Eden's Pleasure (Pulse Book 1) (28 page)

The phone rang, and Hawthorn picked it up, still glaring at her. “I don’t want to be disturbed. Hold my calls…very well, if it’s that important put him through…What is it? And make it fast; I have something important to deal with.”

He listened intently to the person on the other end of the line, his expression changing slightly but his eyes never leaving hers. “I see. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. You’ve been
very
helpful. Thank you for making my decision much easier…I think that would be a very good idea. Tell him I will see him in a few minutes.”

He hung up the phone, and sat back in his chair before addressing her. “I’m very disappointed, Eden, very disappointed. Losing this contract was a huge loss for this firm. It would have brought with it many subcontracts and years of work for many employees.”

“I’m sorry sir…I assure you it will never happen again.”

“No, Eden, it certainly will not.” He sat forward with his arms on his desk. “Tell me something. How did you get back from Florida so fast? I only got your email this morning, and here you are, sitting in my office at…” He looked at his wristwatch. “Not even one in the afternoon.” She looked at the clock on his wall and started to visibly shake.

“Did you need some water, Eden? You suddenly look unwell,” he asked sarcastically.

“No, thank you, sir. I think we both know that I wasn’t in Miami. I can explain everything—”

He raised a hand up to halt her. “And Chase Dean. How is he these days?” Mr. Hawthorn asked, and she looked at him in horror. Holy hell, he knew. But
how
, she couldn’t even imagine. Her head started to whirl knowing that any explanation she gave him now would be useless. Trying desperately to catch her breath, she put her fingertips to her temple and closed her eyes, wishing it all to be just a terrible, terrible dream. Hoping to god that when they opened again she would be home in her bed beneath her toasty duvet, her only worry being what to wear that day. But she opened them slowly and wanted just to disappear.

Hawthorn rummaged through a drawer in his desk, the sound of papers rustlingin the room. He extracted a blue-lined contract and threw it to her side of the desk. She moved her attention to it and took in its content with a deeply held breath. She held back her tears, rubbing her hands together. It was so over for her. It had all gone so wrong, so fast. Why was this happening to her?

With a push of a single button on his office phone, the door opened and Paul entered the room, followed by Chase. When he saw the uneasy look on her face he moved to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“How cozy is this?” Hawthorn asked, glowering. Chase’s jaw tightened and his fists clenched.

“Eden, you stupid girl, you had it all. You could have become partner one day. You’re very talented, creative, and smart. But just not smart enough to follow the rules of the game.” Hawthorn stared at the pair with disappointment in his eyes.

“You
are
fired!” he said, standing and turning his back to look out the window.

Eden covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Paul who was shaking his smug head in disgust. She could have stood and torn his eyes out. She knew he was behind this somehow, in some way. He was enjoying her discomfort far too much.

“I’ll give you twenty-four hours to vacate your office. I won’t have security escort you out, to save you any further embarrassment.” He turned back to see her tears start down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, sir,” was all she could manage to say. Wiping her cheeks, she headed to the door.

“Wait a minute. You’re the stupid one, not Eden. Adam, what are you thinking?” Chase tried pleading her case. “You can’t let her go over one contract. This is ridiculous.”

“Chase, stay out of it. You’ve done enough, don’t you think? She breached a strict fraternization contract, causing her immediate dismissal. The Kozlik contract loss was just the icing on the cake.”

“How did you find out?” Chase asked quietly.

“You’re not very discrete.” He looked over at Paul. “My contact informed me of an intimate dinner date, a recital date, living arrangements, and kisses outside of elevators. Do you need details, Chase? I don’t think so.”

“Let me explain, Adam.” Chase started to move closer, his intention to make their conversation for Hawthorn’s ears only, but a hand touched his arm, startling him.

“Chase, please? Let’s just go?” Eden pulled his arm, desperate to leave. Chase stopped her. Relocating to stand next to Hawthorn, he had a grin on his face, puzzling Eden as to what he could possibly be finding so amusing.

“I’ll have Eden’s things removed from her office later today. Oh and Adam…” He lowered his voice. “I will be terminating all Dean contracts with McLean & Associates as of…now! You see, the employment of Miss Fox with this firm was the hold to the contracts. With her dismissal our contracts are basically void.”

“You can’t do that,” Hawthorn grunted with a laugh.

“Check the contracts, Adam. You’ll see that, yes, I can indeed do that. It’s a fine print thing. Have a great day!” Chase smiled brightly and took Eden by the hand, directing her out of his office and out of the building.

Once in the car, Chase handed Eden a tissue to dry her eyes. “Don’t cry, baby.”

“I just got fired!” she bit out at him.

“You’ll get another job, I promise. It’ll all work out, trust me,” he told her, handing her another tissue.

Wiping her nose, she hiccupped. “What were you saying to Hawthorn about the Dean contracts? I couldn’t hear you, but he looked like he was going to have kittens.”

“You’re going to like this, baby!” He turned to better look at her. “You see, he quite literally fucked himself…I had it written into all our contracts when we revised them, that in the event you were terminated or quit your position at McLean & Associates, all our contracts became null and void.”

“You didn’t! I don’t understand. Why would you do that? I like it, don’t get me wrong, but why?”

“Well, when you kept insisting on this, ‘I don’t mix business with pleasure because I’ll get fired’ bullshit, I consulted with my lawyers on that fraternization contract. I had my lawyers find a way of squeezing in a few of my own loopholes. Obviously, they got past Hawthorn’s watchdogs.”

She laughed with a joy she had not felt in a very long time, throwing her arms around his neck, squeezing hard, and kissing his cheek repeatedly. But even with the news, she was still without a job—the job she’d worked so hard for—and a home. And she was in hiding. Sinking back into her grief, she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

“Thank you. I owe you
so
much. I’m never going to be able to repay you.”

“You owe me nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing.” He kissed the top of her head boldly and pulled her tighter into his side.

“Take us home, Mason!”

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Chase announced as he came into his office where Eden had been sitting alone since they got back from McLean & Associates. She stared blankly at the screen of her laptop, the email messages staring back at her as she openly sobbed, no holding back now.

She looked so sad and tiny sitting in his large leather armchair. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, drawn up tightly to her chin in a ball. Her eyes were pink and puffy from the hours spent crying. He had wanted to just hold her, but she had been so adamant about needing time to herself, that he had to respect her wishes. He’d busied himself in the kitchen with Chef preparing dinner.

“I’m not hungry, thanks,” she said, wiping her sore, red nose with an overused tissue. The small wastebasket was near overflowing as she tossed it onto the growing pile, withdrawing another from the tissue box tucked in at her side.

“You need to eat. Besides, Chef made homemade mac and cheese with five different cheeses. Turn him down, and he’ll be heartbroken. The man will literally cry, and it won’t be pretty,” he joked as he unclasped her hands, forcing her feet to the floor.

She didn’t want to smile, didn’t want to be happy. She just wanted to wallow in self-pity and be miserable. A dark cloud was hanging over her head pissing down all its raindrops, soaking her to the soul, just as she wanted it.

“I just want to be alone.”

“Ok, that’s enough. The pity-party is over!” he told her, not really angry but more frustrated at the idea that a woman would sit around and cry for hours on end, when, in his opinion, there were far better things to do.

He reached down to her knees as if he was going to tackle her, and before she knew what end was up, he threw her over his shoulder, slapping her on the rear end. She cried out in protest, and he did it again, forcing her to kick wildly. But he had no intention of releasing her, and she wasn’t about to tell him it was turning her on. She fought and struggled until she was laughing hysterically. Chase headed into the hallway.

As he made his way to the kitchen, he stopped in the hall just outside the doorway and placed her gently on the floor, running his hand over her cheek. She finally smiled and this pleased him.

“I will be right in. I need to freshen up.” She headed into the powder room across the hall, and Chase continued to the kitchen to join Mason and the very hung-over Rheanna.

“Eden’s not joining us?” Mason asked.

“She’ll be right in,” Chase answered, as he walked over to the counter and filled their glasses with ice cubes and water from a pitcher.

“Is she ok? She was really upset when we got home,” Mason said, tearing a dinner roll open and slathering it with butter.

“Yeah, she’s going to be ok.”

“When you going to tell her about the eviction?” Mason asked as he sniffed in the aroma from the plate Chase handed him.

Chase furrowed his brow and scowled at Mason. “Shhh! She might hear you. I’ll tell her tonight. The last thing she needs is more bad news right now. Let’s just get through dinner.”

“Is this the only topic for dinner conversation?” Rheanna grumbled.

“You
will
behave, Rheanna. Keep a civil tongue in your head or our deal is off,” Chase cautioned.

“Yes sir! So where’s the wine, and what’s with this?” Holding her glass in the air, she inquired as if it was a grave injustice that he had filled it with water.

“No wine, no alcohol whatsoever.” His tone set the fact that she needn’t push the subject any farther. She sipped her water in a defiant gesture aimed at her brother. Chase managed to ignore her, dishing the macaroni and cheese onto the remaining plates.

“Hi, sweetheart. You feel better?” Mason asked as Eden sat down at the island between the two men. There was no way she was going anywhere near the dragon lady after the day she’d had.

“A bit better, thanks for asking.”

“Here, eat this. You’ll feel much better. It’s pure comfort food,” Chase said, placing a plate with macaroni and cheese and French-cut green beans with slivered almonds before her. It smelled like a childhood memory. Macaroni and cheese was her favorite meal as a kid, and her foster mother always managed to make it when she knew she’d had a bad day. Sometimes, she even cut up a hotdog and mixed it in. The idea was not too appealing now, but back then, it made her feel special.

“It looks and smells great.” She dug her fork into the creamy mixture and blew on it lightly before taking her first mouthful, moaning her delight. “Mmm, this is so good.” She moaned with an almost sensual pleasure, causing Mason to stir uncomfortably in his seat.

“Chef will be happy that you’re enjoying it,” Chase told her, smiling from the corner of his mouth.

Rheanna sat picking at her meal, sulking, and glancing over at the trio as they joked and laughed, making no effort to try and fit in. She stood and walked over to the refrigerator, opened the door and searched its contents for quite a few minutes.

“Can I help you find something, Rheanna?” Chase offered in a sarcastic tone.

“Lime…for my
water
,” she snapped at him.

He was trying to hold back his temper, but his eyes gave him away as he glared at her. “In the crisper in a clear plastic container with a green lid. Or there’s lemon in the one with the yellow lid.”

“Plastic? Thanks anyway, I’ll pass. In fact, I’ll pass on dinner altogether.” She closed the door.

“Just eat,” Mason told her, holding the back of her chair. Rheanna smiled at him and took her seat, sliding over slightly tighter to his side.

“Thanks, Mason.” She batted her eyes at him with a seductive smile, placing her hand on his forearm. She caught the attention of more than Mason at the table as she leaned closer into him, reaching for a roll, and pushing her breast into his bicep. Mason never let on; he had dealt with her for years. He found her spoiled-brat behavior annoying and the seduction act tiring.

He placed his fork down at the side of his plate, took his napkin and dabbed the corners of his mouth in true gentlemanlike fashion, and with both hands, slid her stool over to the end of his reach, before returning to his meal. Chase and Eden giggled quietly at the show.

Rheanna’s face reddened, and her jaw clenched tight. She was pissed. She had a fire in her eyes for Mason. If looks could kill, the man would have hit the floor, grabbing at his chest for only a moment before surrendering to his demise.