Fixed on You (20 page)

He smiled. “Yes. Of course I am.
Pierce didn’t tell you?”

Up until recently, Hudson and I
didn’t talk much when we were together. But I wasn’t telling that to David. “He
really didn’t.”

“Good. I’m glad to be the first
to tell you. Congratulations.” He outstretched his hand to shake mine then took
it back. “What am I doing? Come here.” We both stood and met at the side of his
desk for a hug.

I pulled away first.

He noticed, covering by jumping
into work mode. “And we’re taking your suggestions. We’ll extend the club hours
starting in August. Which means you have a lot of work to do to get the place
ready. Plan on lots of marketing and promotional meetings.”

I put a hand on his arm. “Thank
you, David.”

“You deserve it.”

We spent the hours until the club
opened working on a business plan. It was distracting and exhilarating and exactly
what my obsessive mind needed. Work would automatically make it to my list of
substitute behaviors. I now had a salaried position and many of my shifts would
take place during daylight hours. Wouldn’t Brian be proud?

When the club opened, I shadowed
David, learning more managerial duties. By the time we closed, I was exhausted
and grateful that I didn’t have to walk home.

It wasn’t until Jordan was
helping me into the backseat of the car after my shift was over that I
remembered to read my text from Hudson. “
Always,”
it said.

My heart stopped. I reread my
text to him to be sure I correctly remembered what I’d sent. I did. I had asked
him if he was thinking of me, and his answer was
Always
.

Jordan was waiting for me with
the Maybach at six outside my apartment, but I saw before he even opened the
door for me that the backseat was empty.

“Mr. Pierce is late getting back
in town,” Jordan explained. “He’ll meet you at Lincoln Center. I have your
ticket.”

Having felt anxious all day about
seeing Hudson, not sure what the context of our evening would be, I didn’t want
to be alone. “Do you mind if I ride up front with you?” I asked.

“I’m sure Mr. Pierce would rather
you sat in the back.”

I pulled the back door from
Jordan’s grasp and shut it without getting in. “Then we won’t tell him, will
we?”

Jordan shook his head at me and
crossed around to the driver’s seat. I opened the front door myself and climbed
in next to him.

We rode in silence for a bit, and
I read the ticket that Jordan had given me. The New York Philharmonic playing
Brahms’s Symphonies Two and Three.
Nice.
I loved the arts and it had
been forever since I had treated myself to an event of any sort.

Luckily, I didn’t have to be at
work until one a.m. since I was staying after close to learn how to do monthly
inventory. Leisl had come to my apartment that afternoon to help me tie the
back of my dress and had taken some of my clothes to work with her so I could
change when I got there. It meant Hudson and I had all evening for…for what?
Were we on show tonight? Was this a date? Were we going out as friends? I had
no idea.

Glancing over at Jordan, I felt
inspired to get answers to some of my questions. “Jordan? What has Hudson told
you about me?” Jordan had been in the office when we were negotiating the terms
of our arrangement. What did he think about us?

Jordan didn’t answer.

“You’re not supposed to chat with
me, are you?” His expression gave me my answer. “Oh, come on. He probably also
said to keep me happy. And right now some validation is what would make me
happy.”

He sighed as if not believing
what he was about to do. “He said you’re the lady in his life.”

“He did?” Of course, he would have.
That was my role, after all—to play the lady in his life. But had there been
others? “How many ladies has he had in his life?”

“I haven’t been hired to drive
any others, Ms. Withers. I’ve only always driven him. Occasionally he might
have a date, but not very often.”

I frowned, not wanting to think
about Hudson on dates.

“Certainly none of them held his
interest like you do.”

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to
be patronized. “You don’t have to say that.”

“I don’t. But it’s true.”

What did that mean, exactly? That
I was special to him? Or that I was the only one he’d hired to show off?

But I couldn’t ask Jordan those
questions. So instead I asked, “What do you think about Hudson?”

“Me?” Jordan’s eyebrows rose in
surprise. “Well, he’s a good boss. Very clear with his expectations. He demands
a lot but the benefits are proportional.”

That was nice to know—that he was
a decent employer. But it wasn’t what I was looking for. “I mean as a person.”

Jordan laughed. “I don’t know him
as anything but a business man.” He glanced at me. “You may be one of the only
people I’ve ever met who knows him as just a man.”

“I doubt that.” Not only because
I didn’t know him but because I suspected Hudson didn’t let anyone know him.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

I wanted to continue the
conversation, but we’d arrived at Lincoln Center. It felt strange to arrive by
myself, but Jordan directed me to Avery Fisher Hall and gave me all the
information I needed. “Tonight is a donor’s event. So there’s a light buffet in
the lobby. Mr. Pierce insisted you enjoy yourself.”

I smiled as I pictured Hudson
giving the orders to Jordan. Had it been by phone? By text? Either way, I
recognized that a great deal of care had gone into the evening. “Do you know
when he’ll be here?”

Jordan shook his head. “A late
meeting of the day delayed his take-off. But he assures he’ll arrive as soon as
he can.” He paused before stepping back behind the driver seat. “Ms. Withers?
If I may say, you look quite lovely.”

I blushed as I thanked him, but
his compliment gave me the courage to make my way into the hall by myself.
Finely dressed patrons crowded in with me, the richest in the city, the people
who had money to donate to such trivial things as the arts. I’d always been
into nice clothes, but had never cared about designer names until that moment
when the only thing camouflaging me in the sea of expensive clothes was my own
designer gown. I was out of my element. I needed a cocktail.

As Jordan had said, buffet tables
lined the lobby and caterers wandered around with trays filled with delicious
appetizers and glasses of champagne. I wasn’t very hungry, but I grabbed a crab
puff as it passed so I’d have something in my stomach when I drank the
champagne that I acquired soon after. I spent the next forty-five minutes
nursing my drink and nibbling on veggies, my eyes pinned on the front doors
searching for my date.

When the crowd thinned, I
reluctantly made my way to the seat listed on my ticket. Box seats, of course.
My spirits perked up as I noticed patrons entering the box ahead of me. Perhaps
Hudson had managed to sneak past me.

But when the usher showed me to
my seat, I found the seats on either side of mine empty. Three other seats in
our box were taken by a middle-aged couple and a woman my age—a woman I knew. It
was Celia.

“Laynie!” Celia said as she sat
down. “I’m so glad you came. Where’s that handsome man of yours?” Her voice
wasn’t exactly quiet, and I realized she wanted her companions to hear.

My chest constricted. Definitely
not a date, then.

“I wouldn’t have missed tonight.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again.” I did my best to pretend I knew
that Celia would be there as she had seemed to know I would be in attendance.
“Hudson’s late flying in. He’s been out-of-town most of this week.” I’ll admit
I hoped the mention of him being out of town would be news to Celia. I felt I
needed the upper hand somehow and knowing things about my supposed love that
Celia didn’t was the only trick I could play.

“Oh, yes. He told me he was
leaving again when I talked to him yesterday.” So much for insider knowledge.
“Let me introduce you to my parents, Warren and Madge Werner. This is Alayna
Withers, Hudson’s girlfriend.”

Mr. and Mrs. Werner exchanged
glances before they leaned over their seats to shake my hand.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,”
Madge said. “Sophia has told me so much about you.”

Huh, yeah.
Whatever Sophia
Pierce had to say to her best friend about me couldn’t be anything I’d want to
know. My stomach knotted at the thought. Where the hell was Hudson? How could
he leave me alone with these people?

“Sophia’s a delight,” I said with
as much pleasantry as I could muster. It actually wasn’t hard to smile as I
said it, as if I had told a private joke about Hudson’s monster of a mother.

“Isn’t she?” Celia muttered so only
I could hear.

Her dig made me feel more
comfortable.

Until Madge started to grill me.
“Where did you meet Hudson again?”

I repeated the story,
embellishing as many romantic moments as I could without going too far
overboard, all the while checking over my shoulder, wishing Hudson would
appear.

“Withers,” Warren said when there
was a lull. “Any relation to Joel and Patty?”

“No, sorry.” If he was trying to
discover the depths of my breeding, I’m afraid he was going to be sorely
disappointed.

Relief flooded over me when the
lights lowered, ending our conversation. Simultaneously, my resentment toward
Hudson grew. I quickly shot him a text, something I should have done an hour
earlier.
“Where are you?”

The response to my text came as a
whisper in my ear as the conductor walked on stage and the audience began
clapping. “Right beside you.”

Chills spread through my body and
I looked up to see Hudson had slipped into the seat next to me.
He was
there.
Even in the dim theater, I knew he looked gorgeous, wearing a
classic tuxedo. His hair was mussed as if he’d dressed quickly, and his face
scruffy, increasing the sexy factor.

He nodded to Mr. and Mrs. Werner
then took my hand.

His hand in mine—the warmth of
it, the strength—it didn’t matter if it was for show, I had needed it, and I
clung to it until intermission, only letting go so we could applaud.

While the audience was still
clapping, he leaned toward me. “What did you think?”

“I loved it.” I’d never heard the
New York Philharmonic, and Brahms had never been my favorite composer, but the
performance had been breathtaking. That I had experienced it with the hottest
man on the planet sitting next to me didn’t hurt.

“I knew you would.” As the lights
came up, he pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, and whispered, sending a
fresh set of shivers down my spine. “Showtime.”

He stood and took my hand to help
me up, then turned to face the Werners. “Madge, Warren. I wish I’d been here to
make introductions. I take it you’ve all met now.”

“We have,” Madge said. “Celia
introduced us.”

“Good. I wanted the most
important people in my life to know each other.” Then, with all eyes on us, he
wrapped me in his arms, turning my knees to jelly. “I’m sorry I was late,
darling. You look stunning. The most beautiful woman here tonight.”

He’d said I was stunning when
we’d bought the dress, and just as I’d known he’d been saying it for my benefit
then, tonight I knew it was for the Werners. He’d never call me “darling”
otherwise.

I stared into his eyes, not
needing to fake my adoring gaze. “You don’t know that. You’ve barely looked at
anyone else.”

He rubbed his nose against mine.
“Because I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

God, we could write sappy romance
novels. We were that good.
He
was that good.

“You were out of town this week?”
Warren asked, not seeming to care if he interrupted fake Alayna and Hudson’s
moment. “Celia said you were away on business.”

I hid a grimace. Celia hadn’t
said that.
I
had said that.

Hudson kissed my forehead lightly
before letting me go and directing his attention to Warren. “Yes. A development
with Plexis.”

Warren shook his head. “That’s
been a thorn in your side for some time.”

“Excuse us,” Madge interrupted.
“While you men talk about all your boring business, us girls will freshen up.”

I wasn’t sure if Madge meant to
include me as one of “us girls,” but I planned on staying. I wanted to hear the
boring business talk. I didn’t want to leave Hudson.

But Celia took my arm, obligating
me to accompany them, and Hudson appeared to be waiting until we left to
continue. Besides I did need to pee.

I didn’t miss Hudson’s warning
glare to Celia. Even I, who hadn’t been lifelong friends with the man, knew
that look told her to be careful what she said to me.

He didn’t need to worry. The
conversation on the way to the restroom and while we waited in line was banal
and trivial. Mostly Madge made snide comments about what other people were
wearing and tried to discern what and how much Hudson had bought for me. 

It was after I’d peed that the
talk became interesting. Madge and Celia were powdering their noses in the side
mirror, and didn’t see me come out of my stall. I moved to the sink to wash my
hands, and found I could hear their conversation perfectly.

“She’s pretty,” Madge said. “I’m
sorry she’s so pretty.”

“Mom,” Celia groaned. “Stop.”

“I’m sure it’s only a fling,
honey. This is Hudson’s first real girlfriend. You never settle down with your
first.”

I washed my hands for a long
time, listening.

“Mother, I don’t feel that way
about him anymore. I’ve told you. He’s psycho, anyway. You wouldn’t want our
kids to have those genes.”

“He’s got better genes than most.
And I know you say you’re over him, Ceeley, but you don’t have to pretend with
me. Just make sure he gets thoroughly tested when you get him back.”