Bond Girl (19 page)

Chick seemed fine leaving me in the company of the other women, a luxury he didn't have at the office. “Great idea. Will, I want to show you my new Harley. It's in the garage.”

“You ride Harleys, Chick?” I tried to picture my preppy, smart, powerful boss clad in leather chaps and a T-shirt that said
IF YOU CAN READ THIS THE BITCH FELL OFF
while straddling a hog. Chick promptly pointed his stubby index finger in my face.

“Don't laugh at me! Riding a motorcycle is extremely cathartic. I've had one for over ten years, but I just upgraded.”

Mrs. Ciccone piped up. “We might as well have lit that money on fire for how often you're going to ride that thing.”

“When you go out and make the money, Mags, you can have a say. Until then, I'll buy myself a
fleet
of motorcycles if I feel like it.” Chick was smiling. Nice to know that he treated his wife the same way he treated us. At least he was consistent. “Come on, Willy.” Will and Chick walked off toward the five-car garage on the other side of the house.

“Come sit, Alex.” Maggie gestured kindly, so I followed her to her table. She immediately handed me a glass of white wine and offered me a seat next to her. I really liked Maggie. The three other women sitting around the table peered at me curiously.

“Ladies, this is Alex. She works for Ed.”

“Hi,” I said. I took a long swig of the wine. For some reason, I felt about as welcome as one of the goats in the petting zoo.

“This is Cindy Collins. You might know her husband, Tim.” I shook Cindy's hand. She was a pretty woman, with hazel eyes and wavy black hair. She had freckles running across the bridge of her nose and perfectly straight white teeth. She was much prettier than he was good-looking, but that was always the case when women married for money.

“We met briefly not long after I started but I don't have much interaction with him. It's very nice to meet you,” I replied, honestly.
Your husband is an asshole.

“And this,” Maggie motioned to a tall blond woman, probably in her late thirties, with legs that came up to my neck and big blue eyes that looked like sapphires embedded in her head, “is Tina Kieriakis. Her husband, Rick, works at AKS. He's been a friend and client of Chick's for years.”

Ohhhh—your husband is the guy who texts me at all hours of the night to meet up with him? Another fine specimen of the male species
. I gave her a wave and smiled. “Yes, Rick and I have met at a few client events. Very nice to meet you, Tina.” She was stunning.

“You too, Alex. I give you a lot of credit. I swear I don't know how you do that job. I think it sounds awful. Eating lunch at your desk isn't civilized.” Her voice was low and velvety. Why the hell was her husband hitting on me when he had
her
at home?

“And this lovely lady,” Maggie said as she pointed at a petite brunette with light eyes and a perky nose, “is Tina's friend Bridget. Her husband is an executive at Sony and they still live in the city, in Gramercy Park.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said as she swirled the wine in her glass.

“Likewise.” I scanned the driveway for any sign of Will and Chick, but they were nowhere to be seen. I tried to make conversation about something other than their husbands and what I heard or saw at work.

I picked neutral territory and also the only neutral person at the table. “Bridget, do you like living in Gramercy? I love that area. It's so convenient to everything and you have the subway right there.”

“Oh sweetie, the subway? I haven't been on the subway in years!”

“Me neither,” Tina chimed in. “Last time I was in the city, it was pouring rain, and I thought about taking it because I knew trying to get a cab outside of Grand Central would be a nightmare. But it's just so dirty and crowded, and there are always homeless people down there. It's vile.”

“It isn't so bad,” Maggie said brightly. I looked again toward the driveway. No Will. No Chick. It must have been one hell of a bike.

“So you came here with Will, Alex?” Maggie asked suggestively.
Oh shit.

“Yes, we shared a car from the city,” I answered.

She lowered her voice. “Is that all you're sharing? He's very cute.”

Okay no, I was not going to have this discussion. Not with Maggie. Definitely not in Chick's backyard.

“We're just friends,” I replied flatly. I said a silent prayer that one of the rabbits would escape so we could end this conversation.

Tina chimed in. “I used to say that, too, honey. Me and my sociology professor in college? Just friends. Me and my sister's boyfriend in high school? Just friends. I admire your modesty, but come on, you aren't fooling anyone.”

Mental note, Tina's a slut, which probably explained why Rick married her. She continued probing like she was my long-lost sorority sister. “I saw the way he looked at you.”

I shifted in my chair. “Sorry to disappoint you all but I promise we're just friends!” But maybe if they noticed that he liked me, then Chick had, too.
Shit.

Tina threw her hands up in the air. “If you insist.”

Maggie gently put her hand on my forearm and said, “Don't listen to her, Alex. She just loves to gossip, any way she can get it. I think we all miss the dating scene a little bit.”

“Oh God, I don't miss that scene at all,” Bridget said. “All the stress about who should call whom, is he seeing other people, the three-day rule, all that nonsense. Plus, I was constantly stressed out because I always double-booked and could never keep anyone's name straight. It was a full-time job dating in Manhattan! I couldn't be more thankful that those days are behind me. Honestly, Alex, how do you stand it?”

I wasn't looking forward to explaining to her that I actually didn't date much, because I was too busy with work, and I certainly wasn't going to mention Will. Thankfully, Chick and Will reappeared just then. I inadvertently exhaled a deep long breath. They must have been gone for fifteen minutes, but it felt like an hour.

Chick put his hands on Maggie's bony shoulders and asked her sweetly, “Are you all getting acquainted with Alex?”

“Oh yes, absolutely. We're having a great time,” she replied.

Chick nodded. “Good.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice say, “Good to see you again, Alex. It's been a while.” Rick grabbed a chair from a nearby table and pulled it up right next to me. “I see you've met my wife and the rest of the ladies. This is some house Chick has here, huh?”

I felt like the other woman, like I was doing something wrong just by virtue of sitting next to Tina's husband in front of her. I smiled innocently and said, “Yes, it's lovely. How have you been, Rick?” Not that I cared.

“I've been good, sweetheart. Thanks for asking. Business is good; I'm not complaining. So, Chick, how is Alex doing? Are you teaching her everything you know?”

Chick smiled. “She's doing great, but she's still got a lot to learn.”

“I could help train her if you want,” Rick said with a wink. No one seemed to think that was strange, including Tina—except, thank God, for Chick, who shot Rick a look warning him to back off.

Rick rubbed his hands together and stood suavely. “Well, excuse me, ladies. I'm going to run inside, but I'll be back in a few minutes. Can I get anyone anything while I'm in there?”

“We have waiters, dumbass,” Chick said.

Rick chuckled. “Indeed you do.” He stood and headed back toward the kitchen. Chick motioned toward the house. “I'm going to go check on the caterers, but why don't you two come scope out my wine cellar? Or would you rather stay here, Alex?” I almost knocked my chair over I jumped up so fast.

“No, I'd love to see it. Thanks so much for introducing me to everyone, Maggie. It was so nice to meet you all.” The ladies waved as we left them and headed for the house.

“It's right down that staircase in there,” Chick said as we stepped into the kitchen. He pointed to a small room off the kitchen, which, on closer inspection, turned out to be a butler's pantry. “Don't try to take anything though, Willy; I know exactly what's down there. Girlie, keep an eye on him for me. If something goes missing, I'm going to blame you.”

“Consider it done,” I said.

We descended the staircase to the wine cellar. The room was covered from floor to ceiling with hundreds of bottles of wine, and there was a thermostat-like contraption on the wall by the door. I didn't know much about wine other than the fact that I liked it, but Will was very impressed by the selection.

I removed a bottle from its rack to see if I recognized the label.

“Don't touch those! If you break one, Chick will kick your ass,” Will said as he took the bottle from my hand and replaced it in its slot.

“I'm not going to start juggling the Brunello. Chill out, old man.”

“Old man?” He replaced the bottle and turned to face me, somewhat within my personal space. Not that I minded.

“Well, honestly, you're twenty-seven. I mean you're way older than I am, in case you didn't know.”

“And how do you feel about older men?” He took a step closer and I stepped back. However, the wine cellar was, well, an
intimate
space, and I couldn't move much farther without disturbing the collection of saucy cabernets. My back was already flush against the section of wine from France.

“It depends. Some of them I don't mind.” He put his hands on my hips and kissed me. My mind was racing. It wasn't that it was weird for us to be kissing—I mean we were seeing each other—but somehow making out in Chick's wine cellar didn't seem like a good idea (though part of me felt it could be kinda fun, blatantly breaking Chick's rules in his own house). Still, I didn't think we needed to tempt fate and have someone catch us. Trading floors are the most efficient distribution of gossip in the free world. If anyone saw us, Chick would find out about it, and I really didn't want to go back to the mailroom.

“Chick would kill us if he found out you kissed me in his wine cellar. It probably raises the air temperature or something,” I said. It certainly was raising mine. I'd have given my left arm to not be at Chick's house at this moment. But, sadly, I was.

“You're scared of the big bad boss? He's not a tyrant,” he said as he reluctantly released me.

“Let's go back upstairs before he comes looking and I have to tell him you stole a bottle.” He leaned in and kissed me again, and for a few seconds I couldn't have cared less if Chick came down here and saw us himself. I needed to get out of the wine cellar. We were interrupted by a creak on the staircase. Probably a good thing.

“Well, what are you guys doing down here?” I turned to see Rick standing in the doorway and immediately felt every synapse in my brain begin to fire. Being trapped in a small room in the basement with Rick was not my idea of a good time.

“Alex and I are trying to figure out if Chick would notice if we rearranged some of his bottles.” Will smacked Rick on his back. “What do you think? How much trouble would I be in if I just swapped a few?”

Rick chuckled. “I think you'd get fired, Will. I wouldn't recommend fucking with your boss's wine cellar.”

“Yeah, Alex didn't think so either.” Will clapped his hands together as if it would somehow eradicate the awkward tension in the room. “What brings you down here?”

“Chick sent me down here to grab a bottle of Barbaresco for Maggie, and he asked me to send you back upstairs, Will. He wants to introduce you to someone.”

“Let's go, Alex,” Will said as he headed for the stairs.

“Actually, Alex, why don't you stay here and help me find the wine for Maggie? Go ahead, Will; I won't let her get lost, I promise.”

“In the wine cellar? I think that's unlikely,” I said as my stomach flip-flopped with anxiety.

“See you back outside.” Will shot me a concerned look as he reluctantly left me alone with Rick and hundreds of bottles of wine. If I drank all of them, it wouldn't put me at ease.

Rick began to pull bottles from their slots, checking the labels. “Alex, you never respond to my text messages.”

I smiled a tight-lipped smile. “Oh, I don't check my phone all that often. Sorry about that.”

“Really? I don't know too many single twentysomething girls who don't have their phones glued to their hand at all times.”

“How many single twentysomething girls do you know?” I asked.

“Not enough.”

“Your wife is very nice.” I thought maybe shifting the focus to the gorgeous woman sitting in the backyard would bring this conversation back to more neutral territory.

“She is very nice. She lacks something though.”

Yeah, a clue.

“Not from where I'm standing.”

“You're spunky. I like that. Most girls are boring, or in this industry, brutish. There's not a lot of femininity to women in finance. You're an anomaly.”

“Thanks. I try.”

“Why won't you have dinner with me?” he asked as he circled the room.

“I . . . don't think that's a very good idea. Chick wouldn't like it.” I wondered if it would be poor form to push past him and run upstairs. Probably. “I think we should go back upstairs. Did you find the wine yet?”

Rick smirked and nodded as he removed a bottle and hefted it in his hand. “Sure, you can go back upstairs. But, Alex, going forward, keep your phone on you. Don't forget, I'm the client. You never know when I might need you.”

I nodded and left the wine cellar and practically sprinted up the stairs.

I hurried through the kitchen and found Will outside on the patio. I tugged on his arm and whispered, “I think it's time to go.”

“Are you all right? He didn't do anything stupid, did he?”