Rome for Always (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) (15 page)

He was surprised when he stepped out into the main
office and met Iyana just coming out of her office. “I thought you hadn’t come
in today,” he said.

“I did,” she replied, her answer curt and cool, then she
turned as if heading in the same direction he was. “Carina said there’s someone
coming up to see you.”

She marched off, not giving him a chance to respond, and
then she was opening the door to usher Arie in, his fiancée’s first visit to
his office since the day months before when he’d been so presumptuous as to
offer her an entry level job.

As soon as Arie saw him she smiled but before she could
say a word he stepped forward to take her hand. “Iyana,” he said, his voice
even and matter-of-fact, “I’d like you to meet Arie Angelis, my fiancée.”

Iyana gave a start of surprise but then she caught
herself and gave Arie a cool nod. “We’ve met before. A few months back.”

“Oh, you remember me,” Arie said, giving the other woman
a surprised smile. “I’ve only been here once. I wouldn’t have thought you’d
remember.”

“I remember,” Iyana said drily, looking like it was all
she could do to not roll her eyes. “Welcome back.”

“Thank you,” Arie said, seeming oblivious to the
chilliness of the reception. “I’m stealing your boss away for a couple of
hours, if you don’t mind. I’m taking him to lunch.”

Iyana stared back at her for a couple of seconds longer
than was polite and then she shrugged. “Enjoy your lunch. Now if you’ll excuse
me, I have a ton of work waiting for me.” With those words she shut down the
conversation and turned and headed for her own office.

Arie’s eyebrows raised then she turned to Rome and gave
him a quizzical look. “Not too friendly, is she?” she asked in a half-confused,
half-peeved whisper. But then, as if nothing could dampen her mood, she
brightened right away. “So are you hungry? I’m starving. Grab your handbag and
let’s go.”

Rome laughed. Trust Arie to throw humor into any
situation. Tucking her hand into the crook of his arm he escorted her out the
door, determined to forget work and enjoy the next two hours with his
wife-to-be.

It ended up that Rome spent far more than just two hours
away from his office. After lunch he and Arie had gone for a drive and then
they’d started talking and before they knew it the workday was coming to an end
and they both ended up having to hurry back to office. That was how it was when
you were with someone you loved. Time flew by fast and you didn’t even realize
it.

Now, though, he had to get back to reality. He still had
loads of work on his desk and he wanted to get through a good portion of it
before he headed for home.  He’d barreled through the front door of his office
suite and was on his way to his private quarters when Iyana stepped out of her
office.

“You’re back,” she said. Two simple words but they
sounded like accusation.

“Yes, and I’m going to be here for a while,” he said,
not pausing on his way to his office. “I’ve got a lot to finish up before the
day is done.”

He was almost to his door when she spoke again. “I know
you’re busy,” she said in her recently-acquired frosty tone, “but I would like
to see you for a minute before I leave. Is that all right?”

“Sure, sure,” he said, slightly annoyed. Since when did
Iyana have to ask permission to come in and see him? “Whenever you’re ready.”

He didn’t look back as he went into his office and
closed the door behind him. Soon he forgot about Iyana and talks and meetings
and lost himself in the pile of papers on his desk.

When he heard a knock at his door he glanced at the time
at the bottom of his computer screen. Exactly five o’clock. It had to be his
assistant telling him she was heading for home.  “Come in,” he called out and
did a quick stretch then reached up to lock his fingers behind his head as he
leaned back in the swivel chair.

The door opened and Iyana walked in as he’d expected. “I’m
leaving now,” she said, walking right up to his desk, “but I wanted to give you
this before I go.” She held out a white envelope to him.

“Oh? What’s this?” He unclasped his fingers and took it from
her.

She didn’t give him a chance to open it. “That,” she
said emphatically, “is my letter of resignation.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Where is he?” Arie glanced at the clock for what must
have been the fifth time. After they’d had lunch together two days earlier
they’d agreed it was his turn to arrange their next dine-out. They’d decided to
leave straight from work and discuss some wedding plans over dinner. He’d said
he would come get her at five-thirty and it was already eight minutes after
six.

“Relax, will you? He’s probably caught in rush hour
traffic. Give the man a chance.” Lena, who was working late as usual, shook her
head and gave Arie an indulgent smile. “You’re probably hungry but another few
minutes won't kill you.”

“I’m starving,” she said, "but it’s not that. He
didn’t answer his cell phone. I just want to know he’s okay.”

The words hadn’t left her mouth before Rome appeared in
front of the glass doors and pushed them open. “Sorry about that,” he said and
nodded to Lena in greeting then walked over to Arie and planted a swift kiss on
her forehead. “The day I had a flat tire was the day my cell phone went dead on
me.” He gave her a rueful grin. “I forgot to charge it last night.”

That didn’t let him off the hook. “You had me worried
this whole time,” she chided. “You’ve never heard of something called a car
charger for your cell phone? You don’t have one?”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get one of those for the
longest.” He shrugged. “I just never got around to it.”

“Well, guess what? First thing tomorrow you’re going to
get one. I don’t ever want you to be stranded without the use of your phone.” 
She’d been hiding her concern behind a stern exterior but now she dropped it
and slid her arms around his waist. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. Don’t
you know that?”

Rome dipped his head to kiss her on the nose. “I know
that. I’ll get the charger tomorrow. Promise.”

They bid Lena farewell and headed off to Antoine's in
the French Quarter. They didn’t have reservations but luckily for them, because
it was the middle of the week, there were free tables. They made themselves
comfortable by the window looking out onto the street where musicians played
and entertained passersby.  While they had their meals of
poulet aux
champignons
and
chateaubriand
they discussed their wedding plans.

“Like I said, nothing big. I hate too much fanfare.”
Arie took a sip of her pineapple juice.

Rome shrugged. “And like I said, it’s your call. Big or
small, I’ll be there. But remember, I’ve got a huge family.”

“I know,” Arie said with a grimace. “A family that
doesn’t like me too much.”

He gave her a look that was half regretful, half
apologetic. “They’re coming around,” he said as if that should be comforting.

But it wasn’t. Not really. She sighed and gave him a
wistful smile. “Sometimes I wish you were more like me.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “Meaning?”

She chuckled. “Things would be so much easier if you
were alone. You know, no family to contend with. Then we could just go in front
of a judge and be done with it.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I thought women loved the
idea of big weddings.”

“Not all women,” she said, shaking her head. “Definitely
not me.”

“And I have no problem with that,” he said. “We could
get married in the bathtub if you want. I don’t care. As long as I snag you I’m
happy.”

That made her laugh and then they got to talking about
work and how much of it they had to wade through.

“Right now I’m worse off than you,” Rome said, “taking
care of things on my own. I still haven’t found a temp I like. My HR manager is
getting tired of me. Says I’m too picky.”

“What do you mean?” Arie asked. “What’s the temp for?”

“Remember my personal assistant?”

Arie smiled. “How could I forget Miss Frosty?”

“She quit.”

Her smile disappeared. “She quit? How come?”

Rome shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. That day
we went out to lunch, when I came back she said she needed to see me then at
day’s end she walked into my office and handed me her resignation.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Arie frowned. Something was not right with that picture.
“And before that day she’d never given any indication that she was unhappy?”

“No sign at all,” he said. “At least none that I noticed.
It was the weirdest thing…” His voice trailed off and his gaze took on a look
of confusion.

For some reason Arie didn’t like the sound of that. In
fact, thinking back on that afternoon she was beginning to remember some things
that now seemed downright suspicious. The cool reception, the rolling of the
eyes, the abrupt dismissal when the assistant was ready to go back to her
office. It was all adding up to something that she was almost too scared to say
out loud. But she had to.

“Rome,” she said, her voice deceptively calm, “before
that day you introduced me as your fiancée did your personal assistant know
that you were engaged?”

He gave her a puzzled frown. “Not until the day before
you dropped by.  Why?”

For a moment Arie didn’t answer. Was his puzzlement for
real or was he hiding something? She decided to press further. “Why was she so
frigid to me when I dropped by your office?”

Rome’s frown deepened. “I don’t know. PMS or something?”

Arie gave him a heated glare. Typical man. Why was that
the first thing they threw out when a woman showed anger? But she wasn’t going
to let him throw her off track. She was on to something. She could feel it. “Let’s
explore that ‘or something’ you just mentioned. What else could have triggered
that woman’s ire toward me?”

“I dunno.” Rome shrugged. “And what makes you think she
had ‘ire’ toward you?”

She ignored the question. Even if he hadn’t noticed it,
she certainly had. The question wasn’t whether it had happened but why. “Tell
me something,” she said, looking him straight in the eyes. “Is there anything
going on between you and your personal assistant?”

Rome’s head jerked up then his gaze narrowed as he
stared back at her. “What kind of a question is that?”

So he was surprised by her question. That much was
obvious. But was he surprised because of the question or because she’d hit a
certain nail on the head? “It sounds to me,” she said, her voice cool, “that
your employee is emotionally involved with you. Is there anything more to that
involvement than just emotions?”

Rome’s jaw slackened. Then he scowled. “What the hell
are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” she replied, her voice beginning to rise. She
caught herself and glanced around. Luckily,  there was no-one seated close
enough to hear her. “I’m saying,” she said again, but calmer this time, “that
your employee obviously has a thing for you. In fact, I would say she’s totally
in love. Do you deny it?”

“What the…” Rome looked like he didn’t know what had hit
him. In fact, he looked flummoxed. Damn, he was good. His consternation was
almost convincing. “If Iyana was in love with me I had no idea.”

Arie didn’t bother to hide her skepticism. “That,” she
said, her tone bitter, “I find hard to believe.” 

***

Rome paced the floor of his bedroom, mumbling to himself
like a madman. And he might as well be insane, with all he was going through. It
was now two hours since he’d parted from Arie and he still felt like he’d been
whacked with a two-by-four. How the heck had he ended up in this crazy
situation?

He was in the doghouse with two women and for reasons
unknown to him. It seemed that Iyana was upset because he’d gotten engaged, so
upset that she’d gone and quit on him. What? Had she expected him to ask her
permission first?

And then, as if that weren’t bad enough, Arie had gone
and gotten mad because Iyana was mad that he was engaged. Women! He would never
figure them out, not if he lived to be a hundred.

Exhausted from his pacing and his ruminations, Rome
dropped down onto the bed then reached for his glass of brandy. He sipped
slowly as he pondered his next move. Finally, he came to one conclusion. If he
would have peace in his life there was nothing to do but get to the bottom of
this Iyana mystery. He would have to track her down and get some answers. It
was too late to reach out to her now but he would tackle her first thing in the
morning.

After a fitful sleep Rome got up, bleary-eyed and groggy,
but satisfied that he had a clear plan for the day. He wasn’t even going into
office. He would not rest until he’d had a serious talk with Miss Iyana
Jackson, a talk that would end with her agreeing to speak with Arie to set things
straight. It would be as simple as that.