Well Built
Page 12
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“Your unexpected visitor?” the receptionist guessed.
He nodded, still grinning.
Daphne looked him up and down, a mischievous glimmer in her gaze. “Exactly what kind of present are we talking about here?” she asked, her insinuation clear.
He chuckled. Daphne had been with the company for over a year. She had a naughty sense of humor, and this certainly wasn’t the first time she’d teased one of the guys. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Daphne. She’s an old friend,” he said, choosing to keep the fact that she was an ex-girlfriend to himself. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen one another.”
“An old friend, huh?” she repeated, evidently not believing him. “Like one of your other women ‘friends’ who’ve come by the office?” She waggled her brows.
Daphne was obviously referring to the other females he casually dated, whom he’d always politely referred to as “friends,” since a hookup or fuck buddy sounded way too crass, even if that’s what they truly were. Dinner at a nice restaurant because it was polite to feed his date, a bit of casual conversation, and no-strings-attached fucking. There was never any pretense or promises that it would ever be anything more than that—and none of those females ever made him want to tie himself to one person.
For years he’d told himself he didn’t have time for a relationship, that work and the company were his priority, but the truth was, he hadn’t really given any one woman a real chance. Either that or he just hadn’t found one who piqued his interest or stimulated him mentally—physically it was a given—for more than just a few nights of mutual pleasure.
He didn’t respond to Daphne’s innuendo. Instead, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly six. “Shouldn’t you be gone already?”
“I’m leaving right now,” she said as she brushed past where he was standing, then stopped at the glass door to glance over her shoulder at him with a devious smile on her face. “Have a nice evening with your friend.”
He certainly planned to.
Chapter Four
Good God, what was she thinking?
Ella disconnected the call she’d just made to her father’s longtime caretaker, Betsy, closed her eyes, and pressed the cell phone to her forehead. What she really ought to be doing was bashing it against her skull to knock some sense into her addled brain for letting her attraction to her long-ago ex-boyfriend soften her determination to keep things strictly impersonal between them. But no, she’d actually agreed to go to dinner with Kyle Coleman . . . the man who’d broken her heart not once but twice now. The first time when he’d walked out of her life ten years ago and again when he’d bought the Piedmont building right out from under her.
Third time’s a charm, right?
She laughed quietly to herself and shook her head. She really didn’t want to be a glutton for punishment when it came to this man. Kyle had made it clear that he wasn’t selling the building at any cost, so there was absolutely no reason for her to stay in the city, or with him, any longer. Even if she dreaded dealing with the horrendous traffic congestion through Chicago on her commute back home.
If she was smart, she’d tell him she changed her mind and leave. But then she remembered how he’d apologized for what happened in the past and how genuinely contrite he’d been for the accusations he’d made against her sister. And truthfully, Ella knew Gwen wasn’t blameless in the entire scheme of what had transpired, which Ella had learned after the fact. But that one hot summer night had been frightful and terrifying, with her father discovering Gwen in the bathroom, delirious and covered in blood as she miscarried the baby they hadn’t even known she was carrying.
I’m going to kill the son of a bitch who did this to you, Ella had heard her father, Charles, yell just as she came home after spending a few stolen hours with Kyle, the two of them making out down by the creek that ran through the woods. Tell me who the father is, her dad demanded.
Ella had reached the bathroom at this point, and she’d gasped when she glanced inside and saw all the blood smeared along Gwen’s thighs and her sister wailing in agony on the floor with her father kneeling beside Gwen to help her through the pain that seemed to consume her.
It was Todd Coleman, Gwen finally confessed when she could speak, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Shock at her sister’s confession made Ella go numb. Completely the opposite of Kyle in every way, Todd had always been a punk and a troublemaker bordering on delinquent, and he was also three years older than Kyle. At twenty-one, he had no business messing around with such a young girl—even if her sister was known for being a bad girl who liked whatever attention she could get from a guy.
He’s the father but he didn’t want the baby. He gave me money to get rid of it, but I couldn’t do it.
The rage that had transformed her father’s features was unlike anything Ella had ever seen before. He was usually such an even-tempered man. Charles pushed past Ella on his way out of the bathroom, his face red and his eyes blazing with contempt.
Where are you going? Ella asked before he could leave.
To make that asshole pay for what he’s done, he said bitterly. You stay with your sister. I already called an ambulance to get her to the hospital. Once they take her, I need you to close up the store for me. William has to leave. I’ll meet you at the hospital after to be with Gwen.
Everything that had happened after that had been like living a nightmare. Half an hour later, the ambulance arrived at the house, and once Ella was assured that her sister was in good care with the paramedic and her miscarriage wasn’t life-threatening, she’d driven to the store as her father had requested. All the while she’d worried about her dad going head-to-head with someone as volatile as Todd, and possibly Kyle’s father, who always seemed to be at home and drunk.
Just as she was getting ready to leave the market to head to the hospital to be with her sister, Kyle had arrived, and the grim look on his face and the tense set of his shoulders nearly made her heart stop in her chest.
What happened? she’d blurted out in a panic, and listened as he relayed the story.
Kyle had been home when her father had banged his fist repeatedly on the door, rousing his dad, Frank, from where he’d been passed out on the couch. Kyle had been the one to answer the door, but his father, who’d been pissed off and furious with the noise, stumbled over to confront whomever was making such a racket. According to Kyle, when Ella’s father demanded to talk to Todd, his older brother had no qualms facing off with the man.
He nodded, still grinning.
Daphne looked him up and down, a mischievous glimmer in her gaze. “Exactly what kind of present are we talking about here?” she asked, her insinuation clear.
He chuckled. Daphne had been with the company for over a year. She had a naughty sense of humor, and this certainly wasn’t the first time she’d teased one of the guys. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Daphne. She’s an old friend,” he said, choosing to keep the fact that she was an ex-girlfriend to himself. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen one another.”
“An old friend, huh?” she repeated, evidently not believing him. “Like one of your other women ‘friends’ who’ve come by the office?” She waggled her brows.
Daphne was obviously referring to the other females he casually dated, whom he’d always politely referred to as “friends,” since a hookup or fuck buddy sounded way too crass, even if that’s what they truly were. Dinner at a nice restaurant because it was polite to feed his date, a bit of casual conversation, and no-strings-attached fucking. There was never any pretense or promises that it would ever be anything more than that—and none of those females ever made him want to tie himself to one person.
For years he’d told himself he didn’t have time for a relationship, that work and the company were his priority, but the truth was, he hadn’t really given any one woman a real chance. Either that or he just hadn’t found one who piqued his interest or stimulated him mentally—physically it was a given—for more than just a few nights of mutual pleasure.
He didn’t respond to Daphne’s innuendo. Instead, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly six. “Shouldn’t you be gone already?”
“I’m leaving right now,” she said as she brushed past where he was standing, then stopped at the glass door to glance over her shoulder at him with a devious smile on her face. “Have a nice evening with your friend.”
He certainly planned to.
Chapter Four
Good God, what was she thinking?
Ella disconnected the call she’d just made to her father’s longtime caretaker, Betsy, closed her eyes, and pressed the cell phone to her forehead. What she really ought to be doing was bashing it against her skull to knock some sense into her addled brain for letting her attraction to her long-ago ex-boyfriend soften her determination to keep things strictly impersonal between them. But no, she’d actually agreed to go to dinner with Kyle Coleman . . . the man who’d broken her heart not once but twice now. The first time when he’d walked out of her life ten years ago and again when he’d bought the Piedmont building right out from under her.
Third time’s a charm, right?
She laughed quietly to herself and shook her head. She really didn’t want to be a glutton for punishment when it came to this man. Kyle had made it clear that he wasn’t selling the building at any cost, so there was absolutely no reason for her to stay in the city, or with him, any longer. Even if she dreaded dealing with the horrendous traffic congestion through Chicago on her commute back home.
If she was smart, she’d tell him she changed her mind and leave. But then she remembered how he’d apologized for what happened in the past and how genuinely contrite he’d been for the accusations he’d made against her sister. And truthfully, Ella knew Gwen wasn’t blameless in the entire scheme of what had transpired, which Ella had learned after the fact. But that one hot summer night had been frightful and terrifying, with her father discovering Gwen in the bathroom, delirious and covered in blood as she miscarried the baby they hadn’t even known she was carrying.
I’m going to kill the son of a bitch who did this to you, Ella had heard her father, Charles, yell just as she came home after spending a few stolen hours with Kyle, the two of them making out down by the creek that ran through the woods. Tell me who the father is, her dad demanded.
Ella had reached the bathroom at this point, and she’d gasped when she glanced inside and saw all the blood smeared along Gwen’s thighs and her sister wailing in agony on the floor with her father kneeling beside Gwen to help her through the pain that seemed to consume her.
It was Todd Coleman, Gwen finally confessed when she could speak, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Shock at her sister’s confession made Ella go numb. Completely the opposite of Kyle in every way, Todd had always been a punk and a troublemaker bordering on delinquent, and he was also three years older than Kyle. At twenty-one, he had no business messing around with such a young girl—even if her sister was known for being a bad girl who liked whatever attention she could get from a guy.
He’s the father but he didn’t want the baby. He gave me money to get rid of it, but I couldn’t do it.
The rage that had transformed her father’s features was unlike anything Ella had ever seen before. He was usually such an even-tempered man. Charles pushed past Ella on his way out of the bathroom, his face red and his eyes blazing with contempt.
Where are you going? Ella asked before he could leave.
To make that asshole pay for what he’s done, he said bitterly. You stay with your sister. I already called an ambulance to get her to the hospital. Once they take her, I need you to close up the store for me. William has to leave. I’ll meet you at the hospital after to be with Gwen.
Everything that had happened after that had been like living a nightmare. Half an hour later, the ambulance arrived at the house, and once Ella was assured that her sister was in good care with the paramedic and her miscarriage wasn’t life-threatening, she’d driven to the store as her father had requested. All the while she’d worried about her dad going head-to-head with someone as volatile as Todd, and possibly Kyle’s father, who always seemed to be at home and drunk.
Just as she was getting ready to leave the market to head to the hospital to be with her sister, Kyle had arrived, and the grim look on his face and the tense set of his shoulders nearly made her heart stop in her chest.
What happened? she’d blurted out in a panic, and listened as he relayed the story.
Kyle had been home when her father had banged his fist repeatedly on the door, rousing his dad, Frank, from where he’d been passed out on the couch. Kyle had been the one to answer the door, but his father, who’d been pissed off and furious with the noise, stumbled over to confront whomever was making such a racket. According to Kyle, when Ella’s father demanded to talk to Todd, his older brother had no qualms facing off with the man.
