Behind Closed Doors (17 page)

The sun seemed too bright when Elizabeth rolled over and glanced over at her alarm clock. She jumped out of bed. It was ten thirty in the morning, and she was late for work.

Why hasn’t Chris called me? Knocked on my door? Something.

She raced through her morning routine, shoved a Pop-Tart in her mouth, grabbed her purse, and ran down the stairs as fast she could.

She was nearing the bottom when Jan opened her door and stepped out into the foyer. “Hi, Jan,” she said in a rush. “Sorry to run, but I’m late for work.”

“I know, dear. Chris wanted to let you sleep. There’s no hurry.”

She stopped in her tracks. “Oh.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “Well, I don’t want to take advantage.”

Jan gave her a small smile, and locked the door to her apartment. “I know. But be that as it may, I’m glad for it. Now, let’s get you to work.”

“You’re taking me?”

“Of course. You heard what the detective said. You are not to be alone, and I do believe driving to work by yourself would qualify as being alone. I mean unless you have a man hiding in your trunk I don’t know about,” she said.

Elizabeth felt a little silly being dropped off to work by her landlady. Granted, she considered Jan a friend, but it was just weird.

When she walked in the front door to the office, she found Chris sitting at her desk with a phone in one ear and a stack of papers in front of him. He had a scowl on his face and bags under his eyes. Guilt washed over her.

Chris looked up, saw her, and gave her a half smile.

She went over to her desk and tucked her purse in the drawer, straightening just as Chris hung up the phone. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“All right. You should have woken me. I would have come in earlier.”

“I know that,” Chris said, vacating her chair. “You had a rough night. You needed your rest.”

“And you didn’t?” she asked incredulously.

“I’m fine.”

“Chris,” she said, touching the circles under his eyes.

He stepped back out of reach. “I’m fine,” he insisted.

She dropped her hand, and an awkward silence surrounded them.

He cleared his throat. “There were a few calls this morning. I took care of most of them, but I left you Post-it notes with the ones that still need to be addressed. Also,” he paused as if debating whether to continue. “You received a personal call.”

She felt a lead weight settle in the pit of her stomach. “Who?”

“Your mother-in-law.”

“Oh.”

“Apparently Detective Stephens contacted her first thing this morning.” He left that hanging in the air for a moment before adding. “If your husband was anything like his mother, I have no idea how you put up with him for as long as you did. She’s a vile woman.”

A high-pitched laugh left her lips. For some reason, Chris calling her devil of a mother-in-law
vile
struck her as funny and nerve-racking at the same time. What in the world had she said to him?

“Sorry,” she said, noting Chris’ furrowed brow. Chris probably thought she was crazy. “It’s just that I’ve felt that way for years, but everyone else seems to love her. It’s refreshing to know I’m not the only one that feels that way.”

Chris smiled. His whole face lit up as he joined in the joke. She felt a warm weight settle in her chest. “Well, don’t you worry. After the conversation I had with her this morning, I doubt my opinion of her will ever change.”

“Thank you.” His words meant more than she could ever hope to explain. He was on her side. It felt good.

There was another long pause before he shifted his weight. “I’ll be in my office if you need me. Terry’s going to drop by in about an hour with lunch. Have you eaten?”

“I had a Pop-Tart on the way over,” she said.

He grimaced. “That’s not lunch. Or breakfast, for that matter. I’ll have Terry add another sandwich and chips.” With that, he turned and walked into his office.

She sighed, refocusing her attention on her desk. There were five notes arranged haphazardly on the right-hand side of her desk.

Scanning the notes quickly, she noticed one was from Stephanie. Feeling as if she’d wasted enough of her day already, she put the note from her friend aside and started working on returning the other calls first.

She had just hung up with a designer when Terry walked in. “Hey.”

“Hey, pretty lady,” Terry said, all smiles. “Boss man in?”

“Yeah, he’s—”

“Hey.” They both looked over to see Chris propped up against the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his chest.

For a moment, she forgot to breathe. His stance was so casual yet powerful at the same time. Chris’s broad shoulders pulled against the fabric of his shirt, revealing the muscles in his arms. Muscles she had felt beneath her fingertips as they’d held her body against his. She suppressed a shiver at the memory.

He looked over at her and their eyes locked. Time seemed to stop, suspending them in the moment.

Then, just as abruptly as it started, Chris ended it by pushing off the doorframe and walking toward his foreman. “Thanks for picking up lunch.”

“No problem. Gives me an excuse to get out of that heat for a while. I think we’re supposed to reach the high nineties today. Add that to being on top of a roof and you might as well be in an oven.”

They both laughed and the tension in Chris’s shoulders seemed to ease. “Man, I don’t miss that,” he said, taking a seat at the mini conference table in the corner. “As much as I dislike paperwork, I’d trade it for humping shingles on a hot summer day in a heartbeat.”

“Preaching to the choir,” Terry said before taking a mammoth bite of his sandwich.

She slowly walked over to the table where the guys were sitting, picked up the bag with her food, and turned to go back to her desk to eat. “Aren’t you gonna eat with us?” Terry asked.

“Got in late today. I really should keep working.”

He waved his hand dismissively in front of his face. “Work will wait. You should eat.”

She looked over at Chris. His eyes met hers and held for a brief moment before he focused on his meal. “Okay. I guess I can spare a few minutes.”

“Atta girl!’ Terry said and she laughed.

Chris was doing everything he could not to look at Elizabeth as she sat across from him and ate her lunch, but his gaze kept drifting. Everything the woman did was driving him wild! He felt as if his libido had gone into hyperdrive. If that weren’t enough, knowing someone was trying to get to her had him wanting to stake his claim in a very animalistic way. His current thoughts ran along the lines of her, laying on his desk with her pants around her ankles, and him firmly situated between her legs. Just the thought was sending heat throughout his body and making it hard to concentrate.

This morning he’d missed her presence, but now that she was here, he wanted to be near her and as far away from her as possible at the same time.

When the remnants of their lunches hit the trash, he asked Terry into his office and reluctantly closed the door. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Shoot.”

He took a seat behind his desk and sighed. “It’s about Elizabeth.”

Terry smiled. “Did you finally get that stick out of your ass?”

“What?”

Terry paused and then laughed, shaking his head. “I guess that would be a no.”

“Back to what I was saying,” Chris said, giving his foreman a pointed look. “She’s received some unwanted attention recently.”

Terry looked shocked. “From the guys?”

“No. Why? Has someone said something? Done something?” he said, his voice rising in pitch.

“No.” Terry sighed. “It’s nothing like that so calm down before you give yourself a heart attack or something.”

Chris took a deep breath, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes, trying to clear his head.
What is wrong with me?

“So what is this unwanted attention?” Terry said, bringing Chris back to the present conversation.

“Someone has been trying to frighten her. So far it’s only been at the house, but I don’t want to take chances. The police are involved. I’m just worried, and so I wanted to ask if you’d look after her if I need to go to a job site.

Terry’s face was sober as was his response. “Of course. Just let me know and I’ll be here.”

“Thank you.”

He walked Terry out and shook his hand.

As Chris walked back into his office, he thought about all the hardships he and Terry had been through over the last three years. In the beginning, it had just been the two of them. They’d worked sun up to sun down some days. Weekends. Holidays. It didn’t matter, and Terry had never complained.

He was the one person Chris had confided in, the one person who knew the whole story about what had happened with Carol. Not even Jan or his family knew he’d caught her in bed with his best friend, or that he’d found out shortly thereafter that it hadn’t been her first go at infidelity. She’d been cheating on him nearly from the beginning of their marriage.

Often Terry would just listen, letting Chris get whatever it was off his chest. He wasn’t one to pry, which was why when he did offer an opinion, Chris had learned to listen.

So why wasn’t he sharing now?

With Elizabeth it felt different. She was—private. He didn’t want to share what he was feeling for her with anyone. Not Terry. Not Jan. Not his mother. Certainly not his brothers.

He wanted her, but it wasn’t right. Just not . . . yet.

The rest of the day went quickly. Just before five, he walked out of his office to find Elizabeth still on the phone.

“As long as I’m home by four, I should be fine. Oh. That’s a great idea. Okay. I’ll see you at nine then. Bye.” She didn’t notice him until after she hung up the phone. “Oh!” she said, startled.

“Are you finished?” he asked, not really sure what to make of her conversation. It was obviously personal.

“Yes. Sorry.” She gathered up her things and they left.

The ride home was quiet. Chris waited for her to bring up her phone conversation, but she never did. She’d obviously made plans for Saturday with a friend and his concern for her safety was there again in full force. He tried not to panic. When they arrived home, they parted ways, Elizabeth seeming just as distracted as he was.

He left the door open just as he had the previous night, but all remained quiet. As much as his body was craving sleep, his mind wouldn’t shut off. It was downstairs with Elizabeth.

For Elizabeth, Saturday morning arrived quickly. The week had been uneventful for the most part, with the only exception being that two phone calls from her mother-in-law, Abigail Carter.

When she’d called the second time on Friday, Chris had taken the phone from her and told Abigail that this was an office and that she was disrupting his employee’s ability to do her job and tying up his phone line with things that were not related to his business. He warned her that if she called there again, he would file harassment charges. She wondered if he could do that in reality, but either way, it was nice to have a man defend her for a change.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought that second call from Abigail had led to the impromptu intervention last night. Jan had invited her and Chris to dinner, and as soon as the food was cleared away, they pounced.

Both Jan and Chris expressed their concerns regarding the scheduled shopping trip with Stephanie. When she’d refused a babysitter, both Jan and Chris made her promise to follow some rules to put their minds at ease such as sticking to public places and parking close to the entrance.

Later, Chris reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a large lipstick tube. “Here,” he’d said. “Keep this with you. Use it if you need to.” He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “I don’t like that you’re going alone tomorrow. I’d feel much better if you’d let Jan or I come with you.”

“I’ll be fine. Stephanie will be there except for the drive, and I’ve got my cell,” she said. He still didn’t look happy when he’d turned and walked upstairs to his apartment.

The object turned out to be pepper spray. She picked it up, familiarizing herself with its weight, before dropping it into her purse.