Make Believe: A Novella (7 page)

“Well
, at least its day one, and you’re smiling. That’s got to be a good sign, right?”

“Right,” she replie
d as we turned and headed inside.

“After you,” I said, gesturing toward the
automatic doors with my hand.

“Thanks.
This is a classy place. I didn’t expect it to look like this when I came the other day.” She looked around as if seeing it for the first time.

“Yeah, most people don’t. We wanted to be different.”

“You achieved it. I love it.”

“Thanks,” I smiled as I looked around.

When Ant and I first drew up the plans for this place, we decided it had to be different, and it had to be right. We wanted to give every client an experience. The only problem we had back then — a big dream with little funds. But all of our Christmas dreams came true when Murphy’s father offered to be a silent partner, and silent was exactly what he was. He was there in the beginning to give us a bit of advice, and of course, a huge cash injection, but other than that, he was pretty much the invisible man. He even asked us not to share his involvement in the business with Murphy. He said he wanted us to do well, but did not want Murphy to think he had some part in it as a result. We kept to our side of the deal, he kept to his, and things have been working out ever since.

“I’m sorry, Aiden
. I told him that you were busy this morning, but he
insisted
on staying,” our receptionist Lisa said, looking exasperated at Murphy.

“Indeed
he
did,” Murphy replied before winking at her.

“It’s
OK, Lisa, thanks.
You
, my office, now!” I pointed at Murphy and gave him a reprimanding look.

“Yes, Daddy,
” he said, walking boldly toward my office. Times like this reminded me that it was the right decision to keep him in the dark about his father’s involvement in the company.

“
Lisa, would you mind making Leah a cup of coffee and giving her a short tour until I get back?” I asked, politely. Lisa nodded and I looked back at Leah. “I’m sorry about this, I won’t be long.”

“It’
s OK, I’ll be fine,” she replied, smiling.

“O
K,” and off I went to my office.

“Hey
, boss,” Murphy smirked as I walked in.

“Get off my desk,” I grunted
. He just smiled at me before sliding off.

“So uptight
. So who’s the little hottie out there?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“You are aware that you’re dating my sister, right?” I asked
, annoyed.

“I’m only looking
, dude. Crystal and I have a contract tight agreement, so don’t worry that pretty little head of yours,” he laughed. I started to straighten up some of the papers he had messed up. “That is a seriously nice desk you know. It wasn’t here last time. I bet it makes you feel real important and stuff.”

“
No, you’re right, it wasn’t. It’s new, and yeah, that’s what I think every day I come in, that ‘I feel real important and stuff,’” I replied, sarcasm lacing every word.

“So, tell me, have you and April christened it yet?”
he smirked.

“Murphy, what do you want?” I asked seriously, tr
ying to keep my eyes off the desk.

“
Ah, you have, haven’t you?” he said, jumping up and down laughing.

The truth was I was doing my absolute best not to let the image of that desk take me back to one of the best nights of my life
, like it usually did, every time that I looked at it.

“Right, it’s time to go
….”

“No, no...O
K, I will get to the point,” he said, taking a seat in the leather chair opposite mine. I followed his lead and sat down while waiting to hear why he was here.

“I’m actually here about Taise.”

“What about him?” I asked curiously.

“He’s a mess
, that’s what. Marissa left him. Apparently she said he was too needy.”

“Wow
, that’s got to kill a guy’s ego. When did this happen?”

“Last night.”

“Poor guy.”

“I know, so I was thinking we could go
over later. You know, take a couple beers, me kicking a few butts on the Xbox. Like old times, just us guys.”

“Sounds good,”
I agreed. We are all so busy with our own lives that we rarely do things like that anymore. I miss it.

“So
, you’re on board then, yeah?”

“Yeah, sure
. Good luck getting Ant though.”

“Leave it
to me, I have it all figured out. See you at Taise’s place at seven, and don’t be late.” He disappeared through the office doors leaving me alone to think. Poor Taise, just when he was finally happy with Marissa.

“I’m entering the office
. Do not be afraid,” Leah chuckled as she announced herself at the door. I started laughing as soon as I saw her.

“Thanks for the warning,” I chuckled.

“Well, I don’t want to give you heart failure on the first day, right?”

“Right.”

“As for the second day, I can’t make any promises.”

“Then I
’m going to have to keep my eye on you,” I laughed and stood up.

“Yeah, you might,” she replied.

“Did you get a good look around then?”

“Yep, I got the full VIP tour.”

“Good. I have an appointment due in ten minutes, and then we can go through the basics, OK?”

“
OK.”

* * *

The day moved fast. I was very impressed by Leah’s ability to learn new things so quickly. The girl was like a human sponge. I felt like taking off a week and leaving her to it.

“So, are you sure
that you’re OK with this?” I asked for the second time.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Taise is our friend
, and he’s going to need you guys around him now. Without us there, teasing him that he’s the only single one,” April replied, turning on the oven.

“Where did I get you? I swear you’re perfect,” I said as I gently pulled
her toward me by the middle of her top.

“You’re making me blush,” she giggled
, and I wrapped my arms around her.

“Good, I like doing that,” I said
, letting my lips brush against hers. “In fact, there’s a lot of things I
like
doing when it comes to you,” I smiled against her lips.

“Hmm, like what?”
she whispered and her eyes fluttered closed.

“Like touching you,” I said as I let my finger trace a line up her spine. She jerked slightly forward, bringing us chest to chest. “And I like kissing you
.” I slowly kissed along her jaw line. I heard her let out a deep breath, and my resistance died instantly. My lips were on hers so fast I was surprised that my brain even registered the movement. I kissed her gently as she pushed her body into mine even more, a sign that I knew all too well. I let the tip of my tongue tease the entrance of her lips before gently sliding it inside her mouth. No matter how many times I kissed this girl, it felt so damn amazing.

I let my hands slip around her small frame until I lifted her gently into the air. Her legs instantly wrapped around me making every one of my body parts stand
at attention.

“You are so beautiful,” I whispered in between kisses as I carried her blindly to our room. I gently kicked the door open before walking toward our bed. I slowly lowered her onto the silk sheets before climbing s
lowly on top of her. As I watched her lying there, looking so innocent, I wanted to strip every shred of innocence from her bit by bit. I lowered my lips to her neck, waiting to hear the sound that I loved to hear. When it escaped her lips, I pretty much lost control.

“Gosh
, I missed you today,” I breathed softly as my hand traced the skin beneath her t-shirt.

“I missed you too,” she whispered
. Her hands wrapped around my neck, pulling me dangerously close.

“Well, I have one whole hour before I have to be there,” I said as a smile touched my lips.

“Good.”

It was all I needed to hear. My hands pulled her t-shirt off in seconds and my lips were grazing the smooth skin on her stomach. “You,” I whispered as my lips traveled north of her body
, “taste,” I continued, “incredible,” I finished as my lips met hers again.

The sound of my cell phone was not about to get in the way of what I had started.

“Your phone,” April whispered as I continued to kiss her.

“Ignore it
. It’ll stop.” It did. “Told you,” I said, smiling down at her.

“So you did,” she said
, smiling up at me. Then as if someone was out to ruin my life, it rang again.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I grunted.

“Just answer it, it could be important.”

“Yeah, it’ll probably be Murphy,” I replied, frustrated by the second interruption of the day. “What?” I growled
on the phone as I pressed it against my ear.

“Hello? Aiden?” Once the voice on the other end of the line registe
red in my head, I jumped off the bed and tried to regain my composure.

“Leah? Is that you?” I asked in confusion.

“Yeah, I’m so sorry to call you like this,” she stumbled nervously.

“No, I’m
sorry. I didn’t look at my Caller ID. I thought it was my friend, Murphy.”

“The one from earlier?”
she chuckled as a smile filled my face.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Well, then I can forgive your terrible telephone manners,” she teased.

“Yeah,
sorry about that….”

“Don’t be, it’s fine. I’m really sorry to bother you outside of work
, but I didn’t really know what else to do.”

“What do you mean? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just got home and realized I left the keys to my apartment at work. I am not usually like this, but I just….”

“It’s
OK. Where are you now?”

“I’m about
fifteen minutes away.”

“OK
, I can be there in ten. I’ll see you there.”

“Thank you so much, Aiden. I’m so sorry to do
this. I promise that it won’t happen again.”

“Leah, it’s fine, honestly. See you in ten.”

“OK, bye,” she chirped and hung up.

“Leah?” April asked
perplexed.

“Yeah
, she left her keys to her apartment at work. I’m going to open up so she can get them.”

“OK,
well you better hurry otherwise you’ll be late for the guys.” She smiled at me as she rose to her feet.

“Can I call another ‘to be continued’?” I asked with a smile on my face.

“Yes, but you’re running out of them,” she joked.

“I know, I know,” I said
, pulling her in for a kiss. “See you later, beautiful.”

“Yeah, see you later
.” She watched me walk out the door.

* * *

“I am so sorry to have ruined your night,” Leah apologized for the fifth time.

“Honestly, it’s not a
problem. My night hasn’t even begun, yet.”

“Good, well I feel a little better
, but I promise I won’t make a habit of it,” she said seriously.

“It
’s fine. Today was a long day. We all make mistakes.”

Leah’s appearance surprised me since she had said that she
couldn’t get into her apartment. She had on the same light blue, denim jeans she was wearing at work and her fitted white blouse, but her brown hair was now flowing down her back and looked slightly wet like she had just washed it. I’m pretty sure she had on more makeup than she did this morning. She probably stopped off at a friend’s house or something. She did say she had just gotten home.

“Today was pretty awesome by the way,” she said quietly as we walked back outside.

“I’m glad that you enjoyed it.”

“I did, I really did. Everyone made me feel really
welcome, especially you.”

I
began to feel slightly awkward. I cleared my throat. “No problem, I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Yeah, see you in the morning.”

Without looking back, I walked to my car and drove away.

Chapter 5
: Monday, October 7
th
at 5:58pm

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