Jennifer swiftly mustered a passably pleasant smile on her
face. “Can I help you?”

“Are you Jennifer Brooks?”

Jennifer blinked, unable to hide her surprise. “Uh, yes, that’s me.”
Her sentence trailed off into a question.

Eloisa held out a slender hand with perfectly manicured nails. “Hello,
my name is Eloisa Rousseau. If you can spare just a moment, I really need to
speak with you.”

“Hello, my name is Eloisa Rousseau. If you can spare just a moment, I
really need to speak with you.”

Twenty-seven year-old Jennifer Brooks was, for lack of a better word,
flabbergasted. How in the world did Eloisa know who she was? Jennifer, of
course, knew about the cultured French woman. She had seen her upstairs,
hitting on Jennifer's boss and recent lover Philip Haas. With her model-like
figure, regal bearing and immaculately tailored dress, Eloisa was everything
Philip should want and everything that Jennifer wasn't. Why would Eloisa have
even noticed her?

“Oh…okay, sure.” Jennifer managed to stammer out the words, her face
flushing as she thought of how foolish she must have sounded to someone like
Eloisa.

Eloisa glanced around and then took Jennifer's arm. “Not here. Too many
ears.” She motioned to a small alcove on the other side of the elevators.

Jennifer allowed herself to be led away from the exit, her mind
spinning as she tried to figure out what was happening. Had Philip mentioned
her to Eloisa? If so, in what context? If he'd just told Eloisa that Jennifer
was his assistant, would that merit a private conversation? Maybe Eloisa was
hoping that Jennifer would have some sort of inside knowledge into Philip's
personal life, something that she could use to pursue a romantic relationship
with him. But what if he'd told Eloisa that there was something more between
Jennifer and him? What if he'd told her that the two of them had been sexually
involved since just hours after their first meeting? Did Eloisa think that
Jennifer was using Philip to further her own career? Was she there to tell
Jennifer to stay away from him? Maybe she was going to flat-out lay claim to
him.

“You are Philip's assistant, yes?” Eloisa turned to face Jennifer.

Jennifer really didn't want to have to look up to meet Eloisa's eyes,
but she made herself do it. Whatever Eloisa was going to say, Jennifer wasn't
going to blink. “Yes, I am.”

“I don’t believe that he has mentioned me.” Eloisa released Jennifer's
arm. “He is such a reserved person when it comes to his personal
relationships.”

That was an understatement, Jennifer thought, but she didn't comment.
There wasn't any reason for her to reveal just how much she knew or didn't know
about Philip's life.

Fortunately, Eloisa didn't seem to be waiting for any agreement on the
matter. She continued, “I have known Philip for many years. My family came from
a small town in the south of France. I was five when we came to this country to
work for Philip's father, Johann. My father was the caretaker of the Haas
family grounds, my mother the housekeeper. Philip was my only friend, the only
one who didn’t make fun of me for not knowing the language, the only one who
tried to learn mine. When Philip's mother left, Mr. Haas sent Philip away to
boarding school in Paris. I was sent as well to keep an eye on him. We’ve kept
in touch since then.”

Jennifer tried not to let Eloisa see how eager she was for this
information. Every word was new insight into why Philip was the way he was, and
it was difficult to keep from asking for more details.