Rush (22 page)

Slowly she nodded. Her nipples hardened and her pussy clenched around his dick, sending a wave of pleasure through his groin. Yeah, the idea obviously excited her. He just wasn’t sure it was something he could ever give her. He wasn’t sure if he could stand by and watch another man touch what was his.

He leaned down to kiss her, not voicing any further thoughts on the matter.

He was really beginning to hate that fucking contract.

chapter eighteen

Gabe’s line buzzed, and he frowned at the interruption. Mia was across the room at her desk—a distraction in itself—but he was putting together financials for a proposed island resort, and he’d specifically told Eleanor he wasn’t to be disturbed.

“What,” he barked into the intercom.

Eleanor’s nervous voice wavered over the line. “I know you said you weren’t to be disturbed, Mr. Hamilton, but your father is here to see you. He says it’s important. I didn’t think it wise to send him away.”

Gabe’s brow crinkled and his frown deepened. Across the room, Mia looked up from her work, worry in her eyes.

“I’ll come out,” Gabe said after a moment’s hesitation. He didn’t want whatever was on his father’s mind to be aired in front of Mia.

“I can leave, Gabe,” Mia said softly as he rose.

He shook his head. He much preferred her here in his office. Away from the gossip and speculation of others. He’d already uncovered the person responsible for breaking into his office—it hadn’t taken much encouraging on his part to get her coworkers to out her—and he’d terminated her on the spot without a reference. He wanted Mia as far away from that kind of environment as possible.

He strode out to the reception area to see his father standing a short distance from Eleanor’s desk. His father looked thoughtful and ill at ease. Gabe had never seen him look so uncomfortable. Especially around Gabe.

“Dad,” Gabe said in greeting. “What can I do for you?”

His father’s expression grew even more somber. There was a hint of regret that shadowed his eyes.

“There used to be a time when I’d come to see you and you didn’t ask me such a thing. You were glad to see me.”

Guilt dampened some of the irritability that plagued Gabe.

“You usually call. I wasn’t expecting you. I was concerned that something was wrong,” Gabe said.

His father hesitated a moment, then shoved his hands into the pockets of his expensive slacks. “There is. Can we go somewhere and talk? Have you had lunch yet? I was hoping you’d have time for me.”

“I always have time for you,” Gabe said softly, echoing a sentiment he’d offered his mother. Used to be he could spend time with them both and not have to split it between them.

Relief dimmed some of the worry in his father’s eyes.

“Let me call for my car,” Gabe said.

He turned to Eleanor. “Have the car pick us up outside. And make sure Mia eats lunch. Let her know I’m not sure when I’ll return and that if I’m not back by four to go ahead and leave for the day.”

“Yes, sir,” Eleanor said.

“Shall we go?” Gabe asked his father. “The car should be around by the time we get out front.”

The two rode the elevator down in silence. It was awkward and stilted but Gabe made no move to right it. He wasn’t sure what it would take to mend the breach between them. He’d acted like a bastard at the cocktail party. His father was probably embarrassed by the quick defection of his date. That hadn’t been
Gabe’s intention. No matter his anger or confusion when it came to his father, he loved him and he had no intention of hurting him. He only wanted his father to see the kind of woman he’d chosen to associate with.

They waited a brief moment before Gabe’s car pulled up and the two men got in. Gabe directed the driver to Le Bernardin—one of his dad’s favorite places to eat.

It wasn’t until the two were seated and their orders placed that Gabe’s father broke the silence. It was as if he couldn’t remain silent a moment longer and the words came bursting out, his face a mask of sadness and regret.

“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” his father admitted.

Gabe went still. He put the napkin he’d been unfolding just to have something to do down on the table. “I’m listening.”

His father scrubbed a hand over his face and it was then that Gabe could see just how weary he looked. He seemed older. Aged overnight. There were shadows in his eyes, and the wrinkles at his eyes and brow were more pronounced.

His father fidgeted a moment and then took a deep breath, his entire face crumpling. To Gabe’s horror, tears shone in his dad’s eyes.

“I was a fool for leaving your mother. It’s the worst mistake of my life. I don’t know what I was thinking. I just felt so trapped and unhappy and I reacted to that. I thought if I did this or I did that or if I started over that it would fix everything—that I’d be happier.”

Gabe blew out his breath. “Shit,” he murmured. This was the last thing he’d expected to hear.

“And it wasn’t your mother’s fault. She’s a damn saint for putting up with me all these years. I think I woke up one day and thought to myself that I’m
old
. I don’t have much time left. I panicked and then I freaked out because I started blaming your mother. God. Your mother! The one woman who’s stuck by me all
this time, who gave me a wonderful son. And I blamed her because I saw an old man staring back at me in the mirror. A man who thought he had to turn back the clock and get back all those years. I wanted to feel young again. Instead I feel like a bastard who shit on his wife—his family—you, Son. I shit on you and your mother and I can’t tell you how much I regret that.”

Gabe didn’t even know what to say. He was agog at all his father had just thrown at him. All of this because of some fucking late-in-life crisis? Coming to grips with inevitable age? Jesus.

“I hate to even come to you with this, but I don’t know what else to do. I doubt Matrice would even give me the time of day now. I hurt her. I know that. I don’t expect her to forgive me. If the positions were reversed and she did to me what I did to her, I doubt I could ever forgive her.”

“Goddamn, Dad. When you fuck up, you go big.”

His father fell silent, his gaze fixed on his drink, sadness rimming his eyes.

“I just want to go back—take it back—so it never happened. Your mother is a good woman. I love her. I never stopped loving her.”

“Then why the hell have you been doing your damnedest to shove all these other women not only in her face but mine?” Gabe snarled. “Do you have any idea how badly you hurt her?”

The older Hamilton’s face went even grayer. “I have an idea. Those women didn’t mean anything to me.”

Gabe held up his hand in disgust. “Stop it. Just stop it, Dad. God. You’re spouting the oldest cliché in the book. You think Mom gives a flying fuck if those women meant shit to you? Do you think it’ll make her feel better at night knowing that while you were out fucking some chick half your age—or younger—that you were really thinking about how much you loved her?”

His dad flushed and quickly looked around as Gabe’s voice rose. “I didn’t sleep with those women,” he said in a low voice.
“Not that Matrice will ever believe me. But I’m telling you that I didn’t betray my marriage vows.”

Gabe’s temper simmered and he fought to keep it from erupting. “Yeah, Dad, you did. Whether you slept with them or not, you betrayed Mom and your marriage vows. Just because it wasn’t physical adultery doesn’t mean it wasn’t emotional adultery. And sometimes emotional adultery is the hardest to get over.”

His father rubbed a tired hand over his face and resignation bled into his features. “So you think I don’t have a chance of ever winning her back.”

Gabe sighed. “That’s not what I said. But you need to understand what you did to her before you can ever think to make it right. She has her pride too, Dad. And you damaged it. If reconciliation is what you really want, then you have to be in it for the long haul. She’s not going to take you back overnight. You can’t quit after one try. If she means anything at all to you, then you have to be willing to fight for her.”

His dad nodded. “Yeah, I get it. And I do want her. I never didn’t want her. It’s all so stupid. I’m a fool. An old, deluded fool who messed up.”

Gabe softened. “Talk to her, Dad. Tell her everything you told me. And you have to be patient and listen to her when she goes off on you. You have to listen while she calls you every name in the book. You deserve it. You have to give that to her and you have to take it.”

“Thanks, Son. I love you, you know. I hate that I hurt not only Matrice, but you as well. You’re my son and I let you both down.”

“Just make it right,” Gabe said softly. “Make Mom happy again, and that will be enough for me.”

• • •

“Hey Gabe, need to talk to you about…”

Mia looked up to see Jace standing in the doorway of Gabe’s
office. Her heart leapt and her adrenaline spiked. He wasn’t supposed to be here yet. This wasn’t how she intended to break the news to him that she was working for Gabe.

Ash pushed in behind him and his eyebrows rose when he saw Mia sitting at her desk.

Jace’s face darkened and he looked between her desk and Gabe’s as if expecting it all to make sense.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jace asked.

“Nice to see you too,” Mia said dryly.

Jace strode across the floor toward her desk. “Damn it, Mia. You caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” He perched on the edge of her desk, his gaze scrutinizing as he took in the papers scattered over the surface and the laptop she was working on.

Ash sauntered in behind Jace, standing a short distance away, but no less interested.

“What are you doing here? Where the hell is Gabe?”

The confusion was evident in his voice. Mia took in a deep breath and plunged ahead, knowing the best thing to do was get it out of the way and in the open so nothing seemed suspicious. The longer she drew it out, the guiltier she’d look anyway. She had no poker face whatsoever—a fact that had kept her in trouble in her early teenage years. She’d never been able to lie to Jace with a straight face so she prayed his questioning didn’t get too in depth here or she was fucked.

“I’m working for him,” she said calmly.

Ash’s lips formed a silent O and then he turned back toward the door. “I’ll just wait outside.”

Jace’s face was the poster child for
what the fuck
. As soon as the door closed behind Ash, he turned back to Mia, his jaw tight. “Okay, what the hell is going on? You’re working for him? In what capacity? And why am I only just finding this out?”

“What’s going on is Gabe offered me a job. I’m working as his
personal assistant. And you’ve been gone, and this isn’t the sort of thing I’d simply tell you on the phone.”

“Why the hell not?”

She rolled her eyes. “Because you’d react just like you are now and you’d be on the first flight home determined to figure it all out.”

“When did this happen?” he asked bluntly.

She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “About the time you and Ash left for California. I saw Gabe at the grand opening. He told me to come into his office. Voila. Here I am.”

“Just like that,” he said skeptically.

His eyes narrowed and he studied her intently as if trying to peel back her skin and see inside her head.

“Gabe was right. Working at La Patisserie was a waste of my education and all the money you spent sending me to college. I was comfortable and maybe a little scared to bust into the real world. This job gives me an opportunity to get my feet wet.”

Jace’s expression softened. “If you wanted a job, why didn’t you come to me? You have to know I would have taken care of you.”

She chose her words carefully, because she didn’t want to seem ungrateful. She dearly loved Jace. He’d sacrificed a lot for her and still managed to build a successful empire, all while dealing with a much younger sister.

“I wanted to do this on my own,” she said quietly. “I know you would have given me a job. And maybe it’s no different that Gabe has hired me. I’m sure everyone will say the same as if you’d done the hiring. That I’m Jace Crestwell’s little sister and this is nepotism at its finest. Besides, I couldn’t work for you and you know it.” She grinned mischievously at him. “We’d kill each other after a day.”

Jace chuckled. “Okay maybe. But only because you’re so hardheaded.”

She shook her head. “I’m not stubborn. My way is just better.”

“It’s nice to see you by the way, baby girl. I missed you in California.”

“Which is why you’re still buying me dinner tomorrow night,” she said cheekily.

He grimaced. “Can we do it the next night? Ash and I have this thing. Part of the reason we’re back early. Investor dinner. Boring as hell. Lots of ass kissing.”

“Okay,
that’s
a date,” she said. “And you’re not getting out of it.”

“Bet your ass. It’s a date. After work, run home and change if you want and I’ll pick you up at your apartment.”

Then he frowned.

“How are you getting to and from work anyway?”

She was careful to make her voice casual, like it was perfectly normal for Gabe to provide transportation for her. “Gabe sends a car for me and has it bring me home.”

She conveniently left off the part about them leaving work together most of the time and of her spending the nights at Gabe’s apartment. Now that Jace was back, they were going to be forced to be a great deal more circumspect. He’d flip out if he knew what went on behind closed doors between her and Gabe.

Jace nodded. “Okay good. Don’t want you walking or taking the subway.” He checked his watch and then angled his gaze at her. “Do you know what time Gabe is due back? Where the hell is he for that matter? I thought his calendar was clear today.”

“He, uh, left with his dad. Not sure when he’s getting back, or if.”

Jace grimaced. “Say no more. That’s a fucked-up situation.”

And Jace didn’t even know the half of it.

He reached over and tousled her hair. “I’ll let you get back to work. Gabe’s a hardass to work for. I hope you know what you’re
getting yourself into. Maybe we should have put you to work for Ash. He has a huge soft spot for you.”