The Billionaire's Impulsive Lover (The Sisterhood) (14 page)

“Sounds great. What time?”

The surprise on David’s face at her acceptance would have been comical if she hadn’t been in a bad mood already. But he rallied quickly. “How about six o’clock? Think you could knock off work early for a change?”

She smiled at his teasing, but she really wasn’t in the mood. “I think six would be fine. I’ll meet you out front.”

“Great!” and he disappeared before she could change her mind.

The work day dragged on with Claire barely able to focus on her work. She wanted so desperately to just curl up at home and cry out her frustration, but she had to put up a strong image in front of her co-workers. She didn’t want anyone to know that she had been seeing the company big boss socially, much less that she’d slept with him. And if they ever knew that he’d dumped her immediately after their intimate weekend, she thought she would simply find a cave somewhere to live.

Going to happy hour with her co-workers was a pretty major mistake. She realized this almost as soon as she walked into the restaurant. All of them were joking around, ordering beers and other drinks, excited that the end of the work week was near. She smiled and hoped no one realized how unhappy she was as she sat down next to Joe and Andy, both of whom were on her team. Joe was a very sweet guy who was trying very hard not to be geeky, but failing miserably. His suede jacket was expensive and could be very elegant, but since he was wearing it with a plaid shirt, the gorgeous suede completely missed the mark. His glasses were stereotypically sliding down his nose and his hair was cut off to the side, but since he didn’t shampoo it regularly, it was a bit too greasy to be effectively side brushed. He would be better off if he simply cut it short and let it go where it wanted, instead of the painful styling Joe put it through each morning.

Andy was a sweet guy who didn’t try to be anything he wasn’t. As soon as Claire sat down next to him, he turned to her and started discussing the project, his ideas for tweaking the code and the hardware he had requested to make everyone’s lives easier. Claire listened as intently as possible to Andy, ignored Joe who was trying very hard to make jokes to their boss, and not be too obvious about trying to leave only fifteen minutes after she’d arrived.

The music became louder and everyone decided to order appetizers but Claire felt sick at the idea of food. As everyone started handing out menus, Claire glanced at her watch and stood up. “I’m sorry everyone, but I need to head out of here.” Turning to Mike, the co-worker who had invited her, she said, “Thank you so much for including me and I apologize if I’ve been a boring companion tonight.”

“Not at all. We were excited to see you out tonight. We figured you’d already have plans but thanks for hanging with us for a little while.”

Claire looked at him curiously, the comment coming out sounding rather odd. “Why would you think I already had plans?” she asked, and her stomach clenched at what she saw in Mike’s eyes. They knew! Andy looked away, Joe smiled and nodded and Mike looked as if he’d just swallowed something horrible. They all knew that she’d been spending time with Mitch and had made the leap that she’d slept with him.

“I see,” she said and her shoulders drooped. “You thought I’d be out with our fabulous, bastard of a big boss, huh?” she snapped, furious with both herself for being so obvious whenever Mitch was around, and with Mitch for just being irresistible, and bringing her into his company when he knew he was going to pursue her. “Well, since now you know that I’m not seeing that…” she stopped herself before she made any other horrible comment, she turned on her heel and walked out of the restaurant, her head held high and her shoulders back as if she weren’t completely humiliated to be known in the first few week’s of one’s employment as the boss’s play-thing.

But once she’d gotten into her car and pulled out of her parking space, where no one else could see her break down, she pulled off the road into another parking lot, shifted her Mini into park and laid her head down on the steering wheel as the tears she’d been holding at bay for the past several days broke through her barrier of control.

Her cell phone rang and Claire glanced at it, only so she could push it back into her purse. But the name on the screen was exactly who she needed to talk to right now. “Emma! Oh, Emma how are you?” she called out as soon as she pressed the “talk” button.

Emma laughed. “I’m here in Washington, D.C. on a conference. Where are you? We’ve been trying to reach you for the past few hours.”

Claire sniffed and smiled. “I’ve been at a happy hour and the noise must have covered up the ring tone. I’m so sorry I missed you!”

“You haven’t missed us. Come over to the Favio restaurant. Darcy is already here and we’re in the back at a small table. Just ignore the black suited body guards Dharran has me surrounded with. They look scary but they’re actually very nice gentlemen. And when you get here, you can explain why you’re crying. We’ll see you in a few minutes, okay?”

Claire stopped trying to pretend and sniffed, hiccupping her laugh into the phone. “You’re on. But I want to hear about married life in a desert too.”

“Of course,” Emma replied, laughing. “But hurry. I miss both of you.”

Claire switched off and pulled out a tissue, dabbing at her eyes and repairing her makeup as best she could. There was no use trying to hide the fact that she’d been crying since Emma had already picked up on it, but also because her face was red and splotchy and she desperately needed her friends’ shoulders to cry on.

She back out of her parking spot, then zoomed across town to the restaurant, making it there in record time. As soon as she entered, the hostess smiled and led her to the back of the elegant restaurant. There were indeed four very large men at two different tables drinking iced tea and pretending to look inconspicuous but failing miserably. But Claire had eyes only for the two women sitting at the third table. Emma looked gorgeous with her all-American smile and dark, curling hair swinging around her shoulders. Darcy looked as humorous as always in her cargo pants and drab hat, her signature gorgeous brown hair tucked away so the paparazzi wouldn’t find her but the two of them saw her walking in between the tables and immediately stood up, both wrapping their arms around her and giving her a hug.

As soon as she was with her old friends, the damn burst once again. Claire couldn’t help it, feeling this kind of support after the horrible week she’d had broke down all her defenses and she sobbed out the horrible story to both of them. Neither Darcy nor Emma said a word until Claire was finished, ending her sad tale with the recently abandoned happy hour.

“So he just bailed on you after he drove you home Sunday night?” Emma asked.

“Yes,” Claire sniffed, using the previously immaculate linen napkin as a tissue which now had her mascara and powder all over it as the tears streamed down her face. “I really hate him,” she said with emotion. “At least he could have called and told me he was blowing me off. Just disappearing like this, not even being around the office, it’s pretty horrible.”

Darcy shook her head. “I don’t know. If I’m going to be dumped, I don’t think I’d like to see the guy around the office afterwards. I think that’s the whole point of avoiding office romances,” she argued. “It makes for a pretty awkward elevator ride.”

Claire thought about that and nodded. “You’re right. I guess I should be glad that he hasn’t been around to gloat. It would make me furious if I saw him and he winked at me, or gave one of the other people in the office a knowing elbow jab, indicating that he’d ‘done’ me like I’m some sort of prize,” she said and broke down in tears all over again.

“From what you’ve told me about this Mitch guy, he doesn’t sound like the kind to kiss and tell.” Emma bit her lower lip, concentrating on something. “That name sounds oddly familiar. I just can’t place it right now.”

One of the dark suited men stood up and came over, whispering in Emma’s ear. “You’re kidding,” Emma replied, staring up at the man in disbelief.

Claire focused on Emma, her heart constricting while she saw the expressions flit across her friend’s face.

“What’s wrong, Em?” Darcy asked, obviously getting the same vibe since all three of them were tense and still.

Emma grimaced. “Mitch’s company does the security for Dharran’s palace as well as all of his residences.” She glanced back at the body guard who nodded. “Apparently several of the government agencies too.” Emma hesitated once again before sighing. “Okay, he must do the security for all of the government agencies,” she spat out angrily and turned away from the body guard who chuckled and sat back down.

Claire laughed as well. She couldn’t help it, her friend was so sweetly loyal and the expression on her face told her exactly what Emma was thinking about her husband helping the enemy. “Don’t worry about it,” Claire said. “I don’t want his company to fall apart.” She thought about it before saying, “Although I wouldn’t mind if some of his body parts would fall off,” she said with relish.

Darcy laughed and nodded. “Can we pick the body parts?” she asked.

Claire immediately shook her head. “No way. I get to choose but if you have a preference, I’d be more than happy to listen.”

Emma ran her fingers through her hair. “Okay, we’re all in a bit of a bind right now. Darcy’s brother is looking for her, Claire’s lover has been a jerk and I’m off again tomorrow to the desert. What’s the plan?”

Darcy sighed. “If I disappear for a little while, just don’t worry about me, okay?”

Claire sat up in her chair. “What? I’m sorry, I missed something. Darcy? Your brother is looking for you? When did this start? And how do you know? Why would he want to get back in touch with you? I thought you said you had this thing with your family under control. What happened?”

Darcy’s mouth pouted, indicating to Emma that she shouldn’t have given that tid bit of information to Claire. “Claire, you have enough to worry about right now. I’ll tell you about Marco later.”

Claire was already shaking her head. “You’ll tell me about Marco right now. Are you saying he’s found you or that he’s just looking for you?”

“Right now, he’s only asked my agent, Bertie, for information about me. Bertie gave Marco the standard line about not really knowing where I am at any given point in time but promised to use her normal communication routes to try and reach me.”

Emma laughed. “Isn’t Bertie’s normal communication route a cell phone?”

Darcy smiled, showing off her famous dimples. “Yes, but no one knows that.”

“Do I need to get Mitch’s company to get you more protection?” Claire said, instantly concerned. Darcy’s family were old fashioned Mafia. Her father wasn’t just well connected. He was the center of all connections when it came to Mafia connections. He ran the East Coast Mafia families and had been trying to get their daughter back into the family fold, marry her off to one of the other ruling families to solidify their power. It was very political and marriages were a practical way of ensuring loyalty to the boss.

“That’s very sweet of you, but I think I have it covered. If anything changes though, you’ll be the first person I call.”

Claire considered ignoring her friend’s refusal and getting Mitch involved anyway, but knew she’d have to respect Darcy’s request. “Okay. For now,” she finished as a caveat. “But keep me up to date on what’s going on so we don’t worry.”

Emma was nodding her head.

A tall, handsome man with dark hair and grey eyes strolled up to the table. “Good evening, ladies,” Dharran said to the table in general before he bent to kiss Emma gently. “I’m sorry to break this up, but we have to leave. The plane is ready for takeoff.”

Emma smiled back up at him. “Thanks. I know you gave us extra time.” Turning to Claire and Darcy, she stood up, giving each of them a hug. “Keep me up to date. Both of you,” she said as she pulled both of them into a group hug. “You were both there for me when I was trying to figure out this guy’s intentions,” she said, smiling up at the man she obviously loved very much. “I owe you both.”

Claire and Darcy watched sadly as Emma and her new husband walked out of the restaurant, surrounded now by both her security detail and Dharran’s.

“It would certainly be nice, wouldn’t it?” Darcy said with a sigh in her voice.

Claire’s chin was propped up on her hand and she nodded sadly. “It sure would,” she said, her voice cracking as she wished that the person walking out of the restaurant was her, and Mitch’s hand were at the small of her back. And she knew they were going home to his fabulous house near the mountains where he would make love to her with the massive windows beside her, some romantic music in the background and Mitch with nothing on but a heated look in his eyes.

“You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?” Darcy asked.

Claire only nodded once again. “I know. I’m going to have to stop that,” she replied with a sniff. Trying very hard not to cry, she bit her lip and blinked repeatedly until the tears were reabsorbed. Not wanting to weigh on her friend, who looked like she’d just lost a puppy, she turned to Darcy and observed her friend quietly for a moment. Something struck her as odd about Darcy. Claire couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was, but something was definitely not right.