Professional Boundaries (18 page)

I walked out into the slightly cool air with a spring in my step. I almost put the top down on my car, but I decided against messing up my hair; the evenings were still a little cool too. But regardless, I felt energized when I reached Pierre’s right on time. I didn’t know what kind of car Nicholas drove, so I wasn’t sure if he was there, but I went right in anyway.

Pierre’s screamed high price from the moment I walked in, from the tuxedo clad host, to the white linens and low lighting, to the string quartet playing. It was lovely, but I would still take the park and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Oh well,
Enjoy the moment,
I told myself.

Practically upon entering, I spotted Nicholas. He stood up, and I walked over to him. As he eyed me from head to toe and back up again, his grin widened. He met me at my chair and pulled it out. “You’re breathtaking,” he said as I sat down.

“Thank you.”

I told him he looked well too. And he did. He wore a black suit and a gray tie. I’m sure the suit was tailored as it fit his physique perfectly. 

He just kept smiling at me until our waiter came and delivered the menus and told us what tonight’s specials were. He also gave us a wine list. Of course Nicholas pointed to the most expensive offering on the list and asked my opinion. “I don’t drink,” I politely informed him. That news seemed to disappoint him, but he still ordered a glass for himself. I was about to tell our waiter what I would have to drink, but I found I didn’t have to.

“The lady will have water, with orange slices if you have them.”

I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry at his presence, but I could tell my date sure wasn’t amused as he looked up to him and glared. Mr. Greyson didn’t let that bother him at all. He smiled at him and then over to me.

“That’s what you still drink, isn’t it, Kelli?”

“Why yes, Mr. Greyson, how kind of you to remember,” I said in mock sincerity, because just outright mocking would be in poor form at this moment. But he knew, and it made him smile even more.

“Ian, what are you doing here?” Nicholas asked. He didn’t sound pleased at all.

“My brother-in-law, Sean, is in town for the evening on business,” he pointed over to him. I looked at him at the bar, curious to see who Noelle had married. He waved at me. I waved back. He looked like a nice guy. “And I heard this was one of the best places in town.”

“It is,” Nicholas responded dryly.

I took that as my cue. “Well, have a nice evening, Mr. Greyson.”

He winked at me. “You too, Kelli.”

It took everything I had in me not to roll my eyes, especially when he had parting words for my date. “Don’t have her out too late, it’s a school night after all.”

Nicholas didn’t even respond to that ridiculous statement as Ian walked away, laughing to himself.

I turned my attention back to my unhappy date. “Sorry about that.” I smiled in hopes to smooth it over.

He wasn’t smiling back. “So do you guys have like a thing?”

“No. He’s my boss,” I said indignantly.

He smirked. “Because that would be unheard of.”

“I think we should change the subject.”

Nicholas had no problem with that, but unfortunately my first impression of him was dead on. He loved to talk about himself. I was treated to the highlight reel of his ‘fascinating’ life. I didn’t even need to speak, I just sat there and smiled, and the only reason I smiled was because someone besides my date kept staring my way from the bar. Several times I caught both he and his brother-in-law staring my way and either smiling or waving. Then it got interesting when the table next to us freed up. Guess who came to occupy it?

It was comical in a way, and it at least made my date take a breath and shut up. He was just starting in on his days as a star basketball player for the University of Tennessee, and I, for one, wasn’t interested at all. The new table arrangement also allowed me to be introduced to Noelle’s husband, and I really wanted to meet him.

Mr. Greyson, with no regard, interrupted Nicholas. “Kelli, this is my very lucky brother-in-law, Sean Nixon.” My first thought was,
That was kind of sweet
. He and Noelle had been close, and by how he introduced Sean, I could tell that was still the case. My second thought was,
I bet Noelle didn’t love having Nixon for a last name
, but I bet she loved Sean; I could just sense he was a nice guy. He wore a goofy smile that fit his red hair and freckles perfectly. He looked like the sweet boy next door. I bet Noelle kept him on his toes.

Sean held out his hand as the introduction was made. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Noelle will be jealous.”

“How is Noelle?” I asked eagerly as I took his hand.

His eyes lit up at the mention of her name.
What a good husband,
I thought. I was having holy envy again. Not that I was attracted to Sean at all, but I hoped to someday have a husband who lit up at the mention of my name.

He grinned like he really was the luckiest man. “She’s Noelle.”

“Please tell her hello for me.”

“I’ll do one better.” He took out his phone and mischievously grinned. “Ian, stand by Kelli. Mr. Greyson immediately joined me and held his hand out to help me stand up. Just his touch made me wish … well … never mind. To make matters worse (or better, depending how you looked at it), he put his arm around my waist. I looked up to him; he just grinned like a fool, and foolishly, I liked it. We smiled for a picture, and I immediately sat down. It was then I noticed how very unhappy my date was. I tried smiling again to smooth it over, but he wasn’t buying it. I just shrugged. I wasn’t having that good of a time anyway.

The rest of my date pretty much ended up with me trying to talk to three men, all who seemed to be clamoring for my attention. I even had a phone call from Noelle; we caught up briefly. “You look beautiful, Kelli, especially paired with my brother,” she commented on the photo her husband had sent her. I’m sure I blushed. We didn’t hang up until we had swapped numbers and promised to catch up more later on. We all stayed until closing time, and we all walked out together. Weird didn’t even begin to describe this night.

 I said my goodbyes to Mr. Greyson and Sean, who both seemed reluctant to leave me; in fact, I noticed they walked to Ian’s car, but they didn’t go anywhere. I let Nicholas walk me to my car. He seemed out of sorts. I guess I couldn’t blame him. I thought it was a good thing Lorelai had signed those papers already.

When we arrived at my car, Nicholas kissed my cheek. “Maybe next time we could do this alone.”

I smiled at him.
There wouldn’t be a next time.

“Thank you for dinner,” I responded.

He looked down at me and wickedly grinned. “How about dessert?”

I had a feeling he wasn’t talking about food.

“Goodnight, Nicholas.”

“Maybe next time.”

I got in my car quickly and sped away. I really hated being right sometimes.

Chapter 13

Saturday morning found me watching my nieces while my traitorous brother-in-law played golf with my annoying boss. What was he playing at anyway, interrupting my date? Ok, sure, I enjoyed talking to him and Sean more than my date, and I kind of appreciated that they waited for Nicholas to leave before they left. Not that I thought Nicholas would try anything, per se, but it was nice all the same, especially since my first instincts were spot on. I longingly looked at my list on my refrigerator. Really, was it that hard to find a guy that met all those criteria?

I tried not to dwell on it as the girls and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours at the pool. Well, it was enjoyable until Mr. Greyson showed up in his plaid shorts and well-fitting polo. I swear he looked like he had just done a photo shoot for J Crew. I looked down at my black swimsuit as I sat on the edge of the pool with my legs dangling in the warm water. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to see me like this.

His eyes lit up as he strutted over to me with golf clubs slung over his shoulder. I turned from him and watched my nieces. That didn’t deter him. The idiot came right over and sat next to me after he deposited his clubs near one of the lounge chairs. He even surprised me by taking his shoes and socks off and dipping his legs in the pool too.

“You’re looking well today, Kelli.”

I just rolled my eyes at him.

He grinned. “But not as well as you looked last night. That red dress, stunning,” he said quietly and close enough to me that goose bumps erupted.

Where was a dumb breeze when you needed one? He knew those bumps didn’t appear because I was cold, and he seemed quite delighted by it.

“Why did you go to Pierre’s last night?”

“I told you last night. I heard it was the best place in town, and Sean was only here for the night.”

I scowled at him. “Your Greyson white lies don’t work on me anymore.”

He grinned wickedly. “So what does work on you? I see Nicholas sure didn’t seem to do it for you.”

“Yes, thanks for ruining my date, by the way.”

“I’d like to take the credit, but I think you and I know better.”

I turned my attention back toward the girls. He was right, but I wasn’t admitting it. 

“I know men like Nicholas, too, and I was …”

I looked back over to him, and he sweetly smiled. Why did he have to look and act like Ian?

“I just wanted to make sure you were treated like you deserve.”

I was completely taken back. I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, thanks, but I don’t think that’s part of your job description.”

“Have you actually seen my employment contract?” he teased.

“You’re in a mood today.”

He smiled down at me. “Maybe it has something to do with the Nashville scenery.”

Thank goodness the girls swam up to us and splashed us both in the process. I don’t know why, but his last statement and look had me feeling a tad warm.

“Girls, I want you to meet someone. This is my boss, Mr. Greyson.”

“The idiot?” Sam said with no regard or qualms.

Courtney giggled.

Apparently, my sister and I needed to quit talking around them.

Embarrassedly I grinned over to Ian who had his eyebrow raised sky high at me, but he didn’t address me. He turned to the girls. “So what else has your aunt said about me ladies?”

“Oh no, no, no …” I cut in.

The girls laughed harder, and I knew I was in trouble. “Well …” they said in unison.

That was it. I jumped in the pool and tried to grab the little trouble makers, but they swam off to the other side of the pool laughing all the way. I looked back up to Ian who was all soaked and grinning evilly at me.

“So, this is what you really think of me?”

There was no sense in denying it. He was an idiot. “Believe me, I’ve thought worse things of you.”

His smile dropped and I felt terrible, even though it was true. Did he not understand how much he hurt me so long ago? But still, I should have held my tongue.

“Ian … I mean Mr. Greyson, I’m sorry.”

“No Kelli, I’m the sorry one.” With that he got up and gathered all his things and left.

I just watched him walk away, and part of me ached. When he was completely gone, I just sank under the water and wondered why I was letting him have such an effect on me.

I didn’t see him the rest of the weekend, which was probably a good thing. His actions confused me, and by Monday I was even more confused. I was finally going to see why we were wasting company funds on Ms. Manselle. I was just happy to know she had actually done some work. Whenever I saw her, she wasn’t designing anything—unless you counted her designs on Mr. Greyson.

Matt and I showed up to the conference room, waiting to be dazzled by her new designs. The meeting was supposed to start at nine, but the two love birds were all cooped up in Mr. Greyson’s office. I guess they needed a warm-up session. I still didn’t get it, and I didn’t get him. What did he see in her? Personally or professionally?

They came in fifteen minutes late; she looked frazzled and Mr. Greyson looked out of sorts.
Maybe they had a lover’s spat
, I thought, but then the presentation started, and the kindest word I could think to describe it was, “awful.” I could tell Mr. Greyson thought so too, but it didn’t keep him from trying to smooth it over. He kept saying things like, “Just visualize this or that.” It was pathetic.

 I just kept my mouth shut, but Mr. Greyson kept looking at me like he was daring me to say something. I didn’t have to; the erratic, incoherent presentation spoke for itself.

And Matt’s comments tied it up nicely. “I can’t work with this. I think it would be better to stick with our current interface,” he said after he threw his pad of paper on the table. 

I tried my hardest not to smirk, but it was really hard. It was harder not going and getting my design. I was even tempted to tell Matt about it and secretly show it to him, but I refrained.

Mr. Greyson looked directly at me with eyes of steel. “We’ll get this right.”

I gave in to my urge and smirked at him. Matt just shook his head, and Ms. Manselle pouted.

I will say this, at least it seemed to light a fire under her. I saw her more at work than at play for the next couple of days.

Then Thursday came. It was my birthday, and I was tempted to give myself the best present ever and not go in to work, but Mr. Greyson and I were presenting on Friday for Premier Bank in Nashville. They were a billion dollar asset financial institution, so we needed all the prep time we could get. At least I was going to be able to have dinner with my family that night before they left for the Magic Kingdom the next day.

I came in at a normal time. I figured I deserved the extra sleep. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Delfia had placed a large bouquet of balloons in my office for me before I even arrived. She really was the best. Her hug and homemade coffee cake weren’t bad either. Just the two of us enjoyed the cake together in my office. We didn’t feel like dumb and dumber were worthy of it, but I felt kind of bad about that later that morning when I got a surprise delivery of flowers.