Once a Marine (22 page)

The overlong silence on Shari’s end of the line insured BD’s headache would be a doozie. “You’re skating on thin ice, BD. Pack your things and vacate the apartment. You’re no longer needed there. Be standing in front of my desk by Monday afternoon. That is an order.”

BD swallowed, she couldn’t breathe or think. “What is going on?”

“Be here!” A sharp click was followed by silence. BD sat at her desk, staring blankly at the window to the workroom, her mind in chaotic turmoil.

Enzo walked by and nodded. Abruptly he stopped, his face twisted with alarm. He tapped on her door and pushed it open with caution. “Is something wrong?”

BD jumped from her chair. “Argh!” She threw the phone across the room and turned on Enzo. He hopped back and raised his hands, eyes open so wide the whites were visible all around. “BD?”

“Goddamn that insufferable bitch!” She kicked the wastebasket over and with one swipe pushed every item on the top of her desk flying to the floor. “Damn her!” She turned to face Enzo. “I’d like to kill somebody!”

Enzo backed closer to the door.

“Where are you going? I’m not mad at you!”

She slumped into her chair and gasped a breath. A giggle escaped her at his wide-eyed expression of horror. “Enzo, I’m sorry.” She shook her head, lips tight with disgust. “Look at the mess I made.”

With a relieved sigh, Enzo lowered himself in the chair opposite her. “Your anger is terrible. You are fierce like the Vandals who sacked Rome. What did Shari do?”

“She cancelled the London deal and told me to pack up and move out of the apartment. She wants me back in LA by tomorrow night. She said I’m no longer needed here, that I’m skating on thin ice.”

His brow creased with confusion. “Skating on ice? I don’t understand. Is this an American expression?”

BD stood and paced behind her desk, stepping on paperwork strewn on the floor. “It’s a warning. She’s threatening to fire me.”

Shocked, Enzo stood and leaned forward with his hands on her desk. “But why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t really know. I did refuse to return tomorrow. I told her the earliest I could get there was Monday night. As you can imagine, she didn’t like that.”

Enzo picked up some papers on his side of the room. He retrieved the phone, examined it, returned it to the cradle, and sat in the chair again. He was thinking, and BD imagined she could hear the gears in his brain. She followed his lead and gathered folders and drawings from the floor. Righting the wastebasket and its spilled contents, she sat silent.

When he still didn’t speak, she stood. “I’m going to get myself a cup of coffee. Would you like to come with me to the break room?”

Lips pressed, he nodded and followed her. Halfway through his coffee he finally spoke. “If you are fired, I will quit and return to Milano. I do not wish to work for Shari or her mother.” He shook his head. “No. I must enjoy what I do.”

BD waved her hand. “She’s not going to fire me. I’ve been through her tantrums before. I just can’t imagine what brought on this latest one.” She sipped coffee, and they sat quiet and stared into their cups.

Determined to enjoy the weekend with Jack, Kelly, and Chase, BD said nothing about her confrontation with Shari, only that she would be returning to California instead of London on Monday. She had no intention of packing all her belongings and moving out of the apartment. If Shari fired her, or she quit, she’d retrieve her property later. She adopted an attitude of resignation. How much more was she willing to put up with for this job?

Unable to get a seat on the same flight as Jack’s family, their departure times were close enough to allow them to travel together to JFK. She bid them goodbye at curbside, telling them she’d see them later that evening at their home.

Rafi called while she waited at her departure gate. “Hey, Beautiful, checking in to see how my girl is. Did I catch you on your way to London?”

The sound of his voice did wonders for her mood. Talking to him on the phone was a poor substitute for sitting on his lap, but it would do for now. “Hey, Marine, I’m on my way back to LA. The London trip has been put off for now.”

“You’ll be back tonight?” The happy note in his voice warmed the deep cold hollow in her stomach. “Can you stay at my place? I’m between jobs for a couple days. I’ll meet your flight.”

She crossed her legs and leaned into the back of the Naugahyde chair, relaxing for the first time in days. “That does sound wonderful, but Karl is picking me up to take me directly to the factory.”

“What about later?”

“I’ll phone Jack and let him know I’ll be staying with you. Can you pick me up at Grayson? No…never mind. My car is there in the back lot. I’ll call you and let you know when to expect me.”

“OK, let’s do dinner. What happened to the London trip?”

With a dismayed sigh she shook her head. “God knows. Shari called me in a rare mood to say she’d cancelled the retail deal in London. She didn’t bother to consult me or Enzo about it first. She had a conniption fit when I asked her why she didn’t talk to us in advance. Maybe she’s going to fire me. At this juncture it might be a relief.”

“She’s a real piece of work, that one. Any idea when she’ll be through making your existence a living hell?”

BD laughed. “I don’t know what she has in mind. The question is, how long will I put up with it?”

“Why don’t you quit that job and come to work for me?”

“As what, a kissing flight attendant? I don’t think so, flyboy.”

“Just a thought.”

“You’re not serious.”

“I need a general manager. I’m spread too thin around here.”

She shook her head slowly. “I’m the last person you want managing you, Rafael Cruz. Besides, I don’t know the first thing about running an airline.”

“Like I said, sweet cheeks, it was a thought. Tonight I’ll settle for some hot time in the sack.”

“I certainly hope I won’t be intruding.”

“No wonder Grayson is giving you a hard time. You’re a real smartass.”

The gate opened, and passengers wandered toward the boarding queue. “I won’t deny that. They’re calling my row. I’ll see you later. You still my guy?’

“Nobody else’s.”

How had his mouth got ahead of his brain when he asked Beautiful about working for him? He’d given a brief thought to it a while back, but dismissed it as a bad idea—the two of them working together on a regular basis, with him holding the purse strings, but being accountable to her? No way would that work. He laughed as he imagined a similar scenario with his mother and father. Ha! It would last a millisecond.

BD had a mind of her own. It wasn’t that he couldn’t take orders. He took orders all the time. His military training proved he could. He took orders when he was on a Silverstone assignment that he wasn’t running. The owners of Silverstone were very smart people. They employed very smart people. It was easy to take orders from people you respected and trusted. Did that mean he didn’t trust and respect Beautiful? No. He did.

What was it then? Is it possible his cultural mindset was too macho? He was tuned into traditional male-female rolls, but it was an illusion. His mother and sister ruled their respective roosts, always had. Clever at making the men in their lives believe it was they who made all the important decisions, an unspoken agreement existed between the sexes. It generally worked out for the best all around. Even as a kid he knew Rita had the last word when he wanted something. She would never contradict a decision by his father though. When push came to shove, Antonio was captain of the ship.

Rafi had been his own boss, running his own show for a long time. He could accept a hired man as his general manager. A man telling him he was wrong, butting heads with him, telling him to go to hell. But how would he react if it were BD or any woman for that matter? Because it was a bonehead idea, he wasn’t likely to find out.

Bert tapped on his door. Rafi motioned him in. “What’s up?”

“You want the good news or the bad news?” The old man wiped his hands on a greasy cloth and shoved it into his back pocket.

Rafi chuckled. “That’s a really dumb cliché, isn’t it? Especially because I know you’re going to give me both versions. Out with it.”

Bert grinned. “I can fix that engine on the Cessna. That’s the good news. The bad news is the new parts will cost about five grand.”

“Christ!” Rafi stood with hands on his hips and dropped his head with disgust. “Show me the problem. I may end up putting it in mothballs for now. It’s a good piece of equipment, but we don’t use it that much anymore.”

“That must’a been your little gal on the phone. You get a certain look on your face when you talk to her, boss.”

“Jeez. I’m losing my inscrutable stone face. Yeah, it was her.”

They walked across the hangar to the Cessna. Bert had the engine disassembled with parts laid out on a piece of canvas on the cement floor of the hangar. “When we goin’ to see little miss BD again?”

“She’s flying to LA as we speak. If she has time from work, I’ll bring her by tomorrow. I nearly put my foot in it when I talked to her just now.”

Bert tapped him on the shoulder as he leaned over Rafi’s back to study the engine. “Don’t you do nothing to hurt that little gal, you hear? You’ll have me and Joe to answer to if you do.”

Rafi laughed. “Don’t worry, that’s the last thing on my mind. I’m the one who nearly got hurt. I opened my big mouth and offered her the job of general manager for Cruz Aero.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah.” Rafi picked up a couple of engine parts. Holding them up for a better look, he turned to Bert. “Is this the problem?”

“Yep, it’s froze up. Gotta be replaced. No gettin’ around it.” He motioned Rafi to the aircraft to look at the intact part of the engine. “We’re lucky it didn’t damage the cowling. I fixed it once before.”

“OK. Get me the exact pricing and I’ll run the numbers.”

“So, did she take it? The general manager job?”

“No, thank God. She laughed me off.”

“She’d be a good’un though, tougher’n you, I suspect.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but the first thing she’d probably do is fire me.”

Chapter Sixteen

Bright morning light bled through the slats on the plantation shutters in Rafi’s bedroom. BD had been awake since seven thirty New York time. Careful not to disturb him she turned on her side and stared at his sleeping form in the dim light of early morning.

If this relationship was going to last, he’d need to get a different bed. He was so much heavier, she kept rolling into the depression in the center of his mattress. He joked about it, saying it was his way of keeping her close once he got her between the sheets.

Rafi’s eyelids fluttered when she ran a finger lightly down his nose. As she touched his lips, he barked and grabbed her finger between his teeth. She yelped with fright, shocked and breathless.

BD pounded his chest and shoulders. “You scared me, dammit!” Her next words died in her throat as he hugged her hard to his body. She gasped. “Rafi, you’re going to break me.”

Beneath her his chest bounced with silent laughter. Easing his tight hold he stroked her back and bottom. “Don’t want to do that, do we, Bravo Delta? I’m not done with you yet.”

She pushed herself away from him and hopped off the bed. “We’ll have to take this up later. I need to get a move on if I’m going to beat Shari into the factory this morning.” She nudged him with her foot. “How about figuring out what’s for breakfast while I take a shower? This afternoon you and I are going mattress shopping.”

He made a grab for her, but she scampered into the bathroom and closed the door.

Rafi sat up, scratched his head with both hands and shook off the last of his drowsiness. He’d never slept as peacefully as he did with Beautiful in his bed. What was wrong with this mattress? He liked his bed.

Padding around barefoot in his small kitchen, he prepared coffee, set out cereal bowls, and cooked a pot of oatmeal. Pecans…where were those pecans? Oatmeal with chopped pecans and orange blossom honey had been his favorite breakfast since childhood. Fragrant whole-wheat toast popped from the toaster as BD walked in.

“That smells good. I’m starved.”

He handed her a mug of coffee and tipped his head toward the table. “Have a seat. Breakfast coming right up. You like oatmeal?”

“Love it.” She took a lingering whiff of her coffee, tested the heat, and sipped slowly. “Mmm, I could get used to a large virile man preparing my breakfast.” She tilted her head and puckered for a kiss.

He gave her a quick peck and picked up the pot. “You can get used to it so long as I’m the man. Sit. Get it while it’s hot.”

She gave him a pat on the butt as he spooned oatmeal into her bowl. “I thought I already did that.”

“You sure you have to go to work this morning? We can spend the whole day testing mattresses. Starting with mine.”

BD nodded. “How I wish I could. That sounds a lot more tempting than what I’m going to deal with today.”

* * *

The only activity BD noticed when she arrived at Grayson was in the workroom. That department started work at six and they were out of the factory by two. Spirited conversation in Spanglish filled the air. Several workers acknowledged her with waves or nods as she passed.

Sure she’d arrived ahead of Shari, BD continued to her office on the other side of the building. Dismayed, she stopped and gasped to find Shari sitting at her desk when she opened her office door.

The contents of BD’s drawers were scattered on the desk top. “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for something. What do you think I’m doing?” She continued digging in the bottom drawer. “Where is it?”

BD’s head swam. “Where is what?”

“You know what I’m looking for.”

“How could I possibly know? Tell me what it is, and if I have it I’ll find it for you.” She put her briefcase on the guest chair and threw her jacked over it.

Shari stood and rounded the desk. She tossed BD’s jacket aside. “What are you hiding?”