Wait for Me (20 page)

His fingers played over her waist with him standing so close. Blinking, she found her voice. “David Spencer, Jonathan Blakemore, head of Blakemore Inc.”

David reached around Kenya extending a hand to Jonathan. “Blakemore, of the Ireland Blakemore's?"

"You know of my businesses then, Mr. Spencer?"

He nodded. "Global Learning is making its rounds. I had an encouraging meeting with one of your family members, Jamie Blakemore in Ireland."

"Then I'm certain he answered all your questions."

"He did. I’m excited to work with your company in the future. We have some of the same interest…educating the children around the world.

"Jonathan,” Kenya broke in. “It’s nice to see you again, but our table is ready and David is a client on a tight schedule." All her feelings collided in her body. Needing to get away from the man as fast as she could, his scent crawling over her, Kenya started to walk away. She missed something passing between the two men, something familiar. Perhaps her suspicions of him being on Brian’s payroll were sound. 

“Blakemore," David said, easing a hand to press Kenya forward, only Jonathan didn’t move. The other patrons were staring at them blocking the isle.

“Ms. Claiborne, a quick word.” Slipping a hand around Kenya’s waist, Jonathan collected her to his side.

She hurriedly apologized before being ushered away. “Pardon me, David. I need to speak with Mr. Blakemore. One minute please, I appreciate your patience.”

David Spencer gave Jonathan squinted eyes before moving to their table leaving her to handle him alone.

Jonathan nodded after the man. His face lowered so close she could no longer see anything outside of his retinas. “The ounce of calm I had I left on the plane with my patience and the drop of, ‘listen to what  she  has to say before you go ape-shit crazy’, Then I see you with this prick. Is he the reason you refused my calls?”

Kenya tucked her purse under her arm and pushed the straps of her tote carrying the files higher up on her shoulder. It gave her a moment to collect her nerves. “David’s a rep for the bank. There’s no reason for you to call me. Being at the estate showed me the true Jonathan and there was nothing about your life that fit with my life.” Could he smell the lie rolling off her skin? It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the place to tell him.

He groaned. His brows forced down over his eyes. “I needed you and you weren't there."

Needed. His only need would be a box of ammo maybe, not a woman. She had another life to think about and that out ranked either one of their wishes or desires.

 “I tried everything short of packing a gun and some hand grenades in my garter belt to help you, Blakemore,” she whispered wishing he would just go and let her handle this. Any one of Brian’s thugs could be watching, waiting for the first sign that she still cared and they would come after her and the baby in a heartbeat. 

Even with all the wait staff milling around, the lunch patrons were still turning from their meals to watch her and Jonathan clinched jaw discussion. 

"I woke and you were gone. You refused the help I offered so I came back to get on with my life." Kenya said, keeping her voice from rising feeling the niggling down her spine of someone watching her. She peered around the restaurant. A man in the far corner stared too long and with too much interest. “Mr. Blakemore, I’ll have one of our reps contact you. I’m certain he’ll be just the person to help with your business.”

Jonathan angled back straightening his jacket and looked at his watch. He spoke tight under his breath. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but…”

She faked a smile digging into her bag and pulled out a card handing it to him. In a tight voice she pleaded, “Jonathan please go away.” She gave him a business smile. “Call my office and I’ll personally transfer you to the perfect rep for your business.”

His fingers tightened on her wrist accepting the card. “Is someone watching you?”

She shook her head. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Blakemore?”

“Seamus is in the hospital.”

She could feel the blood draining from her face, knew her complexion had to have paled to a ghostly cream. Clutching the material of her skirt, she felt bile in her stomach rising up into her throat threatening to leave her body in a violent surge. After a few breaths, she gained her composure.

“What happened? You told me not to worry when I saw you. Who hurt him? Jonathan, that's been almost a month.” She wanted to bolt out of the restaurant and find Seamus. She loved the old man and then she became angered at herself for not answering Jonathan's calls and for him not coming to her. "Is he okay?"

Jonathan twisted at the waist taking in the patrons in the restaurant enjoying their banter. “Not here,” he told her bringing his face in closer to hers. “I’ll come by tonight and pick you up. Pack warm."

Kenya gulped. “Pack warm, Ireland…no. I can’t, not tonight. I can't have you in my life anymore, Jonathan. Just tell me what hospital he’s in.” She hated herself for sounding so callous, knowing she'd be on the first plane to Ireland in the morning, but she had to do this. They were in public and if one of Brian's goons followed him, her baby wasn't safe.

She looked between them as Jonathan did the same as she had peering around the restaurant before his hand found hers and threaded their fingers together. "Tonight when I call you, answer your phone or I'll come get you myself,” he grunted under clenched teeth. "I'll let you know when Cedric's on his way to pick you up."

As much as she wanted him and she did, she could've dropped to her knees right there in the aisle and licked every inch of his skin. She had no clue if Brian’s goons were in the restaurant following Jonathan. She had to keep up the charade. Unthreading their fingers, she dug her phone out of her purse, slid a finger down the page of contacts, erasing as she went along.

“What are you doing?” he said, face flushed. She tucked her finger into his suit breast pocket held it open and dropped in her phone, while brushing a sweet kiss on his handsome face. 

“Since you’ll know who’s calling, why don’t you answer it?” She angled off to her waiting guest. Eight hundred emotions, thoughts, and desires spinning inside her body helped carry her away from his hard eyes. Their child grew in her stomach.

Her defiance kept her tears from putting on a show. Loading a contact list in her home computer as back up came in handy when erasing numbers in her phone for show.

Seamus was a different worry she put to the back of her mind. She had to find out if David was legit or on Brian's payroll. Smoothing out her dress, she allowed David to pull out her chair and caught Jonathan’s dark stare boring into her. She had to tell him. 

She couldn’t believe she was able to do that when all she wanted this time was to have him back. She knew all that went down at the estate wasn’t his doing. . Then finding out Morgan was in coercion with Brian killed a part of her already suffering from years of negative talk from her siblings.

“Is he bothering you, Ms. Claiborne? Wealth is not a pass to be rude,” David ridiculed Jonathan's actions.

“Mr. Blakemore? No.” Lifting the water glass, she sipped the cool liquid. A touch rattled, seeing Jonathan there with Fiona. Should she even care why the woman is in the states? Laying her napkin across her lap, she gave her attention to her client. “Now, what can Universal Banking do for Global Learning?”

“I took the liberty of ordering you a white wine,” he said as the waiter set the wine glass down and turned the bottle for her to see.

"Oh, no thank you, but please, David, enjoy." The man gave her a nod then picked up his menu. The waiter took their orders than left the table.

Kenya gave a weak smile. “I have d a long night ahead of me. Wine is counterproductive right now.”

He gave her a sideways glance checking her honesty most likely. “Professional…I appreciate that, Ms. Claiborne.”

She smiled thinking of Jonathan’s child growing inside her body. She was disappointed not being able to share her news yet but safety first. 

“You were saying about your company?” Crossing her legs, she swept the napkin over her lap listening. Feeling Jonathan’s eyes on her did little to relax her nerves.

“Being a global company, finding a financial institution that operates in all markets is a challenge. Supporting the environment, Ms. Claiborne, it’s important to Global Learning that we minimize as much of our carbon footprint as possible. Eliminating paper waste has become our top concern. What we found after some extensive research disturbed us," he said. "We're wasting money on overhead. We're using far too many banks around the world. We would like to have all our schools able to transfer money through one bank.”

“It's easy to miss the real problem when it's been a part of the everyday," she offered. "I read in your company’s bio you provide the software to the schools to connect to one another. Is this a portion of what the funding goes toward or does each company pays solely for the schools in their areas?" She paused. "Do you keep the funding separated by contributor with their accounts or merge them together and distribute equipment from a central fund?”

“No one has ever asked that before, Kenya. A thought provoking angle to start with, I like that. We have a central donation for companies to invest in our program and we assure every school in that state or providence has access to this program, not just that school. We assist each school in finding a sponsor."

His connection with Blakemore Industries,
she thought. It’s not looking good David. Kenya could smell Brian all over this.

"Having all these banks through the same channels would cut down the cost of operating in other countries. Setting up elaborate connections between countries is the biggest expense.” 

Kenya smoothed her hair off her shoulders, she reached down and grabbed her folder from her tote and set it on the table. Leaning forward she trailed a finger over some numbers in a column down the paper. “We could set up a special transfer of funds within their personal banks for a small fee that would allow for faster clearing of the funds, exchange rates, etc. One suggestion is to have each school setup as a separate account within one folder. This way you can keep track of what each school focus is on educationally, but you have recorded inventory of their needs. Additionally, this keeps track of unscheduled spending, allowing you to approach your customers with real numbers on where their funding's going."

"Another way of streamlining the overhead, very shrewd Ms. Claiborne…Kenya," he said touching her hand across the table. Kenya removed her hand and made a notation in the folder. He was legit, but Brian had crossed his path along the way somewhere. She lifted her attention to her guest.

"I could have a portfolio created and emailed over by the close of business Friday. I'll need to compile the best options for your company.”

He smiled.

“Are there many schools in the Michigan area participating in your program, Mr. Spencer?”

“David, please,” he corrected and she nodded. “It's the sole reason I came down personally. Chicago is our headquarters, close enough to make a personal trip. Some of them are potential clients I've met over the years through one seminar or another. You understand. I feel I should handle them personally. By your bank being such a respected institution, I will not lie and say it doesn't look good to have you on board when I present my program looking for their investment.”

"May I ask why you approached the Ireland branch of Blakemore Inc. instead of the branch here in the States?"

He reclined in his chair then took a drink of his wine, then returned it giving her a long stare. He'd just tipped his hat as far as she was concerned.

"Everyone knows Blakemore supports children’s programs around the globe, Ms. Claiborne. You even assisted Mr. Blakemore on a trip with some kids on an excursion recently."

Kenya's body tensed at this man's knowledge of them. She shot a glance to Jonathan's table and saw an empty chair. She straightened the napkin on her lap and said, "And how would you know that, Mr. Spencer? You and I have just met."

"As I said, I do business around the world. You and Mr. Blakemore's picture made the local paper in Ireland announcing you two as a couple." He sat forward, touched the folder between them, and then dragged his finger over the edge. "You were in a respectable embrace, Ms. Claiborne. Nothing to besmudge your stellar reputation, I assure you."

"I volunteer where I can," she croaked, her skin crawling, she wanted to jump up and find Jonathan. She stayed cool and handled her business. "How did you come to request me as your rep, specifically? I would like to thank the appropriate person on Monday."

"You worked for a Ms. Reinhart, I believe. She championed your qualifications until I had to meet you Kenya. I have to say I'm more than impressed by what you've come up with off the cuff."

They both sat back as the waiter placed their plate on the table and Spencer started right in on his steak. Reinhart had an orgasm when she heard Kenya knew Jonathan. Had Brian gotten to her and bribed her to set her up with this client?

David waved his fork over his plate, looking at her plate.

"You're not eating, Kenya? Surely you'll need your strength for all that work you have planned for this evening."

Picking up her fork, she stabbed at her pork chop. She'd found the mole. Brian had her. She's been seen in public with the enemy. Brian could use her deposit and the meeting was public, so there's record of her dealing with him. Even if Spencer doesn't know, he’s being used, Brian got to Reinhart.

"Why hasn't Blakemore made you an offer? You would be a financial asset to their company, and not to over step, but Mr. Blakemore appears to take an interest in you, unless I'm mistaken."

Kenya took a sip of her water. The glass made a thud after she set it down, avoiding his question with a question. "Is there anything else Universal Banking can assist your company with, Mr. Spencer?"

He made an apologetic dip of his head. "It appears I've stepped too far over the line."