Rebound (24 page)

He paused then said, “Well, there may have been a few women, but never assistants. Well, there was the one, but that was when I was first starting out. Ellenor has been my assistant ever since.”

“Why would you do this to me? Make me one of the many. You made me feel like a complete whore today. I hate that more than anything.” She stuck her finger in his chest and said, “I…am…no…one’s…whore.” 

She stepped back and the look she gave him made him stop in his tracks. Katrine turned and left him standing on the side of the street. When she got back home she threw herself onto the bed. She still had her Pumas on when she cried herself to sleep.

Katrine awoke puffy eyed, with a full-on, kick to the cranium headache. She groaned and rolled out of bed. It was 6:00 a.m. She had two choices.  She could quit her job, disregard her hard work and reference possibility, or she could act like a professional, albeit a stupid idiotic, screwed her boss type of professional, and go in to work today. Well, if she did go into work today, it would be late. She was going to go get a coffee from her favorite cafe and eat something sugary and fattening. If she could eat...

She brushed her teeth. Put a hat on, and went out the front door. She got to the third step and froze. Xander was in his car hunched over the wheel like a drunk that had passed out. She ran down to the car and knocked on the window, overcome with a momentary rush of pity.

“Xander, Xander. Wake up.”

He stirred and looked up at her. His eyes were blood shot and he looked dreadful. She opened the door.

“Have you been out here the whole night?”

He just nodded his head.

“You have two meetings today,” she lightly scolded him.

“I don’t care about the stupid meetings. I don’t care about any of it. You...you, are the only thing that matters to me here.” He sighed in a defeated kind of way. 

“Come on, let’s get you inside.”

She helped him out of the car and they went inside...

“I’m sorry I reacted the way that I did. I’m not proud of the way I behaved. Honestly, that is the worst freak out I have ever had in my entire life. I was hurt and embarrassed. I still am. I am not sure what to do from this point,” Katrine said sadly.

He grasped her arms and pleaded, “Please, Katrine don’t end this. I had no intention of making you feel like a whore. I respect you more than any woman I have ever been with. We just hadn’t had time to be together with work being so busy. I wanted you and I just had to have you. I couldn’t think about anything else. I can not think straight around you. I am losing control.” He dropped his arms and his head. The lack of sleep was obviously taking its toll on him. 

“Look, your first meeting isn’t until eleven, so get some sleep. I’ll go by your place and get some clothes for you.” She guided him over to her bed and tucked him in.

“Katrine, please forgive me. Please don’t shut me out.” he pleaded. She had never seen him so vulnerable.

“Shhhhh. Just sleep, sweetie. Everything will be alright. Just sleep.” She kissed him on the forehead and closed the door.

She took the key to his place and drove over. The sun was just starting to make its entrance. Where did she start? What an insane turn of events. One minute they are about to have naughty desk sex in his office, and the next she was running around the streets like a crazed lunatic. She shook her head at the thought.

“How embarrassing!” she yelled, hitting the steering wheel.

He had stayed in front of her place all night. Those were not the actions of some heartless player.  

“He cares about you and you know it.”

She did know it. He said that his father must have known he really liked her. Those were his words. Did she overreact because deep down she wanted to sabotage the whole thing? Did she want a reason to walk away angry. Anger she could deal with, sad and love sick, not so much. No, she was pretty sure it was just straight up embarrassment. But the tides had turned, of that Katrine was sure. It seems as though Xander Abbot was in as deep as she was. But she wasn’t comforted by that fact and she wasn’t sure why. 

She returned to her place around 8:00. She needed to get to the office and try to push back his first meeting. He needed more than four or five hours of sleep. Xander had too much riding on this to blow it because of her. He was still sound asleep and he looked so peaceful there in her bed. It took every ounce of strength she had not to crawl under the covers and hold him. Instead she took a quick shower and got dressed. She wrote him a note and left her key so he could lock up and meet her at the office. 

Katrine called the lawyers, which was the first meeting. She said that Mr. Abbot was detained and needed to push back the appointment. They agreed to meet him at 4:30 that afternoon. His second meeting was scheduled for 1:30, so that gave him plenty of time between the two. She sent him a text with the new times. She had put his phone on the kitchen counter with the note and keys, hoping he would not be woken up by any calls. 

Katrine had a lot to prepare before the meetings today. Not to mention the detailed information she needed to go over. She needed to put yesterday’s events behind her and focus. Next week was the big push before everything was finalized.

What were they going to do after? She wondered if he would want to see her again. Something long distance? She didn’t have the answers, but she knew they would figure it out. It had to be soon though. The clock was ticking and she was so damn tired of thinking about it...

Chapter 28

When Xander finally walked into the office, he looked completely different from the man she found hunched over his steering wheel early that morning. He looked well-rested and very handsome. He had a coffee and a bag of something in his hands.

“Am I still in the doghouse?” he quietly asked, and before she had a chance to answer he said, “I come bearing gifts. I know with all of the running around you did on my behalf and the craziness from last night, that you probably haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.” 

“You’re right. I was on my way out for breakfast when I found you this morning. And I had no stomach for anything last night. Well, besides overreacting and making a complete spectacle of myself.” She gave him a self-deprecating grin.

“And no, you are not in the doghouse. I could have extended your torture, but I’m not going to. So what do you have in that little bag, Mr. Abbot?”

“This, Katrine, is how we do breakfast in Manhattan.”

He handed her the bag and placed the coffee on her desk. She opened the bag to find lox and an everything bagel from a great shop around the corner.

“Ooh, fresh tomato, onion, capers, and cream cheese. Just how like it. I will skip the onion today though.” Her stomach started to rumble. It was past breakfast time, but her stomach didn’t discriminate. “Yum! This is one of my favorites, thank you.”

“I should have known...” he laughed shaking his head.

“Are we ok? Next time we can let the call go to voice mail” Xander joked.

“Yes, we’re ok. But unfortunately, I don’t think there will be a next time... I emailed you the updated paperwork for your 1:30. You are still on at 4:30 with the lawyers. Also Mitch Warren needs you to call him first thing. If you don’t mind I’m going to leave a little early today since you have that meeting. For some reason I’m really tired today.” she said and turned back to her computer.

He took the hint and walked back into his office.

Ok, maybe I am still mad.

She would get over it, but she guessed she might need one more night to sleep on it.

When Xander was leaving for his first meeting he snuck up behind Katrine and whispered in her ear, “I’m leaving.”

“Damn it, Xander. Why don’t I ever hear you?”

“Maybe because you play your music too loud?”

“Do I really? I’m sorry. You should have told me,” she said as she reached for her speakers.

“Relax, Katrine it’s fine. I was just teasing you. I will be back soon. And as for your request to leave early, that isn’t a problem. I have to go out to their offices, so I don’t see why you need to be here.”

“Thank you. I am exhausted. I’m starting to hit the wall.” 

He kissed her on the forehead and said, “Go get some rest. I can handle things for the rest of the day.”

“Are you sure?” she yawned.

“Yes, I’m sure. I owe you one,” he said, smiling down at her and pulling her out of her chair into his arms. He held her there for a long while, his nose buried in her hair.

“So am I forgiven yet?” he asked gently.

“Close Xander, very close. I think after a nice nap I’ll be feeling more lenient.”

He bent down and gave her a tender kiss on lips, “Sweet dreams, precious girl.” 

And he walked out the door. Katrine smiled, enjoying the warm feeling in her chest. Later, she took off her work clothes and collapsed onto her bed. She may have been asleep before she even hit the mattress.

“Teddy, there is someone at the door. I’ll talk to you tomorrow sweetheart. I love you!”

“Love you too, momma.”

She thought it might be Xander, but when she looked out the peep hole there wasn’t anyone there.

“HMMMM.”

She opened the door and nearly tripped over a huge package in front of her door. She did the “yeah a present” dance and brought the box inside. There was an envelope tucked under the ribbon.

“Oh Xander, what did you do?”

The note said, 

I feel that I still need to make amends for yesterday. Do not open this until Saturday afternoon. Be prepared to go somewhere with yours truly by 2:00.

Xander

Saturday? That was too far away! She was so excited, what could be in the box? Clothes? Shoes? A purse? Maybe it was something small, like jewelry! He could have used the big box and put something inside to weigh it down to throw her off. The guessing continued until she got into bed. She sent him a text message saying,
“I accept your invitation and look forward to seeing inside the box”.

He simply answered,
“No peeking!”

She smiled and turned off her light. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to sleep since she had her long afternoon nap, but to her surprise she crashed.

Friday morning came and Katrine launched herself out of bed. Tomorrow she got to see what her present was. Yeah!

“You are such a little girl sometimes!” she scolded herself with a laugh.

She put on a taupe skirt with matching fitted jacket and a cayenne-colored shirt with a collar. She chose taupe pumps, closed toe with a strap on the back, heel exposed. She laughed at herself. She really had way too many shoes. 

“Imelda MacNamara.”

“So are you going to give me any hints about tomorrow? What’s in the box? Where are we going?”

“For a mature woman, you sure act like a little kid when it comes to surprises,” he teased her.

“I can’t stand it!”

“You really want to know that bad?”

“Yes. No. I want to be surprised, but not knowing is killing me!”

“You are so adorable,” Xander said shaking his head at her.

“But what do I wear? Do I need to pack anything? Do I need a passport or a tetanus? I need to prepare!”

He chuckled, “Katrine, I promise all will be revealed when you open the box.” 

He gave her a quick kiss.

“Okay, I will try to be patient until tomorrow, even if it kills me. You should have just kept the box until Saturday and spared me the torture.”

“But where would be the fun in that? Anyway it isn’t that big of a deal. I just wanted to give you something.”

“But why do I have...”

“Katrine enough, Saturday, okay?”

“Oh, alright.” She knew she was pouting like a child, but she didn’t care...

Saturday morning Katrine came home, having stayed over at Xander’s the night before.

 Her attempt to bribe the answer out of him with sexual favors failed miserably, although the effort was greatly appreciated.

All that blow-job business for nothing, damn it!

 She decided to forget about Pandora’s box for the rest of the day.

“Then why are you still holding it on your lap, dumb ass?”

Katrine put it back in the corner and went to take a shower. While the water was heating up, she checked out the gray situation in the mirror. She was trying to decide if she should go in to see Tristan for a color. But she didn’t want her hair to smell funny. Xander always had his nose in her hair.

“Ok, not too bad. It will hold for a week or so. My eye brows, however, need a little attention.”

Maybe she should have taken “you want eye brow wax” up on her offer. Nah, why give her the satisfaction. After close inspection of all areas on her face and hair, she jumped into the shower. Where the inspection continued.

Downtown looking ship shape... 

When she was thoroughly shaved and scrubbed, she made her exit. Katrine decided she would use the hot rollers for this evening’s outing. If it was fancy she could throw it up or wear it down. She couldn’t pick out her outfit because she had to see in the box first.

“Oh, bugger!”

Her phone rang. It was the source of her torture, himself.

“Are you dying yet?” He was enjoying this way too much.

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting back into my good graces, not pissing me off once and for all?”

“I think we went well past good graces last night, my dear Katrine,” he said in a very playful manner. Just thinking about all the things they had done last night made her face flush.

“Alexander Abbot, you are being a total dick head about this. Now let me open the wonderful present you bought me!”

“Okay, okay. That is why I was calling you. Katrine please feel free to open your present and I hope you like it. I lied though when I said all would be revealed. You will just have to wait. The box is not the whole surprise. I will pick you up at 2:00. Wear something comfortable and bring what is in the box with you.”

“Okayseeyouattwo,” she blurted and threw the phone into the corner. She ran over to the box and then just stared down at it.