The Things I Do for You
Page 2
Raina closed her eyes, remembering the last time she'd been engaged. It didn't hurt as much to think about Brian these days, more of an ache instead of a true pain. They'd met at an audition and he'd teased her about being nervous. He'd made her laugh.
They'd been so young and it seemed so ridiculous now but oh, how he'd made her feel. She'd planned to travel the world, modeling, and then retire so he could do photography while she stayed at home with the three kids they wanted. He'd understood her drive and her desire for more. At least until she'd found out his attraction to her lasted only as long as she was popular. When she'd struggled to find work, he'd left her behind like an out-of-season accessory.
She knew better than anyone that people could turn on you at any time. But at least if you didn't love them, it wouldn't tear your heart out.
Raina pulled out her phone and hit the first speed dial. She’d been trying to reach Steven since yesterday so she could tell him her good news. He knew how important it was for her to branch out into different areas of entertainment, so he’d be happy for her when he found out the network had picked up her reality show. When she got voicemail, she hung up. It would be better to give him the news in person when he got back in town.
“Are you calling Lover Boy or can I come back now?” Sam called from the living room.
“Give me a minute!” she yelled. “And stop calling him that,” she muttered under her breath.
Steven might not love her, but that didn’t mean he’d be a bad husband. People got divorced every day who’d been oh-so-in-love just months prior. Steven and his first wife had, in fact, divorced because she hadn’t wanted children and Steven did. Wanting a family was one of the things that had drawn them to each other.
What she shared with Steven was common goals and determination to succeed. The reality show she’d just sold to a major cable network would give them both exactly what they wanted. The world would get to watch the carefully constructed fantasy they would put on for the cameras leading up to their uber-expensive, fairy-tale wedding. Steven would get promotion for his new line of nightclubs in New York and she would gain a whole new audience to help her break in to show business.
Sam was wrong. Steven wasn’t a boy like certain other people who were photographed every day with a new girl on each arm.
He was a man.
Most importantly, he was the man who’d agreed to marry her and father her child.
* * * * *
“KAY? DID YOU already bring the latest reports for the foundation youth project?”
Nicholas Alexander flinched as a loud beep followed by the sound of static came through his desk phone’s speaker.
“Oops…” There was another few seconds of fumbling and another loud beep. “Where is that stupid button? Oh, there it is. I have the reports, sir. I’ll bring them now.”
Nick smothered a laugh when the door to his office flew open and Kaylee Wilhelm, his new assistant, stumbled in carrying a stack of files.
“I have it right here!”
Kaylee was a singer in a girl group that his younger brother, a music producer, was trying to launch. She’d lost her prior job as a waitress because she couldn’t work the night shift anymore. Jackson needed her available to record and to attend industry parties in the evening. He was also worried about her being on her feet so much since she was pregnant. Nick had hired her as a favor to his brother when his usual assistant had moved away.
“I want to thank you again for hiring me full time, Mr. Alexander. I know I’m not fully up to speed yet, but I really appreciate you giving me a chance.”
She handed him the files and swiped her hands over her hair. When they’d first met she’d been wearing no makeup and her thick hair had been bound back in a messy ponytail. Today, her smooth brown skin looked perfectly clear and her eyes looked brighter, no doubt due to some sort of mystical female makeup voodoo. Her thick dark hair had been braided back into several neat twists. Jackson’s image consultants had obviously gotten their hands on her and given her a makeover.
It was too bad they hadn’t been able to give her confidence a makeover as well.
“I’ve told you a million times to call me Nick. You don’t need to thank me again, Kay. I should be thanking you. Most of the assistants I got from the temp agency didn’t fit well. I guess I was a little… unorthodox.”
Nick thought back to the days prior to hiring Kaylee. Assistants who spent the majority of their workday bringing him files he didn’t need, standing entirely too close, and finding every excuse to lean over his desk and flash their cleavage.
Things that he might have found amusing at one point, but not any longer.
Kaylee had been honest about her work experience and confessed that she had no prior experience in office administration. Something he would have known even if she hadn’t told him. She’d had no idea how to work a multiline phone system, seemed slightly afraid of the copy machine, and still looked terrified when she had to greet visitors who came to his office for meetings.
But despite all that, she had adapted quickly. Nick was used to keeping crazy hours and had never expected his assistants to get in as early as he did. But once Kaylee found out that his day started at seven a.m., she’d started showing up then, too.
He’d fallen asleep at his desk after a really late night and asked Kaylee to go pick up his dry cleaning when she got in that morning. He could shower at the gym downstairs and change into one of the suits he’d just had cleaned. Not only had Kay done it without any hysterics or unnecessary questions, but at the end of the day, she’d pointed to his lower desk drawer and said “just in case.” He’d pulled the drawer open to find a stack of neatly folded shirts, slacks, and ties. The remainder of his cleaning she’d left on the hook behind his office door.
They'd been so young and it seemed so ridiculous now but oh, how he'd made her feel. She'd planned to travel the world, modeling, and then retire so he could do photography while she stayed at home with the three kids they wanted. He'd understood her drive and her desire for more. At least until she'd found out his attraction to her lasted only as long as she was popular. When she'd struggled to find work, he'd left her behind like an out-of-season accessory.
She knew better than anyone that people could turn on you at any time. But at least if you didn't love them, it wouldn't tear your heart out.
Raina pulled out her phone and hit the first speed dial. She’d been trying to reach Steven since yesterday so she could tell him her good news. He knew how important it was for her to branch out into different areas of entertainment, so he’d be happy for her when he found out the network had picked up her reality show. When she got voicemail, she hung up. It would be better to give him the news in person when he got back in town.
“Are you calling Lover Boy or can I come back now?” Sam called from the living room.
“Give me a minute!” she yelled. “And stop calling him that,” she muttered under her breath.
Steven might not love her, but that didn’t mean he’d be a bad husband. People got divorced every day who’d been oh-so-in-love just months prior. Steven and his first wife had, in fact, divorced because she hadn’t wanted children and Steven did. Wanting a family was one of the things that had drawn them to each other.
What she shared with Steven was common goals and determination to succeed. The reality show she’d just sold to a major cable network would give them both exactly what they wanted. The world would get to watch the carefully constructed fantasy they would put on for the cameras leading up to their uber-expensive, fairy-tale wedding. Steven would get promotion for his new line of nightclubs in New York and she would gain a whole new audience to help her break in to show business.
Sam was wrong. Steven wasn’t a boy like certain other people who were photographed every day with a new girl on each arm.
He was a man.
Most importantly, he was the man who’d agreed to marry her and father her child.
* * * * *
“KAY? DID YOU already bring the latest reports for the foundation youth project?”
Nicholas Alexander flinched as a loud beep followed by the sound of static came through his desk phone’s speaker.
“Oops…” There was another few seconds of fumbling and another loud beep. “Where is that stupid button? Oh, there it is. I have the reports, sir. I’ll bring them now.”
Nick smothered a laugh when the door to his office flew open and Kaylee Wilhelm, his new assistant, stumbled in carrying a stack of files.
“I have it right here!”
Kaylee was a singer in a girl group that his younger brother, a music producer, was trying to launch. She’d lost her prior job as a waitress because she couldn’t work the night shift anymore. Jackson needed her available to record and to attend industry parties in the evening. He was also worried about her being on her feet so much since she was pregnant. Nick had hired her as a favor to his brother when his usual assistant had moved away.
“I want to thank you again for hiring me full time, Mr. Alexander. I know I’m not fully up to speed yet, but I really appreciate you giving me a chance.”
She handed him the files and swiped her hands over her hair. When they’d first met she’d been wearing no makeup and her thick hair had been bound back in a messy ponytail. Today, her smooth brown skin looked perfectly clear and her eyes looked brighter, no doubt due to some sort of mystical female makeup voodoo. Her thick dark hair had been braided back into several neat twists. Jackson’s image consultants had obviously gotten their hands on her and given her a makeover.
It was too bad they hadn’t been able to give her confidence a makeover as well.
“I’ve told you a million times to call me Nick. You don’t need to thank me again, Kay. I should be thanking you. Most of the assistants I got from the temp agency didn’t fit well. I guess I was a little… unorthodox.”
Nick thought back to the days prior to hiring Kaylee. Assistants who spent the majority of their workday bringing him files he didn’t need, standing entirely too close, and finding every excuse to lean over his desk and flash their cleavage.
Things that he might have found amusing at one point, but not any longer.
Kaylee had been honest about her work experience and confessed that she had no prior experience in office administration. Something he would have known even if she hadn’t told him. She’d had no idea how to work a multiline phone system, seemed slightly afraid of the copy machine, and still looked terrified when she had to greet visitors who came to his office for meetings.
But despite all that, she had adapted quickly. Nick was used to keeping crazy hours and had never expected his assistants to get in as early as he did. But once Kaylee found out that his day started at seven a.m., she’d started showing up then, too.
He’d fallen asleep at his desk after a really late night and asked Kaylee to go pick up his dry cleaning when she got in that morning. He could shower at the gym downstairs and change into one of the suits he’d just had cleaned. Not only had Kay done it without any hysterics or unnecessary questions, but at the end of the day, she’d pointed to his lower desk drawer and said “just in case.” He’d pulled the drawer open to find a stack of neatly folded shirts, slacks, and ties. The remainder of his cleaning she’d left on the hook behind his office door.
