Embracing Him Read online

  "Thanks sweetie. Next lunch is on Jane and me." I push my chair back and stand up ready to get back to the office and finish updating our inventory. Don't get me wrong I do not like doing inventory but the simple task keeps my mind busy and off unpleasant thoughts such as a particular sexy man that seems to be doing everything but staying out of my life.

  Walking back into our office building I am stunned at the huge transformation since we left a little over an hour ago. The place is crawling with construction workers. Some are working on the elevator while others are installing cameras and a group of men in matching grey Polo shirts are working at Clive's desk installing some sort of equipment.

  What the hell is going on?

  By the dumbfounded look on Jane's face she is as confused and clueless as I am as to why we have been invaded by sexy workmen. What is it about a man with a tool belt that makes him so sexy? Shifting my attention to Clive I flag him over hoping he can shed some light on why and how our building turned into a complete construction zone in such a short time.

  "Hey Clive," I say pulling him into a half hug. Did we miss a memo? I don't remember reading anything about construction work being done on the monthly building newsletter."

  Pushing his hands into his pockets he gives me a thoughtful look. "No Ms. Grayson, there wasn't a memo sent out about any of this. In fact I did not know anything about it until about thirty minutes before they all showed up. This is all being done by our new owner Eagle Inc." Waving his hand around at all the workers he says," They are increasing security by installing cameras in the halls and security cards for all the offices. We are even getting a new fancy elevator and you would not believe the software and buttons being installed into my desk. This place will be as secured as Fort Knox by the time they are done." He chuckles seeming amused by it all.

  Closing my jaw that is now close to hitting the floor I stare back at him in disbelief. "This does not make any sense Clive. I checked this place out before we moved in here and there have never been any problems with security or break-ins before."

  "You are preaching to the choir young lady. I don't understand it myself," he says shaking his head. Patting him on the shoulder I thank him and ask that he tells his wife hi for me.

  With the elevator out of commission Jane and I take the stairs cursing our new owner Eagle Inc. the whole way up. These shoes were made to look hot in not for walking long distances or scaling stairs. Note to self: I am out of shape and need to exercise more.

  ********

  Curled up on our sofa with a bag of Cheetos in one hand and the remote in the other I skim through channel after channel not finding anything that is able to hold my attention for more than a few minutes. Jane went to the gym to work out and tried to entice me to join her but running laps on a treadmill is about as appealing to me as receiving a bikini wax. I love to run but prefer to do it outside where I can people watch and enjoy the weather.

  My phone has been dinging and singing all day with messages and calls from Alex. I swear he somehow must have found out that I have come out of hiding. The last few messages read.

  Alex: I miss you baby.

  Alex: I am at home watching Private Practice... what about you?

  Alex: Please put aside our issues and accept the contract from Glimmer. It benefits both of us.

  Alex: Giving you space is over rated. I want to talk to you. I also have a list of other things I would like to do to you but we will get to that later.

  Clicking my phone shut I put my snack away making sure to wash off the orange stain on my fingers that only Cheetos can leave before going to my bedroom and changing into a pair of yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt. I need a way to shut my brain off and television is not doing the trick so I am hoping a run around the block will help. I pull my hair into a messy pony tail, jot down a quick note for Jane, grab my ipod and head out the door with no set destination in mind. I just need a distraction. Something that will help me to forget everything for a little while.

  The cool air is beginning to sting my face by the time I reach two miles. Clouds have gathered in the sky blocking out the sun and making the cool weather feel colder. Turning up my music I push those thoughts in the back of my mind along with the ones of Alex and Lexy that keep threatening to bubble up.

  Crossing the street I veer right and head towards a public park. Finding an empty park bench near the street I take a seat and give my aching muscles a much needed break. It has been way too long since the last time I ran. Resting my head back against the back of the bench I watch as kids run around playing. I envy these children. My childhood was never that care-free and fun. My dad took off and left my mom and me when I was just a baby. According to my mom the stress of being a dad at the young age of twenty-one was just too much for him to handle. She said he needed a chance to sow his oats. She never blamed him for leaving us but she sure as hell had no problem blaming me.

  I know my mother loves me but I am a sad reminder to her of what she lost. As I got older I tried to find him. I had this notion that if I found him and brought him back than she would forgive me and we could have the perfect mother-daughter relationship my friends had. It took three months of internet searches before I finally found a lead that led me to a little cemetery in Kentucky. My dad was hit by a drunk driver coming home late from a music concert and died a few days later in the hospital. I never told my mom.

  Pulling my knees up against my chest I survey the area around me. The hair on the back of my neck stands to attention with an odd feeling that I am being watched. Besides several groups of kids playing on the playground, a few runners and a handful of houses lining the street across from me I don't see anyone out of the ordinary. I curse myself for not bringing my phone with me. We live in a nice area but I know better than to leave my phone. Jane's voice echoes in my head a woman should never go anywhere alone without a way to contact someone in case of an emergency.

  Standing I stretch my legs out feeling the slight pull and burn that will most likely leave me sore tomorrow. I glance around once more satisfied that I am just being paranoid before I start my trek back towards home.

  Chapter 2

  Tuesday is not turning out any better than Monday. I worked a modeling shoot at a new local boutique all morning and after dealing with teen want-a-be divas for three hours I am ready to pull my hair out. One girl no older than seventeen actually had the audacity to snap her fingers at me and yell," Hey Lady," to get my attention. It took everything in me not to make her up to look like a sad clown when it was her time in my chair.

  I am luckily finished by noon and heading back to the office. Hearing my stomach rumble I decide to stop by the deli near our place I grab a tuna sub for me and a turkey and cheese toasted sub for Jane just in case she has not eaten yet. If she does not want it than maybe Clive will. Pulling into the parking lot I immediately take notice of the array of large moving and furniture trucks circling the main drive in front of our building entrance. If it were just one or two trucks I would not have even noticed or thought anything about it but staring at well over nine trucks has my interest peaked.

  Sliding past construction workers and movers I shoot up in our new state of the art elevator and dart towards our office. Using my back to push the door open since my hands are full with bags containing our lunch and drinks I am greeted with an unusual surprise. Jane is seated at my desk surrounded by five well dressed business men. They all seem to be in deep conversation mulling over some papers spread across my desk. Something is off. Jane never conducts business at my desk unless I am involved and last night she said she was free today and would be working on a new technique she read about.

  Walking forward I make my presence known. "Good afternoon everyone. What is going on?" My eyes glide over the gentlemen as they all turn looking at me as though I am the last puzzle piece they need. Jane looks up at me wide eyed and excited as she practically bounces up and down in my chair at the sight of me.

  "Jess you are not going t
o believe what has happened," Jane says happily as she leans back in my chair her eyes lit up like Christmas. "These gentlemen are from Eagle Inc. and from what they are telling me there was a mix up with our contract during the buyout and our office was leased out to another company." She glances towards the man to her right as if checking to make sure her facts are correct.

  My mind short circuits at the mere mention of us losing our office. Why the hell does she seem so happy about this? "Jane please tell me there is a good reason you are smiling about this news instead of throwing these men out on their asses and telling them to go to hell?" I ask through a panicked haze.

  Waving her hands dismissively at me she says," It is beyond good news. The new owner is offering us a corner office on the first floor for the same rate that we are paying for this cracker jack box space."

  I stare back at her confused and disbelieving as I place our food and drinks down on the coffee table. "I don't understand this. The corner offices on the first floor are at least three times the size of this office. Not that I am complaining but why not offer us something closer to the same size we have now? Why the large increase?"

  One of the suits shifts nervously. "Our employer has authorized us to offer this to you to as an apology for our oversight on the contract. We have movers positioned outside that will pack up your current office and move everything down stairs for you. We also have extra furniture at your disposal that you may use free of charge to fill in the extra space for as long as you need it since you obviously are not currently prepared to accommodate it."

  I feel like I have walked into an alternate universe. This cannot be normal. Maybe I am on that show Punked and any minute now a TV crew will jump out and surprise me. That seems much more likely than what this man is offering.

  As if sensing my hesitation the man in the suite pulls on some of the papers spread across my desk and hands them to me. "Everything is here in writing. We just need a signature from you and Ms. Tillson here at the bottom and we will have the moving men begin while you both are welcome to go downstairs and pick out the extra furniture from the trucks in front of the building."

  Looking down at the contract I shift through the pages trying to read through the legal garble of words but after a few minutes realize I have no idea what I just read. I can feel everyone's eyes on me and it takes everything I have in me not to squirm like a worm on a hook.

  "Could you gentleman please give us a few minutes to talk this over before we sign?"

  "Yes of course," he says reaching for his brief case and ushering towards the door with his entourage in tow.

  Once the door is securely shut I let out a long sigh and glance back at Jane ready to hash this out. "This seems weird to me," I say moving next to her so we can both look over the contract together.

  "I have looked over the contract backwards and forwards and it is legit Jess. Besides giving us the larger space for the same price and option for free furniture the contract is the same one we signed when we first moved in here. We would be stupid to make a fuss about this," she says giving me her famous don't screw this up look.

  Thumbing through the pages of the contract I see that she is correct. "It just seems too good to be true and you know what they say. If something seems too good to be true than it normally is," I sigh. "I can't put my finger on it but something is off about this whole deal." I say mostly to myself because Jane has long checked out on this conversation is already looking over her things and grabbing empty boxes to fill with her most prized possessions.

  Gripping the pen on the desk I cautiously sign my name next to Jane's. Opening up the door I usher the gentleman back in and hand them our new freshly signed contract. The shortest of the men steps forward and thanks us. He goes about giving us a copy of the contract and explaining the new security card swipe system and codes that will not only protect us but track our every move. I am trying really hard to listen to him and praying Jane is doing a better job because my real attention is set on the main suite guy who made a private phone call the moment we said yes.

  I can only make out bits and pieces of his conversation but it seems to be about us and accepting the deal. He is speaking in a hushed tone and so far I have been able to make out," It is done sir, she was reluctant but I have the finalized contract in hand, everything is all set up, it will be our top priority."

  Who is he talking to and why is it so important that we move downstairs?

  ********

  "I love it!" Jane shrieks for the umpteenth time while spinning around and around in her new leather wingback office chair.

  Glancing around our new suite I hate to admit that it is quite exquisite. The new space allows for us each to have our own private offices plus a reception area, private kitchen and our own bathroom. The front of our office is incased in etched glass from top to bottom with large double doors. After searching through the furniture trucks out front we settled on new leather chairs, a large antique desk for up front, along with a soft brown leather couch and matching love seat for each of our own private rooms. Jane wanted to take more but I talked her out of it. It just felt wrong since technically the pieces are not really ours.

  Throwing an arm out I stop Jane mid spin. "Please stop. Watching you do that is making me dizzy," I croak out.

  "Sorry," she says on a giggle.

  "I am appointment free the rest of the afternoon. What about you?" I ask throwing the last of my files and folders into the filing cabinets.

  "Same here," she says reaching in her bag and pulling out her cell phone. "I was thinking of hitting up the gym with Jax on my way home. I really wish you would join us for once?"

  "Hmmm. That actually does not sound bad. I need a way to burn off some extra energy. One problem though, I don't have any extra clothes with me," I say standing up to straighten a picture on the wall behind me. Crooked pictures are one of my biggest pet peeves along with drinking milk or juice out of the carton. That is just gross.

  "I always keep an extra set in my car. You are welcome to borrow them," she says not paying me a bit of attention as she keeps texting Jax on her cell phone. Throwing the phone back in her purse she says, "Ok, he will meet us there. I hope you remember how to lock up this place because I was not listening to them when they explained it all."

  Finding the instructions that I carefully wrote down knowing Jane wouldn't, I follow her out of the door and go through the task of scanning our card and entering a set of codes into the pad next to front door. The door beeps back at me letting me know I did everything correct. "This amount of security seems ridiculous." I protest unhappily as I follow her outside.

  Climbing into my little red car I follow Jane to her and Jax's gym doing my best to keep up with her on the freeway. She drives like a maniac whipping in and out of cars making me all kinds of nervous and thankful I brought my own car today. Pulling up I am amazed at how nice and sleek the gym is. We never had large elaborate gyms like this back in my small town of Tyler. Most of the town used the local YMCA and that was considered a special treat.

  Jane signs me up for a free friend week pass and a perky thirty something blonde who could easily pass as a professional body builder shows me around. The place is three stories high and has many lush amenities such as an indoor Olympic sized heated pool, juice bar, free weight station, state-of-the-art machines, yoga center, racquetball, martial arts section, steam room, tanning beds, and an actual rock climbing room.

  It is hard to take it all in not to mention I don't know what to start on first. I feel like a kid in a candy store. We finish the tour in the women's locker room where I quickly shuck off my work clothes and shimmy into Jane's spare outfit of tight black leggings and an even tighter black sports bra. Luckily the girl comes prepared and even has an extra pair of socks and running shoes in the bag. Pulling my hair into a high pony tail I lock up my things and leave the room in hopes of finding her and Jax without getting lost along the way.

  After not finding them on the first floor
I go up a flight of stairs to the second floor and find them running on the treadmills together. Ignoring my initial cringe at running in place I step up onto the machine next to Jax and begin a fast walk to warm my muscles up. After my run the previous day to the park I am still a bit sore and make a mental note not to push myself too hard today.

  "So baby doll what do you think about our gym? Can you believe all the things this place has?" Jax asks slowing his pace down and rising the incline to a level I would never feel comfortable trying.

  Glancing around at all the amazing state of the art machines surrounding us I shrug my shoulders like this place is really no big deal. "I have seen better," I tease trying to keep the stupid grin off my face. His raised eyebrows break my defense and I let out a few giggles.

  "Seriously I really like what I have seen so far but I hate to ask what a membership at this place costs?"

  I know for a fact Jane's parents pay for everything she has and Jax's job managing stocks pays well enough to support this and many more luxuries he incurs but I am not sure I would be able to afford a keep coming to a place of this caliber. Once my free week is over I will need see if I can find a gym similar to this on a smaller scale.