Conklin's Blueprints (21 page)

Stop it Becca!

I shook my head.  I couldn’t let him control my life.  I had to keep them separate, and not be taken over by a man.  That’s where I went wrong with Connor.

I walked into the Conklin building and headed for the elevators.  I was distracted by someone calling my name.

“Becca!  Hey!  How’s it going?”  I squinted my eyes.  It was Mitch.  I was shocked he remembered my name.  I was more shocked he remembered what I looked like.

“Hi, what are you doing here?” was all I could bring myself to say.  I felt a bit embarrassed considering I was very drunk when we had met.

“Ah I had to meet with my dad at 8:00am to get some revised prints for a job site.  Way too early if you ask me.  I normally don’t show up to the job site until 10:00am.”  He grinned lazily at me.  He was wearing dark khaki’s and a button up stripped shirt.  At least it was tucked in.  I could see why Tyler had said he wasn’t an in the office type of guy.  He was attractive though, just like all of the Conklin men.  I bet both Tyler and Nathan were meeting with his dad and that was why he was here.

“Did you meet with Nathan and Tyler, too?”  I asked, trying to make it sound like I just wanted to make conversation.

He shook his head, “No, Nathan is in Chicago.  I saw Tyler in the break room with Sawla a little after 8:00am.  I was running late and needed to get some coffee and couldn’t stop and get some on the way to speak with my dad.” 

“Oh.”  I thought he had a meeting at 8:00am?  That was why he wasn’t going to drive me.  Then it hit me.  He didn’t want anyone to see us coming to work together.  Now I know why he was being so contrite when talking about the cab.  Why wouldn’t he just tell me?  Maybe his meeting was with Sawla?  Ugh, that woman.  I pang of jealousy came across me. 

“Yeah, Dad and I were just talking about the Enterprise Yachts account.  Your name came up actually.”  His green eyes were shinning.  Where was this going?  “He thinks you are going to do well here.  What are you doing for lunch today?  Can I take you out?”  And there it was, that same Conklin mischievous grin.  It took everything in me to not roll my eyes at him. 

“Sorry I can’t today, maybe some other time,”  I said giving him a wry smile.

“Okay, well I’m going up to see Tyler.  I have to give him shit for not letting me use the suite last night at the Griffins.”

He took off to the elevator and flashed me a smile.  I was trying not to fume.  He definitely didn’t have a meeting.  I stormed to the elevators, following Mitch.  He smiled when I tried to catch the same elevator as him.

I said goodbye to Mitch as I got off on my floor and headed to my desk in a huff.  He didn’t need to lie to me.  He could have told me the truth.  I would have understood.  Yeah it was stupid, and it did make me feel like he didn’t want to be seen with me,
because he didn’t
, but I wouldn’t have let it bother me.

It does bother you.

I shook my head.  Why can’t he be normal?  Why can’t he be comfortable enough to be seen with me at work?  If we kept going out, people would eventually see us.  I’m surprised Mitch didn’t notice how close Tyler and I were on Saturday, but then again, he seemed very into himself and probably thought I was just being friendly. 

I sat down at my desk and threw my bag in the corner.  Trying not to think about Tyler and how I was going to react about the situation, I opened my email and started working on the few side projects I had while I waited for Will to come in.

The day drug on, and finally it was lunch time.  I decided to pay Tyler a visit.  My anger had subsided a little, so I thought I would be able to talk to him rationally about this morning.

I stood in front of the door to Tyler’s office.  I was afraid to knock.  What if I was wrong and he did have a meeting, and I just wasn’t putting the pieces together correctly?  I needed to stop doubting myself.  If Mitch saw him in the break room just after 8:00am and went up to see him at 8:30am, there was no way he had a meeting at 8:00.  I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“He is on a conference call right now; he should be done in about 10 minutes if you want to wait.”  It was Cooper.  He was just coming back from somewhere to sit at his desk outside of Tyler’s office.   My jaw dropped.  What was I going to say?

“Oh, it’s not important, I can just come back later,” I said feeling silly.

He smiled down at his screen.  Not taking his dark brown eyes from his screen he said, “Becca, I’m sure he would love it if you waited.  He has had a rough morning.” 

I was thrown back.  Why would Cooper say that?  Did he know about us?

“I don’t think my stopping in would turn his day around,” I said impassively.  I was starting to sound like Tyler.  If he didn’t want people to know about us, I was going to have to play along too.

Cooper’s lips slowly quirked up, “I think you should stay.”  His smile was dazzling against his dark skin.  When he removed his dark brown eyes from his screen, I realized he was very attractive.  Jamie would totally dig him.

Confused, I took a seat on the couch just outside of his office and waited.  I was trying not to be mad at him.  I just needed him to explain, and I needed him to be honest with me.

“Cooper, what the hell, I thought I told you I was on a conference call?” His voice was low and stern.  He must have been talking about my knock at the door. I had the urge to hide under the cushions.

Cooper looked at Tyler, then to me, as though he wanted Tyler to follow his eyes.  Tyler furrowed his brows at Cooper then followed his eyes to me.  He quickly straightened and seemed a bit shell shocked.

“Hey Becca.  Did you need something?”  he said very professional and business like.  I was intimidated by him.  He was standing so tall and looked so alpha male.  I wanted to run back downstairs to my office.

I slowly stood up, “Do you have a minute?  Otherwise I can come back another time?”  I was losing my confidence.

His eyes scanned my body as I stood up.  Clenching his jaw he said, “I have a minute, come in.”

I slowly walked by him through his office door.  I could smell his cologne on him as I went by.  It made me think of memories from last night.  I shook my head trying to remember what I was going to talk to him about. 
Oh that’s right, I’m mad at him.

He closed the door before I could sit down.  I felt his arms come around my waist and his lips in my hair.  “Baby doll, what are you doing here?”  His voice was sultry.

I relaxed back into him.  It felt so nice to have him hug me.

His lips went from my hair to my neck, gently teasing me.  I flipped around in his arms so we were facing each other.  His eyes were alight with humor.

“You look very exotic today,” he smirked bringing his head down to kiss me.  I closed my eyes in anticipation, but before he could put his lips on mine, I tried to start talking about what I had originally come to confront him about.  “I saw Mitch this morning…”  His lips brushed mine as his hands trailed down my back.

“Mmhmm… so did I,” he whispered against my lips. 
Oh he tasted so good.

“He said he saw you just after 8:00am in the break room with Sawla.”

His lips stopped moving on mine.  Attempting to come out of his trance, I opened my eyes, keeping my mouth slightly opened.  Did I really want to stop this special lunch meeting with him?

He was staring intently at me.  “Yes, I was getting coffee.”

“Before your meeting?”  The words came out faster than I intended them to and were a bit accusing.

He tilted his head and loosened his grip on me.  I closed my eyes.  His expression answered my question.  “You didn’t really have a meeting, did you?” I whispered.

He dropped his hands from my waist and sighed.  My eyes sprung open.  He was no longer looking at me.  “Why did you lie to me?”  My voice was low and harsh.

“I… I don’t know.  I didn’t want to hurt your feelings…” he stuttered.  It was true.  He didn’t want anyone to see me coming into the building with him.  My heart sank. 

“Tyler, I don’t know if I can do this then,” I croaked.  Now I couldn’t look at him.  “I told you before I can’t be with someone who is ashamed of me.  I know you say you’re not, but not being able to bring me to work in your car and walk in the building with me makes me feel otherwise.”

“Becca, it’s not that simple,” he exasperated.

“I don’t see how it isn’t.  My whole life I let people walk all over me and use me, and I didn’t come back here to start over with a relationship with someone who I have to sneak into his office to receive any type affection,” I said, trying to hold back tears.

“I’m not doing that!” He took my wrists and brought his face down to my level.  “Please Becca, we can make this work.  Last night was the best night of my life,” he begged.

I tore my eyes from the floor to the ceiling trying hard to stay strong.

“I’m not going to be your secret girlfriend.  I’m not going to make this type of relationship work.”

He glanced over at his computer screen and rolled his eyes, “Dammit.  I have a meeting and you really need to go… please, please, can we talk more about this tonight?”  His eyes were almost glassy when I finally got the courage to look at him. 

“I don’t think there is anything to talk about,” I whispered nudging past him.

I opened the door and kept my head down. He didn’t follow me; my heart felt like it was going to explode in my chest.  I suddenly felt ridiculous.  So ridiculous because I was all dressed up for him, and because I wanted him so badly that I was debating being his dirty little secret.  Just as I got to the elevator the door opened up.

“Becca, sweetheart, I thought you were at lunch?” said a familiar gentle voice.

I looked up and wanted to cry even more.  My loving father was stepping out of the door.  I wiped under my eyes and kept my eyes to the ground.  “Hi Daddy, what are you doing here?”  I said trying to gain my composure.

He gave me a big bear hug.  “I stopped by your department to say hi but the receptionist said you left for lunch 20 minutes ago.”  He pulled back giving me a look over.  “Are you all right?”

I put on a smile.  “Of course, I just had to run some prints up here.” I lied.

He looked me in the eyes, he knew something was wrong, but understood now was not the time to drill me.  Tyler suddenly came up to both of us carrying blueprints.

“Mr. Stine, so nice to see you.”  He smiled reaching out to shake my father’s hand.  He must have been the meeting he had and the reason I needed to go.

My father gave him a tight smile and shook his hand.  I threw my eyes to the floor, afraid that if I saw Tyler I would completely lose it.  RJ came around the corner and greeted my dad as well, followed by Nathan.  Now I felt like an outsider, standing in the middle of the Conklin’s and my father.

“I will let you get to your meeting,” I mumbled.

“Becca, what a surprise to see you on this floor,” RJ commented.  I was afraid he was going to ask why. 

Tyler was by my side in a millisecond.  “She just brought me the original blueprints for the arena.”  He was so composed.  It was irritating how he could be his normal smooth self while I was on the verge of a breakdown.

“Yes, Will asked me to bring them up to him,” I added quickly.

RJ looked from Tyler to me while Nathan was off to the side smirking to his feet.  He always seemed to have a hidden joke playing in his head.  I turned and put on a mega-watt smile for my father, trying to give him reassurance that I was okay. 

“Well, then… thank you Becca.  Gentlemen?  Let’s meet in my conference room.”  RJ said clapping his hands and giving me a wink.  It was my dismissal.  Saying goodbye, I quickly headed into the elevator.  I needed to get as far away from Tyler Conklin as I could.

He was bringing things out of me I never knew were there.  I was bouncing between anger and hurt.  Why wouldn’t he just talk to me?  If he would give me a legit reason I would be able to handle his outrageous requirement of being hidden.  The thought that I would be okay with it made me angry.  I said I wasn’t going to be taken advantage of anymore. 

I guess the whole not ‘being walked all over’ wasn’t true anyway, since I was meeting with the biggest puppet master on Friday.  I needed to cut ties with Ashlynn, but I couldn’t face the look in her eyes when she would find out I purposely changed my phone number to avoid her.  She would always find me.  She was like the sister that would always be there, so why bother making it more awkward?  Not that it could be any more awkward for me.

I ended up skipping my lunch and continuing on work.  I had lost my appetite from all of Tyler’s drama.  Why couldn’t I have fallen for someone normal?  Or no one at all?  Since I had a short lunch, Will told me to take off early.  The Enterprise Yachts plans were finalized and ready for their next stage.  We had finished our portion. 

I darted out of the building and headed home to change my clothes and hide at the gym.  I spent two hours exerting myself, since I wouldn’t be exerting my energy on Tyler.  The thought depressed me.  We had such a connection last night.  How his hands and mouth moved across my body was burned into my mind.  I was going to need a cold shower on the hour if I couldn’t control my thoughts.

It was 8:00pm by the time I got home.  When I opened the door to the condo, Jamie was playing a game on my iPad on the couch.

“Hey chica.  Your phone has been going crazy,” she said, shaking the iPad.

“I’m sure it has,” I snorted.  “Sorry I didn’t put it on silent.”

She put the iPad down in frustration.  “Gosh I hate that damn game.  How was Tyler’s last night?”

I shrugged my shoulders.  “Amazing.”  It was true; I hadn’t had a night like that, ever.

“But?”  She sensed something was wrong, she always did. I could never hide from Jamie.

“But… he lied to me this morning.  He told me he had a meeting so we couldn’t ride together to work this morning when he really just didn’t want to be seen going into the office with me.”

“That’s lame.  Why wouldn’t he just tell you?  Not that it would be okay, he should really get over it if he wants to be with you,” she said with a sigh, picking at her nails.