Chapter 5
(Lisa)
There were six people seated around the large oval table in the meeting room. Lisa instantly recognized Rich and smiled at him, genuinely happy to see a familiar face.
After all the introductions, Rich said, “This is the boring part of the job, I’m afraid, full of legalese and paper-signing.”
“I’m ready.” Lisa stretched her arms and smiled, waiting for the first round of papers to sign.
By the time she had signed all the papers, the others had begun to excuse themselves to do other duties. Lisa and Toni read over every paper, making sure it was all in Lisa’s benefit to sign.
Rich remained behind, reclining in a chair, seemingly off in his own little world. Lisa wondered what an editor’s daydream looked like and then decided she probably didn’t want to know.
She finished signing and slid the papers toward Rich. “There you go. Finally. All signed.” Lisa placed the pen on top of the papers, glad to be rid of it. A deep ache had set in behind her eyes and she removed her glasses, setting them on top of her head and rubbing her temples as Rich looked over the papers.
“It gets easier, I promise. This preliminary paperwork is only so intense because it’s the first. The following ones won’t be nearly as bad.”
“Good! That was a lot to take in on day one.” Lisa stretched her shoulders back.
There was a light knock at the door behind her and she straightened. Rich smiled and motioned the visitor into the room.
“Ladies, I would like to introduce you to the K. R. part of KR Publishing.” Rich held out his hand in a sweeping gesture.
Lisa looked up as the man in the suit walked into view and offered his hand. She put her hand in his and then recognized him. Her heart fell to her stomach.
Kit Rydell stood before her, hand out, smile frozen, eyes wide.
Kit broke the awkward silence. “Lisa Andrews. The Lisa Andrews.” He shot Toni a cold look. “And Toni Green.” He looked back to Lisa, his smile widening a notch. “How have you been? When I heard the name of our newest novelist, I just had to come see if it was really you. You look great!”
“I’m fine, Kit. I see you’ve done quite well for yourself. What happened to the family business? Thought you couldn’t go into publishing because of that?” Her smile was tight and semi-fake. This was a blow that she had not been prepared for at all.
“That’s why I don’t openly advertise who I am. Not yet anyway. It keeps me in the good graces of my father, and he has no problem with allowing me to manage both businesses as long as the numbers are good. You know Dad, it’s all about the bottom line.” He chuckled, still pumping her hand.
She pulled her hand away and returned his light chuckle. “That’s great. Uh,” She stood abruptly and pulled Toni to her feet. “We really must be going now. I’m sorry.” She looked to Rich. “Thank you for everything, Rich, have a great day.” Turning on her heel, she marched to the door and made a quick exit of the building, wanting to be as far away as possible as soon as possible.
***
(Kit)
When he had heard that Lisa Andrews was going to be taking a long-term contract with KR Publishing, Kit had to find out if it was his ex from college.
In the years since their break-up, he had thought of her often. He played the ‘what-if’ game a lot, too. What if he had been faithful to her? What if he hadn’t been caught cheating on her? What if Toni hadn’t seen him with Elsie that night?
There had not been many meaningful relationships since Lisa. At the time, his pride had been wounded, his ego squashed, and he had let her get away without putting up a fight. Also, he had known that he was in the wrong. She had been faithful to him—sure, she had submersed herself in her work and had been sitting at that computer on several nights when he would have rather had her with him, cuddled at his side, but she was faithful.
Telling her that it was her fault had been one of the biggest mistakes of his young life. He had realized it even before he had said it but wanting to save as much of his pride as possible, had been unable to keep it from spilling out into the argument.
After something like that has been said, it’s more difficult than ever to try to convince the other party that it was anything but the truth. At least as far as the speaker is concerned. The damage from such a statement is rarely overcome in relationships.
Kit knew that from watching his mother and father go through similar troubles. His mother never trusted any good thing his father did or said afterward, even though she gave valiant effort to believe and trust.
But to see her sitting in an office of his building, signing contracts to work with his company was a different matter entirely. It meant that she was back within his reach. Those oh so sexy curves that she had been so self-conscious about in school, and that untamable mass of golden curls, her bright green eyes that sometimes turned light golden brown set his heart to hammering within a millisecond of stepping around her chair and making eye contact.
It had been as if he could feel her body against his, soft where he was hard, warm against his cool skin, smooth against his roughness, and submissive. He had always loved that about her. Lisa could be aggressive, if the situation called for it, even in the bedroom. She had always been more adventurous than her appearance led anyone to believe, but her default setting with Kit had always been submissive. It drove him wild with desire.
And, after years with other women, he had come to realize that he didn’t like aggressive women in the bedroom all the time. He longed for the sweet, giving, submissive nature of Lisa Andrews.
Of course, he had kept up with her successes in the writing arena, no matter how small or seemingly trivial, every one of her triumphs was a step in his direction. He could see that now. Every submission to every editor along her journey had been pushing her toward KR Publishing. He had spent years wheedling and lobbying the best, the brightest, and the most sought-after editors, pouring tons of money into his project so he could have one of the world’s best publishing houses. And, that, in its own way, had been his way of trying to make up for being such a shit boyfriend to Lisa all those years before. He had always hoped to run into her again someday.
KR Publishing seemed to be the perfect platform to draw her in. And without his orchestration on the minutiae, one of his best editors, Rich Besser, had found Lisa, hired her in, and Kit had only found out the day before she was set to sign the contracts.
It seemed that things were working out wonderfully.
Of course, his current fling, Marsha, might not be so thrilled at the turn of events.