The CEO Buys In
Page 79
“You shouldn’t listen to anything I say about women. I’d been drowning my sorrows long before I called you that night.”
“I thought your problem was writer’s block.”
“Cause and effect, my boyo, chicken and egg. Which came first? The betrayal or the block?”
“You’ve been drowning your sorrows again,” Nathan said, hearing the slight slurring in Gavin’s speech.
“It’s after five o’clock, so that’s socially acceptable.” Gavin spoke with careful precision. “Who is this unusual female?”
Suddenly, Nathan didn’t want to expose his relationship with Chloe to Gavin’s harsh cynicism. “Why did you call me?”
“Ah, off-limits, I see. That’s promising.” Gavin sounded amused rather than annoyed. “I was just checking in on your progress, but I have my answer.”
“Do you bother Archer too?”
“Archer is hard to bother. Or at least to gauge whether I’ve bothered him. That’s why they call him the Iceman, I imagine. He seems focused entirely on football right now.”
“What about you?”
“All I do is sit in my chair and stare at a blank computer screen. It’s not conducive to romance. Nor am I in the mood for it.”
Nathan thought of the foul mood he’d been in when the flu was raging through his body. Yet he’d still wanted Chloe. “The right woman will change your mood in a millisecond.”
“Spoken like a man with experience. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the computer geek beat out the jock and the novelist? I tip my hat to you, Trainor.”
“That would be premature.” He was miles from offering Chloe a ring.
“I’m not so sure. You sound like a different man. There’s a note of hope in your voice.”
“Do you put crap like that in your books?”
Gavin gave that same humorless bark. “Right now I’d be happy to put anything at all in a book.” He paused. “When are we going to meet this extraordinary woman who doesn’t want your riches?”
“When hell freezes over,” Nathan said.
“Or right after you put a ring on her finger.” Gavin’s chuckle echoed in Nathan’s ear as he ended the call.
CHAPTER 22
Grandmillie tapped her fork against her plate to interrupt Chloe’s highly censored version of her shopping trip. “Sounds like you had a grand time at Saks. So what’s bothering you?”
“What? Nothing.” Chloe picked up her water glass and took a sip. She had been putting off the inevitable. “In fact, I have good news. I’ve been offered a really great job at Trainor Electronics. You won’t believe the salary.”
Silence met her announcement. Chloe glanced up to see a frown drawing down her grandmother’s white eyebrows. She saw no condemnation in Grandmillie’s face, only concern.
“I know,” Chloe said in response to the unspoken comment. “But the job’s in the marketing department, so I wouldn’t be working directly for Nathan. He swears he just mentioned that I was looking for a full-time position, and Phil Riviere requested my resumé.” She sat up straight. “I’m well qualified. I’ll do a great job.”
“Of course you will. They’ll be lucky to have you,” Grandmillie snapped. The worry came back into her eyes. “Your Nathan is putting you in a difficult situation.”
“He says he’s just trying to help me.”
“He should have helped by finding you a job somewhere else.”
Chloe knew that, but she also knew how she craved his physical presence. He seemed to feel the same way about her.
“What happens when someone at the company finds out about the two of you? Because they will.” Grandmillie unknowingly imitated Judith by drumming her fingernails on the table. “No one will criticize him, but your abilities will be questioned.”
Something shifted inside Chloe’s chest, something that smothered that last tiny flicker of hope she’d been nursing without even realizing it. The hope that somehow it would be all right to take the job and keep Nathan too. For all her posturing to herself, she’d been secretly keeping that option open. Grandmillie’s words stripped bare her self-deception as boiling-hot tears welled up at the thought of losing him.
Her grandmother leaned in to cover Chloe’s hand where it lay fisted on the table. “I understand he’s become important to you.”
Chloe looked away as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “I make him laugh,” she said, her voice quavering.
“You’ve become important to him too, or he wouldn’t have gotten the job for you.” Grandmillie’s touch was gentle. “But he’s not thinking of your best interests by keeping you at Trainor Electronics and risking your reputation. He’s only thinking of his own wants.”
Chloe blinked hard. Her voice came out raspy and low. “The relationship wasn’t going to last anyway. I’ll just end it sooner rather than later.”
Grandmillie nodded her approval. “You’ve known him such a short time, it will be easier to do it now.”
Chloe felt like her heart was being squeezed in a vise. There would be nothing easy about it. “I have an obligation to go to his father’s wedding, but on Sunday I’ll tell him we can’t continue to see each other.”
Grandmillie gave a sympathetic sigh. “It was like that with your grandfather. We couldn’t be apart from each other, so we got married, because that was what you did in those days.”
“I thought your problem was writer’s block.”
“Cause and effect, my boyo, chicken and egg. Which came first? The betrayal or the block?”
“You’ve been drowning your sorrows again,” Nathan said, hearing the slight slurring in Gavin’s speech.
“It’s after five o’clock, so that’s socially acceptable.” Gavin spoke with careful precision. “Who is this unusual female?”
Suddenly, Nathan didn’t want to expose his relationship with Chloe to Gavin’s harsh cynicism. “Why did you call me?”
“Ah, off-limits, I see. That’s promising.” Gavin sounded amused rather than annoyed. “I was just checking in on your progress, but I have my answer.”
“Do you bother Archer too?”
“Archer is hard to bother. Or at least to gauge whether I’ve bothered him. That’s why they call him the Iceman, I imagine. He seems focused entirely on football right now.”
“What about you?”
“All I do is sit in my chair and stare at a blank computer screen. It’s not conducive to romance. Nor am I in the mood for it.”
Nathan thought of the foul mood he’d been in when the flu was raging through his body. Yet he’d still wanted Chloe. “The right woman will change your mood in a millisecond.”
“Spoken like a man with experience. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the computer geek beat out the jock and the novelist? I tip my hat to you, Trainor.”
“That would be premature.” He was miles from offering Chloe a ring.
“I’m not so sure. You sound like a different man. There’s a note of hope in your voice.”
“Do you put crap like that in your books?”
Gavin gave that same humorless bark. “Right now I’d be happy to put anything at all in a book.” He paused. “When are we going to meet this extraordinary woman who doesn’t want your riches?”
“When hell freezes over,” Nathan said.
“Or right after you put a ring on her finger.” Gavin’s chuckle echoed in Nathan’s ear as he ended the call.
CHAPTER 22
Grandmillie tapped her fork against her plate to interrupt Chloe’s highly censored version of her shopping trip. “Sounds like you had a grand time at Saks. So what’s bothering you?”
“What? Nothing.” Chloe picked up her water glass and took a sip. She had been putting off the inevitable. “In fact, I have good news. I’ve been offered a really great job at Trainor Electronics. You won’t believe the salary.”
Silence met her announcement. Chloe glanced up to see a frown drawing down her grandmother’s white eyebrows. She saw no condemnation in Grandmillie’s face, only concern.
“I know,” Chloe said in response to the unspoken comment. “But the job’s in the marketing department, so I wouldn’t be working directly for Nathan. He swears he just mentioned that I was looking for a full-time position, and Phil Riviere requested my resumé.” She sat up straight. “I’m well qualified. I’ll do a great job.”
“Of course you will. They’ll be lucky to have you,” Grandmillie snapped. The worry came back into her eyes. “Your Nathan is putting you in a difficult situation.”
“He says he’s just trying to help me.”
“He should have helped by finding you a job somewhere else.”
Chloe knew that, but she also knew how she craved his physical presence. He seemed to feel the same way about her.
“What happens when someone at the company finds out about the two of you? Because they will.” Grandmillie unknowingly imitated Judith by drumming her fingernails on the table. “No one will criticize him, but your abilities will be questioned.”
Something shifted inside Chloe’s chest, something that smothered that last tiny flicker of hope she’d been nursing without even realizing it. The hope that somehow it would be all right to take the job and keep Nathan too. For all her posturing to herself, she’d been secretly keeping that option open. Grandmillie’s words stripped bare her self-deception as boiling-hot tears welled up at the thought of losing him.
Her grandmother leaned in to cover Chloe’s hand where it lay fisted on the table. “I understand he’s become important to you.”
Chloe looked away as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “I make him laugh,” she said, her voice quavering.
“You’ve become important to him too, or he wouldn’t have gotten the job for you.” Grandmillie’s touch was gentle. “But he’s not thinking of your best interests by keeping you at Trainor Electronics and risking your reputation. He’s only thinking of his own wants.”
Chloe blinked hard. Her voice came out raspy and low. “The relationship wasn’t going to last anyway. I’ll just end it sooner rather than later.”
Grandmillie nodded her approval. “You’ve known him such a short time, it will be easier to do it now.”
Chloe felt like her heart was being squeezed in a vise. There would be nothing easy about it. “I have an obligation to go to his father’s wedding, but on Sunday I’ll tell him we can’t continue to see each other.”
Grandmillie gave a sympathetic sigh. “It was like that with your grandfather. We couldn’t be apart from each other, so we got married, because that was what you did in those days.”
