Winter's Magic (Music City Hearts Series) (7 page)

“Why don’t you stop by and let me take you to lunch. I have a meeting at two. We can go somewhere close before you head back to work.”

“I can do that. It has to be short, though. I’ve got a ton of work to catch up on and I’m supposed to be helping Jenny bake all those cookies and wrap presents tonight.”

“I’ll be ready when you get here.”

Nick sat down at his desk and started answering e-mails. Thirty-five already today and most of them required information rather than quick acknowledgements. He’d clicked through about half of them when his receptionist buzzed through.

“Mr. Chester, there’s a Ms. Parker here to see you without an appointment. She’s insisting you want to see her.”

“It’s okay, Cheryl, send her back. And I’m expecting Beth Sergeant in about fifteen minutes. When she arrives, bring her through to my office. I’ll be going out for lunch today.”

“Yes, sir.”

He’d barely hung up the phone when Lauren strolled in and made her way to the corner of his desk. As usual, she wore a tight short skirt, silk blouse, with one too many buttons undone, heels that made her legs look a mile long, and of course, her hair and makeup were impeccable. He felt absolutely nothing.

“Lauren, I’m surprised to see you. I only have a few minutes before my next appointment.” He rose and circled the desk to stand next to her, hoping she would get the hint.

“A surprise? You’re all I’ve thought about for the past two weeks. I couldn’t wait to see you as soon as I got back from my trip.” She moved closer, gazing at him with her scheming, princess eyes, as one hand stroked the lapel of his suit jacket. “I’ve missed you, Nick.”

He removed her hand from his chest. “I told you last time we talked, Lauren. I’m not interested in getting back together. I’ve moved on.”

“Nick, I know I was difficult right before leaving on my trip. I’m sorry. You can’t really be serious about Beth Sergeant.”

Her laughter singed his ears, reminding him of exactly why he’d broken things off.

“I mean, from what I hear she has serious allegations hanging over her head right now. You need to insulate yourself from even the slightest hint of scandal.”

His heart stopped as the words sunk in and he realized ‘anonymous’ was right in front of him. “How do you know about the audit?”

“I’m sure I heard Daddy say something at dinner. It doesn’t matter. I came here to talk about us. About our future.” She eliminated the remaining distance between them.

“I told you, we don’t have a future, Lauren.” He took a step backward, toward the open office door. She needed to leave. Now.

“You can’t mean that.” Her voice had turned soft and whispery, yet sounded like sludge as the guilt began to rise in his chest. “Come over tonight and we’ll talk about it. You know how good we are together. I’m not giving up, Nick.” Before he could take another step away, Lauren reached up and kissed him.

Startled and angry, Nick grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away. “I told you there isn’t anything to talk about, Lauren. Please leave.” His eyes met hers, daring her to argue.

By the time he sat down behind his desk, she was gone. He picked up his phone and dialed before he had a chance to change his mind.

“Hello?”

“Grandfather. I need a favor. Do you know Mr. Wilkens at Unity Bank?”

Beth stepped into the elevator leading to the offices of Chester and Dorsey with a joy that could only be described with one word. Nick.

When she’d woken up this morning, her first thought was that yesterday had been one big, bad dream. No such luck. And for the short time it took the water in her shower to turn from cold to hot, she’d let the deflating realization drag her down.

Then she’d thought about Nick. How his concern and gentleness had made the difference at a point when she was about to fall apart. How she’d been in a haze when Gina knocked on her door to say goodbye and he’d spared her the embarrassment of having a co-worker witness the mess she’d turned into.

He’d reassured her everything would be okay. And for some reason, she believed him without question. At the same time, he respected her need to handle the situation on her own. Not at first, exactly. The fix-it syndrome had roared loudly. In the end, he promised not to interfere. He’d been wonderful.

And he’d been right about needing a good night’s sleep. Once showered and dressed, armed with a cup of coffee in her hand, she’d felt re-energized and prepared to face the stacks of files awaiting her back at the office.

Stepping off the elevator and into the lobby, she couldn’t wait to tell Nick about her meeting with Mr. Wilkens. He’d been speechless when she’d shown him her thorough documentation.

Knowing she’d played their game and won was exhilarating. It would be a few weeks before they announced their final evaluation in a formal letter, yet she knew they would see the truth.

Before she could say anything to the receptionist, Beth saw Lauren Parker storming out of the main corridor. Feigning a smile, ready to say hello, Beth watched her stalk by and step into the second elevator without a glance.

“May I help you?” The receptionist didn’t seem fazed.

“Hi, I’m Beth Sergeant. I’m here to see—”

“Yes, ma’am. Nick’s expecting you. Let me show you to his office.” Beth followed her halfway down the hallway where she could see Nick on the phone, sitting behind a massive mahogany desk.

“Thank you,” she said, and the receptionist headed back toward the lobby.

Nick had a scowl on his face as she heard the words, “Call me when you find something out.” When he didn’t lay down the receiver, she watched from a distance as he pressed a series of buttons.

He finally lifted his gaze and found her standing just outside the doorway. His eyes were wild, and he looked like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he slowly laid down the receiver. She didn’t speak, just stared at the smudge of red lipstick at the edge of his mouth.

He rose before the chair could recede completely and bumped the top of his thighs. Beth covered her mouth, barely holding back the laugh erupting in her chest. Who would believe this was the same unruffled man who had settled her nerves and taken care of the chaos last night?

Stepping around the desk, he held out his arms and the scowl turned into a hesitant smile. “I’m not exactly smooth today.”

She didn’t say anything back, just raised an eyebrow, which made him stop short.

“Are you okay?” His voice was strained.

Beth opened her purse and pulled out a tissue, then had the satisfaction of watching his eyes grow wide as she wiped the red lipstick from his mouth.

“The red clashes with your brown tie, don’t you think?”

Despite the warm, genuine smile she gave him, his face froze with alarm. Then he stepped back and dropped into a large, leather guest chair. “Damn it. It’s not what you think. Let me explain.”

Her initial desire to hold back a response and let him stew was overtaken by the hollow pleading in his eyes. “I know.” Sitting down on his lap, she took his face in both hands and kissed him.

When she drew back, he was staring at her. “You believe me?”

“I saw the frustration on her face when she stalked past reception.” Beth slowly dropped her hands to her lap, following them with her eyes. She knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. Hadn’t given Lauren what she wanted. Yet she couldn’t stop the all-too-familiar insecurities from squeezing her chest.

“I’d still like to know what happened, though.” She hesitated, not sure how much to say. She wanted to be completely honest.

Nick touched her chin, bringing her face back up to his and gave her a brief, playful kiss. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

“I kind of owe you one after last night.”

“Nick.” She heard the voice just before a blond-haired man stepped into the office. “Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know you were busy.”

Beth started and tried to get up. Nick had his arms around her waist now and held her in place.

“Hey, come on in. I want you to meet someone. This is Beth Sergeant. Beth, this is my business partner, Brandon Dorsey.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” they both said at the same time. The surprise on his face was clearly visible as she watched him take in the scene. Given Jenny’s description of Nick’s privacy rules, she’d bet Brandon didn’t find women sitting on Nick’s lap in the middle of his office on a regular basis. The thought brought renewed warmth to her heart and pushed away the images her mind had been trying to create.

Brandon must have realized he was staring. His attention suddenly moved back to Nick. “I stopped in to tell you I’ll be out this afternoon. I’m going over to Jenny’s to help wrap presents for the children’s clinic.”

“Have a good time. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Nick said.

Brandon left and shut the door behind him, leaving an awkward silence in the room. Nick raised a hand and started twirling a wave of her hair around his finger. “Are we okay?” he asked. “I didn’t invite Lauren. I didn’t even know she was back in town.”

“What did she want?”

“To see me again.”

“And?” This was the important part. The part that would tell her the truth about where they stood.

“I said that I’ve moved on and there isn’t anything to talk about.”

“And the lipstick?” She felt his body tense beneath her as she said word.

“She asked me to come over tonight. Then she kissed me.” He had those pleading eyes again. “I swear I didn’t encourage her. I didn’t kiss her back and I have no interest in seeing her.”

Beth let a long silence pass between them before answering. More for effect than disbelief as she thoughtfully stared at the top button on his shirt.

When this conversation ended, she never wanted to discuss Lauren again. He said he was moving forward, with her. She had to get past her insecurities if that was going to be possible.

“So, what are you doing tonight?” She smiled up at him just as he let out a deep breath.

“I was hoping to spend the evening with you. Need any more help getting ready for tomorrow?”

Good answer.

“Can you put pre-cut cookie dough on baking sheets and watch a timer?” she asked. “And you are the expert on Santa hat ornaments.”

“You’ve got a deal.”

Nick arrived at the clinic on Friday morning with so much food it took four adults three trips to carry everything in. The party had just started and dozens of children were lined up to see Santa Claus.

Beth sat in a rocking chair with a little girl, helping her open a new coloring book and jumbo box of crayons. He felt the oddest sensation flow through him as he watched her holding the child. He’d tried hard to find something wrong with her ever since their date Sunday night. Instead of finding faults, though, he kept seeing her kind and loving nature.

Her reaction to Lauren’s visit to his office was the perfect example. Already stressed out with the bank audit, she could have left his office and refused to listen. But she hadn’t. She’d seen the truth and trusted him.

When she caught him staring, her radiant smile drew him to where she was sitting.

“Melissa, can you show Nick what Santa Claus brought you?”

In two-year-old jabber, little Melissa said, “Color book,” and held it out for him to see.

“Oh, that’s a pretty color book.” He took a seat next to them.

Melissa smiled as she scooted off Beth’s lap and came over to his. Nick picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, then sat on his knee and pointed to Santa Clause, who was still passing out gifts.

“Sa na cas,” she said.

“Did you get your picture taken?” he asked.

“Sa na cas,” she said again and nodded her head.

Before he had the chance to say anything else, Melissa hopped down and ran toward a woman, whom he assumed was her mother, just a few seats down. He could hear her repeating “
Sa na cas”
all the way.

“Let me help you get the food set out so everyone can eat,” Beth said as they rose from their seats.

She looked so cute wearing a Santa hat and a red, fitted turtleneck with blue jeans and fur-lined boots. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her until Christmas. This probably wasn’t the right place . . .

“Nick?”

What had she said? Oh, the food.

“Good idea.” He laid his hand across the back of her shoulders and turned toward the tables. “I like the hat,” he whispered and watched her cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink.

Once the parents and children were eating, Jenny, Beth, and Nick set up tables for the ornament project.

“There are forty-six kids, so let’s set up these nine tables and put a red felt hat with three large and one small cotton ball at each seat.” Beth emptied craft sacks full of glitter pens, glue, and ribbon. “There are only a few children whose parents couldn’t be here today, so I think we have enough volunteers to make sure each child has an adult to help.”

“What time did you say the choir would be here?” Nick asked.

“Any minute,” Jenny said. “They won’t take long setting up and can play while we work on the crafts. We should finish before they do, and then we’ll let the kids sing a few carols with them.”

“What about the children that couldn’t leave their rooms to come to the party?” he asked.

“Beth and I made arrangements to have Santa Claus visit them individually and drop off presents later this afternoon.”

“Let me know how many there are and I’ll wrap up cookies to be dropped off, too.”

“That would be great, Nick. I’m glad you came today and thanks for all the help last night.”

“I enjoyed it.” He paused. “You know, it’s weird. You’ve been working with us for about four years now, and I just realized last night how little I know about you. Brandon talks about you all the time.”

“He does?” She seemed shocked.

“I assure you, he always has glowing compliments.” He laughed. “I guess I’m just too busy and only half-listening most of the time. I know you two have everything under control. Business is growing, so you must be doing something right.”

“Of course. Your success is all because of our amazing advertising campaigns.”

Beth’s hat caught his eye from across the room where she talked to a young father. An unsettling knot clenched in his stomach as he watched the man touch her shoulder when he spoke.

“Nick? Is everything all right?” Jenny asked.

He checked himself, replacing the glare he felt with what he hoped passed for a smile. Typically, he was unreadable. Though, he’d started noticing that anytime Beth was involved, he seemed to have less control over his expressions.

“Perfect. Everything is great.” He left the table they had just finished setting and headed toward Beth with a determined stride.

Just as she finished a conversation with one of the parents, Beth felt Nick’s arm slide loosely around the back of her shoulders.

“Are the crafts ready?” she asked.

“Jenny has everything under control.”

“Good.” She pointed to the gentleman. “This is Brian, Melissa’s father. They found out this morning her leukemia is in complete remission.”

“That’s wonderful news. I can’t imagine a better Christmas present.” Nick reached out and shook the man’s hand.

“I was just telling Beth how much this party and the weekly visits mean to the children.” Brian paused to clear his throat, then turned his attention back to Beth. “Thank you.”

As Brian stepped away and headed toward his wife and daughter, Jenny’s voice came over the speaker. “If everyone is finished eating, please join us at the tables to make ornaments. I think Saint Mary’s Children’s Choir is ready to sing for us.”

“I forgot to tell you Mr. Wilkens called this morning.” Beth watched the children and parents gathering on the far side of the room.

“He did?”

“He apologized at least four times and said the investigation has been dropped. He even thanked me for the documentation and wished me a Merry Christmas.”

“Just like that?”

“Can you believe? He’s already faxed me an official closure letter.”

“It probably didn’t take their accounting department very long to see your paperwork was in order. I’m glad it’s over.”

“Me, too.” Beth slid her hand around Nick’s waist as he drew her closer to him. His hand slid up and down her back in a gentle caress as they listened to the soft chattering at the tables mingled with the beautiful sounds of the children’s choir. She felt a sudden stinging in her eyes as they sang through the first verse of “Silent Night.”

“Beth?” Nick asked.