Chapter 21
She surprised him.
It had been easier than he had assumed, setting up work for Izzy.
Everything was done online. He’d sent her a contract which she’d signed and emailed it right back. Later, he’d sent her instructions of how to handle his documents, and she had completed the work in half the time his previous VA had.
And two weeks later, she was still surprising him. He hadn’t seen her in that time, but constant contact via email and text meant that he didn’t feel as if he hadn’t seen her at all.
Luke had told him to woo her another way and it was exactly what he was doing, even if she didn’t know she was being wooed.
Besides, he had no complaints. She was quick to pick up on things, quick to turn the work around, and she hadn’t so far, made any mistakes. But there was also a slight problem: her attention to detail sometimes drove him to the edge of a cliff.
Apart from that, taking her on had been one of the best moves he’d made. She had cleared a lot of the backlog left behind by the VA who had deserted him.
“Which spreadsheets?” he asked, alarming his car as he walked towards the building that housed The Oasis.
“The ones you emailed me,” Izzy replied. “I can’t open them, can you resend them?”
No, he couldn’t resend them. “I’m out, meeting a friend for a drink. It will have to wait.”
“If you’re okay with not getting the work back by tomorrow. I have a test I have to cram for—”
“It can wait.”
“If you saved your spreadsheets in the old format, we wouldn’t have this problem,” she continued.
Wait. He stopped outside the entrance. “Are you blaming me for something that’s your problem?”
“It’s not my fault I don’t have a Mac,” she replied. “I’m a Windows girl, and yes, I know my version of Excel is old, but I get by just fine with it.”
“But it’s not my fault that I don’t have Windows. I’m a Mac guy. And, why don’t you have the latest version of Excel?” he demanded.
“Because I don’t need it for my college work.”
“Can’t you ever own up to when it’s your fault?” If she would say the words, say sorry, it would be easier to swallow. Him using a Macbook and her using a PC was causing a slight problem.
Slight.
He always forgot to export the files so that she could read them and work in them. It was causing a problem he hadn’t seen coming. Now he was not only paying for work he could have some of his other assistants do for him, but this particular assistant seemed to be causing more problems than not. He was tempted to buy her a Mac just to shut her up.
“Don’t worry about it for now,” he told her, getting jittery because he wanted to go to the bar, and sit and admire gorgeous women even if he couldn’t take one of them home with him tonight.
Izzy distracted him again. “If you could export them before you send them to me. Please.”
“I’ll try to remember.”
“But you wanted this back by tomorrow. You said it was urgent.”
Had he? He couldn’t remember half the dates he’d given her. Usually, he just reeled a date off the top of his head.
“I was hoping to get your work out of the way before I started my revision. I have to cram for a test in a few days’ time.”
He let out a loud sigh. “Forget the work I sent you, Laronde, and just concentrate on your test.”
It came out harsher than he’d intended, but his attention was now fixed on two women who walked past him. When they entered the building, he stared through the glass windows, trying to see if they were going to take the elevator up to The Oasis or down to The Vault.
But he couldn’t hit on them. This fucking bet. The pent-up frustration inside him made him feel like a bottle of fizz—he felt as if he’d explode given enough release.
“I was under the impression that it was urgent,” said Izzy.
No, he thought, raking his hand through his hair. Nothing was as urgent as his need to get laid. It had been over two dry months and his manhood was at risk of shriveling up and dropping off through misuse. It might well have done, for all the action it hadn’t gotten lately.
“It’s not that urgent.” He noticed a honey blonde coming out through the doors. They made eye contact and he flashed her a smile. Jesus Christ, some days, he was so tempted to ditch this goddamn bet and be done with it. He could feel a stirring in his boxer briefs.
“Forget the work, and concentrate on your exams. I gotta go.” He hung up, suddenly recognizing the blonde in front of him.
“Kay?” he called out as she walked past.
She turned around and squinted. It had been well over a month since he’d last seen her. An awkward silence opened up between them.
He was reminded of that evening before his brother’s wedding, when they’d been kissing. When he’d been tempted to jump into bed with her, but had stopped to briefly consider that it might be inappropriate.
Would he have, if Tobias hadn’t found them? Kay hadn’t seemed keen to stop kissing, either.
“Xavier?”
“Yeah. What are you doing here?”
“I was at the bar,” she pointed up, indicating. “The Oasis. You must know it?”
“Pretty well. My friend owns the place, you know Luke, from the wedding?”
She nodded, remaining silent, not saying or moving the conversation along. He was about to ask her how she was when she said, “Nice seeing you again. I have to go.”
“Wait,” he said, suddenly needing to know. “Have I offended or upset you in any way?”
“If you don’t know, then I wouldn’t worry about it.” Her words were as icy as her tone.
“I did offend you?” he asked, surprised, because he hadn’t expected her to agree so readily.
“Let’s just leave it.”
“No. I’d like to know. If I’ve done something to upset you, you need to tell me.”
He wondered, at the same time, how he could make it up to her, and whether she would come back to the bar with him.
She’d been a good kisser. And maybe, maybe, they could see how things progressed this evening? He was more than happy to drop the bet. Again. Izzy was working for him, and filling a need. An admin need. Not the type of need that required his immediate fixing.
“You really don’t know have a clue, do you?”
“About what?” If she was pissed that nothing further had happened between them, he was sorry. “Look, I didn’t mean to leave the island without talking to you.”
“It’s not always about you, Xavier.” There she went again, looking pissed as hell.
“I need to catch this cab. ‘Bye.” She rushed towards the kerb, and put her hand out for a cab, leaving him standing there, wondering what he’d done wrong.
The hell it wasn’t about him.
She was pissed. Pissed that he hadn’t called her, or spoken to her after that night at the wedding. The next time he saw her, when she would have hopefully calmed down, he would remind her that she was the one who had cold-shouldered him.
Women.
They were incredibly difficult to understand.
He rode the elevator to the rooftop, and was early, just as he had planned. Luke was at the bar talking to one of his guys, and he looked super smart this evening. Black blazer, black jeans, looking like god’s gift to women, as usual.
“What’s this in aid of?” he asked, gesturing at his friend’s attire, when Luke walked up to him.
“This?” Luke looked puzzled. They shook hands.
“You look like you made an effort.” Xavier scanned around the bar. “Who are you hoping to hit on? I thought you never mixed business with pleasure.”
“Nobody, and I don’t.” His friend’s reply took a while to sink in.
“Beer?”
“Just the one,” Xavier replied.
“Two beers,” Luke ordered. They sat down at the usual table in the corner. Luke’s table.
Xavier put his leather bound folder down. “I have a business meeting here, later,” he explained.
“With who?”
“With a guy called Chad Hennessy.”
“And what business scam are you going into next?”
“Fuck you.” He liked the dude, but these recent put-downs were hard to stomach, and it was either that he was especially sensitive, or that some of Tobias’s cynicism had rubbed off on Luke but Xavier didn’t like it.
He was meeting Hennessy tonight. He didn’t usually hold business meetings in The Oasis, but Chad was young, and looking to expand, and he had contacts in China, which was where Xavier had plans to manufacture snooker and pool tables with an eye to importing them to the US. Getting investment from someone who was familiar with China, and had contacts there, would give him a huge benefit. And then he could leave this small business up and running, and start something new.
“I’m kidding.”
The server placed two cold beers on beermats on the table.
“Cheers,” They clinked their bottles together.
“I’m sorry, pal. I didn’t mean to knock you down.”
“You didn’t, so just let it go.”
“What are you doing with Hennessy?”
“Hopefully making snooker and pool tables in China.”
“And there’s money in that?”
“There’s serious money when you have lots of little money trees like that.”
Luke nodded, looking suitably impressed.
“Of course, it’s no bar in Manhattan, charging crazy prizes for drinks. Now that’s what I call a serious fucking money tree.”
“Hard work, though,” Luke replied. “So, pal,” he said, taking a swig from his beer bottle. “Do you have an update on your little project?”
“I haven’t had any pussy, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I thought you two would have become better acquainted by now. “
“No fat fucking chance.” He gulped down his beer. “But, she’s coming around.” He was making strides. Slow, steady strides, in the right direction.
Luke threw him a curious glance. “Why should I believe you?”
He ignored his friend’s remark. “She’ll be caving in soon.” Though ‘soon’ might still be months away.
“I don’t think she likes you,” Luke said. “Even now.”
“How the hell would you know?”
“Because I’ve seen you meet someone here for the first time, and then walk away with her less than 30 minutes later. I’ve seen you do that, here, with my own eyes.” He pointed at his eyes with his fingers as if to emphasize the point. “And if you haven’t even gotten to first base after what, six, maybe eight weeks, I don’t think you stand any chance. I don’t think she likes you. Just face it, pal. You’re not her type. You might even be too old for her.”
He gave Luke the middle finger. “I’m twenty-fucking-seven. I’m in my prime, and I’m making progress, and that’s all you need to know.”
“Fine. As long as you know what you’re doing, and it isn’t illegal.”
“It isn’t.” He looked away, letting the awkwardness of the moment pass. “Savannah’s cousin was here.” He looked back at Luke. “You remember her, don’t you? Kay?”
“Yeah, I remember her.”
“I think she’s pissed off with me.”
“Pissed off with you?”
He finger-tapped the table. “She was standoff-ish when I ran into her downstairs. Didn’t want to talk to me.”
“No?”
“She’s pissed I never called her.” Chicks could be funny like that.
“Is that what she told you?”
“She didn’t need to. I could tell.”
“Were you supposed to call her?” Luke asked, leaning forwards and picking up his beer bottle.
“They all expect you to, don’t they?”
Luke shrugged but didn’t say anything.
“Except for you, Mr. Ice-Cold and Doesn’t-Give-A-Fuck.” That’s what Luke had always been like.
“Are you going to call her?” Luke asked.
“She’s not my type,” he shot back.
“Is Jacob’s babysitter your type?”
He thought about it. Laronde, at first glance, wasn’t his type. He probably wouldn’t have noticed her in a group of women, but now that he was taking the time and getting to know her, he was discovering things about her that were intriguing. She was like a mystery he was slowly unraveling. Physically, he liked a handful of butt and breast, and she had neither in the size he preferred. And he hadn’t yet been able to get his hands on either of those; he was beginning to doubt that he ever would. But there was nothing that a good push-up bra couldn’t salvage, and as long as there was a mouthful, he wasn’t going to complain too much. She had the sass that made up for her physical shortcomings.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you don’t have anything to prove.”
He disagreed. “We have a love-hate thing going. It’s always the prelude to better things.”
“Love-hate? It’s been hate-hate each time I hear from you.”
“She’s working for me now.”
“Seriously?” Luke gave him an incredulous stare. “How the hell did you manage that? Wasn’t she was working for Savannah and looking after the little boy?”
“Savannah wants to spend time with the kid, and she didn’t need Izzy so much yet, and what with her being a student and needing funds and all that, I came to the rescue.”
“Galloping along on your big white stallion, no doubt.”
“Chicks love being rescued.”
“Izzy doesn’t strike me as that type of girl.” Luke was right. Laronde didn’t seem the rescuing type at all.
~ ~ ~
“He’s not such an idiot, after all.” She hung up, thinking how strange it was that working for Xavier had been this easy. It was like doing the easiest homework assignments, only she was making money doing it.
“Who are you talking about now?”
“Xavier.”
“I told you.” Cara was filing her nails. “I think he’s misunderstood.”
“And you would know.” Izzy rolled her eyes. Cara bought into the whole celebrity package, not that Xavier was a celebrity, or Tobias, for that matter, but as the brother of New York’s once most eligible bachelor—which was what Tobias had been until Savannah had snagged him—he was on her radar. “Whatever you read in the papers, is not what they’re really like.”
“I think you need to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Izzy stretched, dismissing her friend’s sage advice with a yawn. She wasn’t looking forward to the all night revision she was going to have to put in for her test. Accounting was her least favorite subject, and she had left it until the very last minute to revise. If she failed, it would be her fault entirely. Not Xavier’s.
“Any chance I could get to meet him?” Cara asked.
“I don’t see him. He emails me the work. It’s a brilliant arrangement.”
“And what are you going to do when Savannah asks you to come back?”
“I’ll do both.” Because both jobs were easy. Looking after Jacob was fun, and working for Xavier was easy. She had no complaints.