Tangled Web (18 page)

He grinned at the lust that was no doubt painted on my face
at the sight of the food and chuckled. “The table’s all set,” he said, pointing
towards the dining room.
 
“Take a seat
and I’ll be right there.”
 

I smiled sweetly at him in response and quickly made my way
to the table, passing by a sleeping Jessie in the lounge as I went. “Stunning
in a suit, good fuck in the bedroom and a good cook,” I said, placing my napkin
on my empty plate.
 
“Where have you been
all my life?” I joked, laughing.
 
I
blushed but wanted to try to lighten the sombre mood.
 

He laughed out loud in response. “Damn, woman.” He
chuckled.
 
“You’ve got a dirty mouth on
you.”
 

I shrugged. “You already knew that,” I teased.

“That’s true,” he said, gulping down the last of his
wine.
 
“As for the other part of your
question,” he said, collecting his plate and standing for mine, “I’ve been
waiting for the right one,” he whispered in my ear, pressing a gentle kiss to
my neck.
 
I sighed as his lips touched my
skin and he chuckled, walking out of the room.

I guess that makes the both of us.

Chapter Thirteen

It was the middle of the night and I couldn’t stop thinking
about everything that had happened.
 
Nathan’s ‘I love you’.
 
Chase
throwing me out.
 
Quitting my job.
 
It was like an endless loop and I didn’t know
where the pause button was.
 
Nathan’s arm
was wrapped around my waist pinning me to the bed.
 
I was surprised my restless thinking pattern
hadn’t woken him yet.
 
I slid my hands to
the end of the mattress and tried to pull myself forward.
 
My mouth was too dry.
 
His arm instantly tightened around me.

“Where are you going?” he gruffly asked.
 

Nathan with sexy bed hair and tired gruff voice was probably
one of the sexiest things on this earth.
 
I huffed in embarrassment when he asked.

“I need to get a drink,” I whispered, kissing his
cheek.
 
His arm immediately lifted in the
air to give me room to move.

“Hurry back,” he said, closing his eyes.
 
“The bed is too cold when you’re not in
it.”
 

He had no clue what he was saying or the way those words
made me giddy.
 
He loved me being in his
bed.
 
He loved me.

The blankets had pulled down when I moved so that they were
resting just below his hips.
 
All the
indentations between his stomach muscles were showing, leading all the way down
to that lickable v of his hips.

I forced myself to turn away before I did something that
would make him fully awake.

I passed the spare room and forced myself not to look at my
boxes that had been delivered the previous evening.
 
When the courier came I was expecting a
note.
 
A message.
 
Something.
 
There was nothing.
 
No word from
Chase.
 
Not even my father.
 
I took a deep breath to keep my emotions in
check.
 
I would not cry.
 
Not right now with Nathan around.

I moved past the lounge, Jessie didn’t move.
 
Her eyes were open but that was the only
reaction I had.
 
She was a terrible guard
dog.
 
I quickly drained my glass of water
and made my way back up to Nathan.
 
I
pretended not to notice that Jessie followed me.
 
As I climbed back into bed I tapped the
mattress to invite Jessie up.
 
She
quickly took my offer and I settled us in under the blanket.

Nathan’s arm quickly wrapped around us and he froze when he
felt Jessie’s coat.
 
He blew out a
breath.
 
I tensed because I wasn’t sure
if I’d broken one of his rules.

“She’s not supposed to be up here,” he whispered against my
head.

“She was all alone downstairs,” I reasoned.
 
I didn’t mind playing the sympathy card.
 
He didn’t say anything for a while but I knew
he was awake.
 
“Do you want me to take
her back down?” I asked, pouting.
 

He pressed his nose against my hair and inhaled. “And break
my two favourite girls up?” He grinned.
 
“No way.”
 

I smiled when he said this and immediately turned around,
snuggling Jessie in between us.
 
She
quickly settled down on her side with her head near my chest.
 
I gently pressed my lips to Nathan’s.
 
Suddenly I felt Jessie’s tongue licking my
chin, obviously wanting to be involved.
 
He chuckled and pressed his forehead to mine.

When I woke a few hours later I was completely alone.
 
The sheets were still warm so it hadn’t been
long.
 
As I sat up Nathan walked into the
room with a tray.
 
Pot of tea for one and
some toast and jam.
 
A girl could get
used to this.
 
As he placed the tray on
my lap he pressed his lips to mine.

“Good morning, beautiful.”
 

Damn, he looked sexy this morning.
 
He was dressed for the office in his navy
blue suit which was my favourite.
 

“Morning.” I grinned.
 
“I could get used to being spoiled like this,” I said, indicating my
breakfast.
 

He chuckled. “Then get used to it,” he said, rubbing the tip
of his nose against mine before pulling back.
 
He grabbed his suit jacket and quickly slid it on.
 

I bit into the bread and moaned out loud.
 
It was soaked through with butter and a thick
coating of strawberry jam.
 

“Make yourself at home and do whatever you like,” he said,
giving me a final kiss on the lips.

I spent most of the morning cuddled up with Jessie being
kept on hold by my father’s office.
 
After two hours of holding I decided enough was enough.
 
If they didn’t want to speak to me on the
phone, then they’d just have to speak to me in person.
 
I rummaged through my boxes finding fresh clothes
and threw my messy ginger curls up.
 
I
had no time today.
 
I was a woman on a
mission.

After leaving fresh water and food for Jessie, I was out the
door making my way to Johnson Architecture to give my father a piece of my
mind.
 
Being kept on hold for two hours
was basically a large flashing neon sign that he’s siding with his darling
son.
 
I guess in his eyes I had deserted
to the enemy.

If that’s how they wanted to play it… fine with me.

When I arrived at my father’s office I walked straight up to
Marie’s desk.
 
For the first time she had
no smile to greet me with.
 
Looks like I
was in bad books with everyone around here.

“Hi Marie,” I greeted her politely.
 
“Is he in?” I asked, indicating my father’s
closed office door.

“Sorry sweetie,” she said with a forced smile.
 
“They’re both out at a meeting.”
 

I waited for her to elaborate but she just continued to look
at me with a forced smile on her face.
 
Not the loving ‘I’m so happy to see you’ smile that I was so used to
getting from Marie.
 
I refused to make it
easy on her.
 
We must have been staring
at each other for a few minutes when the elevator pinged behind me.
 
Her eyes shot behind me and a look of relief
crossed her face.

Were they back already?
 
I turned around and instantly went from peaceful to boiling anger.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled.
 
Standing in front of me were two security
guards that had been sent to remove me from the building.
 
Like I was some complete stranger.
 
I turned back to Marie and indicated to the
two guards.
 
“What the hell is
this?”
 
Her phone began ringing and she
looked eager to remove herself from the situation.
 
Her eyes flashed up to me at the same time
the two guards stepped up on either side of me.

“Yes sir,” she said, nodding her head.
 
“Yes, she’s right here.” She looked at
me.
 
“I’ll just hand you over to
her.”
 
She held the phone out to me with
an expectant expression on her face.
 

I rolled my eyes and snatched the phone out of her
hand.
 
It wasn’t like me to be mean but I
was so angry that everyone had a problem with my relationship with Nathan.
 
Even Marie.
 
After everything from yesterday I come out the baddie and Chase comes
out smelling like roses.

“Hello,” I said, eager to find out which one I was dealing
with.

“Chloe,” my father replied.
 
“I need you to be a good girl and go with the officers.”
 

I couldn’t believe that this was all over my relationship
with Nathan.
 
This was too extreme.

“Dad,” I choked into the handset.
 
“What’s going on?”
 
I would not cry.
 
Not in front of all these people.

“Sweetheart, I need you to leave the offices.”
 
His words hurt so much because they were so
cold.
 
“I’ve spoken with Chase,” he
continued, “and I can’t have you in the building.”
 

He seriously thought I would give information away.
 
I couldn’t believe this.

“Are you saying you can’t trust me?” I screamed, glaring
down at the desk.
 
If I spoke any louder
my emotions would break. I didn’t want to give anyone here the satisfaction.

“I can’t,” he finally replied.
 
“I’m sorry, princess, but I can’t risk
it.”
 

My eyes filled with tears and leaked over.
 
I knew my relationship with Nathan would come
with difficulties but I never expected it would result in an ultimatum like
this.
 
Nathan or my family.
 
It was so silent I wondered if he was still
there.
 
Just as I went to pull the
handset away from my ear my father’s words came through the line.
 

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
 

I laughed bitterly. “Yeah, some fucking birthday.”
 
I slammed the phone down into the handset and
stormed towards the elevator.

“Chloe,” Marie called after me.
 

She sounded concerned but I couldn’t care.
 
I wanted out of here right now.
 

“I’m sorry, darling.”

“Save it!” I shouted, throwing my hand in the air to ward
her off.
 
There was only one place I
wanted to go right now.
 
I just hoped he
was available to see me.

I’d like to say I was politely escorted from the building
but I wasn’t.
 
As we exited the elevator
on the ground floor I was escorted through a very busy lobby with a harsh grip
on both of my arms.
 
I felt like I was a
criminal that had sold company secrets.
 
As we passed Sophie I never wanted to punch someone so hard.
 
She smirked at me dressed in her very
expensive office attire where I was dressed in my denim jacket, jeans and
sneakers.
 
I wanted to swipe that smirk
off her face so bad so I said the only thing I could think of.

“I’ll tell Nathan you said hello,” I smiled sweetly.
 
That did it.
 
Her face was wiped clean and was replaced with an angry glare sent in my
direction.
 
I’d probably regret that
somewhere down the line but I couldn’t care right now.

I’d lost everything – my job, my family, my home – all
before my 21
^st
birthday.

When I was deposited outside by the security I didn’t
hesitate.
 
I marched straight across to
Nathan’s building, hoping with everything I had left that he was there.

When I exited the elevator my eyes zeroed in on Louise.
 
As I began walking towards her desk, she
stood up and began to leave her desk.
 
I
was sure she was escaping to avoid me but she shocked me when she came up to me
and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
 
I was shocked.
 
My hands slowly
came up and hugged her back.
 
I wasn’t
expecting this.

“I’m so sorry about what happened,” Louise said with
sympathy.

“Yeah, well…” I said, embarrassed.
 
“My brother’s an asshole.
 
What can you do?”
 
I said, trying to escape this conversation.
 
She looked at the floor when I said
this.
 
It looks like we were both feeling
the tension in this conversation.
 
“Is
Nathan in?” I asked, gesturing to Nathan’s closed door.

“Of course,” she said, going around to her side of the
desk.
 
“His lines are clear so you can go
straight in.”

“Thanks, Louise.” I opened the door and gave a gentle
knock.
 
Nathan looked up with a glare on
his face and I wanted to cringe.
 
“Am I
intruding?” I asked hesitantly.

“Of course not,” he said, standing immediately.
 
I quickly shut the door and was relieved he
no longer looked angry.
 

He checked his watch and frowned.
 
“I’m sorry,” he apologised.
 
“I didn’t realise you wanted to meet for an
early lunch.”
 

I walked straight up to him and wrapped my arms around
him.
 

“Hey, what’s this?” he asked.

“I just went to see my father,” I mumbled into his shirt.

“How’d it go?” he asked, tense.
 

I sighed into his chest. “They had me escorted from the
building by security like a criminal.”
 
It sounded so much worse when I said it out loud.
 

He took my head in his hands and pulled back so he could look
at me.
 
He looked angry when he looked at
me; no doubt seeing my eyes glistening with unshed tears.