His Perfect Woman (Urban Hearts Series Book 1) (7 page)

“How was your dinner?” Dani asked, and his attention snapped back to her.

“Dinner?” He’d told her he had a dinner engagement with the events planner, but he hadn’t gone into details.

“Yeah so, how did it go? Your speech go okay?” She had finished her nails and was looking somewhere just off his vision, probably flicking channels on their bedroom TV.

“You mean the banquet? It’s not till tomorrow. The panel was today.”

“Oh yeah, okay. I thought you had some dinner thing.”

“Yesterday. It was fine.”

“You sound bored. Is it boring there? Without me?”

“Yes. I think you should get on a plane and join me,” he spoke without thinking. “But then, you’d miss dress shopping tomorrow.”

“And you’d just be busy all day talking about personnel and stuff.”

“Boring for you.”

“You could make it up to me, put into practice what you said last night.” Her gaze shifted to him, eyebrows up in question. With her hair up and no makeup on, she looked endearingly ordinary, her heart shaped face giving off a freshly scrubbed glow he found sexier than any photo shoot she’d done.

“Hmm, what did I say last night?” He remembered some random words in the dark, the heat of his own hand, her soft moans, but anything more specific eluded him. 

“You better remember.” She laughed, sure that he was teasing. “But I can refresh your memory if you need it.” The last part was in her usual seduction voice.

“I bet you can,” he said vaguely. His phone buzzed and he welcomed the interruption as he read the text message.

“Who’s that?”

“It’s Jack.” Jack’s text was innocuous: what’s up?

“I didn’t know Jack went to this thing too. Tell him you’re busy,” Dani said, a bit impatiently.

“I told you his team was here.” He thumbed a message onto his phone.

Nothing what’s up

Jack’s answering text came back.

He turned back to Dani. “He wants me to come out. He’s at this cigar bar and says it’s awesome.”

“Of course he would say that. You’re not going, are you?”

“If he’s there with Global Ent, or Davidson, it would be great to get in with them.”

Dani sighed and looked irritated.

“Look,” Ross said. “It’s just part of the job. The main reason I’m here is to network.” He typed into his phone and talked into the tablet at the same time.

“Tell him you’re otherwise engaged.”

He said nothing. He was tired, probably should sleep. His phone beeped again and there was an exasperated sigh from Dani. Jack’s answer lit up his phone.

No, she’s not, but Rick from Global is and he’s hammered.

“The guys from Global are there, babe.”

“You’re not seriously going out again, tonight? Now?” she asked.

His brow wrinkled. She’d just come in from a night on the town, but he couldn’t go out?

“You really want me to blow this off? To stay and have Ipad sex? If you were here it would be different.”

“I’m sorry I can’t traipse all over the country just to service you. Maybe you should try and be home more.”

“That goes both ways you know.” He was dimly conscious of his voice raising.

“I have to work!”

“So do I!” He paused. “Look...I’ll be home Monday and—”

“Yeah, like that will make up for tonight.” Dani’s voice lost all its husky sexiness and was back to a tinny squeak. “And last week and last month. Go. Have drinks with your big client and just to let you know.” Her eyes got small and her lips disappeared. “Ipad sex is some of the better sex I’ve gotten lately.” She reached for him and the screen went black. He tossed the Ipad aside and finished his drink. After a few minutes, he sat up and grabbed his phone. 

---------

“You look terrible. Sorry, but you do.” Azure peered at him and he looked away to avoid her seeing more of his bloodshot eyes. It was late morning before he’d managed to drag himself down to the crowded conference. She pulled him aside outside one of the conference rooms.  “Late night?” she gave him a knowing smile. He brushed a hand in front of his eyes.

“If you see Jack Isaacson, shoot him for me.”

Azure laughed. “I haven’t seen him. Maybe he’s still asleep, which is where you should be, even though it’s—” She looked at her watch. “Ten o’clock. You guys must have had some night.”

“Do you know Rick from Global Enterprises? Turns out he has an unlimited expense account and a taste for high end vodka.”

“I see. You missed the breakfast, but I think I can scare up some coffee.”

“You are an angel.” He followed as she led him through a myriad of people and hallways until they reached a vacant room with chairs set up, but no occupants yet. A side table was laden with large coffee urns and some pastries. She made a plate for Ross and grabbed a bottle of water as he poured his coffee. They sat in the back row and used an empty chair between them for a table.

“Here.” She dropped two ibuprofen into his hand and handed him the water. He croaked a thanks and swallowed the pills. “Eat some of these. Danish is known for its healing properties.” She poured herself a coffee with a liberal amount of cream. “I hope you achieved something other than a hangover, hanging with Rick and Jack.”

“Mmm, I got his card. He promised to email me for their next symposium, so it may pan out.”

“Good. “ She smiled at him. “Kind of a surprise, I thought you’d called it an early night last night.”

Ross licked pastry flakes off his fingers and sipped his coffee. He felt monumentally better.

“I was, but Jack texted me, and then Dani and I had a fight, and...” he stopped himself, and looked at her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be hogging all your time.”

“Currently, I’m right where I should be. This room is booked for ten-thirty, so...” She trailed off, settling back in her chair, her hands closed around the coffee mug. “Fire away.”

“We chat online, kind of an end of the day thing. Last night she was telling me our, well, her friend’s getting married on April 15
th
—”

“Tax day?” Az asked.

“That’s what I said.” Ross flashed a quick grin at her. “Anyway, you know how it is when you travel all the time. She’s home alone and I’m here and when I’m home, she’s gone. It creates some issues.”

“Yes, it does.” Azure agreed. Was she thinking of her own situation?

“We were online when Jack texted.” Dani may have been right that he should have stayed in last night, at least judging by the way he felt this morning. “She wants—I don’t know what. She doesn’t get what it takes to do this kind of work—or she doesn’t care.”

“I’m sure she cares.
”

“It’s a lost connection,” he said.  A connection not easily found again and sitting in that conference room with Azure, having coffee and apple danish, he wasn’t sure he wanted to even look for it. His previously well-ordered world was crumbling faster than the pastry he was eating.  He watched as she sipped at her coffee mug. Her hair was longer than it had been in Kansas City, falling softly over her forehead. He missed her punk rocker spikes.

“So, about dinner the other night,” she began. He tried to interrupt. She pulled at his hand. “No, let me finish. Jonathan’s a good man and he’s not—he was just out of sorts on Friday. I really hoped it would go better, I guess.”

“It went fine. I mean, it’s not the end of the world if I’m not friends with your husband is it?”

She looked at him gratefully, then realized she still held his hand and let go. “No it’s not. And I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean, I guess because we, you and I, get along so well that...” She stopped and sighed, looked away from him and then at the floor. Her voice was low when she spoke again. “He thinks there’s something going on. That’s why he acted that way.”

“Is there something going on?” Ross asked. He held his breath.

“There isn’t,” she said firmly, and then, “is there?” He didn’t answer. They sipped at the barely warm coffee. “Do you ever think that—” Her question was interrupted by her phone.  Sighing audibly, she pulled her it from her jacket pocket. “This is Az. What? No, don’t do that. I’ll speak with him. I’m coming right now.” She turned back to Ross. “Duty calls.” She collected the empty cups and put them on a silver tray at the end of the serving table. She moved toward the door. 

“Az, wait.” He took hold of her wrist gently. “Just, finish. We never seem to finish a conversation. What were you going to say?”

“Nothing, it’s not important.” Her face clouded over, she was slipping away, her mind moving toward work and whatever crisis she needed to solve. He tugged on her wrist, pulling her hand into his own.

“No, it is. I want to know. Do I ever think what?”

They stood before the closed double doors. The clock read 10:20. People would be coming in soon.

She looked at her feet, at the room, everywhere but at him. He stepped closer, his fingers still wrapped around her wrist. She licked her lips, and he followed the movement of her tongue as if it had all the answers.

“Sometimes, it feels like I made a mistake, like...I never should have married him. Do you ever feel that way?” Her eyes widened as she saw his expression. Before he knew it, his head tipped down to capture her lips in his own. She was surprised, but not shocked, not from the way she moved her mouth against his. He pulled away grudgingly, her mouth leaving a mark behind like a brand. The pressure of her hand on his chest made his heart jump.

“Azure,” he said, but it was a whisper really, a plea. He tipped his forehead against hers, unwilling to completely pull away. The kiss wasn’t long, but it left both of them breathless.

“What are we going to do?” she asked. He shook his head. He didn’t have a plan for this.

337 Steeple Hill drive was the house he grew up in, a ranch style bi-level over the garage, with a large birch tree in the front, a flower bed at the corner of the driveway and simple front stoop. They held barbecues in the sprawling backyard where an ancient swing set was still in use by his sister’s kids when they visited Gram and Paw Paw.

  One Sunday a month, Ross’s family would gather at his childhood home and eat his mother’s cooking, watch a football game with his dad, and catch up on the goings-on in their lives. This Sunday, Christmas was a couple weeks out and the house smelled like an Italian Holiday. The huge Frasier fur in the living room filled the air with fresh evergreen. And the tomato sauce aroma coming from his mom’s baked ziti, made Ross’s mouth water. 

The large rectangular table was old and scratched and comfortable, big enough to hold the family—his older siblings, Ben and Maggie, Maggie’s husband Jason and their three kids. Ross and his parents sat at one end. The only one missing was his little sister, Madison, who was away at college.

The fabulous dinner over, everyone lingered at the table, talking and waiting for Madison to call, with the exception of his father, who had busied himself clearing the table.

Ross had arrived without Dani again. She was off on the biggest photo shoot she’d booked this year. He’d shrugged off Maggie’s tsking sounds when he explained it was a calendar advertising power tools and Jason snorted something about midriff baring girls holding drills.

“She’s a real pretty girl,” his father had said when Ross first brought her to Sunday dinner several years ago. Ross’s mother said it this time in response to Jason’s comment, and Ross realized that they rarely said anything else about Dani.  

              Madison’s call came through the speaker phone perched at the edge of the counter. She was full of her usual preoccupied energy, without any of Ross’s wariness. It was a pre-arranged call and this was rare, so whatever the news their parents were about to deliver, it wouldn’t be good. After everyone’s greeting, including Ben’s chiding Madison about some boyfriend she’d bragged on, their mom finally cleared her throat.

“So, I’ve got some news and I don’t want anyone to panic because no matter what, things are going to be fine.”

Which meant of course, that everything would not be fine. Fear edged out distraction in Madison’s tinny voice on the phone. Maggie went into hyper drive with questions. Ben and Ross exchanged worried looks. Their father cleared his throat.

“Go ahead Gem,” he said, using his nick name for their mother.

“I’ve got to go in for surgery, next week.” Maybe it was the surprise factor, because for once, everyone did not talk at once. All the kids waited for her to continue. “Something showed up on the mammogram, they’re not sure, but chances are it’s cancer and they want to take it out. We won’t know anything definitive until they do and then we’ll go from there.” She waited calmly for their reaction. Ross, being the closest to her, reached out and covered her hand in his own. He closed his eyes briefly, listening to his sister ramble on about chemo and radiation.

His father stood near the table, one hand on his eldest daughter’s shoulder, as if to keep her from flying away. Ross looked from his mom to his dad, an easy-going man, reserved but kind, who always had a solution for any crisis. Today though, he seemed to have aged ten years. His eyes lost their smile, no crinkles at the corners, only faint lines drooping downward.

Ross’s throat was tight and dry, like a deathly cold had invaded his system. Ben looked shell-shocked and soon excused himself to the backyard where he could smoke. Ross followed him out. He had to get out of the hot close kitchen and the heaviness of his sister’s questions.

On the covered back deck, Ben’s hands shook as he lit his cigarette. Ross didn’t think it was from the cold, though the thermometer read 37 degrees.

“This is just shit.” Ben said. He puffed smoke and warm air out into the dusk. Ross shivered in his heavy sweater, a charcoal colored pullover he’d gotten for Christmas last year.

“Yep.” Ross stood beside him, his hands jammed into his jean pockets, as they looked out over the snow covered lawn.

  Ben’s penchant for cigarettes came from late nights in grad school and working in bars, back in the day when you could smoke in certain ones across the county line.  Ross remembered walking into Lucky’s and seeing Ben stand tall behind the bar, smiling and joking as hot girls lined up on barstools,  dropping dollar bills in the tip jar as they watched him mix kamikazes. Ben paid most of his way through grad school with those tips.

“What’s the plan?” Ross asked. Hoping Ben would have some magical cure on the brink of discovery in his lab.

Ben thought for a moment, “I can take off next Wednesday, be at the hospital with Dad. You working?”

“Yeah, I leave tomorrow for Cincinnati, I’m back, Friday.” It was his next job he’d gotten from Az—a workshop for three days.  “I’ll call and cancel. Az can find someone, it’s short notice, but she’s good.”

“No, man, don’t do that. Jason, Maggie and I will be there. We won’t know the pathology till Friday anyway.”

“She’ll understand. She can get someone else.” Ross insisted.

“Az? Is this the contact you have in Denver? The one you talk about all the time?”

“I do not. But, yeah, this is one of her events.”

“Look, you may as well work. Go to Cincinnati. I’ll call you after the surgery. Let you know what’s up.”

“Okay,” Ross sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Ross, it’s fine. I’ll handle Maggie.”

Ross smiled gratefully. Both men knew how their older sister was about family. “I’m definitely here for Christmas, though.” 

Ben laughed, “You guys were here for Thanksgiving. How’s Dani gonna feel about missing Christmas with her parents?”

“I don’t care. I’m gonna be here.” The possibility of it being a final Christmas with his mom brought a pain to his gut.

  He flicked his fingers at Ben and Ben handed over the cigarette. Ross took a deep drag, wishing it were something stronger.

“Well, one good thing, you miss the holiday with Greg.” Ben didn’t care for Dani’s brother much. Before Ross could agree with him, their Dad appeared at the sliding glass door.

“You smoking now too?” The older man spoke gruffly, but there was fearful tenderness under the words.

Ross shook his head and quickly gave the cigarette back to its rightful owner. He turned toward his father, wanting to explain why he couldn’t be at the hospital during his mother’s surgery. He said nothing. His father knew his hectic schedule, and that he’d be there if he could.

“Now, you two get in here. Your mother has dessert on. Benny, put that thing out. You know she hates that.”

“Yes, sir.” Ben crushed his cigarette and followed them into the house.

He and Ben ended up at Ben’s place after they left their parents and proceeded to drink all of Ben’s best scotch. Ross needed a day to recover before he packed for Cincinnati. 

High end scotch usually didn’t leave him with much of a hangover. Perhaps it was the bad news, or the cold weather, but he felt miserable. His head felt like a Halo 3 convention and his stomach burned even after his fifth antacid. The noise of the dryer irritated him as he repacked his suitcase. He’d gotten home from Oklahoma City two days prior to Sunday dinner, and managed one day with Dani before she left on her stupid calendar shoot. 

He dialed Dani’s cell and put the phone on speaker as he stood in front of his closet. He definitely needed a new suit, and there might be enough left from the last big paycheck to get one. If only he had time to shop.

“Hey babe.” Dani’s voice came over the phone.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Fine, we just called it a day. Going out with some of the other girls and getting some food. Oh Ross, you’d love New York. It’s fabulous.”

“I’ve been there.”

“Yes, but Evan is a native, he took us to all the best locations yesterday for the shoot. Stuff that most tourists don’t see.”

“Sounds like fun.” Ross sighed, pulling out shirts, one blue, one white, and hanging them together on the door. “Do you have a minute?” He sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing a hand over his throbbing head.

“You okay?” she asked. “You don’t sound so good. Too much with Ben last night?”

He’d texted her last night when he got to Ben’s, telling her he’d call later.  He’d needed time to find the words.

“Um, look, Mom had some news yesterday.  She said they found something on her mammogram. She’s going in for a biopsy on Wednesday.” There he’d said the gist of it without actually saying the word.

“Oh no, is it bad?”

He frowned himself into a further headache. “It’s surgery Dani. It’s not great.”

“No, of course not.”

“They’ll know more by Friday and I’ll be home.”

“Sorry, I can’t be there on Wednesday.” Dani said.

“It’s fine. Maggie and Ben are taking off work-”

“I’m not home till late Wednesday.”

Ross looked at his phone. Was she even listening?

“No, it’s okay-”

She interrupted him, “We have at least two more days of shooting and tomorrow’s–”

Why couldn’t she just shut up about her schedule? “I said they’ll be here.”

“Don’t shout at me.”

“I’m not! I’m.... not shouting. Okay, sorry. This is throwing me a little.”

“I’m sure.” He heard her talking to someone in the background, her hand over the phone.

Ross carried the phone into the kitchen. He checked the dryer, pulled out socks and underwear and piled them on the couch. He grabbed a bottle of Pellegrino water out of the fridge and drank half before he talked again.

“So there’s more. Because of all this, I want to stay home for Christmas; I know we said we’d go to Kentucky but-”

“Ross! This may turn out to be nothing, and you’re cancelling our Christmas plans?  You know Greg always has plans.”

“Sorry, if my mom getting sick is going to ruin your brother’s plans, but I’m staying.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me? I mean, is it cancer? For sure?” The dreaded word rolled off her tongue like she was a newscaster talking about a stranger.

“You can go if you want.” His head was going to explode. He gripped the phone to keep from throwing it.

“I’ve got to go. We’ll talk when I get home.” Her voice was dismissive and sharp. As though he were a kid asking to go out and play.

“There’s nothing to, never mind, I’ll be in Ohio when you get home. Have a great night.” He chucked the phone onto the pile of laundry and sat down, his head in his hands.

  The apartment was blissfully quiet when he sat up again, willing his headache to go away as he matched socks and folded boxer briefs and t-shirts into a pile. He’d already emailed Az to confirm his flight and arrival times, but he picked up his phone and scrolled to her name, intending to send a text. After several failed attempts at finding the right words, he gave up.

Ross alternately dragged and spun himself through the day. His coffee sloshed on his trousers during a rough patch in the flight. His room wasn’t quite ready when he checked in. But when he saw Azure striding toward him at the front desk, the world slowed, just a little, enough to lock in and sync with his own tired vibration and he felt better, suddenly less frazzled and less edgy.  She immediately sensed something different, something wrong, but there was no time to ask. He couldn’t tell her out in the open lobby. He felt too exposed and raw. They only had two minutes to themselves anyway. Before the world crushed in and rushed on. But her vanilla cream scent stayed in his nostrils, and her warmth clung to him as he moved away, pulled into unwanted conversations with people who considered themselves colleagues but were not, and his fuzzy brain struggled to catch up with their names.

Hours later, when she found him in the conference hall, he was chatting with a lovely female vendor over a brilliantly colored lackluster Power Point.

“Mr. Berenger, fine speech earlier, as usual.” He turned to see her smile up at him, holding herself at a casual distance.

“Ms. Worth, nice to see you again. It’s always a pleasure to attend one of CTC’s events.” He responded in kind with her professional tone. He remembered her mouth and how it felt against his when he’d kissed her. Conscious of standing too close, he leaned back slightly.

Az turned toward the vendor. “Hello Ashley. How’s it going?” Ashley smiled wanly and mumbled something about lots of people stopping by, but nobody buying. After a polite moment, Az asked for a minute of Ross’s time and looped her arm in his to steer him away from the hall.

“There’s a great coffee place around the corner. You game?” she asked. There was not a trace of awkwardness in her voice, nothing that said she regretted or even remembered their kiss.

“Always.” He managed a grin and they braved the walk outside coatless, not willing to waste time going to their rooms. They burst into the warmth of the coffee shop/diner with a rush and settled into a booth. She waited until coffee was served in hot, thick mugs with their hands curled around them before she asked him what was going on. He wasn’t evasive or hesitant. In fact, the news about his mother came out in a horrified rush, bitter words tumbling from his lips. Unlike Dani, she didn’t use the word cancer casually, or say it at all. Instead, she listened. Touched him with warm hands and shooed the annoying waitress away as he talked.