His Favorite Mistake (Baby Its Cold Out) (8 page)

             
“There was no woman. At least, not in the way you mean. After watching my father drink himself to death because he loved my mother and couldn’t get beyond that love, well, it made me realize that nothing lasts forever. What may be love eternal for one person can be a prison for another. You don’t own another person or their feelings. You certainly can’t stop those feelings from changing.”

             
“Brody, I’m sorry, I’d, forgotten. Cade mentioned something about your parents divorcing when you were young but I didn’t realize how hard that must have been for you. I’m sorry. I…I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

             
She put her hand on his arm. She was trying to comfort him. Brody rejected that comfort. He didn’t want her pity.

             
“It’s okay. It happened a very long time ago. It made me see the truth clearly. There really isn’t any such thing as a fairy tale. We’re all human. With very human flaws. Sometimes, it’s best to live in the human world. You don’t get disappointed nearly as much.” He looked at her and realized she was crying. He hadn’t expected her tears, and they shocked him. His reaction to seeing them shocked him even more.

             
Brody touched her cheek in wonder, wiping away a tear with his thumb. He couldn’t remember anyone ever crying for him before. His voice shook when he spoke.

             
“Don’t, Reyna. Don’t cry for me. I didn’t tell you about my parents to make you sad. Who knows? Maybe you’re the right one after all. Maybe there really is someone for everyone. Maybe my someone is closer than I think.”

             
Reyna pulled away then stood and walked over to the railing. The house was perched high on a hill overlooking the city. The views were magnificent.

“Which one is yours, Brody? Which building is Samuels Advertising?” She turned back to him, unexpectedly catching him watching her. The look of raw need in his eyes that had been there so many times took her by surprise. Brody tried to push his feelings aside, but she’d seen. She had to know he wanted her. How soon before she guessed the truth?

              He came and stood close behind her; he could feel the change in her. Would there ever be a time when she trusted him completely. He pointed to one of the buildings, speaking softly against her ear. His breath disturbed a pale strand of her hair. She shivered.

             
“It’s that one. The black glass building three blocks to your left. I’d almost forgotten you were never there before. Why is that, Reyna? Why was it that you chose not to visit the place where your husband spent a great deal of his time each day? I know you didn’t because Cade told me.”

             
He watched her closely. She was trying to come up with an answer he would believe. She was going to lie.

             
What was she hiding? He could almost feel her rejecting his questions even before he could voice them. Something was wrong between her and Cade, beyond Cade’s affairs.

             
Brody didn’t want to believe Cade’s accusations about her sexual experience or the drugs. Nothing about what he believed her to be fit with Cade’s description of his wife.

             
“It’s late, Brody, and I’m tired. I think I should go to bed now.” She didn’t look at him again. She all but edged past him, careful not to touch him and he let her go without trying to stop her.

             
Reyna left him standing alone silently cursing his foolish tongue. Wishing he could take back the words that had taken her away from him, and wondering once again what dark secret she kept securely hidden away from him.

Chapter Six

It was becoming harder with each passing day for Reyna to remember Brody was just her friend. It was almost frightening how easy she had adjusted to living with him. She actually looked forward to spending each evening alone with Brody. In the past, she’d dreaded Cade’s return on the occasions when he did choose to come home.

              Over the past week, since she had moved into Brody’s house, they had spent every evening together, either making dinner together or ordering in.

             
She found herself wondering a thousand times why someone so devastatingly attractive, so kind and caring had survived so long unattached.

             
Brody would be someone’s perfect match. Someone’s best friend. He was everything any woman would want in a man. Strong and determined, yet tender and so caring.

             
Reyna sometimes wondered if he were waiting until she was settled into her new life before resuming his normal routine. Of course, she knew it was only a matter of time before he started seeing other women again. Why did the thought of him with another woman, holding her, making love with her always fill Reyna with such despair that she wanted to cry?

             
Reyna put down the book she had been trying to read and removed the small black-framed glasses she wore for reading. She switched on the TV, trying once again to concentrate on the old movie she had been trying to get through. It was one of those old Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. One of her favorites, but for some reason, she just couldn’t concentrate on it.

             
Brody called earlier in the evening to let her know his meeting was running late and he wouldn’t be home until much later. He told her that he would be grabbing some take-out for them on the way home.

             
Reyna couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually considered her feelings enough to call her and let her when he was running late. She found it both comforting and just a little unnerving as well.

             
She was staring at the TV without really paying attention when she heard his key in the door and her heart began the all too familiar frantic beat. She forced herself not to go to him. She didn’t want to feel this much happiness simply by his presence.

              Absently, Reyna put the glasses back on, somehow feeling as if they gave her a barrier to hide her feelings from him.

             
“Hi there.” She turned to see him standing in the doorway watching her. As always, Brody looked devastatingly handsome, making her wish… Reyna shook her head killing that train of thought before it could take life.

             
“Hi there.” She wondered if he too felt the same awkwardness she did each time, they saw each other again. Reyna looked at him fully for the first time. He looked tired. Exhaustion clung to his eyes.

             
“You look tired. Are you okay?” Reyna heard her voice, it sounded so breathless. Her heart went out to him.

             
“I’m fine. Don’t worry. Come on, baby, let’s eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

             
Reyna let him take her hand as they walked into the kitchen. She couldn’t say a word. Her mind was trying to understand the sweet endearment he’d used when he spoke to her. It came so easily for him, so naturally, but it sent shivers through her each time he spoke to her in that tender way. He’d never called her that before.

             
They ate Chinese food from paper cartons and she listened as he told her about his day.

             
Apparently, the meeting that had run late tonight, ended without anything being resolved. Later, as they sat drinking coffee in the living room watching Reyna’s movie, Brody told her that he had to fly to Florida on Sunday.

             
“I’m sorry. I really hate to leave you right now, but unless we can get the problems with this contract worked out soon, and to both party’s satisfaction, we stand to lose the client. This is a major account for us. I can’t allow that to happen. I should only be gone for three, possibly four days at the most. Reyna forced a smile to her lips. She didn’t want Brody to see the sadness she felt. The thought of being apart from him for those days hurt. And that frightened her. She didn’t want Brody to be this important to her. Someday, she would have to leave. She couldn’t let her heart be broken.

             
Some of her hurt must have been reflected in her eyes since he watched her expression closely.

             
“Reyna, you know if there were any other way out of this, I would do it. The last thing I want to do right now is leave you, don’t you?”

             
“I know that Brody and its okay. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine. I’ll just miss watching old movies with you, and…” She stopped when her voice began to tremble. She looked away and tried to think of something to change the subject. She remembered the job offer.

             
“Oh, Brody, there is something I want to ask you, to get your opinion on, that is. One of the interviews I went on last week made me an offer.” She told him the details of the job, including the salary she would be earning. She could tell by his expression that he wasn’t impressed.

             
“I know it isn’t very much, but they are willing to work with me as far as my hours go, so I could leave early two days a week, which would allow me to finish my degree. I only need two classes to finish.” When he didn’t say anything, Reyna rushed on. “And, I’ve checked with the university and they offer the classes I need in the afternoons, so I could finish my teaching degree in one semester.” Reyna looked at Brody sitting close to her. She could see the exhaustion in his eyes and she wished she could take back her words. He didn’t need to take on her problems any more than he already had. “I’m sorry. I really don’t have the right to ask you this. I’m sorry, forget I said anything. I’ll decide what’s best.”

* * * *

              He turned to her, his hand going up to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, effectively killing whatever else she might have considered saying. Brody smiled. He saw the way his touch affected her. She was comfortable with him in the boundaries of friendship, but when he touched her in this tender way, or when he had deliberately used an endearment, she didn’t understand him. He had grayed the boundaries on their friendship; he had crossed over those lines into something she wasn’t sure how to define.

             
“No, I’m glad you asked actually, because there’s something I’ve been tossing around in my head for days. You see, I need your help with something, but I wasn’t sure just how to ask for it until this moment.”

             
“What is it, Brody? Surely, you know I would do anything in the world for you. Tell me what I can do to help.”

             
“I need you to work for me. As my assistant. I’ve been without one for months now, and there aren’t any prospects I trust enough to hire.” He held up his hand stopping her instant refusal. “Just listen for a second. I have some critical accounts I’ve been working on with my team. Accounts that will help us expand the company more internationally. Needless to say, without a qualified assistant, I’m drowning in paperwork when I should be concentrating on other things. I need someone I can trust. So far, I haven’t found anyone who can handle the job to my satisfaction.” He smiled slowly at her. “You see, I’ve been told by my personnel guru that I’m hard to work for. Apparently, that’s why it’s been almost three months since I’ve had anyone at all sitting outside of my office for more than a few hours a day. According to her, the chances aren’t looking very positive that they will be replacing my last assistant anytime soon, which is why I need your help.”

* * * *

              Reyna rejected the idea immediately. There was no way she could work close to Brody each day and not go out of her mind with desire.

             
“Look, I know you don’t have any experience as an assistant, but I’m desperate, and in a way, I think that may work out best, since you won’t have any preconceived ideas of how to do the job or anything to compare it to. I’m willing to double the salary of the other company, and I’ll give you the afternoons off you need to finish your degree. What do you say?”

             
Still Reyna hesitated. was he simply trying to help her once more? She didn’t believe his story. Brody was never desperate. “What happens in a few months when I have my degree? What will you do then?”

             
Brody smiled. He knew her too well already. Brody would know that all she needed was just a little push.

             
“Well, two things could happen. Either you will quit, or you might just decide you like it and end up staying with me for a long time. I don’t need to tell you which one I’m hoping for.”

             
She couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on his face. He looked like a child who had just gotten his favorite toy. “Oh, there’s one more option. You could decide that I’m not qualified to be your assistant and fire me.”

             
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her, taking her completely by surprise. It was sheer heaven being this close to him, no matter what the reason. Reyna didn’t want to leave his arms. She heard him click the movie back on, but he didn’t let her go.