Stonehill Series Collection, page 51
Even so, the food was good, the service was better, and once Jenna could afford to do all the things she had planned, the place would look amazing.
He didn’t need to read the menu, but he grabbed one so he’d have something to look at. He waved at his sister across the dining room as he sank into a table by the window. Skimming the selections, he tried to count how many times he and Annie had sat in this diner chatting about nothing for hours as Jenna refilled their coffee mugs. Too many to count.
But not as many as he’d spent sitting here alone.
Damn it.
Leave it to him to fall for his goddamned stubborn-ass boss.
“Only one thing makes a man frown that deeply,” Jenna said, sliding a glass of water in front of Marcus.
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah?”
“What’s happened with Annie now?”
Marcus sighed and pushed his menu toward his sister. “Got any roast beef left?”
“I do.”
“Extra potatoes.”
“Sure thing. Just as soon as you tell me what happened.”
“She’s still my boss. I’m still her subordinate. She still has more common sense than I do.”
She sat down across from him and crossed her arms on the table. “We’ve talked about this a hundred times. You know what you have to do.”
“Yeah, I know. I just haven’t accepted it yet.”
“If you want her as much as you say—”
“Roast beef, Jenna. Extra potatoes.”
She pushed herself up. “‘I quit.’ Two little words. That’s all you have to say.”
He frowned as she walked away. In his attempt to become invaluable to Annie over the years, he’d managed to do just that. If he quit, he’d be leaving her in a terrible bind. She would lose not only an agent but someone who had become an integral part of her business.
So he had a conundrum he hadn’t quite figured out how to escape. Pursue his boss in a relationship that she rightfully pointed out was inappropriate or quit his job and put the woman he was in love with in a bind. Her office was small but successful in part because when she’d brought him on board, she’d done so because he had connections that she didn’t. Marcus had developed O’Connell Realty’s commercial sales. If he caused her business harm, she’d likely never forgive him, but he couldn’t very well push her to do something she told him she didn’t want to do. Both choices left him empty-handed, and he found that increasingly unacceptable.
What was a man to do?
“Must be serious.”
He looked up when Annie’s daughter sat in the chair across from him. “Hey, Mal. What are you doing here?”
“Well, I thought I’d adopt a dog,” she deadpanned, “but apparently the only ones they keep here are for the special.”
Marcus chuckled. Damn, she was just as sarcastic as her mother.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Long day.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Mom?”
He stared at her for a moment. “Why would you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not an idiot.”
He sighed. “No, you’re not. But I’m not talking to you about your mother. She’d appreciate that about as much as she’d appreciate eating dog.”
She watched him for a moment before sighing. “I’m just throwing this out there. Randomly.”
“I doubt it’s random, but go ahead.”
Something changed in Mallory’s eyes; she seemed a bit sad all of a sudden. “I know she doesn’t make it easy, but don’t give up on her, Marcus.”
He opened his mouth, denial on the tip of his tongue, but she lifted her hand the same way Annie tended to do when she didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“Like I said. I’m not an idiot. You’ve looked at her like she hung the moon for years. She finally seems to have noticed. Give her time to come to terms with that. Other than my uncles, she’s never had a man she could rely on. She’s not exactly comfortable putting herself out there.”
“She’s my boss, Mallory. It has to end there.”
“Says who?”
He sighed. “Your mom.”
“Well. She is an idiot.” She grinned, and he chuckled.
He turned his glass of water a few times before taking a drink.
“Mom, over here,” Mallory called, and his heart tripped a bit in his chest. “Oh, did I forget to mention she was on her way?”
She smirked, and Marcus scoffed. Yeah. Just like her mother.
As he expected, when he looked up, he saw a mixture of surprise and frustration in Annie’s eyes as she neared the table. She smiled, but it was forced. She stopped next to the table and looked at the chair where Mallory had deposited her purse. When Mallory didn’t take the hint—intentionally, Marcus assumed—Annie sighed and sat in the vacant chair next to Marcus.
“I was here first,” he muttered to expunge himself of guilt.
“I should have guessed you’d be here,” she said just as quietly. She hung her purse on the back of her chair, put her elbows on the table, and looked at her daughter. “And how was your day?”
“Great. I, um”—she cleared her throat in the same way that Annie did when she got nervous—“I was actually glad you called, because I wanted to tell you… I mean… I was trying to figure out…”
Annie’s eyes widened more and more with Mallory’s stuttering. “Spit it out, child.”
“They offered me the job in San Diego.”
Marcus glanced at Annie, who was staring across the table.
“I accepted.”
Mallory may have been all grown up, but the hesitant look on her face was that of a little girl seeking her mother’s approval. Annie seemed stunned into silence. He gently nudged her with his elbow.
She cleared her throat. Yup, she was upset. “Um. When—when do you start?”
“Three weeks. We have so much going on with Uncle Paul and Dianna’s wedding, I just didn’t want to be rushed.” She exhaled loudly, still looking anxiously at Annie.
“Wow,” Annie said, but her voice lacked sincerity. “Congratulations.”
Mallory frowned. “Mom. Go ahead. Tell me how far away it is, and how I’ll be on my own, and everything else that’s running through your head.”
Annie shrugged. “You’re a college graduate, Mallory. You have to make these decisions for yourself. You’re too old for me to lecture you.”
“Am I?”
“Last I checked.”
Mallory chuckled. “The misery on your face says it all.”
Annie frowned at her. “Fine. I don’t want you to move halfway across the country. I like having you here so I can call you up and meet you for dinner. I like that you swing by my house unannounced and eat all my food, and I like that we still go shopping on Saturday mornings. I don’t want to give that up, but I’ll just start dragging your aunts with me instead.”
Mallory smiled mischievously. “Or you could just, you know, date someone”—she nodded her head toward Marcus—“who will take you to dinner and eat your food and go shopping with you.”
Annie’s eyes widened again. “Yes, I’m sure I could find someone to date. If I wanted to. Because, like you, Mallory Jane, I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. And once I’ve made a decision, it would be nice if it were respected.”
“Don’t drag me into this,” Marcus said.
Mallory’s smile widened. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” Annie said.
“Dianna invited me to the wedding. Your mother doesn’t approve.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t approve.”
“You said you thought it was a bad idea.”
“Because I do.”
“This is perfect,” Mallory said. “You can ride up together.”
Annie’s smile fell. “I thought you were riding with me?”
“I was, but I’m going early to hang out with the guys.”
“What guys?” Marcus asked, feeling inexplicably protective.
She laughed. “Easy there, Dad.”
Annie opened her mouth and creased her brow but, in another rare display, seemed speechless.
“Toby, Sean, Sam, and Jason are going early. I’m going to keep an eye on them because I don’t think they can be trusted.”
“Right,” Annie muttered. “You just remember your cousins are underage.”
Mallory frowned dramatically at her mother. “Seriously? Do I look like I’d contribute to the delinquency of a minor? Especially those minors. Sam and Sean are enough trouble without getting drunk.”
“Mallory.”
Marcus sat forward. “You just got a new job. Don’t blow it by landing your ass in jail over a case of cheap beer.”
Mallory scoffed at him. “My God, you really are in parental mode tonight. Can you believe this guy?” she asked her mother.
“Yes, I can. Listen to him.”
“All right,” she sighed. “This dinner has officially lost its sparkle.” Grabbing her purse, she stood. “I’m going home so you two can discuss how you thought you raised me right and figure out where you went wrong. I’ll give you a hint: forcing me to get braces right before the eighth-grade dance.”
“What about dinner?” Annie asked.
“I only came for the pie, and my ass doesn’t need it. Good night.”
She left before Annie could argue.
Annie sat back and sighed. “It was the only appointment I could get.”
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Her braces. That was the only time open for four months.”
He chuckled. “I doubt she was serious about that being her moral downfall.”
Annie frowned and looked at the door Mallory had just exited. “I asked her to dinner so I didn’t have to eat alone.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m here.”
She glanced at him. “Even when I try, I can’t get away from you.”
“Easy now, Annie, I might start to get the impression that you like me.”
“You know what I mean.” She grabbed his water glass and took a drink. After returning it to the wet ring it had left on the table, she leaned forward and sighed. “She’s moving to California.”
“So it seems.”
“I’m not ready for that. But at least she’s not pregnant. Because I’m even less ready for that, and I was fairly certain that was where she was headed when she couldn’t get the words out.” She dropped her forehead into her palm. “California? Shit.”
Though he knew he shouldn’t, he put his hand on her knee and squeezed it reassuringly. She tolerated his touch for a good five seconds before turning her face to him. Her lips were drawn tight and her eyes looked sad. She shook her head at him. However, he couldn’t really say if the sorrow on her face was over the idea of her daughter branching out on her own or reminding him of their personal space agreement.
He frowned, pulling his hand away and lacing his fingers together to stop from touching her. Looking out the window, he sighed heavily.
“I should go,” she said quietly.
He wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
Her chair scraped across the floor as she stood.
“Hey, Annie,” Jenna said cheerfully. “You leaving already?”
“Yeah. I need to check on some things. Night.”
Jenna set a plate in front of Marcus, and he looked up at her.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“Two words,” she whispered, and then she, too, left him alone.
Chapter 3
Annie let a string of curse words rip through her lips as she finally accepted that she was not going to sleep. Kicking the blankets off, she dragged herself into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Her mind had been racing all night. First, she thought of Mallory living on her own in a big city and all the horrors mothers think of when a child really leaves home. Then she thought of Marcus. Everything about Marcus. His voice. His soothing touch at the café. His caring eyes. His tender smile. His gentle laugh. That damned kiss.
After calling Mallory to make sure she wasn’t angry, Annie had eaten leftovers in front of the television and wondered why she had left Marcus sitting alone. Why hadn’t she just stayed? Eaten dinner? Chatted with him like they used to?
Was it really her concern about dating a subordinate or something else? Marcus wasn’t the type to sue her if things ended badly. He wasn’t the type to expect special treatment, and she wasn’t the type to give it. So what the hell was stopping her from just going for what she so badly wanted?
She took her time in the shower as her coffee brewed and then sipped a cup before heading to the office way too early. By the time everyone else started to roll in, she had finalized several contracts, updated the spreadsheet she used to monitor clients, and stared out her window thinking about Marcus far more than she should have. That went to the wayside the moment heavy footsteps crossed the tiled lobby and entered the office next to hers.
“Morning,” Marcus called.
She closed her eyes and shook her head harshly as his voice awakened her nerves. “Good morning.”
He appeared in her door a few minutes later. “Early start today?”
He’d dressed casually today, in slacks and a dark blue golf shirt. She licked her lips. “What makes you ask?”
“Half the pot of coffee is gone already.”
She gave him a halfhearted smile. “I couldn’t sleep.”
His face turned serious. “Mallory?”
She nodded, not willing to share the other issue that had kept her awake.
“Want to talk about it?”
She shrugged. “What’s there to say?”
“Plenty, apparently.”
She drew a breath and let it out slowly. “No. Not really. My daughter has grown up to be the fierce, independent woman I wanted her to be. Now I have to deal with that.”
He sat across from her in the seat he so frequently occupied. “You’ve raised her right, Annie. She knows how to take care of herself. She’ll be fine.”
“I know,” she said softly.
They both jolted when the front door slammed. Marcus turned, and Annie looked out her door toward the lobby.
“You can’t do this,” Dianna was saying. “I’m getting married in less than three weeks.”
“Uh-oh,” Marcus muttered, turning back to Annie. “That sounds like trouble.”
Annie pushed herself up and walked around her desk. By the time she reached Dianna’s office, her brother’s fiancée was gripping her dark auburn hair in both hands and staring at Annie with wide eyes.
“My florist is going out of business.”
“Okay,” Annie said soothingly. “So we find another one.”
Dianna looked up, and the tears in her eyes nearly set Annie in a panic. “It just seems like everything I’ve planned for this wedding is falling apart.”
The sound of Dianna’s voice cracking was more than Annie could handle. Tears. She hated tears. “Stop. Right there. Breathe. I will make it my mission—today—to find you flowers. Just don’t do that crying thing.”
Dianna’s lip trembled. “I can’t help it. It won’t stop.”
“Stress,” Marcus diagnosed. “If Annie had human emotions, she’d know this.”
Annie jutted her elbow into his ribs, and Dianna laughed. “I’ll start making calls now. You call Kara. I bet she can harvest some roses under a grow light in her basement if necessary.”
Dianna’s best friend was sweet but too eccentric for Annie’s taste. However, Annie did respect that the woman knew how to get things done.
Dianna playfully frowned. “Kara doesn’t smoke pot, Annie.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” she said with a wink. “I’ll make some calls. You’ll have flowers ordered by the end of the day. You,” she said, looking up at Marcus, “keep your sarcasm to yourself, huh?”
“You love my sarcasm,” he said as they left Dianna’s office.
Annie couldn’t help but smile. He smiled in return, and she’d be damned if she didn’t let out another of those stupid girly sighs.
Marcus couldn’t quite believe he was doing it, but without another chance to talk himself out of it, he clicked the mouse and sent his résumé to the Canton Company. Annie mentioning Kara Canton had sparked an idea in Marcus. Not long ago, at one of the many dinner parties Paul and Dianna held, Kara’s husband, Harry, had been complaining about how difficult it was to find good sales reps for his marketing firm. It wasn’t quite the same as real estate, but if Harry hired Marcus, Marcus would have a new job that didn’t put him in direct competition with Annie. She would be hurt enough by his decision to quit and by the likely loss to her commercial sales his leaving would mean. If he took business from her by selling real estate elsewhere, he might as well put all the nails in the coffin of their relationship. She’d never give him a chance.
As it stood now, he had no idea how long it’d take for her to get over the sense of betrayal she was likely to feel if he quit, but maybe if he had the chance to actually date her, he could convince her his quitting was the best thing for them.
“Everything okay?”
He looked up and smiled at the woman in question. “Yeah. Fine.”
“You look a bit perplexed.”
He drew a breath and closed the window he’d had open. “Just following a lead. Are you okay? You’ve stuck pretty close to your desk all day.”
“Catching up on paperwork.” She bit her lip and sighed. “And avoiding you.”
He lifted his brows, surprised by her honesty. “Oh?”
“I’m sorry about running out on dinner last night. I guess Mallory’s announcement hit me harder than I wanted to admit.”
