Chapter 9

Damon

The make-out session the night before was just enough to set his nerves on edge. Maybe it was more than that. Maybe knowing that the whole family was flying out to Jamaica without him was part of it.

"Get over it." Damon leaned toward the mirror in his large bathroom and pulled the razor down the side of his face as he eyed himself. How nice it would have been to let his sexy girl sit on the countertop in front of him and help him get ready for work.

Knowing the two of them, it would turn into something hot quick, and he'd be calling in - every day. A smile lifted his lip, and he accidentally nicked his chin.

"Dammit." He set the razor down and grabbed the towel beside the sink to press it tightly to his face. He couldn't help but wonder what everyone was up to. The quick text to Bethany had him thinking more and more about his family than he would have before meeting her.

Matt was terrified of Erica, which was almost humorous. They were a perfect fit for one another, and if Matt chilled the fuck out for a minute, he would see that.

Erica was a creative type, just like his brother. Too many meetings or a long night of working in the office, and her eye would start to twitch. She had a reason for being an executive at McKenzie and Bryant, but Damon wasn't sure what it was. Wasn't his place to ask.

After he had finished shaving, he dressed quickly, packed the rest of his stuff for the trip, and drove to the office in silence. It had been a long night of poring over reports and records, but he had an idea of how to fix the issue. The trip to Florida that he had scheduled in two weeks would allow for him to get some much needed face-to-face time with his staff and with Zarpeth's CEO, who was a long-time friend of his father’s.

"I just need to close up the gaping holes, and I can get to my family." He parked and checked himself in the mirror before getting out of his car. Several familiar faces smiled, and a few waved as he made his way up to his office.

Everything seemed dull without Bethany there to add excitement to life. What in the world did I do before her?

"Morning, boss." Ben walked down the hall toward Damon, a smile on his face. "What are you doing here? I thought you guys were headed out for Jamaica."

"Everyone else left this morning. I'm supposed to head out tomorrow early, but I'm thinking I might be able to get out of here in a couple of hours. I spent a long night up here last night."

Linda stood from behind her desk and smiled. "I moved all of your meetings to next week. I have a flight that's headed out of here in two hours. You want to try and catch it?"

Ben cleared his throat. "None of my business, but I think that's a great idea. There isn't too much that you're going to be able to do on Zarpeth until you get out there in a few weeks."

"Very true." Damon glanced down toward his feet, trying to determine if there were anything else he could do before leaving that would help them with the inventory issue. "I just feel like I should be able to lock this up before I go. I'm not sure I'd be able to relax if-"

"One or ten margaritas and you're going to be great, boss." Ben patted Damon's chest. "I'm here if you need anything, and from what I hear, your dad has opened up a few positions to try and get some help in here."

"Really?" Damon's eyes widened a little. "Not sure why he didn't discuss that with me first."

Linda leaned toward them. "Probably because you're busy running the show around here, Damon. He knows how many hours you put in and all that you do."

"True." Ben smiled and walked toward the elevator, turning to speak over his shoulder. "Get out there to your family."

"Yeah, soon." Damon ran his fingers through his hair. "What were you doing up here anyway? Smelling the leather? Dreaming of the day when you have an office up here with the big boys?"

"Something like that." Ben smirked as he pressed his back to the far side of the elevator as the doors closed.

"He said he wrote up your report for you." Linda sat back down at her desk. "You had notes all over the place. Took him half the morning."

Damon lifted his wrist to his face to check the time. "Half the morning? I left here at four, and it's just now ten. When did Ben get in?"

"Around five from what he told me. He came up to help you wrap things up, but when you weren't here, I guess he just gathered your notes and wrote the report."

"Excellent." Damon turned on his heel and moved into the office to look for the report. It was typed up and professionally bound in a black folder on his desk. Catching the flight to Jamaica wasn't going to be hard to do at all, thanks to Ben being a team player.

"So... does this mean you want me to call a driver to take you to the airport?" Linda leaned against the doorframe and smiled.

"Yeah. Do that. I'll be ready to go in fifteen minutes."

***

Damon sat down in first class on the plane and let out a soft grunt as he stretched his legs out. The older woman beside him glanced over and smiled.

"I love it up here. I never thought I would be able to afford this, but my Fred finally made it big just before he passed." She shrugged and leaned back in her seat.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Damon buckled his seatbelt and pulled the blind down on the window. "What did he do for a living?"

"Oh, don't be sorry. He was a mean old bastard."

Damon smiled, unable to help himself. Would Beth tell a similar story when he died of old age? Always sweet and loving to her, but a cock and a half to everyone else.

The woman crossed her arms over her thin frame and chuckled. "He worked in the shoe business. Built up a small chain of shoe stores around the nation."

"Very interesting. What's the name of the place?" He turned his head a little to focus on her. She was pretty and must have been a looker back in her time. Soft spoken, but there was a fire behind her eyes.

"Delany's. It's a chain now." She glanced toward Damon. "Don't let me bore you to death. A good-looking man like you, being bothered by an old woman like me when you'd much rather catch up on rest, I'm sure."

Damon stifled the yawn building in the back of his throat. "I'm good. I slept like a baby last night."

If you count the three hours of sleep I got.

"Well, you're kind. Thank you." She reached over and patted his arm. "Are you married?"

"Not yet, but I found the girl I'm going to marry." He crossed his arms over his chest and forced himself to look alert. Before Bethany, he probably would have said something nice to the older woman and fallen asleep, but something about his woman softened him. Hopefully, it was only in the right ways.

"I bet she's beautiful."

"Absolutely. She's got long brown hair and big green eyes. She's sweet and sensitive, but bossy as hell." He smirked. "I'm going to Jamaica to surprise her. She expects me tomorrow."

"Oh, nice. She's going to love that. You should take her flowers."

"Do women really like flowers? Seems like a waste of money." Damon chuckled at the look that passed across the woman's face. She obviously liked flowers a lot.

"I think it's more about the idea behind getting the flowers, but yes, women love flowers."

"Why?" His eyes grew heavy.

"Because it says, I love you, or I care about you, and it does it in a soft, sensitive way."

Damon nodded. "I could see that."

"When are you getting married?"

"I'm not sure." He reached up to press his hand to his mouth as a yawn escaped. "We've just started dating, but I want to move fast."

"Scared to lose her?" The woman's eyes twinkled with knowledge. As if she'd seen a million things and knew far too much for her own good.

"Something like that." He brushed his hand over his lips. "I just feel like moving fast is perfectly acceptable when you know what you want."

"I would agree. I and Fred dated for three weeks before he asked me to marry him, but that was the way things used to work. No reason to dilly-dally."

Damon smiled as she continued.

"If you know who you're supposed to spend the rest of your life with, why in the world would you tarry? Seems like a silly way to test fate. Just marry the girl, and the rest will work its way out."

"Did you and Fred work out?" He mumbled as sleep pulled him farther and farther under.

"Yes. Fifty-eight years. I loved that old bastard with everything inside of me."

"Do you miss him?" Damon tried to hold his eyes open, but it wasn't going to happen. He finally gave in to the exhaustion plaguing him as she whispered a few more words.

"Every single day that goes by. Enjoy all of them, son. You never know when the ride’s going to stop."

"You're right. I will," he whispered and gave himself over to the darkness as thoughts of Bethany filled his mind's eye. They weren't moving too fast.

At least not for him.