“I don’t need to listen to this.”
“Please wait.” The tone in her voice made Jamie hesitate. “I'm not sure how to back off, but I do want him and you to know that the pregnancy thing wasn't me. I have some friends in your office, and they told me about Gina. She's a good woman. Nicholas put her up to this, just like he paid off my loans to tell you guys that I was pregnant with Alex's baby." She shrugged. "Anyway. Just let him know."
Jamie stood in stock, unable to move as the wind tore at her from all directions. The icy chill of winter couldn't come close to touching the anger that pumped through her. Nicholas had been after Alex for far too long, but why? She finally turned and jogged the last few steps to the building, slipping in as a security guard held the door for her.
"Thank you," she mumbled and walked quickly to the elevator bank.
Why would Nicholas be so hell-bent on destroying Alex's company and his reputation? He was the city's most well-known young billionaire, but he was quickly being followed by hundreds of other young guys who had proven themselves and created empires. Why Alex? Was there more to the story than she knew? Was there more to it than Alex knew?
She rode the elevator up and stopped by his office, only to find him gone.
"He's in a meeting with IT, gathering additional support." Paul's voice surprised her.
"Oh. Thanks." She moved toward Gina's desk where Paul sat and smiled down at him. "Are you playing admin today?"
"Yes, ma'am. You'll need to take a ticket and get in line if you wanna see the big boy." Paul shrugged and pretended to pick at his nails.
"Um, yeah, don't let Alex hear you calling him that," she chuckled.
"Oh, yeah, I am. I hate sitting up here in the front. If I'm inappropriate, he'll send me back to the hole I call home." He leaned back and dropped the charade. "Nah, I'm good helping out. You know that."
"We should be interviewing this week. Alex actually has someone in mind."
"Is she pretty?" Paul stood and slid his hands into his pockets.
"Yep, but she's taken." Jamie shrugged.
"Well, damn." He winked and picked up the schedule on the desk. "Does he not have this on his computer? He's too old-school. You gotta work on him."
"He does. That was Gina's way of keeping up with things." Jamie tapped the desk between them. "I thought you went on a date the other day. Mark said you were taking some girl out for lunch."
"I did, but she's not my type at all. She was more interested in talking about the inner workings of return on investment than getting to know me. I don't need a colleague. I need someone to experience life outside of work with." He wrapped his arms around himself. "You got a sister?"
"I do, and I like you far too much to even talk about her with you," Jamie snorted and walked back to her office. She could talk with Alex later about Nicholas. It was just one more thing to put on the ever-growing list of stuff the older man was up to.
Nicholas. Oh, the man rubbed her the wrong way. There had to be more to the story that Jamie wasn’t able to see at the moment. She planned to dig into it the minute she got a chance. Alex could deal with the legal side of things, but she wanted to know the reason for Nicholas' intentions. Surely something had happened to start him on the path to destroy Alex.
But what?
Chapter 19
V
alentine’s Day
The next morning, Jamie woke to find herself alone in their bed again. She shuffled down the hall when she heard Jake whining. The poor thing probably had to go outside or needed food. She stopped in the doorway of the kitchen, in surprise to find Alex standing there in a pair of jogging pants and a heavy sweater. He was working on getting a new coffee pot they had picked up over Christmas to work.
"Hello there, handsome." She moved up to him and wrapped herself around the front of him as he turned and reached for her. “What a nice surprise.”
"I decided we're taking the day off."
"Together?" Her eyes widened. She touched his forehead. Was he ill?
"Yep. We're going to do everything you want to do. No talking about all the shit at work, or being sad over Gina. Just fun stuff only. We'll go for a jog if you’d like to, eat breakfast at that ’café you love, and go to the mall. Besides, Mark said you needed to get me something for Valentine’s." He kissed the top of her head and turned around, bending over and tinkering with the coffee maker again.
"He did?" Jamie moved to the refrigerator as embarrassment rolled up her chest and covered her cheeks. Did Mark really tell Alex that she was getting a nightie to wear for him? That seemed a little much.
"He did. I told him that he was right, too..."