Chapter 10 – Adam
I strode into work Monday morning feeling a lot better about the mansion project than I had on Friday morning. For obvious reasons, I was now pretty fond of the old place, but it would only take a few renovations to make it the kind of glamorous representative showcase. The more I thought of it, the more I thought that I could probably do the renovations myself, maybe on the weekends or slow afternoons. Maybe Chrissy could join me…
Then again, it wasn’t mine, so maybe I just needed to let the company do what it was going to do. It wasn’t ultimately up to me, even if Gary had made it my project. Once I got some rehabbing done, I would probably have to turn it over to Bianca for marketing—that was an area I had nothing to do with. That would probably be okay—she was a horrible person, but I had no reason to think she wasn’t good at her job. I doubted that Gary would hire someone who didn’t cut the muster, even if she was hot.
I settled into my desk and started making calls: contractors, decorators, historical restorers, plumbers (I shuddered to think what hundred-year-old plumbing was like), exterminators, site managers. I called the caterer we kept on retainer and asked her to work up a preliminary wish list that she could use when she consulted with the contractor about modernizing the kitchen. My vision for the old place was to keep everything as historically authentic as possible, but to update everything that could be made modern and convenient, from convection ovens to WiFi.
“My, you’re a hard working boy.”
I glanced up, irritated at the interruption. Bianca stood in my office doorway, leaning artfully against the door jamb so that I got a glimpse into her v-neck blouse. Had she always been so obvious? Maybe I’d just been young and blinded with sex. Chrissy showed off her body sometimes too, but I always felt like it was more of a free-spirit thing, not a control-you-with-sex thing.
Being around Chrissy didn’t only make me horny, it made me happy. I could never have said that about Bianca. Sex had been intense with her, but it hadn’t been…fuck, I don’t know. Joyful.
“Yeah, that’s why they pay me the big bucks,” I said wryly. “So, I went out to inspect that mansion on Friday.”
She raised an eyebrow and gave me knowing look. “Oh, did you?”
“Um, yeah.” Hadn’t I just said that? I shook my head. Whatever.
“Did you have a good time?”
As a matter of fact, I’d had one of the best times of my entire life. “Yeah, it was great. You should check it out, because it’s going to be a huge asset for us. I’m working up the restoration budget right now.”
“Oh, I checked it out.” She still had that eyebrow raised. “It’s a very… exciting… setting.”
“Anyway…” I gave her a puzzled look. “It’s not our usual thing, but it could bring a lot of positive attention to the company. We might even want to look at some rebranding that incorporates it, but I’ll leave that to you.”
“Oh, thanks, Adam,” she said sarcastically. “I really appreciate your permission to do my job.”
I rolled my eyes. “Give it a rest, Bianca. That’s not what I meant.”
“Whatever,” she said. “I’m working on a marketing plan for it. Maybe we can present it at the staff meeting on Wednesday.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“Oh I know.” She smirked. “You’re always ready, aren’t you, Adam?”
There was an undercurrent in this conversation I didn’t understand, like everything she said had double meanings. But I could only answer the question I heard, so I looked her hard in the eye and said, “I’m always ready for the things I care about, Bianca. I don’t have a hell of a lot of time for the rest.”
“You might consider making some time,” she said. “In fact, it’d be a good idea to make some time for me tonight. I’m busy right now, but we need to meet for dinner to discuss the future of this project.”
I glared at her. I had plans to see Chrissy tonight.
“Don’t worry.” She smirked again, and I had to clench my fists to keep from knocking that bitchy smirk off her face. “Gary lets me carry the company credit card. I’ll buy. Wear something… professional.”
And off she sashayed. Chrissy would never sashay…she was too real. But it did look like I would have to have dinner with Bianca, which I had sworn I’d never do again. It was hard to eat in her presence, since she made me sick to my stomach.
It was about time for my lunch break, and regretfully I pulled out my cell to call Chrissy. She was understanding, but I wasn’t kidding when I told her that I’d rather spend the time with her. It was hard to imagine I’d ever wanted to spend time with Bianca, much less the rest of my life. Thank God I’d gotten out of that before it was too late!
*****
Opportunist that she was, Bianca took us to the most expensive restaurant in the area, and had us seated right in the center of the room. It made it extremely awkward to open up my briefcase and try to discuss the project with her. It also made it look like we were on a date, which was the last thing I wanted anyone to think.
We ordered drinks, then I started to pull out files, and she rolled her eyes.
“Are you seeing anyone, Adam?” she asked, running a finger across the ridge of her wine glass.
“This is supposed to be business, Bianca,” I snapped. “My private life is none of yours.”
“Oh, your private life has everything to do with…business.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You won’t be able to keep them separate forever, Adam.” She laughed patronizingly. “Your business life and your private life have too many overlapping areas.”
She knew about Chrissy. Of all the fucked up luck. Or—I looked at her face carefully. She suspected that I was involved with Chrissy. She didn’t know for sure, because if she did, she’d have used the information to try to hurt me somehow. As though she still had that power.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, “but can we get through these specs? Look at this kitchen. I’m having the caterer—”
The waiter brought our salads, and Bianca ordered a second glass of wine.
As soon as the waiter left, Bianca leaned forward. She nearly spilled out of her low cut cocktail dress. “I know who you’re seeing these days, Adam. And Daddy wouldn’t like it.”
I was going to play this cool—more than cool. Cold.
I glanced at her contemptuously. “You think I’m dating Chrissy Monroe.”
She leaned back again with a satisfied smile.
“My boss’ daughter. My best friend’s little sister. She’s—what, nineteen?” She was twenty-one, but Bianca didn’t need to know I knew that.
“I don’t know if you’re dating her or not.” Bianca shrugged. “But I do know you’re fucking her.”
“Even if that were true, Bianca, it would be none of your business.”
“Oh, it’s true,” she assured me. “I stopped by the mansion Friday to check out the facility. I got an eyeful of something else instead. It did look like the two of you were having fun, though!”
Shit. Maybe she was still bluffing, but I couldn’t see how. I kind of remembered hearing a car door in the distance, but I didn’t have any idea that someone else had even come into the building.
Of course not. Chrissy was there. I couldn’t see, or feel, or notice, anything but her. Fuck. I was getting obsessed. She was truly all I could think about.
And look, maybe it was sexist of me, but if Bianca could enter that building, anyone could have. A mugger, or a serial killer. How was I supposed to protect Chrissy if I didn’t even know someone else was there?
And I had a bad feeling that Chrissy was going to need some protecting now.
“We do have a project we’re supposed to be working on,” I reminded Bianca. “Can we stop dwelling on my sex life and move on to business? Otherwise you’re going to have to pay for those three glasses of wine.”
“I doubt Gary will make me pay for a little wine,” she said. “Not when I’m so valuable to him.”
“The project?”
“Why don’t we finish up here, and then we can take the files back to your place and work on them alone?”
“Bianca,” I sighed. “Give it up. I’m not sleeping with you.”
“It’s just a fuck between old friends,” she said. “Surely even Little Miss Perfect can’t object to that. As I’ve so recently observed for myself, you’re always hot and ready, right?”
“Not always,” I muttered.
“Let me give you some advice,” Bianca said briskly, setting her napkin on the table. “I don’t know if it’s my brain, my skill, or my ass, but Gary likes me and he listens to me. He thinks you’re an idiot, and he suspects that you’re sniffing around after his little girl, so he’s going to hate you on principle. It would be to your advantage to cultivate a friendship with me. And seeing as we almost got married, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I stared at her incredulously. “If our positions were reversed, you could have me not only fired, but arrested, for saying what you just said. I mean, imagine it—a male executive uses a business dinner as an excuse for hitting on a young female executive, and during the course of that dinner, explains to her that if she wants to keep her job, she better sleep with him. Sounds like a fucking movie of the week.”
“Really?” Bianca laughed. “What are you going to do, Adam? Bring me up on sexual harassment charges?”
“If you don’t leave me and the people I care about alone, I’ll bring you up on any charge I can think of.”
The smile left her face like someone had hit the delete button on it. “Care about? Are you saying you care about that ditsy blonde pop tart? Oh, please.”
“I have no intention of discussing any of my personal relationships with you. I’m done.” I stood up and knocked back my wine. “The renovations should be complete within 60 days, then I want 30 days of promotional open houses, photo spreads, and tours, then we open for business. I’m about to hire a property manager, so I’ll put you in touch with him or her when I’ve finalized that. We’ll be open for events within 90 days. Be ready.”
I turned and left her there without another word, walked out of the restaurant, and walked to my car. She made me so angry—every minute I was forced to spend with her reminded me of why I never could have married her.
Chrissy had said that “Mansion Adam” was the real Adam—spontaneous, fun, passionate. And she wasn’t wrong; I felt all those things when I was with her. I felt completely free when we made love. But I was also hard working and excited about my job, and even though I’d only been doing it for a few weeks, I didn’t want to lose it.
Maybe Chrissy and I needed to cool it. The problem was that she was the only one who had ever seen Mansion Adam. Everyone else saw a serious, driven young executive, and even though I was those things, Mansion Adam only even existed when Chrissy was there.
But I didn’t want her to become a target for Bianca, and I didn’t want to come between Chrissy and her father. And sure, he was being medieval with the whole nothing-stands-between-you-and-the-company attitude, but it was his company. If I had built my company from the ground up like he had, I’d expect my rules to be obeyed too.
How was I going to tell Chrissy that we needed to stop taking risks? That being with her was something I should sacrifice for the sake of my professional success? And how could I get through days of Bianca baiting me, Gary dismissing me, and whole project teams depending on me, without knowing I’d see her at the end of the day, and that Mansion Adam could come out to play?