Defining Love: Volume 2 (Defining Love #2) Read online

  “I wonder what?” she asked curiously.

  “Nah, never mind. You wouldn’t be able to get internship credit for working with me. But it’d definitely be excellent experience if public speaking is something you’d be interested in pursuing. And as the CEO of my company, which as you can see is expanding at an exceedingly fast pace, I’d be happy to write you a letter of recommendation if you ever needed one down the line.”

  I turned to see a pair of what I’d begun to think were the most beautiful eyes I’d ever had the pleasure of gazing into. She was staring at me as if she were trying to tone down the excitement, but there was no hiding the twinkle in those amazing eyes, even as she bit her bottom lip in an attempt to pacify it.

  “I hadn’t even thought of that,” she said, and I was forced to turn away from those bright eyes to look at the road. “When you say make presentations, in front of how many people are we talking?”

  “Well, that depends.” Her enthusiasm about this only made me smile even bigger.

  We talked a little more as I filled her in about the shows and private presentations I made to the heads of the bigger clients I had. I told her about the show coming up in a few weeks in Milwaukee. I’d planned to hold off mentioning it to her because I was hoping I could find a local show for her first time. But given the circumstances and the fact that she actually enjoyed public speaking, the bigger show in Milwaukee might be a good opportunity to get her trained faster. It was close enough so I might even be able to pull off making it a one-day thing anyway. We wouldn’t have to stay overnight.

  Technically, I knew staying overnight would be harmless. This was business. It might make her first time doing this less rushed—less exhausting. Even with her admitting she enjoyed public speaking, her first time out there might be a bit overwhelming. Getting back to her room after the day at the show where she could shower and relax for the rest of the evening might be ideal instead of rushing back to an airport and catching a late flight home. But something made me hold back.

  “Let me know as soon as you can, if you think you can swing it, and I’ll book the flights. We can be back the same day. The flight there is just shy of an hour. Being back the same day is definitely doable, but I have to book the flights with enough time.”

  She nodded, smiling big as we reached her apartment. The smile didn’t diminish even as she opened the door to get out. She turned to me, biting her lower lip again, and I fought the urge to smile as big as I felt like smiling. Already I’d been doing that way too much around her.

  “Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything I might have planned that day, but I’ll check with my roommate and double check my calendar just in case and let you know as soon as possible.”

  I wanted to remind her that she had my number. I’d given it to her a few days after she’d started working for me. It was strictly for business purposes, in case she needed to call in or in case I was on a run in the morning and couldn’t get off of work at my usual time, which was known to happen from time to time. I could just text her to let her know I’d be late picking her up. So far there hadn’t been any need to communicate via cell phones.

  I’d be at the station for the next three days and wouldn’t see her until the end of the week, so it seemed reasonable to remind her she could text me and let me know in the meantime. That way I could book the flights the moment she knew. But again I held back. The show was weeks away, and I knew, even if I didn’t book until the end of the week when I saw her again, there was still plenty of time.

  Before I could say anything, my phone rang and Mia’s name popped up on the screen of my dash. “I’ll let you go so you can get that,” she said, smiling as she got out of my car.

  She turned and waved at me one last time before hurrying up the stairs to her apartment. I hit the button on the screen, and Mia’s voice came through the speakers of my car. “We’re in!”

  Still lost in the soft fragrance of Henrietta, which I already knew could linger in my car even until the next day, Mia’s words barely registered. “Hmm?” I said as I pulled out of Henri’s driveway and into the street.

  “I said we’re in. We made it!”

  Now I took the words in but couldn’t for the life of me think of what she might be talking about. “In?”

  “Yes.” Her excitement seemed to wane. “Sunnyvale?”

  Still nothing and I began to panic a little. It sounded as if I should know what she was talking about.

  Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale.

  “I’ve been talking about this all month, Aaron. Have you even heard a word I’ve said?”

  Shit! Apparently not. “Babe, I’m sorry. I’m just drawing a blank here. Sunnyvale?” Then it hit me. What an idiot! “Yes, yes! Sunnyvale. Of course! So you made it? That’s great.”

  It was only one of the biggest dance competitions in the area and her team had to audition to even be able to make the list of contestants. Her youth group didn’t make it last year, and they’d been working extra hard this past month to really nail their performance. I’d silently been grateful for her preoccupation with it the last few weeks.

  She was quiet for the moment then continued to tell me about it, but there was no hiding the obvious drop in enthusiasm, which of course made me feel like the biggest douche. This was huge for her, and as her fiancé, I should’ve been just as excited for her. Instead, I’d completely forgotten all about it and worst yet—I knew why.

  I squeezed the steering wheel while my mind raced to make up for it. “This is awesome, Mia. What do you say I pick you up and we go grab a drink somewhere to celebrate?”

  Before she called, I had every intention of going back to the house and putting a few more hours of work in. As was the case lately, I probably wouldn’t have even remembered to call Mia until later tonight just to say goodnight. Now all I could think of was my growing concern that maybe something was happening that I had no control over, and it was no longer just in my imagination.

  She’d told me all week about the auditions, and not only did I not bother to call her today to ask how it went, it’d been the furthest thing from my mind.

  She agreed on me picking her up, but it didn’t lessen the guilt I was still feeling. “Mia?” I asked before we hung up.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry I forgot about it. I’ve been crazy busy today, but you know I’m proud of you, right? I know how hard you worked for this. You deserve this, sweetheart.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly. “And it’s okay. I know how busy you’ve been. Don’t worry about it. But I do know how you can make it up to me.” Her voice sounded a little more playful, making my guilty insides feel slightly less tense. “So come get me already. I can think of a few other ways we can celebrate besides just having a drink.”

  Even hearing the suggestiveness of her tone made me frown. Normally, knowing what I was in for tonight, I’d be smiling from ear to ear, and my foot would already be pushing down on the gas pedal in heated anticipation. At that moment, I felt nothing more than shame.

  It was hard enough to admit to myself, and I didn’t expect to be doing this so soon. It hadn’t been so much what had led me to neglect and forget something so important going on my fiancée’s life. This forced me to admit, at least to myself, that maybe this lapse hadn’t been the fault of the usual culprit that consumed my every thought—this business—but who.

  ~~~

  You said you wanted to know as soon as I knew so you could book the flights. I just wanted to let you know I’m free that Saturday. Book away!

  Excited! =)

  For the past three days, I’d tried my damnedest to stay busy at the station and not think about what was happening. I’d managed to do so, especially because, with the spring storm we were experiencing, we’d had an unusually high number of calls. The sleek roads and black ice made for lots of traffic accidents and even people slipping and taking spills.

  Now this. This one text from Henrietta brought my thoug
hts back full circle. The night Mia and I celebrated her Sunnyvale triumph felt different from all the other times I’d made love to her. The physical enjoyment of the act was still there. I doubted anything could ever take from that. But I was consumed by emotional turmoil because, no matter how hard I tried to make up for having forgotten about Mia’s competition and why, I could not suppress the thoughts of Henrietta.

  Not even as I’d made love to Mia.

  Thoughts of spending an entire day with Henrietta in Milwaukee would likely be all I could think of from now until then. I didn’t even realize I was smiling until one of the guys on my shift asked what was so funny. I glanced up at him as I finished texting Henrietta back that I’d text her the itinerary as soon as I had it.

  “Nothing,” I said, pissed that I could already feel my face warm. “Just a dumb post.” I hurried away and toward the station’s office to get on the computer. “I gotta look something up. I’ll be in the office.”

  This wasn’t happening. There was no way this young girl could’ve come into my life and in a matter of weeks have me so wrapped up I couldn’t even think straight. I sat there, ignoring what the smart thing would be to do. I should cancel the trip to Milwaukee and give Henrietta her walking papers. Maybe she could still get her job back at the hotel. I could tell myself until I was blue in the face that she was still a child. She was my sister’s age, and I had no business even thinking of her the way I’d begun to, but the truth was she was a full-grown woman. Yes, she was young, but in many ways she was far more complex than any woman I’d ever met, and most importantly, she was making me feel things I’d never felt for anyone else: not Mia, not any of the women I dated when I broke up with Mia. They were the ones I considered so intriguing, and in hindsight, it was just because being with someone else was so new to me. Of course it was exciting.

  This was different.

  I hadn’t so much as flirted with Henrietta. I couldn’t even bring myself to ask her anything about her social life. She’d shared some personal things about herself like her past and her life in foster care—her aunt back home. But never once had she spoken of her social life. Neither Eileen nor Bea had mentioned it, but it was very plausible that Henrietta was already involved with someone else. There was no doubt she was beautiful. More than once I’d been completely mesmerized by her eyes. But there was more to her than just that.

  I’d never even been playful with Henrietta, yet somehow I knew what I felt for her already was different. I couldn’t even explain what I was feeling. Then my father’s words from so long ago when he spoke of that feeling he felt when he fell for my mom jumped out at me. The thought made me freeze and stare at the computer screen. “I can’t explain it,” I whispered the words as my heart thudded against my chest.

  I should’ve walked away from the computer that instant. I should’ve started thinking of how to tell Henrietta I had to let her go. It would’ve been the honorable thing to do. I was engaged to be married and this was Bea’s friend. This could be disastrous. I should’ve stopped the moment clarity hit. I should’ve, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.

  Chapter 8

  Henri

  I answered Aaron’s call in the kitchen right in front of Edi. This was only the second time he’d ever called me. The first time was when he’d called last night to let me know he hadn’t been able to get direct flights if we came back the same day from Milwaukee. When I’d spoken to him at work yesterday during the day, he warned me he was having trouble with the flights, but he had a call into a friend who worked for Triple A and might possibly be able to pull some strings.

  Last night, just as I was getting ready for bed, he called to say his friend hadn’t been able to get a direct flight that day either and wanted to know if I was open to staying in Milwaukee overnight. I agreed even though just seeing his name on my caller ID had turned my insides to mush. Hearing that incredible voice when I answered had my heart speeding up so much I could feel the thrumming of blood in my ears. So finding out I might be spending a whole weekend with him had me fumbling over my words like an idiot.

  Last night Edi had arrived home late from her internship while I was still on the phone with him. Fortunately, when she saw me on the phone, she headed straight into the shower. By the time she’d walked out and into our bedroom, I was off the phone, and she hadn’t asked me about it. She’d been upset about something that had happened at the hospital, and we talked about that instead until we fell asleep.

  I still hadn’t told her about the possibility of me spending the night in Milwaukee with Aaron, and even though I knew she’d be okay with that, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being sneaky, especially given what a mess a simple phone call from him had turned me into.

  I knew it was a risk taking his call in front of her now. She might notice how nervous he made me, but I figured it was better than taking the call into another room and really raising suspicion. It was also something neither of us ever did, so I had no choice.

  “Hey, Aaron,” I said as I flipped the hash browns on the pan.

  From the corner of my eye, I could see Edi glance up when she heard the name.

  “Hey, sorry to bother you before you come in, but I just confirmed it. There is no way I’m gonna get direct returning flights Saturday, and the ones for Sunday are slim pickings, so I wanted to double check with you before I booked it.”

  He explained what times were available. It surprised me that the only returning flights were late Sunday evening until he explained something else.

  “It’s all they have unless we fly coach and I’d prefer not to, but if you need to be home earlier, there are a few flights earlier in the afternoon, but we’d have coach seats.”

  “I, uh”—I turned to Edi, who had gone back to beating the eggs in a bowl—“I’ve never flown anywhere, so coach would be fine with me. But if you’d rather go . . . first class? I wouldn’t be opposed to a later flight.”

  Since we had some hand-me-down furniture and the chair bed I’d bought, Edi’s dad had driven us cross country in a U-haul when we moved out to Michigan. Before that I’d only been on trains and the Greyhound the few times I’d gone out of town.

  “Yeah, first class.” He chuckled. Even that made my heart skip. “And I didn’t realize you’d never flown anywhere. Wow. Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe first class would be best for your first time. I don’t mean to sound like a snob or anything about preferring first class, but all these trips are a write-off since they’re for the business. My CPA explained from the very beginning I needed all the write-offs I could get, so he encouraged me to enjoy first class and suites when I travel for business.”

  Edi looked up again with a questioning smirk. Before I could turn into a stuttering mess again, I agreed to the later flight, and we settled on a time he’d pick me up later that afternoon for my shift at his place.

  “First class, huh?” Edi said as she poured the beaten eggs into the frying pan.

  “Yeah, and it looks like we won’t be flying back until Sunday.” I avoided eye contact by focusing on the hash browns that were ready to put on a plate. “He couldn’t get direct flights home on Saturday. Aaron thought it would be silly to be on the road for close to five hours just because we’d have to get connectors and have layovers when we could be home in less than an hour on Sunday.”

  “Oh yeah, you don’t wanna be on the road for that long.” She flipped the omelet over. “Besides, you’ll probably be exhausted by the time the show is over on Saturday.”

  I nodded, and suddenly it was all too clear. I had nothing to feel weird about. Edi obviously wasn’t feeling weird about this and for good reason. This was strictly business. Aaron was just an extremely impressive man, which made him all the more intimidating than before I knew anything about him. It made sense that, even after working with a man like him for weeks, there would still be moments when he looked at me that took my breath away or that hearing his voice so close in my ear when I spoke to him on the ph
one turned me into a blithering fool. He was impressive in more ways than one, and Maggie was proof that I wasn’t the only girl who reacted to him this way. I just had to get it together before Edi noticed. I’d be working with him almost daily and now taking trips with him overnight. If Edi caught wind of my ridiculousness, it might cause unwarranted insecurities. He was my boss, engaged to be married to his high school sweetheart—something I’d since made sure to mention to Edi more than once—and I loved Edi.

  Period.

  I kissed Edi sweetly as I stepped by her to pull a couple of glasses out of the cupboard. “We’re gonna go over the presentation today. He said he normally does the presentation about four times at the trade shows and takes questions and runs a video in between. So he’ll likely do the first one, and then depending on how I feel, he may let me do the rest.

  Edi smiled brightly. “That’s so cool. I wish I could be there to see it.”

  “He’ll videotape it so, as soon as I get a copy, we can watch it together.”

  The more I thought about it, the more excited it made me. I brushed off any lingering weirdness and decided to be happy about this instead as I should be. As Aaron had said, this was not just an awesome opportunity but an excellent experience that would look great on my resume. We talked about it some more over breakfast, and then we both worked on some homework.

  When I was done, I jumped in the shower and got ready for Aaron to pick me up. I couldn’t help but think that, like Gemma, this job had been heaven sent. Not only was I not working at that crummy job anymore, but it paid more, I had a ride to and from it, and it was setting me up for my future.

  Aaron arrived, and Edi and I headed down stairs together. Since I wouldn’t be home today, she’d decided to put in some more hours for her internship. We parted ways when I got in Aaron’s car. Edi knew I still wasn’t comfortable with kissing in public. We were both very aware that not everyone agreed with our lifestyle, and neither of us wanted to make anyone uncomfortable. Least of all my new boss. So I squeezed her arm instead.