Page 24 of Make Her Mine

“Oh, but you could. Even now, when she’s clearly hurt by whatever went wrong the other night—I sent her off to you happy, she came back the next day silent as the grave—even now, you could be with her, if you wanted. And you would be lucky.” Laurie’s gaze was challenging.

Once more, Esme’s bag handles had to bear the brunt of her nerves. “To be honest, Ms. McIntire, I really only came here to relay a message. I’m not comfortable continuing on with this conversation. It’s a bit personal.”

Laurie nodded. “I understand. Absolutely. The message?”

“Oliver Fairchild came to see me and said he’d been having trouble reaching Nora. They hadn’t heard from her in a few days.” Her mouth was dry. “I can only assume they want to finalize the building sale.”

Now Laurie’s eyes softened and there was something like… admiration? “You really are one hell of a woman. I know what this building sale means for you. Yet you came anyway.”

Esme hesitated. “Well. I did also hope to see Nora. She’s been ignoring me. Not that I blame her.”

“Even so.” Pushing herself off the desk, Laurie walked around to the chair and opened a drawer. She pulled out a cell phone and tapped a message into it, then looked up at Esme with a smile. “Message conveyed.”

It was a clear dismissal. But at least Nora surely knew now how far Esme was willing to go to get in touch with her. Maybe that would mean something. She ducked her head in a nod and stepped towards the elevator. “Thanks.”

“I’ll see you around, Ms. Bloom.” Laurie waved as Esme watched her through the closing elevator doors. She hadn’t gotten to apologize to Nora, but her spunky assistant had certainly given her a lot of food for thought in that brief conversation.

“No, no, no. I don’t think this will work. It’s hardly bigger than the space being vacated.” Nora’s footsteps echoed through the empty retail space, and she tapped thoughtfully on her bottom lip. “To say nothing of the kitchen. It’s miniscule, it would cost too much to overhaul it to a more suitable size.” She shook her head at the owner of the restaurant property. “Sorry. This isn’t going to work.”

She’d hit the ground running after that last disastrous night at the Indigo Lounge. Laurie had compiled a list of available stand-alone restaurant spaces for rent in various parts of LA, and Nora had visited each one personally.

Unfortunately, the hunt was not going well, because each one had fallen dramatically short.

Some were too big. Too small. The rent was higher than she estimated Esme would be able to afford. The number of repairs or renovations needed was too large. The location didn’t feel right. She’d been all over the city the last three days, her feet hurt, and her driver was on the verge of quitting, but she couldn’t stop.

If she’d had anyone close in her life, they’d call her insane for wanting to find a good landing space for the woman who had hurt her more times than she could count. Hell, Nora was calling herself crazy. She, who had put her career before anything else for more than a decade, who had closed deals and evicted tenants countless times without a second thought… for her, this was softness. Vulnerability.

But was it? Was it really? Nora lifted her head and shook her hair back from her face while the property owner babbled on about the better features of the abandoned Italian bistro. She wanted to be done with this entire emotional rollercoaster, that was all. To not have to deal with Esme or the Indigo Lounge again. Finding a place for the Lounge to go once she closed on the Fairchild and closed down the hangout spot was just the most logical way to guarantee the outcome she wanted.

And if I buy that, Nora thought ruefully as she paced back and forth, I have a bridge to sell myself.

Not very deep down, she knew that for the first time in her career, she was allowing herself to fully realize the consequences of the many evictions she’d been the instrument of in her business dealings. They’d all resulted in the dismantling of someone else’s dreams in the pursuit of her own. Falling for Esme had finally put a human face on the cost of her ruthlessness and efficiency.

This wasn’t actually about getting Esme out of her life. This was about mitigating the damage she’d caused, for once. Because she’d fallen in love, and that hadn’t made her soft, it had reminded her that she was a human being, and the choices she made affected other humans.

Nora stopped in her tracks and blinked. Love?

Oh, hell.

Before she could begin to process that, her phone buzzed in her suit pocket. With a brisk nod, she gestured to the building owner that she was stepping out to check her messages.

The LA sunshine made her blink as she hit the sidewalk, and she had to squint a bit to make out the message on her phone’s screen. It was from Laurie.

Esme came by. She had a message for you from the Fairchilds…

Nora groaned. She’d been dodging their outreach efforts even harder than she’d been dodging Esme’s.

…but I don’t think that was her main reason for coming to the office. I like her, Boss Lady. Consider giving her one more chance? At least hear her out, whatever she has to say.

Oh, unfair. Laurie knew full well that Nora was already struggling with sticking to her guns. She couldn’t know, of course, that Nora was also now struggling with feelings.

Actually, she probably did. Laurie was astute like that. Nora scowled at her phone. She didn’t really want to keep putting Esme off, but she couldn’t face Esme without a plan. Why couldn’t she find the right home for the Lounge?

“Ms. Hartley?” The building owner had emerged from the battered old hulk of a restaurant and was standing near her on the sidewalk. “Did you need to see the building again?”

“No. Thank you, but no. It’s just not quite right.” Nora shook her head. She had too much on her mind and needed time and space to gather her thoughts together. Spotting a park across the street, Nora passed her phone to her driver through the car window, and then took off at a trot.

Under the shade of a large oak tree, she found a bench that, miraculously, no one else was occupying at the moment. She smoothed her skirt and sat down to get her thoughts in order for.

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