Effortless (4 page)

I rode with my handsome Englishman to the airport and hugged him with all my might on the tarmac before he boarded the plane. For a brief moment, I considered ditching work and flying to London with him. The steely, all-business look in his eyes was the only thing that had stopped me. Dressed in a dark blue double breasted suit, Alastair had morphed from insatiable lover into CEO-mode on the ride over. It was sexy as hell but I knew better than to poke the bear.

Grabbing me and kissing me briskly, he promised to be back by Friday evening.

When I arrived at my office I was in a great mood and felt indestructible. Noticing a small silver envelope on my desk, I sat down and opened it. Inside was a rather expensive looking invitation. I hadn’t lived here long enough to be invited to anything so my curiosity was well and truly piqued.

You are cordially invited to a Bridal Shower

honouring Olivia Garrison

Saturday, 17 September 2011

I stopped reading and dropped the fancy piece of paper like it was on fire. All the blood in my body had run cold. The girl who nearly turned Alastair’s carefully controlled world upside down wanted to socialize with me? At her
bridal shower
? This had to be someone’s idea of a sick joke.
What the actual fuck?

I didn’t have a chance to dwell on the invitation thanks to Julian’s demands and Robbie’s constant interruptions. Wednesday went from awesome to annoying no less than twenty minutes after I sat at my desk. When I finally had two seconds to myself I called Stephanie.

“What are you doing for lunch?”

“Spending it with Brent Garrison,” she said. “He loved my work for Pulse so much he wants my help on a campaign for a new residential complex he’s preparing to open. Why? Did you need something? Is everything alright?”

I leaned back in my chair and added this to the list of things that had officially annoyed me today.

“Everything’s fine.”

“No it’s not. You forget that I can see through your bullshit even on the phone. What’s going on?”

I glared at the silver envelope. “I’ve been invited to a bridal shower.”

“Really? Who do you know here that’s getting married?”

“Brent’s sister.”

Stephanie was quiet for a full five seconds, a record for her. “Interesting. Want me to do some digging when I see him for lunch? I can be discreet.”

I snorted. “Sure.”

“Lia! How long have you known me? I have a way with getting information from unsuspecting people. Besides, Brent will think I’m flirting with him. He loves that.”

“Does he?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it later.” She paused. “Darren doesn’t have any lunch plans. I’ll tell him to meet you in the lobby in twenty.”

* * *

I’d barely walked out of the elevator when Darren hugged me and spun me in a quick circle before we walked outside. He might have been Stephanie’s friend since they were teenagers but I adored him as if I’d known him for years and years. His sunny disposition always put a smile on my face.

The cafe wasn’t too far from our building. Timid rays of autumn sunshine poked their way through some clouds, then had second thoughts and were eventually swallowed up.

“I hear this place has one hell of a mozzarella and tomato panini,” Darren said, holding the door open.

The cafe was so warm and cozy I thought we’d mistakenly walked into someone’s home. Several patrons were ordering at the mahogany counter while others were chatting at various tables spread throughout the dining area. The aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air. Darren motioned for me to grab a table and offered to place our orders. I found a table by the dark brown brick wall and people watched.

“So,” Darren said, placing our sandwiches down, “how’s everything at the new job? Is Archer on your nerves yet?”

I chuckled to myself. “Not yet. Ask me again next week.”

“Steph says you went for cocktails with him last night. You should have thrown a drink in his face.” The sour expression Darren employed shocked me. I’d never heard him talk so negatively about someone.

“Alright. Spill it MacCourty. What did he do aside from being an overzealous, loud mouth TV guy?”

“My ex-girlfriend used to work for him as an associate producer. He likes to get friendly with the ladies on his staff. A little touching here, a little bum slap there. She didn’t like it and when she called him out on it, he fired her. The twat.” He took a large bite out of his sandwich and stewed in the anger of his distant memory.

I was shocked but not overly surprised to hear this. Julian did like the hands-on approach when he talked to me. I didn’t think much of it because it never went further than a shoulder squeeze but I made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

“Sorry that happened to her,” I said, sympathizing. “What does she do now?”

“She moved to France and works on some detective show there. I haven’t talked to her in a couple years but she was really turned off by Archer. That guy is a massive knob. I’d—” He stopped and stared at my left hand.

I held the sandwich in front of my wide open mouth and stared back at him. We both must have looked like mental patients.

“You
are
engaged,” he said with a smile. “That’s brilliant, Lia. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” I put my sandwich down and showed off the ring. “He gave this to me the other night but we haven’t said anything publicly yet. Well, he actually asked me to marry him in July when you guys were in Orlando but we’ve kept it quiet.”

“July? How have you both managed to keep it quiet?”

“Well, you know Alastair. He’s a man of few words.”

“True that. But if I scored a looker like you I’d shout it from the mountain tops.”

I laughed. “It hasn’t been easy not saying anything, trust me. We both decided after the summer we’d had that we just wanted to have something for ourselves.”

Darren studied me with astute eyes. “The press over here is going to love you. You’re pretty, smart and loads of fun to be around. They’re so fascinated with Alastair and every little move he makes. He dodges them pretty well though, only giving his requisite face time and then disappearing from sight.”

That had been Alastair’s M. O. for years. He lived as private a life as one could, being the heir to a billion dollar mega corporation. When his grandfather retired and he was named CEO over the summer, the spotlight shined a little brighter on him. As his girlfriend, that also meant some of the light focused on me. I was used to it to some degree thanks to my previous relationship with a U.S. senator’s son. I had a feeling this time around, the media attention would be more intense.

“There haven’t been too many issues yet, knock on wood,” I said. “Only an occasional photographer here and there. Having Paxton with me most of the time seems to help. I’m such a nobody anyway. They probably look at me as just another piece of eye candy for him.”

“Once the news of your engagement gets out you won’t be a nobody.” Darren looked at me solemnly. “The gossip sites are already feasting on your taste in shoes and how you like to wear workout clothes while buying groceries.”

The more I listened to Darren, the more uncomfortable I became. I’d had a sneaking suspicion the handful of photographers I’d seen were only hounding me for fluff pieces like that. For the most part, it didn’t bother me but I knew it was only the tip of the iceberg. Alastair and I hadn’t discussed how our lives would be affected by public scrutiny too much. He just made sure I was always under the watchful eye of Paxton or someone from his security staff. He also knew how much I disliked having babysitters and made sure they were inconspicuous. Most days I was oblivious to the bodyguard detail.

“Our boy is quite protective of you. We both know the lengths he’ll go to keep you safe.”

I swallowed another bite of my sandwich and nodded. If there was one thing everyone knew about Alastair, it was how close he kept me to his vest.

“Anyway,” Darren said, brightening the room with his infectious smile, “Steph will go ballistic if you don’t tell her about this engagement straight away.” He winked and took another bite of his sandwich.

“I know. I was going to tell her today but she’s off with Brent Garrison.”

“She’s been seeing quite a bit of him recently.” The look on his face spoke a million words after he said that. “Damn. I wasn’t supposed to say anything. She’ll kill me if you tell her I told you.”

I’d made it no secret that Brent wasn’t one of my favorite people on the planet. He’d never been mean or horrible towards me but his history with Alastair was so salty and tense that I’d made a conscious decision not to bother with him unless it was necessary. Hearing that my best friend might be dating him threw a wrench in that.

“Like, ‘seeing’ him seeing him? Or just business lunches?”

“It started as business but they’ve been hanging out on the weekends and what not. I’m surprised she hasn’t told you yet.”

You and me both
.

“He seems like a decent guy,” Darren said, clearly trying to play the peacemaker. “I’ve done some work for him in the past and got on with him quite well. Alastair knows him from years ago.” He paused and smiled sheepishly. “That’s not news to you though. They went to university together at Oxford.”

I stopped mid chew. “They did? I didn’t know that.”

“No? Brent was a year ahead of him. They played rugby together and were pretty friendly until something happened.” He shrugged. “I always assumed Brent was jealous of Alastair’s social ranking what with the family business and all. He seemed quite determined to make a success out of his real estate venture to steal some of the thunder from the Holden clan. Not sure why though, since they do media and what not. Seemed a bit odd to me.”

I kept eating my sandwich in the most nonchalant way possible as Darren continued spilling details about Brent. Nothing about it was earth shattering, just interesting enough to fill some of the holes that Alastair left out. I felt better having a clearer picture of their past interactions outside the sphere of Alastair’s relationship with Olivia.

“Your fiancé is a frosty one to try and be friends with Lia. And I say that with no disrespect. Whatever happened between him and Brent must have been huge because they were like brothers at university. At least that’s what I hear.”

The fact that Darren loved to gossip could work in my favor. My curiosity was insatiable and anytime I learned a new nugget about Alastair it left me craving more. For the time being, I chose to stifle the questions and just enjoy the rest of our lunch.

“You have exactly twenty-four hours to tell your best friend about that ring, lass,” he said on our walk back to the building. “I can’t keep a secret like that from Steph forever. We live together. She’s up my arse all the time wanting to know if Alastair has told me anything. I’m surprised I haven’t gone mad yet from all her pestering.”

I laughed heartily as we walked into the elevator. “You’re a saint, Darren.”

“True that.” He winked and gave me a little wave when we reached his floor.

Even though my dealings with Brent had always been a little stressful, I decided to have a little fun at Stephanie’s expense and texted her when I returned to my office.

1:43pm How big is it?

1:47pm ??????????

1:48pm Brent’s wonder stick

My desk phone rang within seconds.

“Yes?”

“Amelia Grace Meyers,” she hissed, “you’re not funny.”

“Sorry.” I laughed. “I couldn’t help myself. What are you doing after work?”

“Finding a new roommate.”

I laughed even harder. “Aw, don’t be mad at Darren. You know he can’t stay quiet about big news like that forever.”

“There is no big news. We’ve hung out and stuff. It’s really nothing.”

“Alright. Whatever you say.”

“Lia,” she whined, “he’s not even my type. He’s too buttoned up and proper. I like ’em carefree and wild.”

“You’re protesting too much.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “We had dinner a couple of times. That’s
it
.”

I tapped a pen on my desk, wanting to be judicious with my words. “Listen, um. Just, you know, be—”

“I know,” she snapped. “You hate him and Alastair hates him so I have to hate him too.”

“That’s not what I was going to say. I just…I know how you are when people say negative things about—”

“Oh my God,” she grumbled. “Do you really think we sit around and talk about Alastair like he’s some fascinating subject? Jesus Christ. He’s your boyfriend. He has a bad history with Brent and his sister. I could give three flying shits about all that because it’s really none of my business. You need to stop convincing yourself that your relationship with Alastair fucking Holden is the end all, be all of the world.”

I sat in stunned silence, confused as to how this conversation took such a sour turn. When she was heated, Stephanie could be irrational.

“Fuck,” she muttered. “Look, I didn’t mean to fly off the handle like that. I’m PMS-ing and this deadline for creative is stressing me out and” —she sighed— “you know I love Alastair. And I love you. And you’re far from being the girl who thinks their relationship is the most important thing on the planet to everyone else. Did I cover them all?”

“I’m coming down to bring you Pamprin.”

“Smart ass. I’d rather have ice cream.” She paused. “I really am sorry.”

“Wow.” I snickered. “You hate apologizing so that PMS must be severe.”

”And yet you continue to test my limits, Amelia Grace,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. “We should get together this weekend and do something fun. Maybe we could take the train into Edinburgh for some lunch.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Fantastic. I gotta run. We’ll talk later.”

Shaking my head at Stephanie, I placed the phone in its cradle and emailed my sister to give her a quick update on how I was doing. I also promised to come visit her soon. I flirted with the idea of calling my mom but decided to wait until this weekend. She’d most likely want a detailed report on how everything was going here and wouldn’t take too kindly to being ushered off the phone after a brief conversation.

Eyeing the silver envelope again, I finished reading the invitation for Olivia’s bridal shower. The Hotel du Vin? I did a quick search online and learned it was a luxury boutique hotel in the West End. It looked quite lovely from the photos.

Maybe I should go
.

I exorcized the thought from my mind before it had a chance to fester and grow. The last thing I wanted was to spend time with that girl.

* * *

Steady rain tapped against the windows, its delicate rhythmic dance relaxing me as I walked into the living room. Being alone in this big house put me on edge a little but only because I was still getting used to its size and some of the weird noises it made late at night. I decided against watching TV and chose to be nosey. Seeing as Alastair kept decorations to a bare minimum, there wasn’t much to see. Yes, the earth tones that drenched the room were gorgeous and luxurious but aside from the framed photos I’d put out the other night there wasn’t much here that screamed
him
.

I ran my fingers along a gold key that sat in a small crystal dish on one of the shelves while looking at some of his books. They were mostly reference books about various financial topics. Almost lost among them was a book that appeared to have no title on its spine.