So Right With You (13 page)

Ree finally stopped clipping and began to swat at him as she brushed the clipped hair from his clothing.

“I think I’m all right now, Ree. You can stop.”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” She took one more swipe at him. “Sorry, you had some there.” She spun the chair so quickly, he was sure his head was going to fall off.

Facing the mirror, he saw that his hair actually looked great. He smiled. As mad as she was with him, she was ultimately a professional and would never let anyone, even him, leave with a bad cut, not from her salon. He sighed in relief.

Not smiling, Ree said, “Garrett, I’ve always liked you, but if you hurt her. I swear I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.”

“I don’t plan to,” he responded.

“Good. Then we understand each other,” Ree said.

As he walked to the front, he noticed Cam was getting Sienna’s number and putting it into his cell phone. While he had been dealing with Zena, the warrior, his brother had been getting his second hookup since arriving.

*~*

When Garrett got back home, Chloe said, “It looks great.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Is everything all right?” She sent him a questioning look.

“Did you know that Ree can be a very frightening woman?”

“Ree?” She looked at him, puzzled . Ree was known for her sweet, gentle disposition. How could she be frightening?

“Yeah, Ree,” Garrett answered.

“What are you talking about?” She shook her head.

“Apparently, she thought I needed a warning,” he said.

“About what?” She tilted her head to one side as she stared at him.

“You.”

“Oh.” She blushed.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry.” She shrugged.

“No problem.” He gave her a wry smile.

*~*

That night, Chloe reached her parents by cell phone. They wanted to know how she was doing. She, of course, assured them she was adjusting well enough. She neglected to share some of the high points of her week, like having slept with Garrett and punched Ashley. She did mention the poison oak. When asked how that happened, she simply told them she fell into it by accident on the ranch. Her parents hung up reassured that she was doing fine. Little did they know how things really were.

Garrett’s parents and sister had left on Sunday after dinner with a promise from Chloe that she’d come to their house for the Christmas holidays. Hesitant to accept the invitation, Chloe had hedged as long as she could. But if nothing else, Garrett’s mother was tenacious, and Chloe finally caved. She wasn’t sure she and Garrett would still be together by then.

Early this morning, Garrett had taken Cam back to the airport for his return flight. Tonight the house would be guest free. A sense of reprieve filled her. It wasn’t easy knowing how to balance her new relationship with Garrett and Suzanne’s expectations. Although Garrett had gotten her to back off, Chloe could still feel the pressure of Suzanne’s hopes for their future.

Having driven herself in to the office, Chloe sat at her desk, efficiently managing work for Nolan Enterprises, her comfort doughnut firmly in place beneath her slowly healing bottom.

The telephone rang. Donna May had a dentist appointment that morning, so Chloe was handling all calls.

“Hello, Nolan Enterprises, Garrett Nolan’s office. How may I help you?” Chloe automatically responded.

“This is Bethany Moran. I need you to put me through to Garrett Nolan. It’s important that I talk to him.”

His date.

“I’m sorry. Mr. Nolan is not in right now. Maybe I can help you.” She hoped the woman would say no.

“Oh, can I trust you to be discreet?”

Or maybe not.

She pushed her glasses back up and stared at the ceiling. “I think it’s better if you discuss this with Mr. Nolan himself.”

She impressed herself with how professional she sounded. Truthfully, she really did not want to hear this. She held the telephone more tightly as she waited for Miss Moran’s revelation.

“I understand.” The woman’s voice cracked.

She thought the woman might be crying.

Great!
She really, really did not want to hear this. “Perhaps if you could call back later, you could talk to Mr. Nolan yourself.”

Sometimes it really did suck to be the assistant to the man you were sleeping with.

“It’s just that Garrett and I had a little misunderstanding.” Bethany paused.

Chloe took a deep breath, not wanting to hear any more.

“And I’m afraid he’s still upset with me,” Bethany finished.

Chloe released the breath she was holding. That was definitely not something she wanted to hear. She slunk down into her chair.

That explained why he had come home early. Although he hadn’t seemed upset at the time, Garrett could be very good at masking his true feelings.

“I’m sorry. Can I ask your name?” Bethany continued.

She hesitated, but her professional training prompted her to provide it. “Miss Lambert.”

“Miss Lambert, I just wanted the opportunity to apologize to him. You can understand that, right?”

Her stomach dropped.
Crap! Crap! Crap!

If Garrett had had a fight with Miss Moran, then maybe he’d slept with her on the rebound. It didn’t feel that way, but maybe that was what their being together really was. After all, wasn’t she sleeping with him for the same reason? Or was she? That wasn’t the point. This was different.

She and Trevor were over. She wasn’t completely sure this was. Until she knew, she could not sleep with him again. When he returned, she would mention Miss Moran calling and find out.

“I really can’t help you, Miss Moran, but I will let Mr. Nolan know of your call when he returns.”

“Okay, thank you,” she said in a dejected tone.

Chloe replaced the receiver and lowered her head. Her stomach was churning with all the turmoil building inside her. It made her want to hurl like she had the night she had drank too much.

*~*

Garrett had not had much of an opportunity to be with Chloe today. She had been asleep when he left to drop Cam off at the airport for his early morning flight. Then he’d had a series of meetings outside the office that took him into the afternoon. He was hungry, tired, and needed to see her. Maybe they could order sandwiches in and have lunch together.

When he peeked into Chloe’s office, she sat ramrod stiff, typing up some correspondence. Without acknowledging him she said, “Miss Moran called for you today.”

“What did she want?”

“She said you two had had a misunderstanding,” Chloe stated, fishing.

Garrett exhaled. “That’s the understatement of the year.” He glanced at her. Her stiff posture and refusal to look at him told him she was upset. Leave it to a woman to jump to all the wrong conclusions. Whatever Bethany had indicated had troubled Chloe, another reason to dislike the woman.

“Miss Moran is no longer working for me. She stole the money I gave her and used it to gamble online. It’s all gone. She’ll be lucky if I don’t decide to press charges.”

“I’m sorry. God, that’s terrible.” She turned toward him, her face displaying her dismay at his awful revelation.

“That’s only half of it. What did she want?”

“She wanted to apologize.”

“Somehow, that’s not surprising. She’s probably worried that I plan to press charges. She’s right. I should have done it already. I told her to seek help. She hasn’t done it yet.” His eyes appeared contemplative and maybe even a little disappointed. His shoulders seemed to slacken. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to cancel the fundraiser she was coordinating for me. It’s too close to the holidays and most of the other event planners I normally work with are already booked. I’ve checked. It’s a shame. The money we raised could have really helped the Foundation.”

“Garrett, what if you didn’t have to cancel?” Chloe asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I was thinking.” She gave him a wry smile. “From organizing my own wedding, I became acquainted with many of the vendors in the area. Perhaps I could help you plan the event. After hours, of course.”

“You would do that?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s for a good cause.” She knew who she’d call first to help her plan the event. Carter would love this kind of thing, and she owed him after he’d waived his fees.

“That would be great. And don’t worry about company time, we will make arrangements. I might even hire you an assistant. I could just kiss you.”

“Ah. We’re in the office,” she reminded him.

He beamed at that. Walking purposefully to the door, he locked it and strode toward her with determination in his eyes. “Now, where were we?”

She swallowed. Her nerve endings hummed with anticipation.

He leaned in and kissed her leisurely, bit by bit, until she whimpered. He pulled back and said, “Honey if you keep doing that, we’ll be doing more than kissing, and unfortunately, this is neither the time nor the place for it.”

She groaned. The man was a tease. He had turned her own words back on her.

“Back to my original reason for coming in. Have you had lunch? I’m starving. Let’s order lunch.”

*~*

The rest of the day went by swiftly and before she knew it, she was home at the ranch, getting things together for dinner. Chloe had never imagined when she’d agreed to cook for Garrett that she would have to contend with him as a distraction. Wanting to impress him, since it was her first time cooking for him, she had purchased the makings for Chinese Chicken Salad. She had chosen the dish because it was light, easy, and didn’t require much time, the criteria she was looking for that night.

She was stir-frying noodles for the dish when he arrived home.

Walking into the kitchen, he slipped behind her and kissed her neck. “What’s for dinner? It smells good.”

She turned slightly and he planted one on her mouth, making her stomach flip over.

“I thought we could try Chinese Chicken Salad. After all your mom’s cooking, I think I’ve gained a few pounds.”

“Sounds good.” He nibbled on her neck. “Of course, you taste better.”

Her skin flushed, and it wasn’t from the heat the stove was providing. “If you continue to do that, we’ll never eat,” she complained.

“Eating’s overrated.” He grinned at her, seeing she was flustered.

“Not for me.” She tried to move out of his embrace. She wasn’t fast enough. He licked up the side of her neck.

“Hmm. Yep, you definitely taste better.”

“Stop that,” she protested weakly.

The sensations were playing havoc with her concentration. If he didn’t stop soon, she was going to burn the noodles.

He stepped away, and she finally exhaled.

He began setting the table. Their roles had been switched from when they had last dined alone.

While he was doing that, she finished frying the noodles and combined them with the already-prepared chicken and vegetables. Lastly, she added some mandarin orange slices and mixed it all together.

They sat down to eat. Chloe set her doughnut on the chair before doing so. At least for a few more days, her bottom was still too tender to do without it.

Noticing, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Better, but it’s still irritated.”

“I never should have done that, Red. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I was too rough with you. Maybe…”

Chloe interrupted. “Garrett, I enjoyed it.”

He grinned at that. “You did?”

She blushed. “Couldn’t you tell? It was just unfortunate it was near some poison oak.”

“That’s for sure.”

A silence filled the room. It would be a few more days before she would be up to any future activities like that. She sighed at the lost opportunities.

Hearing the sigh, he put his hand on to top of hers and squeezed. “Let’s check out what’s on cable tonight and watch a movie.”

*~*

They agreed on the classic
It Happened One Night
with much persuasion from Chloe. It was one of her favorite movies.

At a pivotal moment, Garrett blurted, “She knew they were going to sleep together.”

“What do you mean, she knew?”

“Only an idiot would think a blanket and a few pillows would be an adequate barrier between a man and a woman.”

She glared at him. If she didn’t like him so much, she could have throttled him. He had just ruined one of her favorite scenes in the movie with his outburst.

“What did I do?”

She just shook her head and threw a pillow at his head.

*~*

Later, they separated to get ready for bed.

Chloe was soaking in the tub, having added baking soda and vinegar again. Although her rash was healing, it was still causing her discomfort. She kept her ankle with the tattoo propped on the tub edge. She was not supposed to soak it for another week and a half, so it had been hell to climb into the tub on one leg.

There was a knock. She looked up to see Garrett, freshly showered, dressed in black boxers, and carrying a glass of red wine.

“I thought you might like some.” He slowly perused her body with his gaze. His eyes connected with hers.

Her skin heated. She felt totally exposed to him in her precarious position. She wanted to draw her leg down but that would have meant getting her ankle wet. She was stuck.

“Thanks.”

He handed it to her and she took a sip. Sexual tension filled the room, causing her hand to shake with nerves. She spilled a little of the wine down her body

“Here, let me.” He bent down, picked up the washcloth and began to wash her chest. Garrett watched her heatedly.

A shiver went down her spine. “You know we can’t.” She gulped down another sip of her wine.

“I know.”

He reached for the glass and gave her a soft kiss. He handed back the glass. She took another gulp, finishing it.

He took the empty glass and stood. “I’ll be right back.” He gave her a slow, sexy smile.

Her heart rate sped up.

Returning, he reached for a towel as she stood, dripping water from her ample curves. She had never considered herself beautiful, but his gaze made her feel so. He gently dried her. She wrapped the towel around herself, and she took a few minutes to brush her teeth. They entered the bedroom.

He picked up the calamine. “Lie down.”

She climbed on the bed and relaxed into his warm touch.

When he was finished, he helped her to slip on a nightgown. As he pulled the gown down, he stroked along the sides of her breasts and down her sides, resting his hands at her waist.

She released the moan she had been holding in.

He smiled and stepped away from her. “Time for bed.” He pulled the covers back and helped her in. He then went around to the other side and climbed in with her. Reaching over, he switched off the light.

She held her breath.

He gave her a sweet, drawn-out kiss. “Good night,” he whispered, pulling her in close, wrapping his arm around her.

“Good night,” she echoed and snuggled in.

She had never had a man treat her with so much tenderness and care. This was becoming too real for her. Somehow, tonight seemed more intimate, more personal than the others. She was falling for him. She didn’t think she would be able to handle it when he eventually decided to move on.

She might have to rethink her timeline for leaving Nolan Enterprises. It would feel worse than Trevor’s betrayal had. Perhaps the fundraiser event could be her parting gift.

*~*

The next few days fell into a similar pattern. They worked together at the office, then came home to have dinner and cuddle. They had lived together for almost two weeks. Chloe expected they would be able to make love again tonight. Her bottom had healed nicely.

But this afternoon, she had plans with Kali. They were going to have lunch together before meeting Harper at her loft. Kali’s parents had given her permission to take Kali for the outing. They told her that they hoped meeting Harper would raise Kali’s spirits. She’d been feeling down lately.

She arrived in the nice, suburban, middle-class neighborhood. As soon as she parked her red Prius, Kali bolted out of the house with all the enthusiasm only a teenager could exhibit. She had obviously been waiting. Her parents trailed behind her at a slower pace.

Wearing a pretty floral dress, her black Baby Jane boots, and a pink scarf with her usual baseball cap over it, she presented quite the picture.