Page 61 of Your Fault

“You’re gross,” she said, but her anger was gone, and her eyes told me lust had replaced it.

We went back to kissing, but just as things were getting hot, the doorbell rang. Noah pulled on my tie, trying to keep me there, but I walked off. I was in a hurry. I couldn’t waste more time.

“See ya,” I said, turning around.

As I shut the door behind me, I looked back to see her staring at me, letting the towel fall on the wooden floor.

Fuck!

I got to work in the nick of time. My office was at the end of the hall, and I went straight there, not even stopping for a coffee. I knew my father was coming in that day, and God forbid he saw me arrive late… He wasn’t above making me the coffee boy for the whole staff.

What I didn’t expect was to find him in my office…talking calmly with a girl I’d never seen in my life. She was sitting in my chair and smiling politely at something my father had just said. They both turned when I walked in. My surprise turned to anger when I saw a second desk on the other side of the room by the window…my window.

“Hey, Son,” my father said with a friendly smile.

At least he was in a good mood. That was new!

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking back and forth between the girl and the desk.

“Nicholas, this is Sophia, Senator Aiken’s daughter. She’s going to be doing an internship here. I offered it to her.”

My eyelids dropped as I looked at the senator’s daughter. I had no idea what my father had offered her. My guess was he was just trying to get in good with her father. At any rate, I didn’t know why any of this should have to do with me.

“You’ve been interning here a long time, you’re about to graduate, and I told Sophie you’d be happy to help her out, give her a leg up in the field.”

Fuck no!

Sophia smiled at me dryly, probably with aversion. Fine. I was happy to know the feeling was mutual. My father, probably bothered by my silence but too polite to mention it, just stared at us before saying, “Well, Sophie, I hope you like it here, and you’ve got my number if you need anything. Otherwise, Nick will help you out.”

“Thank you, Mr. Leister. I’ll keep that in mind. And thank you again for this opportunity. I’ve always wanted to work with Leister Enterprises. I think the steps you’re taking to expand the business are crucial. A knowledge of the law is the most important thing when you’re moving into new markets. With your son’s help, I’m sure we can make something big happen.”

So she was an ass-kisser, too. At least she was good at it. My father gave her an approving look, and me an admonishing one, before walking out.

“I can tell you’re a politician’s daughter,” I said. “You’re in my chair. Move it.”

She smiled and got up slowly. I couldn’t help looking her up and down. Black hair, tan skin, brown eyes, long legs. In a pearl-gray tube skirt and a spotless white shirt. A real daddy’s girl.

“Don’t let my looks deceive you, Nicholas. I’m here to stay.”

I ignored the remark, sat in my chair, opened my email, and got to work.

25

Noah

Maddie would be there soon, and we needed to finish her room. I had told my mother I’d be staying there during some of the days she was with Nick, and since I didn’t want things to go even further south between us, I went home like a good girl once I’d made sure all the junk had been cleared out of Madison’s room and there was space for the furniture to be brought in and assembled. Nicholas would be supervising everything, and he wouldn’t see me until after I’d spoken with Anabel Grason.

Time passed quickly afterward. I had hoped to be able to better prepare myself, but before I knew it, the morning of Anabel and Maddie’s arrival was there. I was nervous; I knew Nicholas was, too. He had sent me a bunch of photos asking me if I liked the room, if his sister would like it, if we should change the furnishings, if it might be better to put the bed under the window instead of in the corner, if the dresser was big enough, if she’d like the remote-control train as much as he did.

I laughed on the other end of the line. “Nick, she’s going to love it. Anyway, your sister’s coming to seeyou, not her new room.”

He paused. “I’m nervous, Freckles. I’ve never spent more thana day with her. What if she starts to cry all of a sudden because she misses home? She’s a little kid, and I’m a grown man. Sometimes I don’t know how to deal with that stuff.”

I smiled in the mirror in front of me. I loved when he worried like that: Nick, who was always so self-assured, so commanding, so bossy. When he let down his guard and showed me how tender his heart was, all I wanted was to hug him.

“I’ll try to be over there most of the time,” I said, sitting on my bed and looking up at the beams in the ceiling.

“What? You’re going to be here the whole weekend, no?” he replied, changing to a more serious tone.

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