Her Charming Secret (22 page)

“You really
have
grown up. I still remember the toddler who would walk around all day holding the end of my shirt like a little tail,” he teased, taking immense pleasure in the fact that she turned tomato red in a matter of seconds. He sighed, asking but not wanting to know, “So is there a certain someone who is responsible for this change?”

Jo laughed and mock-punched his arm. “What’s the important thing you wanted to tell me about?”

“Err . . . it’s late! I’ll tell you tomorrow,” he replied.

“Something important?” She raised her eyebrow. He just nodded. Jacob asked her about the trip. She was so excited when she told him about the adventures, but he could already see her battling sleep, her eyes closing of their own accord every few seconds. It was really late, so he got up and placed a kiss on her brow.

“Go to sleep now. We’ll talk more in the morning,” he whispered and walked towards the door. “Night, Joey!”

“Night night, Jakey.” She grinned sleepily and snuggled into the bed, pulling the comforter over her head as she slipped into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The next morning, Aiden was up at exactly 5:30AM. It was a good thing that he always kept an extra suit in his room; pulling it on, he rushed downstairs with his jacket in his hand.

Adelynn was in the kitchen, making breakfast. He walked towards her and kissed her cheek. “Morning, Momma,” he murmured as he poured orange juice for himself.

“Morning, baby, why are you up so early? And don’t tell me you are working today!”

He sipped the juice and replied, “Of course I am! I have three important meetings today.”

Sighing, he sat down to eat his breakfast as Ashton came down, making a loud noise. “Hey, sleepyhead!” Aiden called.

“Bro, what are you doing here? When did you get back?” Ashton asked and sat next to Aiden.

“Last night. I was going to call you, but it was already late,” Aiden explained. “Alright, Mom, I’m done. I have to go now.”

He ran towards the kitchen, hugged his mom and ran out. Adelynn sighed, seeing him run like that. In less than five minutes, he came running back.

“The key, where’s the car key?” He ran his hand through his hair, sighing.

“Your car is at your place,” Ashton stated, looking bored. “Take Mom’s car!”

Adelynn handed him the keys to her car. “We can trade cars; see you later.” She kissed his cheek and he was off in a jiffy. Adelynn had a Mercedes-Benz ML550. It was fast and comfortable. Nicholas wanted the best car for his wife, which also satisfied his safety criteria, which were extensive and had initially made the sales woman cry.

The office was much closer from his parents’ place. Aiden parked the car, thankful that no one had taken over his parking spot. He was right on time for the meeting with the chairman. When he walked in, everyone asked him about his holiday; he answered their questions for a bit before he excused himself. The Chairman wasn’t there yet, so he had some time for a coffee.

He walked towards the nearest café and ordered his double espresso. Just then, he heard someone order another double espresso. He turned around to see Alex standing there with a weird expression. He looked gloomy.
Alex Reid was never gloomy!
It was an apocalyptic symptom – something that was supposed to happen only when the world was coming to an end.

“What the hell happened to you?” Aiden asked, picking up his coffee. “You look like you lost a race to the hounds of hell,” he said.

“Good morning to you, too, and thank you. I for one feel like they trampled over me.” Alex groaned. “Let’s go to the office; I’ll explain everything.”

Sighing, Aiden followed him. They reached the executive floor and walked towards Aiden’s office.

“It’s Dad! He’s mad at me. He thinks I’m playing around again,” Alex groaned and punched the desk, causing it to lightly tremble. Alex was an extremely emotional person – and now the fact that he was distraught and angry was clearly reflected on his face, proving to Aiden just how affected he was.

“Easy, boss! Don’t take your anger on my poor harmless desk,” Aiden said, smirking, but then he asked curiously, “Did you tell him about your girlfriend yet?”

“Umm . . . no! I’m scared.”

“Alexander Reid is scared?” Aiden burst out laughing and got a punch on his arm as a reply.

“Stop being sarcastic, dude!”

“Seriously? Alex, don’t tell me that you’re in love and that’s why you can’t tell your dad!” Aiden grinned.

“I don’t know; it’s too soon to say anything right now. How are things going with Jo? Are you serious about her?” Alex decided to change the subject. He was curious to know what Aiden felt.

“Actually, I am! I may as well ask her to marry me now—”

Alex cut him off immediately, “Freaking hell no! Are you crazy? That girl will run away!”

“Dude, I was just kidding.” Aiden chuckled. “You really think I’ll propose now? It’s too soon. I’m not sure if this is it, you know what I mean?”

Alex nodded. 
Commitment trouble
was something he could relate to all too well. They had to attend a meeting soon, so both walked out just in time to see William walking in, deep in conversation with a man. They looked like friends, pretty close friends at that.

“Who’s he?” Alex asked, raising his eyebrow.

“No clue, but I think I’ve seen him somewhere,” Aiden replied.

William came towards them. “Here they are. Let me introduce you to my son,” he said, looking at the man. “This is Alexander. And this is Aiden.”

“Nicholas’s son, if I am right?” the man said, looking at Aiden before extending his hand towards the boys.

“May I present Mr. Joseph Knight, my friend.”

Their jaws dropped when they heard the name. This was the very man who had taken up the entire European business in a storm. Joseph Knight was one of the most powerful businessmen, and here he was right in front of them, being introduced as William’s friend.

Joseph excused himself after the exchange of pleasantries.

“THE Joseph Knight is in the building!” Alex stated. Aiden nodded his head and told him that he wanted to talk.

“There are rumors about a merger,” Aiden said, his face grim.

*  *  *

Aiden and Jo were in a hammock, looking out into the ocean
 
– 
the view was beautiful, but they had eyes only for each other. However, as Jo turned to whisper something to him, the hammock unbalanced and she fell.

Jo sat up with a groan, taking a moment to get her bearings – only to realize that she wasn’t on a tropical island with Aiden, but rather in her room at Jake’s place.

She grumbled as she got out of bed, wondering why the hell she would dream about falling off, her whole form shaking with annoyance. She decided to get a cup of coffee – wait what? Aiden was
so
rubbing off on her. Earlier, she didn’t need to have coffee to wake up – these days she was a bleary-eyed monster without her first cup.

Walking down the stairs, she ran a hand through her already-messed hair, trying to look a little less crumpled – a difficult task, seeing as she was wearing a baggy t-shirt and shorts which were, well, crumpled.

She walked into the kitchen and immediately walked out, slowing turning and peeking to see that yes, there was indeed a girl standing there. The girl looked like she had walked straight out of a fashion magazine; even in a pair of jeans and one of Jacob’s shirts, she looked like she could just walk out in that outfit and it would make a style statement. She was beautiful, with sky blue eyes that contrasted with her almost-black, brown hair that was pulled up into a loose ponytail but still came down to her lower back.

Jo stood there stunned for a minute before asking, “Who are you?” Her voice came out an octave higher than usual due to her confusion. The girl whirled around, surprise evident on her features, looking startled to see Jo standing there. She was about to answer when Jacob walked in and stopped beside the stranger, sliding his hand around her waist, a sheepish grin on his face as he said, “Hey! Yeah, this is what I wanted to talk to you about.”

- Chapter 20 -

Coffee Monster Reid

“This is Rachel, my girlfriend,” Jacob said quietly.

Jo stood there for a moment, her mouth agape. “Say that again?” she asked, astonished. “Are you telling me that she is your
girlfriend
!!!?” she exclaimed, her voice rising as she spoke.

“Yeah,” Jacob murmured.

She didn’t reply to him; instead, she ran upstairs to her room.

“God! I didn’t expect this to happen.” Jake sighed. “I’ll be right back.” Rachel nodded and he ran upstairs. He went in to see Jo sitting on her bed, looking a little pissed off. Jake sighed again and sat next to her, frowning slightly when she turned away from him. “Jo, I have known her about a year,” he hurried to explain as he saw her back stiffen. “But we became serious only recently, and you have been so troubled . . . I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Jo wasn’t ready to hear all this; she looked at the clock and sighed. “I have to go. I’m getting late for work.”

Jo asked him to step out for a minute and almost slammed the door shut the minute he walked out. She stood there for a minute, stunned that Jake –
her
Jakey, had a girlfriend. He wasn’t just hers anymore. Looking at the time, she castigated herself that now wasn’t the time and rushed out to work, leaving her troubled thoughts for later.

Jacob walked down the stairs to see Rachel sitting on the couch, dejected, her coffee cold and forgotten before her. He sat down, laying a hand on her shoulder, and was about to speak when the loud bang of the front door signaled that Jo had stormed out.

“Do you think I should leave?” Rachel asked him sadly.

“No! You are my girlfriend, Rachel, and as much as I hate hurting Jo, she has to realize and accept it.”

“What if she can’t accept this, Jake?”

“She will, love; she is just surprised and . . . hurt that I didn’t tell her earlier.”

She sighed and hugged him. Being with Jacob gave her immense happiness. He was always there for her, as a friend first when she was going through a bad breakup. But then again, people would have heard of girls falling in love with fictional characters, but not with the character creator himself. Just a small meeting at a book event had changed her life completely. And here she was, in his arms.

She smiled, wondering how she got so lucky and turned to kiss him on his cheek, he turned at the last minute so they were actually kissing and she didn’t want to stop because it felt so right. He was someone she could picture spending the rest of her life with; she was falling in love with him, and she already knew he loved her just as much, if not more.

*  *  *

Jo stomped her way into office, her temper sky-high. She couldn’t help but feel betrayed. She had never hidden anything from Jake, and he . . . he had hidden such an important thing from her! How could he!? She was not going to forgive him, she decided, anger completely clouding her judgment.

Just then, she spotted Aiden walking into his office. She could talk to him; he would listen. She walked in to see him seated and writing something.

He looked up and smiled. “Hey, Jo! Good to see you!”

She smiled back, forgetting all her worries.

He raised his coffee mug. “More coffee, please.”

She froze. “Aiden?”

He didn’t even look up at her, immersed as he was in his documents. “I want that coffee sometime today, Jo.”

Jo silently took his coffee mug and walked out of his office, tears forming in her eyes at the unfairness of it all. The one person who was supposed to comfort her hadn’t realized she was upset and had instead asked her for coffee. He summoned her afterwards, too. Mail the clients. Talk to Alex about a meeting. Coffee. File the documents. Coffee. Type what he dictated, and more coffee. She sighed and escaped to the restroom. She needed a break from this coffee monster.

Aiden sighed as he buzzed Jo’s desk; she didn’t answer his call. Just then, the door opened and in came Alex, sighing and raking his hand through his hair.

“Dude, do you expect me to put a notice on my door saying ‘
Alex Reid, knock on the freaking door!’
?”

“I forgot.” Alex shrugged and started playing with Aiden’s phone. “I want to eat a burger,” he murmured.

“What did you say?” Aiden asked as he put on his glasses.

“I wanna eat a burger, Aido! Let’s go to McDonald’s for lunch.” Alex grinned like a kid.

“No can do; I have a meeting at 1:10PM.”

“You are always busy,” Alex groaned as his phone rang, Abigail’s name flashed on the screen. Excusing himself, he walked out.

*  *  *

Jo came out of the restroom, sighing in relief when she saw that the coffee monster hadn’t called her again.

“Josephine,” she heard a voice behind her. She turned around to see Aiden standing near her desk with arms folded across his chest. He was wearing glasses, and he looked freaking hot as he stood there with a confused expression on his face.

“Hey, coffee mon . . . sorry, I meant hey, Aiden. What’s up?” she asked, blushing lightly.

“In here,” he said, opening the door to his office. Jo walked in with Aiden, and he asked her to take a seat. She noticed how he was behaving, nothing like before. He wasn’t the same Aiden anymore. Now he was just her boss.

“Are you alright?” he asked her.

Jo sat down; a sense of dread sinking in when she saw the way Aiden was behaving. It wasn’t that he was being rude or anything, but the Aiden she had gotten to know over the last few weeks seemed to have disappeared. It was almost as if nothing had happened and he was just her boss. She felt hopeful for a minute, but the look he gave her crushed it; it was the concern of a boss, not that of a lover. She sighed internally, and put on a fake smile and said, “Yup! Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that, it feels like something is bothering you,” he said, and in that one moment she didn’t know whether to kiss him or kill him. Whether to laugh or cry. He asked if she was alright. They had spent a beautiful week falling in love, and he had forgotten it, left the week back where they were and returned to being her boss. How? How was she supposed to be alright? And then Jake . . . Deciding to be the perfect secretary, she just tilted her head in mock-confusion and said, “Nope, no such thing. If there isn’t anything for me to do then I’ll get back to my work,” she said.

He nodded quietly.

Just as she opened the door to walk out, he stopped her.

“There’s this swanky new Italian restaurant at the end of the block. Please book a table for two.” She stopped in her tracks as happiness bloomed in her chest. Of course he hadn’t forgotten their trip! He was just busy, and now he was making time for her by taking her to an Italian restaurant! How considerate. Berating herself on ever having doubted Aiden, Jo quickly made an appointment at the restaurant under the name Reid. 

Twenty minutes later, Aiden came out of his office. Jo couldn’t help but get excited when she saw him. He looked so hot with his glasses on, but she wasn’t going to tell him that now. She got up and picked up her handbag.

“Alright, so I have a meeting now; it’s kind of important, so please don’t transfer any calls,” he said, checking his phone.

“What about lunch? You asked me to book a table for two, right?” she asked, confused.

“That’s where I’m going.” He smiled. “The person I’m meeting might be waiting for me, and I don’t want to be late. I’ll see you later.” With that he walked away towards the elevator.

Jo sat on her chair, trying to figure out what was going on. He had asked her to book a table, but it wasn’t a date like she had expected.
Gosh! He really didn’t care, did he?
She had gotten excited for absolutely no reason. After all, he was going for an official lunch. Would it really have hurt him to talk to her like they were at least friends? Or wasn’t she even that much to him anymore?

First Jacob, now Aiden. She felt devastated. Why was destiny playing games with her?

Just then, Alex plopped down on her desk. She hadn’t seen him walk towards her. “I’m hungry!” He declared, lightly running his hand over his tummy. Jo burst out laughing. Alex had an uncanny sense of figuring out when she was down, and then saying the craziest of things to make her happy.

“So go and eat.” She grinned.

“Nooo! I don’t wanna go alone. I wanna eat burgers; let’s go to McD’s.” He pouted, looking at her, his eyes large and looking more like a huge puppy dog rather than the next in line for the V.P. of the company.

“Why me?” She raised her eyebrow.

“Why not you?” he asked, pulling her up. He grabbed her bag and pulled her along. The executive staff looked at them, startled by the way Alex was behaving. He just grinned at them and walked away with Jo, actually dragging her along.

*  *  *

Meanwhile, Abigail walked towards the restaurant where she had a meeting. The hostess smiled when she came near.

“How can I help you, Ma’am?” she asked politely.

“Hello, reservation for Reid,” Abigail replied. The hostess nodded and asked her to follow her. She was led to a table in a corner.

“Abigail, it’s good to see you again,” said a familiar voice. Turning, she smiled.

“Hello, Aiden,” she replied as he pulled out the chair for her. “Thank you.”

Aiden sat opposite to her and smiled. “Adele made the last minute call and I couldn’t say no. Big crisis, I assume.”

She nodded. “Yes, the invites are still at the printers because we haven’t finalized the location.” She sighed and continued, “With the wedding just weeks away and not being able to secure a location. I just want to settle at least the location as soon as possible.”

“Well, that’s why I wanted to meet you in person,” he said. Just then, the waitress arrived to take their order. After placing their orders, he pulled out his phone. Opening the photo gallery, he pushed the phone towards her.

“My father and uncle own a property near a lake. It’s a beautiful and calm place. Will it be big enough for more than two hundred guests?”

Abigail flicked through the pictures. It was indeed the most beautiful lake house she had ever seen. The property was gorgeous, with tons of places to arrange without cramming things. It would be lovely to organize a wedding there. She nodded enthusiastically. “This is awesome. It will be great, and there’s so much space. I think we can fit in more than three hundred people.”

Aiden chuckled lightly. “So I think we can let everyone know about the lake house.”

“Aiden, I want to see this place first. Even though it looks absolutely lovely, I have to see it myself; the good spots for seating, the aisle, the food and everything.”

“I can arrange that; if you want, I’ll let Adele know that you want to see this place,” he said.

She smiled at him. “That would be good. Also, can we do that as soon as possible? After all, there isn’t much time for the wedding.”

Their food arrived and Abby couldn’t help but sigh in bliss with every bite she took. The flavor was well balanced and burst in her mouth. This was by far the best Italian she had had in ages.

At that moment, her phone rang. She picked it up to see Alex’s name flashing. She sighed, rejecting the call before turning back to talk to Aiden. Five minutes later, it rang again. Sighing with annoyance, she cut the call before giving Aiden an apologetic look, and put her phone on silent mode.

When it rang again, Aiden smiled. “You should take that. He won’t stop calling till you answer him.” He sipped on his drink and continued, “He’s too possessive for a boyfriend!”

“How . . . how did you know?” she asked in surprise.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out, Abigail. The way he looks at you, like a lost puppy, well . . . that was just the first clue.”

She was about to answer when the phone rang again.

“Please give me that.” Aiden smiled. She placed the phone in his hand.

“Abigail, why the heck aren’t you answering my calls?” Alex’s voice was so loud that Abby could hear it even though she was sitting across Aiden.

“Bonjour, Monsieur,” Aiden replied in a proper French accent.

Abigail raised an eyebrow to which he just shushed her and grinned.

“Who the hell are you?”

“My namez iz François Lefévre.” Aiden did a good job trying to fake his grandfather’s accent. “The queztion iz: who ‘re you, Monsieur, that you call a ladyz phone and thenz zhout,” he said.

Abigail giggled at his antics; for a second Aiden looked exactly like his grandfather, but also for once he looked young and carefree, something that he usually wasn’t. The price he paid for being a Reid!

“Where is Abigail? I want to talk to her,” Alex said, really annoyed.

“Zhe iz enzoying my company. Now you are dizturbing uz . . . zhe will callz you later. Good byez,” said Aiden, cutting the call.