Mine to Keep, page 12
Turning toward the family room, I find it empty, seeing Meadow’s iPad on the island. I look out the back windows, finding the both of them. I smile as I make my way to the back door, opening it to find Alexa running around chasing Meadow. Her laughter is the first thing I hear once I step out into the cool air. “Catch me, catch me,” Meadow taunts, looking over her shoulder to Alexa, who is lightly jogging.
“You are too fast for me,” she tells her, making Meadow stop to give her a chance to catch up to her.
“Hey,” I say from the tip of the patio, “come give me a hug and kiss. I’m about to leave.” I look at Meadow, who pushes her hair away from her face with one hand before running over toward me. I squat down and brace myself, knowing she’ll try to plow into me. Once I wrap my arms around her, I kiss her neck. “You be good and listen to Alexa.”
“I will, Dad,” she promises, shortening Daddy before turning and rushing back to Alexa’s side.
“I shouldn’t be late,” I tell Alexa, who just smiles at me. “Probably around midnight, but I’ll let you know if it goes later.”
“It’s fine,” she replies. “We are going to have some pizza for dinner, and then I was thinking of making a fort in the living room and having a movie night.”
I nod at her, my phone beeping in my hand. Looking down, I see it’s from my driver, letting me know he’s here. “Have fun, you two.” Turning, I walk inside and then toward the front door.
The black Town Car waits for me, the driver standing beside the car on his phone. The door slamming shut behind me has him looking up. He places his phone in his back pocket before opening the back passenger door for me. “Good evening,” he greets me once I get close enough.
“Hi.” I nod at him, getting in the back door, and the cool air immediately hits me. The middle console is down and has two bottles of water in the holders. The suit feels like it’s suffocating me, so I grab a bottle and twist off the top, taking a small sip. The driver gets into the car and takes off without another word.
I look out at the passing trees as we make our way out of my development. I look at my watch more times than I care to admit. The ride to the venue is smooth for once, with no traffic. Suddenly, I’m nervous about tonight. It’s been a strange week, to say the very least. I’ve been overly quiet, as Loren said to me yesterday. To be honest, I’ve been biding my time until Grace and I can sit down and discuss whatever the fuck is going on with us. This whole week I’ve been watching her go crazy trying to plan everything for tonight. Wanting it to go off without a hitch, I left her to that instead of dragging her into my office every day to devour her. Instead, I sat with my door open, my head snapping up whenever I heard footsteps outside, thinking it was her. Or movement outside of the window. We exchanged hellos and goodbyes along with some messages during the day, but nothing outside of that. My nerves are on edge when I think about seeing her tonight.
Getting to the hotel, I wait for the driver to come to a stop before I reach for the handle of the car, but the door is opened by one of the valet guys. “Welcome,” he says, and I nod my head at him.
Walking into the lobby through the revolving door, I see a stand with the firm’s name and arrows pointing toward the stairs at the side. Making my way up the stairs and toward the venue space, I spot my parents and Nash right away, standing outside of the open brown doors. My father and brother are dressed in the same suit I’m wearing, making me laugh since we didn’t even plan it. My mother is in a floor-length black gown.
“Well, well, well,” Nash says when he spots me walking toward them, “nice of you to join us.” He brings the glass of whiskey he has in his hand to his lips.
“Is this a funeral or a party?” I ask, making my father laugh and my mother groan.
“I said the same thing,” she shares softly as I give her a hug and kiss her cheek. “I should have done color.”
“You hate color,” my father points out to her.
“No one asked you.” She glares at him, then turns to glare at Nash when he chuckles.
“Hey, Dad,” I greet, hugging him also.
“Have you seen inside?” Nash asks, and I just shake my head.
“I gave Grace the control,” I inform him, and he rolls his lips, making the hair on my neck stick up.
Surely, she wouldn’t fuck with me and fuck up tonight, would she? “Oh, stop it.” My mother slaps his arm. “It’s out of this world.” I do a sigh of relief. “It’s so elegant and classy. She did good.”
I hold up my hand and flip him the bird, making him laugh, and putting one of his hands to his chest. “Straight to the heart.”
“You two behave yourself,” my mother scolds. “Look, we have people arriving.” She looks at both of us. “Behave.”
I nod at her as she walks over toward the guests arriving, instead of following her toward the guests, I walk into the venue space. I think even I gasp when I see the room. The drapes to the outside are opened and pushed aside, giving it just a bit of the remaining sunlight. The ceiling lights are on but look like they are dimmed. Round tables fill the room with black tablecloths, and white linen napkins fill the table, with gold centerpieces that match the gold chairs. The back of the room facing the door has black draping from the ceiling to the floor, with a screen in front of them with, “Cottrell Group Gala” in the middle of it. A black stand with a microphone attached to it sits on the side of the stage.
She didn’t just do good, she fucking killed this. “Can I get you something to drink?” one of the servers asks me when she stops beside me, holding a tray in her hand.
“I’ll have a whiskey on the rocks, please,” I tell her, and she nods her head, going to the bar in the corner. I see five or six other servers coming out and grabbing a silver tray with champagne flutes on them.
“So, what do you think?” Nash asks as he stands beside me.
“I think she killed it,” I say honestly. “Why? Don’t you?”
“I think she killed it from the first day she put juice boxes and animal crackers on the boardroom table.” He laughs, taking another sip of his drink. “I’m just waiting for you to fuck up again so I can get her to my office.” I don’t answer him because the server shows up with my glass of whiskey. “Let’s go mingle.”
I take a sip of the whiskey before following him out of the ballroom. Outside is now filled with guests, and I look around for her. My eyes roam the room, not seeing her anywhere, but then I spot her. She’s walking up the stairs with Kayla and Kevin, but my eyes don’t leave her. Her hands hold up her dress until she gets to the top, and then she releases it. I swear I take a big inhale and then feel my chest compress, making me cough. She moves her hair off her bare shoulder as she smiles at something Kayla says. Her dress is strapless, dipping in the middle of her chest a bit. It’s a light-pink color with bright pink and green flowers on it, falling all the way to the floor. When she walks, her right leg slips out of the slit you wouldn’t even know is there. She looks magical and exactly like a fucking fairy with her blond hair flowing.
I don’t even know my feet are making their way to her, until I’m standing in front of her. “Hi,” I say to the three of them.
“Hey,” Kevin greets. “I’m going to go get a drink.”
“I’ll come,” Kayla says, looking at me and then at Grace. “Do you want something?”
“I’m good,” she assures them, and I wait for them to walk away before I talk.
“This is amazing,” I finally say, looking around the room watching everyone mingling. “Inside is even better.”
The smile fills her face, and I have the need to bend down and kiss her. I can even see it in my head. “Thank you,” she says, “it was all Sofia.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I say, looking around to make sure no one is around in hearing distance of us before I say what I really want to say, “You look beautiful.”
She looks down, trying to hide her shy smile. Her hair falls to the front, and she tucks it behind her ear before she looks back up at me. “Thank you.”
I want to take a step closer to her, I want to wrap my arm around her and pull her to me. I want everyone here to know she’s off-limits. “There she is,” Nash says from behind me.
I turn and see my parents coming with Nash. He walks past me and toward Grace, kissing her on her cheeks. If we were alone, I would probably grab the back of his jacket and yank him back; instead, I grit my teeth and take another sip of my whiskey. “Mom, Dad,” I start once Nash gets the fuck away from her. “This is Grace Barnes,” I introduce her, “she’s the one who did all this.” I smile with pride. “Grace, these are my parents, Ida and Ernie.”
“Hello,” my mother says, going straight to her and giving her a hug. “We can’t thank you enough.” She kisses both her cheeks. “What you’ve done is amazing.”
“It was my pleasure,” Grace replies softly to her.
“I know your grandfather,” my father states to her, shocking me. My eyebrows pinch together. “Met him a couple of times last year.”
“Really?” she says softly. “He knows everyone, so I’m not surprised.” She’s about to say something else when Loren comes over to her.
She slowly makes her way away from me with my parents in tow. “You don’t know who she is?” Nash prods from beside me, hiding his smirk with his glass tumbler in his hand. “God.” He shakes his head. “I wish I had a camera on your face right now.”
“I’m going to kick the shit out of you,” is my only immature comeback.
“CBS Security,” he says the name that everyone knows.
“What about it?”
“Casey Barnes is her grandfather.” I just stare at him shocked, so much my mouth is gaped open. “So, if you fuck her up, he’s going to make you wish that you lived under a rock.”
seventeen
Grace
“Amazing.” I hear Kayla beside me. “Simply beautiful.” She stares as we walk into the ballroom. I want to say I’m surprised but I’m not. I couldn’t help myself and ran down here this afternoon to make sure everything was okay and in its place.
“It all worked out,” I say, lifting the glass of champagne to my mouth. “Thank fuck.”
She laughs at me. “Incoming,” she warns, and I look up to see Caine’s parents coming over to me with someone beside them. “Later.” She slinks away from me, leaving me with my almost empty glass of champagne.
“Grace, dear,” Ida says to me, “I would like to introduce you to Franklin.” She turns to the man. “He was just singing your praises about this event.”
“Thank you,” I say to the man. “Grace Barnes.” I hold out my hand to shake his.
“Franklin Shatz.” He smiles at me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine.” I smile at him. “Have you been working with the Griffin family for long?”
I see Ida and Ernie share a look, Ernie nodding in approval. “Here and there,” he replies to me.
“Well, if I can do anything to help, please let me know,” I offer to him. “I work out of the DC office, but I’m sure I can help in some way or another.”
“I just might take you up on that,” he states, looking at Ernie. “Give me a call on Monday.” He smiles once more at me before walking away.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Ernie says first.
“He’s like putty in your hands,” Ida adds with a smirk.
“Like my great-grandmother says, kill ’em with kindness.” I grin and finish the glass of champagne in my hand.
“I’d like to kill him all right,” Ida declares, taking a sip of her own champagne. “He’s been wishy-washy since the beginning of time.” She looks around. “I hope Caine is okay with sharing you.”
“I don’t think Caine wants me there most days,” I mumble, hoping his parents don’t pick up on my words. I also make sure I don’t have any more champagne. Luckily, someone else comes up to them and I quietly sneak away.
“Hey.” I look behind me and see Kevin coming straight toward me, holding two glasses of champagne.
“Hi,” I say, smiling at him and inwardly groaning.
“I brought you something to drink,” he says, handing me a glass.
I grab it with my free hand, still holding on to the empty glass in the other. “Thank you.”
“To tonight.” He holds up his glass in front of me. “And to how amazingly beautiful you look.” He smirks, trying to look sexy, and I even wait for the butterflies, but nothing, and I mean nothing happens when he says those words. Unlike when Caine whispered them to me not too long ago and my whole face lit up. I couldn’t stop it if I tried, and believe me, I tried. But spotting him when I walked in did two things at the same time; it shifted my soul at the same time it calmed it. I can’t even try to explain it because I don’t understand it. “To a great night.”
“Thank you,” is the only thing I say as I take a small sip. “I think it’ll be a good night.” I look around, seeing people come waltzing into the ballroom. The sound of laughter fills the air as people catch up with other people.
Kayla makes her way over to us, zigzagging through people. “Hey, you two,” she says, smiling, “I was wondering where my people went.”
“Search no more,” I state awkwardly. “I was chatting with a couple of clients,” I tell her, not wanting her to think I was sneaking off with Kevin.
“We should get to our seats,” Kevin suggests. “Are we all sitting together?”
I nod my head. “I put all assistants at one table.” I point at the table on the side, more off to the back of the room. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
“If I can have everyone’s attention,” Nash announces from the podium. “The meal will be starting in five minutes.” He smiles. “If everyone could grab a seat so we can get this show on the road.”
“Excuse me,” I say to Kevin and Kayla. “Can you take this to the table for me?” I hand her the silk purse that has been tucked under my arm most of the night. Next time, I’m sticking my lip gloss in my bra and calling it a night. “I’m going to make sure everything is going to be good to go. Save me a seat,” I tell them before walking away. I put the two champagne glasses on one of the servers’ silver trays before turning and walking to the side to see the event manager, Barbara.
“Hi,” I greet her, “is everything under control?”
“It is,” she confirms with her hands behind her back. “We are going to start plating up the food as soon as they give the opening speech.”
“I’ll go and see how long it’s going to be,” I tell her and walk toward the four of them. One look at Caine and again my heart is beating all over the place, my chest gets tight, and my nipples tighten also. I’m not even going to tell you how my panties are faring.
“What do you mean you didn’t write a speech?” I hear Nash hiss at Caine as he puts a smile on his face, trying to pretend everything is okay. “You literally said, ‘don’t worry, bud, I’ve got it.’”
“Okay, one”—Caine holds up his hand—“I would never say bud.” I can’t help but snort, and with just my luck, all four of them turn to me.
“I can attest to Caine not shortening any words with abbreviations.” I smile at him. “Now, no pressure,” I add, “but they are waiting until the speech is over to plate the food.” I look around, also pretending I’m not going to freak out if they don’t get their act together. “Now, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks making sure everything was going to go off without a hitch.” I look at Nash and then Caine. “So, one of you get up there and welcome everyone. We can always add a speech later before the evening is up.”
“Fine,” Caine hisses, “since I’m the bigger man.”
“Older man.” Nash slaps him on the back. “Not bigger.” The look Caine gives him would have me shaking in my shoes, but Nash just folds his arms over his chest. “Whatcha going to do about it, bud?”
Caine, being the calm, cool, collected, and extremely hotter of the two, just winks. “Watch and learn, grasshopper.”
“Yeah, I’ll kung fu your ass,” Nash retorts before he turns to me. “Grace, will you join us at our table?”
I hold my hands in front of me. “Thank you so much for the offer.” I smile at his parents and continue, “But it’ll be weird if all the other assistants are at one table, and I’m with you guys.”
“Fine,” Nash concedes, “but save a dance for me.”
“Got it,” I assure him before looking at Caine, who is looking at me like he’s going to throttle me, and I didn’t even do anything. “So, what, five minutes is a good time?”
“Yes,” he confirms, turning and walking up the stairs toward the podium Nash was just standing at.
“I’ll see you guys later,” I tell the three of them, turning and rushing toward Barbara at the same time Caine’s voice comes through. “Five minutes,” I inform her. She nods her head and walks toward the black swinging doors.
I walk around the room on the outside, making my way over to my table, the dress swishing between my legs. I grab a glass of champagne, not listening to my head telling me it’s not a good idea. I down it in three gulps before making my way over to my table.
“Sit back and enjoy yourself.” I hear the last of Caine’s speech and then the applause when I finally get to my table.
“Hi,” I say, pulling out the empty chair in the middle of Kevin and Kayla. “Thanks for saving me a seat.” I look at Kayla, who smiles at me, but I can see the sadness in her eyes.
“You okay?” I ask her softly when I grab the linen napkin and place it on my lap.
