Not This Time (9 page)

“
I need you to agree with me
on this.” His heart thundered in his chest as he waited for her
response.

“
Don’t you think it’s too
soon?” Her voice and question sounded weak.

He shook his head. “I didn’t think it was
too soon to bring you to my house. It wasn’t too soon to open up
and share our past scrapes and celebrations. It’s not too soon for
me to know I want us to be exclusive.” He shrugged. “Whatever else,
we take a day at a time.”

“
A day at a time.” She
smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“
Yeah, that’ll give you time
to prepare Cherise that she’ll have a brother or
sister.”

Chapter 6

Ain't no sunshine when
she’s gone
. The old tune reverberated in
Frank’s mind, correctly depicting his feelings as he headed down
the highway on his way to a job. Veronique had left four days ago,
ripping a hole in Frank’s heart. At forty-one, he’d been with a lot
of women. Some he’d liked more than others. If asked, he hoped
they’d all say he’d been fair and honest. That had been his goal at
any rate.

Monogamy hadn’t been on his list of
priorities. Settling down was something his plants did, not him.
There were always women around to meet any need he had at the
moment, so he'd never felt the need to have one in particular.

Until now.

Somehow, the contrary woman had marked him.
The past few nights he’d been restless, sleep eluded him. It didn’t
make sense that his bed felt too big now that she’d left. During
the day, his crankiness sent his crew scampering when he rolled up
on a job.

For some reason, he had a tough time
focusing on work, which was ridiculous. Most of his adult life, the
joy of working with the soil had been borderline orgasmic for him.
Creating masterpieces out of the earth was his gift and he’d
gloried in it. This week, everything seemed hum-drum, boring. The
plants lacked color. The trees seemed limp and lackluster. The
stones and brick didn’t stack-up. His mind was in Colorado. There
was a kernel of insecurity embedded in his psyche, which took on a
life of its own, and spread like wild flowers. He’d been the
insistent one that they had a relationship. What if her feelings
died under the test of distance? What if she met someone who lived
closer?

The thought of Veronique with another man,
ex-husband included, sent a shaft of pain through him, followed
closely by a burst of anger. That unique experience alone convinced
him, more than the fight he’d had with Hedrick over a few words the
man uttered which he’d taken exception to, that she was the one for
him.

When he and his brothers
were still in their teens, his father had told them that’s how it’d
been for him with their mother.
Sudden and
distinct
. Supposedly, there was no way to
miss the connection. Red claimed he knew Denise was the one for him
right away, and in a few weeks they’d be tying the knot after
dating for years and having two kids.

Who knew what the twins,
Donald and Blaine, would do with their lifestyle. They were
definite wildcards. Last he’d talked to Roark, Brenda, the young
lady from Michigan, was still staying with him. She’d been
threatened by some of the men responsible for attacking Red at some
dingy bar and Roark had been part of her rescue.
Note to self
- check on
Roark later and make sure everything was okay. Normally, he kept in
touch with all his siblings, but this past week and a half, he’d
been busy with other things. Shaking off the mental gymnastics of
family and lover, he grasped the steering wheel tight, as if it
would enable him to focus on work.

He pulled into the driveway of a large
colonial home. Flowers and small shrubs flanked the walkway. The
grounds of the estate were reminiscent of a fall postcard. Leaves
bursting with an autumn palette of color created a heady background
for the tall columned two-story home. His company had a small
contract to complete some landscaping work in the rear, but had
fallen behind schedule because of outside interference. That was
about to change. Outfitted in a company shirt, jeans, and heavy
jacket, Frank strode toward the back of the large estate, barely
glancing at the towering white columns or the customized limestone
steps. Annoyance rode him hard as he searched for Thomas, the
owner’s son and all around pain in the ass. Catching site of the
irascible young man talking to his supervisor, he changed
directions to meet them head on.

“
Here’s Mr. O’Connor, you
can tell him how you want this changed.” Robert, the red-faced
foreman, stepped backward as he gave Frank an I’m-a
second-from-kicking-his-ass look.

Thomas swiveled and frowned at him. “Frank?
Frank O’Connor?”

“
Yes.” Frank turned to
Robert. “Pack up everything, and take the crew to the First Avenue
job.” He handed Robert the paperwork. “I’ll be there as soon as I
clear things up with Mr. Johansen.”

Robert nodded a tad bit too enthusiastically
as he took the papers and all but ran in the opposite direction. A
smidgeon of guilt flared in Frank’s chest. While Veronique was in
town, he’d dumped a lot of work on his crew, they were well-trained
and could work without his direct supervision, but none of them had
the authority to tell overbearing, rude clientele to fuck-off. That
was his job.

“
Now just a min—
“

“
No. You wait a minute.”
Frank turned and faced the puffed up jack-ass who'd stalled this
job. “I have a solid contract to complete some work for your
father. He asked for specific things, which my crew tried to
provide. Your constant interference has cost me in terms of
man-hours, materials, and employee morale.”

“
That’s not true. I only
want the—”

“
Are you paying me for this
job? For every change you’ve made to the original contract, there
is a fee involved. I need a check right now for the changes, and
your father’s signature on the modified contract. At that time, my
crew will return and complete the job. Otherwise, I’ll see your
father in court for breach of contract.”

“
What the…” Thomas looked
baffled and tried to reassert himself. “You’ve lost your mind. Your
men were doing inferior work and I simply tried to show them what I
noticed was wrong. I have a right to protect my father’s interest.”
He ended his diatribe on a smug note.

“
Maybe. But since you have
no idea what your father ordered, you have no right to instruct my
crew what to do or how to do it.” Frank walked up closer to the
younger man. “Don’t fuck with me, Thomas. You don’t have a legal
ground to stand on. By attempting to satisfy a family member of my
client, we lost considerable time. This job should’ve been done,
and would’ve been, if you hadn’t interfered. I’m shutting the job
down until I talk to your father.” Frank turned to
leave.

“
Wait!” Thomas ran after
him. Frank heard the man huffing in the few steps he’d taken.
“Wait!” Thomas bent over and leaned his pale hands on his jean clad
knees. Frank shook his head. The guy was too young to be so winded
from a few steps.

“
I’ve said all I have to
say.” Frank kept walking toward the front of the estate where he’d
parked his truck.

“
Maybe, but my father has a
big barbecue scheduled for this Saturday.”

Frank shrugged. “I’ll talk to him then.”

“
You don’t understand.
Everything has to be completed before that. The caterers and
everything is supposed to be set up before he gets
here.”

“
Have him call me.” Frank
smiled at the frustration on the younger man’s face. It reminded
him of Roark when things didn’t go his way. Life was all about
learning how to compromise. Hadn’t he promised Veronique he’d fly
down next Wednesday and stay through the week-end with her. He
hoped he could wait that long.

“
Frank.” Thomas pulled his
hand through his hair. “Listen, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have
interfered with whatever my dad set-up. I’ll pay the extra expenses
for my mistake.”

Frank nodded, impressed by the sincerity he
saw in Thomas’s eyes. Another trademark of his youngest brother.
Roark didn’t stew long. Although he was a professional financial
analyst, he analyzed everything and had no problems cutting his
losses early.

“
Will it be possible to have
the landscaping completed before Friday?”

“
Your father has no clue the
job isn’t finished yet, has he?” The kid obviously had been playing
king of the manor while the old man was out of town.

“
No. He took care of
everything before he left. All I’m supposed to do is be here to let
everyone in and sign off. There’s no reason to involve him. I
promise to stay out of the way and pay whatever damages I’ve
caused.”

Frank stared at the younger man for a second
longer, surprised at the comparison he made to his younger brother
again. Physically, the two men had nothing in common. Thomas was
slender and under six feet, whereas, Roark had the trademark
O’Connor brawn. He was tall, around six-three, wide muscular chest
and legs. Thomas’s actions meant he cared for his parent, or at
least his father’s opinion, and was willing to eat crow if
necessary. That snippet of Thomas’s personality was the tie that
kept him thinking of Roark.

“
Okay. We’ll have it
finished in plenty of time.” He stretched his hand toward Thomas,
as a new level of respect welled up inside him for the young
man.

A surprised, and then pleased look, raced
across the young face, before settling into a small smile. Thomas
took Frank’s hand and gave him one pump. “Thanks. I really
appreciate this,” Thomas said, stepping back.

“
Have my money here in the
morning and stay out of the way.” Frank turned and left through the
back gate. His thoughts turned to Roark, and then Veronique. She
was never far from his mind. He grinned as he sat in his truck and
pulled out his cell. She answered on the second ring.

“
Hey.” He loved the purring
quality of her voice.

“
Hey sexy lady.”

“
I hear your truck, so you
must be heading to work.”

“
I hear you rolling around
in bed. Why is that?” He loved teasing her.

“
It’s what?” He listened to
her movements. “Six o’clock in the morning.”

“
And?”

“
Where else would I be at
this time of day?”

“
I could think of quite a
few things.” He deepened his voice.

“
I know you can. You kept me
up last night until you worked through some of those, what’d you
call’em? Yeah, things.”

He chuckled in remembrance of their hot
phone sex session last night. It took the edge off, but damn if he
didn’t need more. “You enjoyed it.”

“
I did. But you wore me out.
I’m still tired.” He imagined the tiny pout on her lips and
hardened instantly.

“
Behave. You start talking
in your fuck-me please voice and I’mma have to do something about
it.” He moved his crotch to the side.

She laughed. “You are such a man, thinking
with that little head. I’m all the way in Colorado, in pajamas, in
bed, the sun hasn’t even come out, and you’re accusing me of trying
to stir you up.”

“
You have on pajamas? What
kind?” His mind filled in the blanks, showcasing her womanly curves
in a black, no red, satin pants and tank top. Maybe a red short
top. She’d be smoking hot.

“
All that I said, and all
you got was the pajamas? Thinking with that lil' head will get you
in trouble, Babe.”

He snorted, disappointed she wouldn’t play
and feed his imagination. “Can I help it if thoughts of you invade
both heads? I was on the job, chewing up a client, and I found
myself thinking about you.”

“
Really?” Her tone was so
dry, it sounded gritty.

“
Actually, you’re never too
far from front and center, but I almost busted a kid down for
interfering with a job. I pulled my crew and sent them to another
job. I’m headed there now.”

“
I hope you didn’t get too
far behind by staying at home with me last week.”

“
No. My most of my crew’s
been with me a while. This was a small thing, we worked it
out.”

“
Good. Because I can’t wait
to see you in a few days. I’m trying to clear my schedule so I can
stay here with you. We may need to go to a few events at night, so
bring a few suits. Otherwise, we’ll chill and get to know each
other better.”

His heart throbbed in his chest at the
promise her voice made. “Whatever you want is fine with me.” His
comment was interrupted by a loud chirping sound coming through the
phone.

“
That’s my alarm, time for
me to get up.”

“
All right, Babe. Have a
good day. I’ll check in with you later.”

“
I’ll be taking depositions
and finishing some briefs until three. But after that, things
should’ve settled some.”

“
That works for me. I’ll
call after I get home.” He paused. “Miss me today,
okay?”

“
I already miss you. Waiting
till Wednesday night is stretching my patience. But I’m a grown-up,
and I can’t always have my way.”

He chuckled. Soon they’d have to work this
distance thing out. “Me too. I miss rolling over and finding you.
But, I’m a grown-up too.”