Grounded By You

By Ivy Sinclair

Copyright 2013 Leeds Lake Publishing

ebook
Edition

Cover Design by Cheryl Ramirez

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ebook Edition, License Notes

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Millie drummed her fingers on the shiny blond wood of the bar. She glanced at her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time since walking through the front door of the restaurant ten minutes before. She grimaced as she caught sight of her fingernails. Moving boxes hadn’t done her manicure any favors, and she didn’t have time to run by the salon before dinner. Then she reminded herself that she was eschewing manicures to save money. It was a new concept for her, and one she was still getting used to.

She planned to break the news of her new plan to her brother, Josh, at dinner and throw herself on his mercy that he would tell their father. Hearing that she was going to attempt making a living as an artist instead of going to work for the family company as planned was going to piss her father off royally. She needed
Josh as her buffer, something that her brother had grown increasingly good at during their formative years. Josh was the perfect child while Millie was the one who never quite lived up to the same high standards.

Not surprisingly, Josh was late. She had forgotten his bad habit in her rush out the door. She hadn’t even been back in the city for twenty-four hours, but unpacking was taking longer than she expected. It was the first time she had ever done it all herself. She gently refused her mother’s suggestion to hire a full-service moving company to take care of everything. At twenty-three with a college degree in hand, Millie was ready to do things on her own, uncomfortable as that was for a girl who grew up being spoon-fed everything that she ever wanted. The thought of relying entirely on herself for her own success and failures was a heady feeling, and one she found she thoroughly enjoyed.

“Millie? Millie St. John?” The male voice saying her name brought her out of her self-involved wallowing. Millie turned and immediately found herself admiring the voice’s owner.

He was well-over six feet tall, which meant he had several inches on her five foot ten frame. His wavy black hair begged to have hands run through it, and his emerald green eyes held hers with amusement. She knew an expensive suit when she saw one, and he filled it out in all the right places. Most girls would probably fall all over themselves to get his attention, but Millie wasn’t like most girls.

“Do I know you?” She deliberately kept her voice cool and neutral. Whoever this guy was, he was exactly the type of guy that she planned to avoid moving forward. That was a rule that she was bringing over from her old life. No entanglements and no commitments. She didn’t need the headaches or distractions.

The mystery man shook his head with a slightly awkward smile and extended his hand. “No, although I’ve heard a lot about you. I feel like we should know each other. I’m Will Colman, a friend of your brother’s. I’ve seen your pictures.”

Warning bells immediately went off in Millie’s head. She stared at his hand but didn’t make a move to shake it. “You know Josh?”

“Since grad school,” Will
said. Once he figured out that she wasn’t going to shake his hand, he drew it back and then shoved both hands into his pockets.

Vague references from half-listened to conversations with her brother surfaced in Millie’s mind. “Your dad’s a politician or something in California, right?”

“He used to be,” Will said with a shrug. “He’s finding the private sector to be a lot more lucrative.”

She gave him a benign half-smile. It was an expression that she perfected years ago after being dragged to endless society events by her mother. “So what are you doing here? Aren’t you a little far from home?”

“I’m actually waiting for Josh,” Will said, checking his watch. “We were supposed to meet for dinner. He’s late.”

Suddenly smelling a trap, Millie stood up giving Will the evil eye. “I don’t know what Josh told you, but I’m not doing this.”

Looking alarmed, Will put his hand on her arm. “Hang on a second. Did I say something wrong?”

“Look Will, you are probably a very nice guy but my family seems to be under the impression that they are better judges of the guys I should date than I am. I’m not having dinner with you. I’m not going out on a date with you. Tell Josh to butt out of my love life.” Millie grabbed her clutch off the bar.

Will put his hands up. “Whoa. I’m not sure what you are talking about. Are you saying that you think Josh is playing matchmaker?”

She felt her phone vibrate in her purse. Millie pulled it out and scanned the short text. Then she flipped the screen around so that Will could read Josh’s text too.

Sorry for the late notice. Something came up at work. Rain check?

Will’s eyebrows rose. He pulled his own phone out and with a shrewd grin showed Millie the display. An identical message from Josh was reflected there.

Millie crossed her arms. “Believe me now?”

“I appreciate that Josh thinks so highly of me that he’d set me up with his sister,” Will said. “But I’m not the kind of guy who forces his company on a woman who clearly isn’t interested, lovely as she may be.”

Sighing, Millie felt her cheeks flush. She was acting like an irrational lunatic. The man in front of her was obviously nice and based on the glances from other women in the room, more than attractive. From what she remembered, Josh always raved about what a decent guy Will was and how focused and driven he was in his studies despite their overly active frat activities.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just got back into town, and I’m a little bit on edge. Not to mention, this isn’t the first time that my family has pulled this kind of stunt with me.”

“Listen, I get it,” Will said. He looked around the large room. “I’m starving. I’m guessing that you are too. I’m assuming that we still have a dinner reservation, and I’ve heard the food here is amazing. If you can stomach the idea of grabbing a bite, I promise to be thoroughly disinterested in you the entire time.”

Millie couldn’t help but chuckle at his quip. It felt good, and some of the tension left her shoulders. She was hungry. She inadvertently skipped lunch since she was so engrossed in unpacking. It had been too late to eat anything once she realized it, so she had been looking forward to dinner.  “Okay, but only if you also promise not to ask for my phone number or any kind of future date after tonight.”

Will shook his head solemnly. “It’s not a problem. Really, you’re not my type because clearly you are smart, funny, and gorgeous. After all these years, I thought that Josh knew me better than that. I actually prefer my women clueless and homely.”

With a real smile this time, Millie nodded and gave in.

As Will extended his arm to her, she slipped her hand through it and let him lead her across the crowded room to the hostess stand. Moments later they were seated in a much quieter corner of the restaurant. Millie studied her menu and at the same time wondered what was wrong with her. A year ago, Will was just the kind of guy she would jump at, and on, for a quick fix. But something changed the summer between her junior and senior year of college.

She didn’t want to read too much into it or think about it too much, but Millie came back her senior year a changed woman. She stopped going out on random dates. She felt aimless and restless, and had no idea what to do about it. She took an art class completely on a whim to round out her final credits before graduation. It had been a general education requirement that she avoided until senior year because she thought it was a waste of time. Instead, it was as if she had finally come home.

“Have you been here before?” Will asked, peering at her over his menu. His eyes twinkled.

“Not since it changed owners and they fired the previous chef,” Millie said. “I haven’t spent a lot of time at home the last few years.”

“How come?” Will set his menu down and focused on her.

Millie was saved from answering by the arrival of their waiter. After asking her preference, Will ordered a bottle of red wine. Millie sat back in her chair. She knew that she was slouching, something her mother would have called her out on if she were there, but Millie was tired of playing the part of the perfect society princess. It wasn’t who she was now if it ever had been. Plus she wasn’t technically on a date, so she didn’t need to worry about impressing the man sitting across the table from her. It wasn’t as if her cleavage was all that impressive anyway. Millie’s thin frame had always been more willowy than curvy, and she spent a small fortune in undergarments intended to make it look as if she had more going on up top than she actually had.

“You were saying?” Will asked, clearly intending to pick up the conversation where it left off.

“I was wondering what brought you to Manhattan.” Millie smoothly transitioned the topic away from herself. “It’s a completely different vibe here than in California. I swear Josh said you went to work for one of those start-ups in Silicon Valley after graduation.”

“I did, but then I got a better offer a few months ago,” Will said. “I couldn’t say no, so here I am.”

The wine arrived, and Millie immediately felt better with a glass in her hand. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together. “So you’re working for my father now.”

Will held his glass up for a toast. “To new friends and new opportunities.”

Millie clinked his glass with her practiced smile. Even if she liked Will, knowing that he worked for her father put him firmly on her ‘Do Not Touch’ list. She felt the familiar rise of anger in her chest again at her brother’s meddling. With both her father and her brother working against her, she was outnumbered. She’d have to be even more on her guard than usual, especially now that they were all in the same city again.

Through the rest of dinner, Millie had to admit that Will was a charming companion. He was witty and asked her questions that showed that he was obviously interested in more than just how she looked. She had no interest in letting him dig deeper into who she was though, so she kept her answers as generic as possible. He was a nice guy, but he worked for the enemy, and she had to remember that.

When the check came, Will insisted on paying for it despite her protests. “I’ll just put in on Josh’s running tab. The guy owes me thousands of dollars. He won’t even notice,” he said as he playfully batted her hands away.

Millie wanted to insist on paying her half, but she had already done the calculations on her budget, and dinner at the kind of restaurant they were in didn’t fit well within it. Every dollar she could spare that her father sent her over the last year had gone into a savings account. She had never really thought about the fact that the amount of money her father sent her for discretionary spending was enough to pay for a whole year of college. She had a buyer interested in her car, and she hoped to sell it before the week was out. She planned to add that money to her nest egg in case her father decided to cut her off completely. She didn’t get access to her trust fund for another two years.

She let Will talk as they made their way to the door. She held out her hand. “It was nice to meet you, Will. I’ll guess I’ll see you around.”

Will frowned. “I’ll see you home.”

It was Millie’s turn to frown. “I’m just a few blocks away. It’s a quick walk. No need to worry about me.”

“You’re Josh’s sister and it’s late on a Friday night. I wouldn’t feel right not making sure that you arrived home safely. It’s no trouble.”

Millie could see that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Sometimes she wished chivalry were dead. She pushed through the door and out into the night with Will on her heels.

They walked in silence for several minutes.

“Josh said that you are going to be starting at the company next week. Are you looking forward to that?”

Considering she hadn’t had the chance to tell Josh yet that she had no intention of working for their father, she knew that she’d have to keep that secret for now. “There’s something to be said for going into the family business,” she said neutrally.

“Your dad’s pretty intense.”

She cut a glance at him wondering again if he was a spy sent by her brother. “He’s worked hard for what he has.” It was another rehearsed response. She had heard her father say it often enough.

Seeing her building on the next block, Millie breathed a sigh of relief. “It was nice of you to walk me home, Will.”

“Hopefully my company this evening wasn’t totally unpleasant,” he said.

Knowing that she was about to be rid of him, she was willing to offer him a bone. “Not totally.”