Wrapped In Shadows (8 page)

I was plagued by the memory of her body pinned beneath me and her silky legs wrapped around my ass. She’d soothed more than my physical ache. She’d freed something inside me, something I couldn’t quite explain. It was as if she’d opened a door and a burden was carried off on the wings of despair. I just felt lighter, less…troubled.

She’d been heaven in my arms. At first she’d been nervous, almost trembling in my embrace, but the chemistry between us had been electric. I knew she’d felt it too. She’d quickly become eager and responsive, giving as good as she got. She’d been so wet, so warm, so delicious… I groaned low and squeezed my eyes shut as my cock stirred, growing rock hard in my pants. I looked over at my sleeping daughter and the sight tempered my libido. I took a long, slow breath.

Complicated
. Yeah, life was already complicated and I had priorities. Whatever was going on between Kay and Josh, I’d do well to stay out of it. I stood and kissed my daughter’s warm forehead before finding my own empty bed.

*************************

Katie

I hated making television appearances, but I knew it was valuable publicity for the Vandercamp Foundation. When a popular anchor of a morning show invited me on for a live interview, I took the opportunity to detail the altruistic endeavors of the foundation. I hadn’t been feeling well. I’d awoken that morning with a throbbing headache, probably from all the recent stress, but didn’t want to cancel the interview. I’d managed to get through it, but now my head was starting to feel like someone was playing drums inside my brain. These tension migraines didn’t happen often, but when they did, they could be debilitating. Determined to ignore the pain, I pasted a smile on my face that even my mother would be proud of. I had too much to do today. I had no time to deal with feeling ill.

I’d no sooner finished my fifteen minute segment when I got a call from Vicki that the office was flooded with phone calls from people not only looking for help, but also people willing to donate. With the holiday season upon us, I was thrilled to get so many contributions. I thanked the host, said a few words to the producer and was just about to leave the studio when an intern ran up to inform me there was a man waiting for me.

The first image that popped into my head was that of a tall, handsome man with bottle green eyes, and I scolded myself when my heart rate sped up. I poked my head around a corner and saw Josh loitering in the hall. He spotted me and waved, shooting me a sheepish grin. I hadn’t spoken to him since the night of the party. I’d been so wrapped up with planning the new autism event that I hadn’t had time to return his calls. The flowers had started coming again at the office and were so many that I had them distributed to the nearby hospital.

Surprised to see him in the middle of the day, I shrugged into my coat and approached him.

He was wearing a dark wool coat and his hair was moussed in that tussled spiky look I always liked. He kissed my cheek and smiled. “I saw the interview. You did great.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, glad we’d started on a neutral topic. “They said they’d air it a few times this week.”

He pushed his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry about the other night. Bruce really fucked things up. He caused quite a scene.”

Just thinking about the ordeal at the party caused my head to pound harder. I was about to point out that the situation could have been handled better when his next words stopped me.

“I lost the Kotobuki account.” A grim line marked his jaw. “Those fuckers at work sabotaged me! I’m sure this is all Davenport needs to make my life miserable. That bastard wouldn’t be where he is today without my family’s help. He enjoys pushing me around, but he’ll get his soon enough…”

“I’m sorry about the account,” I interrupted, feeling a twinge of guilt. I most definitely did not want to talk about his boss, and was not feeling at full capacity to argue with him.

He pulled me into a hug and I slid my arms around his waist.

“I’m sorry things are such a mess, babe,” he said against my ear. “Once we’re married, I’m gonna tell Davenport where he can shove this lousy job. We’ll live in the penthouse, and we’ll travel—see the world like we always talked about.”

I pulled back, needing to replenish my lungs. So much had changed since we’d made plans for our future.

“Josh, right now there is no wedding. You said you wouldn’t pressure me.”

I saw his chest rise and fall and his jaw tighten. He shoved his fingers through his hair, spiking it further. “I know. I just love you so much. I’ll give you more time to decide.” He smiled boyishly and looked at his watch. “How about now. Decided yet?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the face he made.

“Let me take you to lunch.” He placed a finger on my lips, stopping my protest. “Just a friendly lunch. I need someone to talk to. The holiday season is hard for me. I think about my mom a lot. I promise not to mention the wedding.” He gave me a beseeching look and crossed his heart in a way that made my own reach out to him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

He grinned. “I’ve been busting my ass so much lately, I managed to get the afternoon off.”

I pushed back my hair, squinting, the overhead lights starting to feel like they were scraping my eyeballs.

Josh tilted his head, regarding me curiously.

“Migraine?”

I nodded. Josh knew I suffered from them periodically.

Immediately he reached out to me, drawing me back against his solid chest.

“You should be resting. It will only get worse if you don’t.”

I started shaking my head. I had items I needed to drop off at a neighborhood school for a fair they were having.

“I can’t. I have errands,” I said into his chest.

His fingers came up to gently massage my temples and I melted into him. He always knew what to do when the headaches came. There’d been many times over the years when he’d stayed with me and nursed me to health.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of your errands. Let’s get you home.” He stamped a kiss on my forehead while his fingers moved in a slow circular motion.

“Okay,” I relented, the touch gentle and soothing. I looked up. “As long as you promise not to talk about the wedding. I can’t deal with that right now.”

His cell phone went off and he fished it out of his pocket. I watched him silence it and shove it back into his coat.

“I’ll be on my best behavior. Promise. Let me take care of you, babe.”

*************************

Luke

I clicked off my cell phone and swore.
Where the hell was Wilkinson?
He’d finished up with his client hours ago and should have been back to the office by now. And now the loafer wasn’t even answering his fucking cell phone. I’d about had it with Josh. If not for the arrangement I’d made with his father, he’d have been gone a long time ago. I made a mental note to give Matt Wilkinson a call. Matt and I had become friends, and on occasion would meet for dinner whenever he was in town. The Wilkinson family owned the biggest corporate farm in Texas and not only serviced the US, but shipped many of their products internationally. Matt was always on the go, but when we met, I would give him periodic updates on his son. Josh had no idea about the arrangement. It had been a while since I’d seen Matt. Perhaps a meeting was warranted.

I pocketed the phone and made my way down the hall. I poked my head into Michelle’s office.

“You seen Wilkinson?” I asked, then chuckled when she wrinkled her nose. I knew there was no love lost between the two. Michelle had asked me never to put her on a team with Josh. Now that I knew Josh was engaged to her friend, I wondered at the animosity. Michelle was one of my best employees. She was great with clients, very organized, and dutiful with her projects. I wouldn’t be surprised if beneath her tight school-mistress bun, homely glasses, and conservative suits, she was a very different woman.

“I heard about the Kotobuki account.” She looked up from her desk. “I’m sorry.”

“I managed to get a meeting with him this afternoon. He’s been tough to get a hold of since the party. I’m hoping to salvage the account.”

She frowned. “Do you think he’s concerned about the acquisition?”

“I’m sure he did his homework, but it wouldn’t affect our dealings with him. Besides, with ACE we’ll have more resources at our disposal. It would only benefit him.”

Davenport PR was in the final stages of acquiring a competing PR company. I knew the move would only strengthen my presence in the industry.

I took a step into the office and leaned my back against the door jamb, wondering how I could glean the information I wanted without being too obvious.

“Did you and your friends enjoy the party?”

Michelle nodded, pushing up her glasses. She seemed to be recollecting the event. “Yeah, Eddie had a great time. My other friend left early, though.”

I let an eyebrow slide up slowly. “Oh?”

“Kay, you met her at the office about a week and a half ago.”

She didn’t know.

“Oh, yes! The blonde who’s engaged to Wilkinson.” I hated the way the words tasted in my mouth.

Michelle started to shake her head and I stood at attention, pushing off the door frame.

“
Was
engaged,” she clarified, followed with a terse ‘thank God’ under her breath and I couldn’t help but smile. “No longer.”

I wondered what the appropriate response should be. It surely wasn’t the fist-pump and chest-beating I so desperately wanted to execute. Instead I cleared my throat and coughed into my hand. “I see.”

I waited to see if she’d say more, but she veered to another topic and I couldn’t find a way to detour her back to the conversation that was causing something like hope to stretch languidly and awaken in me. I barely followed what she said as she updated me on a product launch she’d been working on. I let myself digest the new information and cautiously allowed hope to crawl from the cave it was buried in. It opened its eyes, looked around, and liked what it saw.

Just then Bruce spotted me and strolled into the office. “Ready to go?”

I nodded. Bruce was accompanying me to the meeting with Mr. Kotobuki. Bruce was a good friend as well as my employee. He had a lot of connections in the business and was someone I could always count on. We’d grown up together in the same Long Island neighborhood and I’d practically begged him to join the company.

“I just got off the phone with Mr. Kotobuki’s assistant. I found out why he’s been so elusive.”

“Why?” I frowned, concerned by the look on Bruce’s face.

“Turns out one of the women at his party wandered off in a drunken stupor and made her way across some train tracks. She was killed.”

“Oh, God! Anyone we know?” Michelle gasped.

“No. I think I remember her at the party, though. She was a thin, pretty blonde. Really wasted. It’s a shame,” he said gravely. “So Mr. Kotobuki has been busy with the police.”

I couldn’t help thinking about Katie wandering around in the dark that night, and was glad I’d insisted on seeing her safely home.

The next morning, I stood in my living room smiling as I watched Livy perform a series of pirouettes followed by a cabriole. Her tiny five year old legs awkwardly attempted the complex maneuvers, but she kept her head high and her neck arched like a Bolshoi ballerina. She landed not so gracefully on the carpet and her large brown eyes turned up expectantly to me.

“Well, Dada?”

I applauded and beamed. “Perfect, darling!”

“Will I be ready?”

“Absolutely.” I nodded enthusiastically. Livy’s ballet recital was in a few weeks and she practiced diligently each morning. “I’m worried about one thing, though…”

She frowned and I bent down to ruffle her wild dark curls. “I’m worried you might steal the show!”

She threw her arms around my neck and grinned excitedly. I winked at Ms. Rogers, our middle-aged nanny, who was on the other side of the room still applauding. Ms. Rogers smiled and gave me two thumbs up.

“Okay, it’s time for the ballerina to take her bath.” Ms. Rogers strolled over and scooped Livy up, causing her to giggle and squirm.

“No bath! I wanna dance more! I balinina!” she screeched.

“Take your bath now and later you can dance more, okay? You can even put on your new pink tutu!” I said.

Livy’s eyes rounded and she smiled happily. I shook my head. Everything was a negotiation. Things were so much easier when she was younger. I often wondered what Roslyn would think of our feisty five year old. Her time with Livy had been short, barely a year. The thought caused a dull pain in my throat and I swallowed it down with cold coffee. A familiar sadness settled under my skin and my muscles tensed, trying to shake the feeling. I had my mug in one hand and the television remote in the other. Absently I flicked on the TV while watching Livy disappear down the hall, carried like a writhing sack of potatoes. I was just about to place my mug in the microwave when the sight of the person on the television froze my hand. My forehead crinkled in disbelief as I pumped up the volume. I listened in shock as the interview with the platinum haired beauty ensued.

Katherine Regina Vandercamp!
Heiress to the Vandercamp fortune. Head of the Vandercamp Foundation.
Holy shit!
I’d heard her name before, but had never seen her. I went out of my way to avoid the socialites, and on the rare occasion that I dated, I was usually set up by some do-goody match-maker who was either trying to find a mother for Livy, or determined to pluck me from the evil clutches of bachelorhood. So it wasn’t an event that occurred often. This woman held many surprises. I’d wondered vaguely about the lavish building where I’d dropped her off. No wonder she’d asked me to keep our encounter a secret. If her extracurricular activities became public knowledge, it would be scandalous.

I stared at the television set, watching as Katie smiled sweetly and charmed the host, who I knew well through my business. She expertly dodged questions about her upcoming wedding, leaving me confused. She talked enthusiastically about her charities without the pleading desperation or the loaded guilt I’d seen some others employ to get funding. There was something about her that drew people in, that made you trust what she was saying and spurred you to action. She was passionate about her causes…and so damn beautiful I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the television.