OBSESSED WITH TAYLOR JAMES (12 page)

Going into the living room, she lay on the sofa and
clicked on the television.  CNN was on doing a report on two women that had
gone missing from the lower eastside of Cleveland within two days of each
other.
Why is this happening now?

She reached from the phone on the table.  Dialing she
waited for her sister to answer.  “Sabrina, have you seen the news?”

“You’re talking about those missing women?  Yes, I saw
that.”

“Be careful leaving the shop at night, okay?”

“
I will. We have a security guard in the parking lot
until police capture this fool.  You should be careful since you like to work
late at night.  But, then you have Mario to protect you.
”

“I had Mario.  We broke up today.  What is wrong with me,
Sabrina?  Why can’t I keep a man?”

“What did you do?
”

“We got into a fight about Dillon.  I told him to take a
walk since he can’t accept him as my friend. Was I wrong to do that?”

“YES! Girl, when are you going to stop protecting
Dillon’s grown ass?  He is not a kid, Taylor.  Your man will not understand you
are putting Dillon above him.  You need to let that protective crap go and live
your life and let Dillon live his.”

“So you are taking Mario’s side and think I should end my
friendship with him?”

“No, you don’t have to end it.  But you are willing to
forego your joy to keep Dillon….I can imagine how Mario is dealing with it.”

She nestled the phone to her ear listening to her younger
sister’s advice; it made a lot of sense.  “I probably blew it with Mario. I
will keep your advice handy for the next man that comes along.”

“Good luck finding one like Mario.  I can’t believe
you let that man go.  Did you get a chance to um…you know?”

Taylor laughed. “I won’t kiss and tell but will let your
imagination draw the picture.  Anyhow, I’m in dire need of sleep.  I will call
you tomorrow.”

“Taylor, it’s not even noon yet.  Oooh, okay, I get
it.  Well before you fall asleep to dream about what you won’t be getting
anymore, call Mario, and patch it up with him.  You aren’t getting any younger.
I’m tired of mom bugging me to give her a grandchild.”

“That age thing was a low blow.  I hope when you have a
baby its triplets and all boys…bye, girl.”

“Ouch, Taylor; that was mean…bye.”

Taylor hung up the phone feeling better after talking to
her sister. She turned on her side to watch TV.  Folding a hand under her head,
it wasn’t long before the heaviness from her eyelids slammed shut, forcing her
to fall asleep immediately.

                                                                                                                                                         
Chapter 9
              
 

Taylor swiveled her chair to face the window.  The view
from her office overlooked parts of Lake Erie and Burke Lakefront Airport. 
Closing her eyes, she needed a solid four more hours of sleep to feel human
again.  She had slept restlessly and jumped at every noise she heard outside
her bedroom window last night.

Her office door opened. “Good morning, Taylor.  I hate to
bother you but we have to meet with counsel from Gallop in an hour.”

Taylor swung her chair around to face Mario.  She stood
up and gave a careful gaze up and down his well-dressed body.  The slate gray
suit, white shirt, and silk gray tie, encased and molded his body.  She inhaled
lightly taking in his scent.  Her internal organs liquefied when he parted
those sexy lips to smile.

Her heart softened.  She missed him even though they had
been apart for only one night. “Good morning, Mario.  I was not aware of any
meeting with Gallop.  Was the meeting arranged this morning?”

Confident she would not throw him out; he stepped into
her office and closed the door.  Taylor had stood up walked in front of her
desk leaning against it.  Mario sighed; she had on the black power suit he’s
chosen for her on their last trip to the mall.  The skirt, snug at the hips,
stopped at her calf with a tasteful split running down the side that showed her
shapely thigh when she walked.  The bodice of the white square-necked shell was
cut low and gave a glimpse of her cleavage.  It was tucked inside the waist of
the skirt with a gold chain as a belt.

He sucked in a breath to cover moan of approval.
Smoothing down his tie he said, “I made it yesterday.  I received an email from
opposing counsel and they are refusing to sign the settlement agreement.”

“Why wasn’t I included on the email? I’ve been working on
this case forever…you are new to it.  Why would they send an email to you and
exclude me?”

He slipped a hand inside the pocket of his trouser. His
other arm rested at his side. “Taylor, check your email…you were included in
the chain.”

She went around her desk and tapped on the computer
opening the email program.   Reading the screen and biting her lower lip, she
mumbled, “Huh—how did I miss this?”

“When you didn’t respond to their email, I called
opposing counsel and suggested we meet this morning and iron out the problem. 
I did not mean to go over your head.”

“Of course you didn’t, and even if you did, you are a
partner and higher on the food chain than I.”

He sighed. “Taylor, I’m not pulling rank.”

“I’m sorry; I know you are doing your job.  I dropped the
ball you picked it up and ran with it.”  She moved to the front of her desk
again. “So, why are they hedging on signing the settlement agreement?  We had
it all in the bag.”

“Tucker feels the million dollar price tag for the
damages our client sustained, far exceed his injuries.  Tucker argues our
client was offered another position with the company and he refused to take
it.  His angle is to prove our client can support his family without a million
dollar settlement padding his bank account.”

Taylor hissed.  “Tucker is such a bastard.  We advised
our client not to take that position. Gallop would not guarantee it would not
eliminate the position in a year or two, leaving our client unemployed and
piled with medical bills.”

“Tucker is willing to keep the deal at $800,000.  That is
the highest amount Gallop is willing to go.”

She threw her head back in disgust.  “I can’t believe he
won’t let this case die! The man will never work again! He lost his leg. His
family will continue to suffer because of Gallop’s negligence in maintaining
the machinery in their factory.”

“Well, since you object to the new proposal, what do you
want to do?”

“Mario, a flat million is not too much to ask.  That was
the low end of our settlement demand.  Damn, I wish I had seen the email last
night.  I could have been better prepared going to this meeting.”

“Taylor, I have a great deal of experience dealing with
hard-nose negotiators.  If you want, I will take a shot at keeping our price on
the table and possibly out of the hands of a jury.  But, if going to trial will
be the only way to get our client justice, then we can do that.”

She patted her hand on the French roll her hair was
styled in.  The long bangs swept to one side of her head, framed her pretty
face. She nodded looking down at the floor. “All right, why don’t you handle it
since I’m not on my A-game today?  I will go along with you to show my face,
but will let you do the arguing unless you need my help in some way,” she
conceded reluctantly.

“I’ll do my best to keep this from getting any uglier
than it already is. I will meet you in the lobby in fifteen-minutes,” he said
turning to leave her office.

She sat behind her desk banging her fist against her
forehead.
You are slipping, girl.
 
Get it together and do not blow
this case because you are suffering from a broken heart
.  She took her
purse from the bottom desk drawer and buzzed her assistant to bring in the
Gallop Industries file jacket.

Lynda came in the office with the jacket and handed it to
her. “Taylor, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”  Taylor scanned through the files making
sure what she needed was there.

“Do you have a meeting this morning?”

“Mario Infante and I are meeting with Tucker Plano on the
Gallop matter.  I don’t know how long I will be gone, so if an emergency
arises, I have my cell phone on vibrate to leave me a message,” she said hoisting
the heavy file jacket under her arm.

“Oh, how I wish I was an attorney,” Lynda said shuddering
and fanning her face.

Taylor frowned. “Why?  This job is not always glamorous;
you’ve seen that first hand many times.”

“Not for the status but I’d give my left arm to be held
up in a room with Mr. Infante for hours! Wow…I’ve said enough and will hold
down the fort until you get back.”

Taylor smiled at the older woman’s giddiness. “I
agree—you’ve said enough.  See you later.”

*****

Mario waited by the doorway leading to the garage. Taylor
entered the lobby to see him in conversation with a well-dressed, white woman
with coiffed honey-blonde hair.   When the woman touched his shoulder, she
cringed with jealousy.

Taylor kept walking towards them with her head held high
and a nagging envy knotting in her gut.  “Hi, I’m ready to go when you are,”
she said sensing she was acting childish by being jealous of this woman.

The woman was not as perfect up close as she was from
afar.  Heavy age lines edged her peach-painted lips, and sizable wrinkles
creased beneath the makeup of the leathery skin of her forehead.  It was
obvious she’d either done the tanning booths too often, or was afraid of aging
and tried to hide nature’s natural erosion with Botox injections.

Mario took the heavy file folder from her arm. “So am I. 
Pardon my manners. Taylor James, this is Allyson Barker.  She was a colleague
from my old firm.”

Taylor forced a smile and stuck out her hand, saying, “A
pleasure to meet you, Allyson.  I bet you all miss Mario.”

“We do.  In fact, I was just suggesting to Mario, how we
should get together for dinner and drinks.  It’s been ages since I’ve seen
him.”

Taylor lifted her eyebrow as Allyson took his hand.
“Mario, I have a perfect date night for us.  The annual Mayor’s ball is
Saturday night.  I saw your name on the guest list.  How about it? Will you be
my date?”

Removing Allyson’s hand, Mario stuttered with indecision.
“Uh, uh, I’ll have to get back to you about that, Allyson.  We’re on our way to
a meeting and running behind as it is.”

She dug inside the classic Gucci purse retrieving a
business card.  “Here is my card; call me tonight with your answer. I would
love to get together for a night of dancing, drinking, and reminiscing.”  She
turned to Taylor offering her hand again.  “It was nice meeting you, Taylor.”

Taylor gave half a smile, replying, “Likewise, Allyson.”

As Allyson went on her way, Mario ushered Taylor through
the double doors leading to the elevators to the parking garage.  The doors
opened; they stepped inside not saying anything. He broke the silence. “We
never dated if that crossed your mind.”

Taylor kept her eyes straight ahead focusing on the muddy
smudges covering the dingy metal of the elevator doors. “It is none of my
business what you did with Grandma Moses.”

“That was harsh, coming from a sophisticated and
intelligent woman.”

“Yes it was and I apologize.  My motto is to mind my own
business and not step in anyone else’s crap, from now on.”

“Did something happen to make you adopt a motto?  And,
could it have happened during breakfast yesterday?”

“I plead the fifth,” she said waiting for the elevator
doors to open.  When the doors opened the lights to a brand new Mercedes
blinked on.  She saw the keyless remote in Mario’s hand and asked.  “You bought
a new car?”

“Yes,” he snickered as he opened the rear door of the
diamond-silver metallic CLS63 AMG S-Model Mercedes.  Putting the file jacket on
the floor of the car, he took off his suit jacket laying it across the
backseat.  He got behind the wheel waiting for Taylor to get inside the car. 
He rolled his eyes and got out of the car. “You’re kidding,” he said resting
his elbow on the rim of the car door peering at her.

She blew air between her lips opening the door and
getting into the car.  “Would you have opened the door for Allyson?” She asked
as they were both buckling their seatbelts.

“How should I answer and douse your flames of jealousy at
the same time.”

“You are the cutthroat attorney—figure it out.  But, I
will give you a hint, I’m not jealous of an old ass woman refusing to be her
age.”

“Tu podria haberme engańado, “he said knowing she
wouldn’t understand.   “This is the second time you have shown possessiveness
when you have encountered me with other women.  Taylor, you cannot have it both
ways.  Either you want to be with me or you don’t.  If you don’t want me, I’m
free to date whomever I want.  If you do want me, then swallow your damn
stubbornness and say so.”

“Golly-gee-whiz, batman, the same applies to you when it
comes to Dillon.”

“What?”  His expression shifted from wryly to curious.
“How am I jealous of Dillon?  I may not trust him, but I am definitely not
jealous of him.”

“Oh, please,” she said shooting him a stark look. “Where
should I begin?”

“By saying this discussion is ridiculous.” He maneuvered
the powerful new machine through the parking garage to the exit gate.

Plaintively Taylor concurred. “It is ridiculous and we
should drop the whole subject.  Mario, I am sorry about the way I behaved. 
You’re a grown man and allowed to date whomever you want.  You should accept
Allyson’s invitation and escort her to the Mayor’s ball.”

“If I wanted to attend with her I would have accepted her
offer.  Taylor, what I want is to date you.  But, for me to that, apparently I
have to accept Dillon in the fold of my arms.  I don’t want to turn over in bed
to hug you and find Dillon sleeping between us.”

She stared at him.  His face was so handsome and she had
a hard time not giving in and granting him what he wanted.  If she gave in,
would it mean he would make other demands when he didn’t agree with her? And,
if she did not give in, it would mean they could not have anything more than a
professional relationship. 

She didn’t know if she could handle working closely with
him considering how she was fighting the urge to run her hands up his thick
thighs and claim what lay beneath the expensive trousers.  Could she actually
live never having another night of passion with the man who’d captured her
heart in such a short timespan?  No was the real answer.  Yes, would be the
stubborn answer she would likely take.

“Well?” he asked breaking through her cone of isolation.

“What if we compromise on the issues?”

“What are your requirements?”

“I will back away from Dillon but not drop him totally as
a friend. You will ease your distrust for him and not make him feel
uncomfortable when around me.”

He vacillated.  Taylor knew why he was doing it.  At the
exit gate, he swiped the keycard to raise the gate.  Checking both ways before
pulling into traffic, he headed east towards the highway. 

Taylor eyed him.  He shook his head.  “All right, I’ll
give in to your demands but I have a demand of my own.”

She skewered him a look. “What would that be?”

He raised his thick eyebrows. “Don’t look at me like
that.”

“How am I looking at you?” She knew exactly how she was
looking at him. The good-looking man in an expensive suit was growing devil’s
ears and she liked them.

“Taylor, I didn’t get where I am by being a pushover.  If
you want something from me, then I want something from you….a conciliation of
giving and taking.”

Taylor fingered the gold necklace around her neck. “We
aren’t bargaining on who gets the waffle maker if we break a promise, Mario. 
Real emotions are involved here, and heartbreak will result from nonsense such
as this.  We’re adults, why can’t we just do what we do and leave everyone else
on the outside?”

“Do I really need to spell it out?  We are stubborn and
possessive.  I will have a problem with you running off to hold Dillon’s hand
whenever he has a crisis, and you will grow fangs watching me interact with
other women.”

“I admit I do have a ‘green-eye’ problem and it has been
the cause of many of my failed relationships.  But, give me credit; I’m getting
better with handling it.”