Devin-2 (8 page)

Ben had had to stay overnight at the hospital because they were concerned about the large bump on his head. When he had slipped on the ice at the market, he had hit his head on the parking sign. Austin answered the phone, and then handed it over to her with a grimace.

“Hello?” She had no idea who it could be; it was nearly ten o’clock and everyone she knew was here or at the hospital.

“Who was that who answered the phone? Why the hell do you have someone there this late?” The voice was snarled and angry and she was not sure who it was at first.

“Mr. Grant?” His growl made her nipples harden.

“It’s Devin, damn it. And you didn’t answer my question. Why is there a man there with you at ten o’clock at night?”

“It’s his house.” She did not understand his wanting to know at first, and she was not happy with his tone either. What right did he have to question how she lived her life?

“You live with a man.” It was not a question, but she answered anyway.

She looked over at Austin, who was shaking his head at her. When she raised a brow in question, he sliced his finger across his neck. She wondered if he wanted her to hang up or shut up.

“Yes, two of them, as a matter of fact. Again, what business is it of—”

“The reason I’m making it my business is because I nearly had sex with you today. I had your nipple in my mouth and you came all over me. Were you planning to tell me, or them for that matter? What sort of person are you? Or do they already—”

As his voice grew with each word, so did her temper. She had learned to keep a tight rein on her redhead temper, but he had pushed her buttons just one time too many over the past few days.

“Listen here, you arrogant son of a bitch. I did not ask for you to come get me today, nor did I offer my nipple or any other part of my anatomy to you. I wanted to take the fucking bus, and, in fact, insisted on it. But oh no, the high and mighty Devin Grant had to have his way, because to you I’m too stupid to know what I want. Well fuck you! I will work for you until I have my results back and when they come in, I’m going to be out of there so fast it’ll make your pretty head spin, you maniacal, chauvinistic asshole. Do not call me again, do you hear me?” She pushed the end button on the phone and screamed. Her body was pulsing with anger and she felt her heart pounding with it.

“Throw it.”

Austin startled her; she had completely forgotten he was there. She looked at his grinning face.

“I find cordless phones to be a major frustration too when you can’t slam it down in the cradle when you hang up. I miss those days. So I just throw it at the wall—just don’t hit the television. Ben will be pissy enough as it is without taking his soaps away from him. Throw it, Ronnie. I’ll replace it.” And she did just that. It hit the far wall with a resounding crash. Pieces of the receiver flew everywhere and a small dent in the wall board had a long piece of wire embedded into it. Looking at the mess she had made and the dent in the wall, Ronnie sat down on the couch and burst into tears.

“I hate that man. He did everything but call me a slut, Austin. I’ve never even been with a man and he is the first...the first one that I...oh, Austin.” Sobs tore from her throat and her heart.

“Want me to beat him up for you? Or could I have a few of our friends make a pass at him? Hum, I think I like that one. Let me do it, please?” In the end she, would not let Austin do anything to Devin, even as much as she wanted to herself. He had hurt her. More than she had thought possible. Her entire life she had avoided men and the one time she found herself wanting go get close to one, he turned out to be a prick.

On Wednesday morning, Ronnie was at the Grant building early. Mrs.

Justice took Ronnie around and showed her were everything was and then led her to a room so that she could work in quiet.

The room was beautiful and Ronnie fell in love with the huge desk that took up most of the room. It sat in front of the window that looked over the skating rink below. The desk was made of a light walnut and the drawer pulls were brass-colored. The antiqued-looking green lamp in the center looked regal and warm.

There were several files on the corner closest to the door and a large box filled with office supplies—pens, folders, a stapler, and other items that one would need to work.

On two of the walls were wall to ceiling book shelves filled with beautiful law books. Most of them look to Ronnie as if the binding had never been broken; others looked well loved and used. Some of the shelves had small items, a framed picture, and a couple of ceramic pieces. A few of those she recognized as a favorite artist of Austin’s. The third was the window and it was massive in its size and view. Looking down there was the rink, but out the vista was expansive as well as beautiful. Ronnie imagined, in the spring, the view would be spectacular. The fourth wall was blank other than the door they were standing in and another one that was closed just down from them near the corner.

“Mr. Grant called and said to have you look over these files there on the desk. He said that if you need anything just to let me know and I’ll make sure you have it. There is a computer being set up in here later this afternoon and a printer will be delivered tomorrow. Your extension is four. Oh, I’m supposed to ask you what your cell phone number is and to make sure you have Mr. Grant’s.

Is there anything else that I can answer for you now, Ms. Frey?”

“No, I’m fine. I don’t have a cell phone. I need to leave at eleven today; I have a class. He knows that, right?” She was not going to ask where he was just as long as he was not around. She really didn’t care.

“He is aware of your schedule, I believe. I’m not sure about the cell. I’ve actually never known anyone...it doesn’t matter. I’ll be here until you leave. The office will be closed on Thanksgiving and Friday after for the holiday. If there is anything you can think of, just jot it down and I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Justice. I’m fine.”

Ronnie moved to the desk, picked up the first file, and started reading. It was not long before she was making notes in her steno pad and pulling down books.

At ten forty-five, Ms. Justice knocked on the office door and called out for Ronnie. She was on the floor behind the desk. She popped her head up and grinned at the older woman.

“Ms. Frey?”

Ronnie sat down on her knees and started pulling the large tomes into a pile to be returned to the shelf. “I’m coming. Thanks for reminding me. I get caught up sometimes in what I’m doing. I should bring in the timer I use at home.” Ronnie finished putting the books away and gathered up her things for class.

Picking up two of the files on the desk, she handed them to the older woman.

Ronnie had left sticky notes on the folders and copious notes on the inside. She knew they were thorough, but did not know what Mr. Grant would think about her work. And she was reasonably sure she didn’t care either.

“These two are complete. I put all the references on the front for him. I tried not to scribble so that you could read my notes, but sometimes my mind gets ahead of my fingers. The more obscure references, I marked the page, paragraph and line for you as well. I’ll finish the other two and whatever else he needs done on Monday. That is, if it’s okay. If not, then would you mind leaving me a detailed list of things he does want and does not?”

“Of course, my dear. But I’m sure these will be fine. And your handwriting is very neat and readable. You hurry now or you’ll miss your class.” Dragging her coat behind her, Ronnie moved out of the office and to the stairwell quickly. Taking the stairs for the exercise, she ran down them as quickly as she could. By the time she burst out of the front of the building, the bus to take her to the university was just pulling up.

Glancing around, she thought she saw Devin, but turned back and stepped into the bus. Sitting down, she did not look up again until the bus was a good three blocks from the building. Settling down in the seat, she closed her eyes against the glare off the snow and thought about her class today. She loved her classes and was slightly nervous about finishing up so soon.

Class had let out early and she returned home exhausted and sore. She had not slept well the night before and the dream had returned, making sleep impossible after she woke. This time, she had screamed awake and had awakened Austin too. She felt bad about that all day.

Going into the kitchen for a much needed glass of iced tea, she found a box with her name on it and an envelope. A note from Ben said that it had been delivered for her at around one o’clock. Deciding to read the message in the envelope first, she sat down and opened it.

“Unlimited everything so don’t be afraid to use whatever you need. It’s already been programmed with the following numbers. Let me know if you have any problems. Devin.”

There was a list of names and the corresponding key to push to call them.

Devin’s was first, of course. She just glanced at the other names, none of which she really knew. She didn’t even try to guess why he would feel she needed Margaret Parker’s name.

She opened the package next and a state of the art cell phone slipped out and into her palm. Without even playing around with it, she stuck it into her jeans pocket and cleaned up the mess she had made on the table.

Ronnie knew she would never use the phone for anything other than answering his calls. So what did she care how the camera worked or it the ring tones were set up? As far as she could care, if it never rang she would be just fine with it.

Tomorrow was Thanksgiving and there were nineteen coming to dinner to eat at the house. They were mostly friends of Ben’s and Austin’s, but she knew them and liked most of them. She had promised to bake some pies for the annual event and began pulling out the ingredients for the first batch. She loved to make pumpkin pie even though she couldn’t eat it.

The sound of sirens startled her at first and it took her several seconds to realize that it was the phone. When she pulled the phone out, there was a picture of the law firm’s logo and Devin’s name. She thought about letting it go to voice mail and then realized that she would not know how to retrieve it, so she answered it.

“Ronnie Frey,” she said in way of greeting. She knew she was clipped, but didn’t care if he got mad or not.

“I thought you’d call and say thank you, or to at least say you got the phone at some point.” His voice was soft and his tone held humor that she tried hard to ignore.

“Why would I thank you for a device that means you can call me and talk to me? And you knew it was received; one of my roommates signed for it at one-thirty six this afternoon.”

He was quiet for so long, she nearly hung up. She really didn’t want to speak to him anyway, so if he hung up—great!

“I’m at my mother’s house until tomorrow. If you need anything, I want you to call me. How were work and your classes today?”

“I wasn’t late to either place and I managed to get through the entire day without having sex with any more than a dozen or so men. I just don’t know how I did it. I’m so relieved that your secretary is female, aren’t you?”

“Listen, Veronica, I shouldn’t have—”

“If there is nothing you’d like to discuss about my working for you, then good-bye, Mr. Grant. I have things to do, men to seduce, and pies to bake—you know, my list is just endless.”

“No, nothing. Have a nice Thanksgiving.”

Ronnie ended the call without acknowledging him or his salutation.

~~~

Devin closed his phone just as Morgan walked into the study where he had gone to speak to Ronnie.

He nearly snarled at her to go away, but he knew two things about her. One, she would kick his ass if he even tried. Secondly, everyone else in the house would kick it as well. Instead, he said nothing as she sat across from him on the huge couch and looked at him.

“So...you going to tell me what you did to her or do I have to go call her and ask her what you did to her?” That is what he loved about Morgan. She never beat around the bush when going straight through worked better every time.

He stared at her; he was sure with an open-mouthed expression. She grinned and he sat back more into the plush couch. He loved this woman with all his heart and would do anything for her. But right now, he was not above strangling her.

“I’m not even going to ask you why you assume I did anything wrong to her, which I did not, by the way. But I have to ask, what would you ask her if you were to call?”

“Unlike you Grant men, we women who love you know how to resolve matters. You are sitting in here stewing about whatever it is you think you didn’t do or should have said or might have done to her, when really all you need to do is to say ‘I’m sorry and I love you’ then shut up. If I were to call her, I would tell her that she’s right, that, while you’re cute, you’re wrong, then see if she wants to go shopping with me.”

He burst out laughing. “Oh, Morgan, why couldn’t you have married me instead of my dumbass brother, Nicky?”

“Because, Devin dear, while I love you dearly, you’d make me have to hurt you too often to enjoy it. Seriously, what happened between you and your waitress?”

“Veronica, and don’t worry about it, love. It just wasn’t meant to be, I suppose,” he told her sadly.

They talked about her business, Pink Bag Creations, for a little while. It was an Internet service that set up and then maintained a web based business for people. She had started it before the twins were born and had done very well for herself with it. When one of the twins started to fuss, she left to go and take care of him.

Devin stared at the fire and thought about the next several weeks and working with Veronica. He knew she would avoid him and they would probably fight daily about everything when they did come together. But he just could not believe she hadn’t told him about the other men in her life.

Devin knew one thing about Veronica. He knew without a doubt that he was in love with her. Had been, he thought, since the moment she stood up to him in the restaurant all those weeks ago. He just didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do about it. And he didn’t know if he really wanted to be in love with her, but he was. It did, however, piss him off.