Her voice quiet, she reminded me, “You’ve got to go.” I grunted in confusion. She added an amused, “Your appointment. You’ve got to go, right?”
That brought me back down-to-earth with a jarring jolt. I had a client in less than an hour. If I didn’t hurry, I’d be running late. I jumped off the bed and rushed out, “Shit, yeah, I do. Thanks for reminding me.”
“You’re welcome, Quinn. Talk soon?”
The soft lilt of her voice made me want to yell ‘fuck it’ and stay talking to her all damn night, but I couldn’t. I had a job. Responsibilities. Trying not to sound like an over-excited puppy, I stated, “Tomorrow. If you’re free again, call me tomorrow.”
I heard that smile of hers as she said, “Tomorrow’s good.”
“Have a good night, Maya.”
“You too, Quinn.”
I thought twice before adding, “Sweet dreams, babe,” but said it anyway. Before she could say anything in return, I disconnected the call then got ready for my client. But I thought about Maya.
I thought about her the whole damn night.
Chapter Fourteen
Mia
My day passed relatively quickly. I couldn’t believe Ella, Pip, and I managed to organize a charity event from top to bottom in only two days, but that was why we worked for Addison Ltd. We were good.
After my meeting with Nicholas the morning prior, I was called into the office of Addison Dietrich. It surprised me an awful lot that she still carried her ex-husbands last name. But then, that wasn’t my business.
The stunning blonde had been facing out of the window when I knocked. Then she turned and my heart started to race. She didn’t look happy.
“Mia. Sit, please.” She added the please, but I don’t think she meant it.
I didn’t dare speak. This woman was fierce. A mental image of Addison Dietrich in female Viking armor, holding a sword and shouting as she felled a man with a single swipe of her blade crossed my mind, her blonde hair braided at the sides, her current scowl present. The man felled was Nicholas.
I gulped. “Have I done something wrong?”
Oh, God, I sounded weak. And like a bear, she smelled fear on me. I know this, because she grinned, catlike. “I don’t know. Have you?”
My head tilted in thought as the previous day ran through my mind in fast-forward. “No.”
She ran a delicate hand over the front of her little black dress, smoothing it over. “Firstly, I wanted to welcome you to the team.”
It seemed the right time to say “Thank you,” so I did. But I added, “I’m happy to be here.”
Her grin fell from her face and she looked me up and down as if to say, ‘You should be.’ Rather than saying that, she uttered a cool, “I saw you had the misfortune of meeting Mr. Dietrich. I’ll not apologize for his behavior, because I’m not his mother, but you’ll be glad to know he doesn’t normally work from the office so he won’t be seen.”
I was confused and made the mistake of stating, “Mr. Dietrich was a complete gentleman. He seemed very nice.”
Her eyes flashed and her voice turned an eerie quiet. “A gentleman was he?”
I realized I had fucked up, and tried to fix my relationship with my in-office boss. By fix, I mean fuck it up further in a huge way. “What I meant was that Nicholas helped prepare me by giving me a few tips.”
Oh, shit. Had I just called my outer-office boss by his first name?
The air around Addison turned ice-cold to match the frost forming in her eyes.
But I didn’t stop there. Almost wheezing in distress, I added, “Mr. Dietrich was completely professional. At all times. Even when I accused him of following me. Not that he was. He was just a guy on my bus. I didn’t know he was my boss when he smiled at me.”
Well…shit.
Addison’s cheeks had flushed Barbie-pink. “I see,” she stated, and I wanted to yell, ‘No, you don’t!’ but I feared anything I said further would be held against me in the court of Addison. Clearing her throat, she ran a finger down the cool wood of her desk. “I need you to understand something, Mia, because you’re a pretty girl.” Her icy gaze met mine. “If you fuck my husband, I will end you.”
My mouth rounded in shock.
Before I could speak, she went on, “I don’t make threats. I make promises. I’ve been in this industry a long time, and if I find that you and…” she gritted her teeth and hissed out, “Nicholas have been disregarding our office fraternization policy, you will never work in events ever again. Not in this city, anyway.”
My blood ran cold. My face pale, and I sputtered feebly, “I-I-I-I don’t even know him.”
Addison Dietrich smiled. “Good. Then you don’t have anything to worry about.” She extended her arm to the door. “That will be all for now.”
As I numbly stood and walked out of the office, Addison called out, “Oh, and Mia?”
I turned and waited. She searched my face a moment before adding sincerely, “Nice work on the Johnson’s charity dinner.”
Walking back to my desk, I sat and wondered how I could go so quickly from yesterday’s highest high to today’s lowest low.
The sad truth of it was that some things could only be cured with a doughnut. Or three.
My brother had been pestering me for some time now about coming to my new apartment, so when he called offering to pick me up and take me to dinner, I accepted immediately.
The truth was Harry was my biggest fan, and I was his. Oh, sure, I tried to act the grownup, but sometimes, all I wanted to do was vent then cry on his shoulder like I had done so many times during high school. He was my hero, my champion, the only man in my life I would ever truly trust and feel safe enough to rely on. My brother was a good man with a gentle heart. I loved him a lot.
He pulled up out front of my work and wound down the window as I walked to the car. “Excuse me. Have you seen a short, annoying girl with gigantic ears and a gimpy leg? Chews gum like a horse and answers to Minnie?”
Shaking my head, I stepped into his silver sedan, buckled up, and then punched him in the arm. Hard. “Good afternoon to you too, butthead.”
He chuckled. “Why am I suddenly allowed to see your apartment? Are you out of food already, or did you just give in knowing I’d wear you down?”
My smile was weak. “I know you’re busy. You don’t need to babysit me.” A jolt of pain in my arm stunned me as my brother punched me. Rubbing my arm fiercely, I shouted, “What the hell was that for?”
Harry looked irritated as he drove on. “You think the only reason I wanted to come see your place was out of obligation?”
I stared at him with a face that read, ‘You’re trying to tell me it’s not?’
He glanced over, read my face, and shook his head. “I’ll admit I’ll always feel responsible for you, Mia, and I won’t apologize for that. But did you really think I only wanted to see your place because I’m checking up on you? Maybe it’s because in the past five years I’ve only seen you at holidays. Or maybe it’s because you make me laugh and I have fun with you.” His voice turned quiet. “Maybe I just missed my damn sister, Mia.”
I felt the beginnings of an emotional outburst starting at the way the bridge of my nose started to tingle. Blinking away tears, I confessed quietly, “I missed you too, Har.” Coughing away my haywire feelings, I asked, “But you’ve got Quinn, right?”
Harry snorted then teased, “He’s my friend, Mia, not my boyfriend. We hang out a few times a week. Most nights, he’s busy, which suits me just fine considering I work nights.”
I couldn’t help myself. “What does he do at night?”
Harry stilled, thinking of his answer. “He dates a lot.”
I smiled to myself at my brother’s blatant lie. He was a good friend. I thought back two years ago. It was Christmas, and Harry had a little too much to drink. He had caught a cab straight from work at the bar to Christmas dinner at Mom’s, and by the time he arrived, he was already three sheets to the wind. It made for
an interesting dinner, with Mom yelling an appalled, “Oh, my God, Harry. Are you drunk?”
Harry just hugged her, picking her up and spinning her in circles, laughing. “Yeah, Mom. I’m drunk. But guess what? I’m over twenty-one and spreading the Christmas cheer!”
He spotted me then and his smile waned. “Mia?”
I had lost a considerable amount of weight before coming home for Christmas. I smiled. “No. My name is Juanita. I’m here for the food.”
Harry grinned and came at me, hugging me tightly. “Get over here, smartass. Jesus! You look great, Minnie!”
Mom huffed. “She’s losing too much weight. It’s not healthy.”
But Harry just looked at me with pride. “Well, I think she looks beautiful.”
After our feast, Mom had retired claiming a headache, and being jetlagged from my flight home, I said goodnight to Harry, leaving him to watch TV on his own. I made my way upstairs, changed into pajamas, and brushed my teeth. Christmas dinner was heavy, and I desperately needed a glass of water to keep by my bedside, so I made my way downstairs.