What The Heart Finds (27 page)

He
wanted her there holding his hand when he walked into town functions.
When he went out to dinner. When he sat and watched movies.

He
just... wanted her. More than he had waned anything else.

Eric
rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. She was gone. And she
wasn't going to hit town limits and turn back around. It wasn't some
cheesy romantic movie. She wasn't going to bring that red rock back
and throw it at his window. She wasn't going to tell him she didn't
want her passionless life anymore, that she wanted to spend her days
and nights wrapped up in his arms.

She
wasn't coming back at all.

And
he was just going to have to find a way to deal with that.

Twenty-Two

She
had almost thought it would look different. Like two weeks would
actually change things. Like Tad would suddenly have long hair and
the the office would be made over. But everything was just as she
left it. Maybe it was just she who was different.

The
elevator chimed, opening slowly. She stepped back onto the floor,
three desks lining each side, manned by five women... and Tad. He
raised a finger at her as he finished his phone call. Dropping the
phone into the cradle, he moved closer, his eyes keen and bright.
“Girl,” he said, his tone sharp but feminine. “you
don't ever get to leave me swamped with all that work of yours again.
I have been here like sixteen hours a day.”

“Welcome
to my world,” she said, offering him a smile as she let herself
into her office.

“Yes,
doll,” he said, throwing himself down on the black and white
houndstooth love seat and putting a hand over his head. “but I
have a man to get home to. A yummy, yummy man with caramel skin and a
huge...”

“Too
much information,” Lena cut in, shaking her head as she looked
around her desk. Everything neat and organized as she left it, but it
all seemed foreign.

“I
was going to say vocabulary,” Tad said, looking over at her.

“No
you weren't,” Lena laughed, throwing a pen at him.

“No,”
he smiled devilishly, sitting back up. “no I wasn't. Speaking
of men...” he said, drawing out the word as if waiting for her
to say something. “You're not going to tell me?”

“Tell
you what?” she asked, powering up her computer. Going through
the motions. Everything back to normal. Nothing unusual had happened
in her life at all.

“About
what delicious piece of man meat put that... hitch in your giddy up?”

“Hitch
in my giddy up?” Lena asked, raising a brow at him. “I
think you're reading too many of those southern romance novels of
yours.”

“What's
hotter than two cowboys getting it on?” he asked, winking.
“Come on. Tell me.”

“There's
nothing to tell.”

“Listen,
lady,” he said, looking serious in his pink and black plaid
shirt. “this is the first time you got laid in... what... a
year? I want to know who got into your hidden depths.”

“Oh
gross,” Lena said, shaking her head. He was never going to let
it go. “Fine. I met this guy...”

“Was
he tall? And dark? And handsome?”

Lena
snorted. “Yeah actually.”

“Come
on, details. What was the meet-cute?” he asked, moving to sit
on the edge of her desk.

“My
car broke. He was the town mechanic.”

“Oh
dreamy. Was he dirty?”

Lena
threw her head back, chuckling. Thank god for Tad. She was starting
to feel like she wasn't going to feel like herself again. “Filthy,”
she nodded. “Men like him shouldn't actually exist. They should
just be in novels and silly movies that have no basis in reality. No
woman stands a chance against his charm.”

“Did
you have sex on the hood of your car?”

Lena
looked down at her desk, smiling. “Tad. Lay off the porn.
Normal people don't do it on the hoods of cars.”

“Fine,”
he said, looking a bit deflated. “was it good?” Lena
looked up at him, her eyes squinted, trying to put it into words.
“Wow. That good, huh?”

“Lena,”
EM's voice shouted through the intercom.

Lena
jumped, knocking a pile of papers into the garbage. She forgot what
it was like to have his voice just... boom into the room out of
nowhere. She reached for the papers, feeling frazzled.

“Go,
go,” Tad said, shooing her hands away. “I got this.”

Lena
send him a clipped smile, reaching for the door that connected her
office with Elliott's. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her
story straight in her head so she could deliver it believably.

Elliott
was sitting behind his desk in his neat, expensive black suit with a
light blue shirt and tie. He looked up as she walked in, his blue
eyes almost painful to look at they were so intense.

“Lena,
you fine thing,” a voice called from the doorway and she turned
to see James Michaels standing there in pinstripe gray slacks and a
black band t-shirt. Everything about James was light compared to his
brother. His eyes were lighter, his hair lighter. His personality
bright and sunny. “I've missed you every day you were gone.”

“How
many of the days were you actually here?” she countered, her
tone teasing. He was never at work.

“None,”
he admitted, smiling and making his eyes crinkle up at the edges.
“but I missed you nonetheless. I could hardly get out of bed.”

“Lena,”
Elliott broke in, his voice deep and professional. “I was just
filling James in on your little... vacation.”

“Oh,
really?” she asked, silently reminding herself that she didn't
know anything about that.

“Yeah,”
Elliott said. “Hannah took off to Stars Landing yesterday,”
he said, looking at her meaningfully. “you didn't run into
her.”

It
wasn't a question, but she forced the lie anyway. “No of course
not. Was she visiting her family?”

“Yeah.
She got home late last night and I filled her in on what we are going
to be doing there.”

Filled
her in. Lena almost laughed. He made it sound so passionless. So
boring. Instead of a giant romantic gesture from him to his wife. “Is
she happy about it?”

“Of
course,” he said, shrugging. “She actually suggested I
send James there to...”

“Irritate
Emily?” she supplied and he surprised her by laughing.

“Yeah,
I don't know what her motives were there. I've met Emily... she and
James are going to clash over everything.”

“Clash?”
James asked, moving to sit in one of the chairs and propping his feet
on the edge of the desk. “With a woman? Me? I mean... have you
seen me?” he asked, winking at Lena. “I'm so good looking
she will just melt into a puddle at my feet.”

“Yeah,”
Lena said, nodding. “that totally sounds like Emily,” she
said, looking at Elliott whose eyes were amused. He had met Emily
when he had stayed at the inn. He knew how big of trouble his little
brother was about to be in.

“So
anyway,” Elliott continued. “I figured we would settle
the paperwork with the family in a few weeks. Then we will send James
down there this...”

“Fall
is good for me,” James supplied, shrugging.

“Alright,”
Elliott agreed without a fight. “this Fall.”

“Lucky,”
Lena said, looking enviously at James. “they apparently have
amazing events in the fall. Especially around Halloween.”

James
sent her a strange sideways glance, picking up on the wistfulness of
her tone. “Care to join me?” he asked. “We'll
probably be the most attractive people that rinky dink town has ever
seen.”

“Lena
will be here,” Elliott cut in. “taking control of
acquisitions.”

“What?”
Lena asked, her stomach dropping. Acquisitions was one of the most
vital parts of EM. A company that bought and sold companies needed
one of the best acquisitions departments in the world.

“Yeah,”
Elliott said, smiling at her. Actually smiling at her. “Brian
has decided to quit and spend his time painting caricatures in the
park.”

“Really?”
Lena asked, her brows furrowing. Brian had led the department
successfully for almost a decade. “Good for him,” she
said, surprising herself. At Elliott's questioning look, she
shrugged. “You know. I mean he probably has enough money to
retire on by now. It's good that he's doing something that makes him
happy.”

She
tried to ignore the look James was giving her. Like he saw right
through her. Like he knew about the basket full of dessert recipes in
her apartment.

“Yes,
well,” Elliott said, standing and turning to pour coffee into
three mugs. “the job is yours. The salary is...” he said,
handing her her coffee, black. Like always. She felt a pang
remembering how Eric had known after a few days how she took her
coffee. “about three times your salary now.”

Lena
looked up at him, her eyes huge. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,”
Elliott shrugged. The difference between fifteen dollars an hour and
forty-five dollars an hour didn't phase him. But it would make a huge
difference in her life. “It's a high stress job and the hours
are long. And, unlike this job, there will probably be a lot of
travel.”

“You
and me, kid,” James said, reaching out and touching her arm.
“we'll be the dream team.”

Lena
smiled at him. James was who Elliott sent to close the deals. As
laissez faire as James seemed to approach life and work, he was
actually more educated than his brother. And his ease of conversation
and effortless charm made him a brilliant negotiator.

James
was right. They would spend a lot of time on the same flights, in the
same hotels, in the same boardrooms. Normally, she would have been
excited at the prospect. She and James had always gotten along. She
made up with his lax approach to work with her fierce dedication; he
helped her relax and not stress out so much.

It
should have made her happy. But all she felt was a dull sort of
acceptance.

She
sat there nodding about the transition, reminding herself silently
that this is what she had worked so hard for for the past decade.
First in high school, forgoing all movie nights and hanging out in
someone's basement so she could study. So she could quality for a
full scholarship. Then in college, missing out on her new found
independence to stay in the library and maintain her GPA. And then
for the past two years at EM, fetching coffee, answering emails,
planning his business trips so she could eventually move up. This was
it. This was the dream. It was finally happening. And all she felt
was numb.

“You
made a note here,” he said, holding up a piece of paper. “about
a possible gondola lift between this... lodge and the inn,” he
said, leaving room for her to explain.

“Right,”
she said, sitting up straighter. “in the winter months, the
lodge gets full and the inn gets the guests that the lodge can't
house. But when the weather is bad, there is no way to get to and
from the lodge. The roads close down.”

“Which
is bad for the inn and the lodge,” he assumed.

“Right.
But because of the steep incline, the only real solution would be
something aerial like a gondola between the two.”

“That's
a really innovative idea,” Elliot said, looking interested.

“Yes,
well. As much as I would like to lay claim to it,” she said,
thinking of Devon and his glasses. “it was actually the idea of
Devon Windsor who works at the inn. His family owns the lodge.”

“And
yet he works at the inn?”

Lean
shrugged and waved a hand. “Family,” she said, the word
full of meaning.

Elliott
nodded, taking out a note and writing. “Devon you said, right?”
Lena nodded. “I'll have a talk with his family about his idea.
I think it would be mutually beneficial.”

“I
agree,” Lena added, hoping Devon would reap at least a little
respect from his family.

“As
for all the renovations,” he said, stacking his papers
together. “I am going to have James handle them. He can call in
decorators and contractors and find a way to keep the inn feel but
make it larger and updated.

“Showers,”
Lena mumbled.

“What?”
Elliott asked, brows furrowed.

“Oh,”
Lena said, not realizing she had said it aloud. “they need
showers in every guest room. Mine only had a tub. It was awful.”

“Tubs
can be a lot of fun,” James chimed in, his eyes bright.

“Not
when you're staying there alone. Or if you need to get somewhere
quickly.”

“So
you seemed impressed with all the staff,” Elliott broke in,
ignoring his brother's comments.

“Everyone
seemed well trained and efficient. Of course, as the inn gets larger
and there are more guests, there will need to be more staff members.
Especially one who is always posted at the front.”

“Yeah,”
Elliott said, his eyes far away with some memory. “Emily was
off doing something when I arrived. She came scrambling out cursing
as she knocked something over.”