Misguided Heart (2 page)

At the marriage of their daughter

Sara
Rae

To

Nole David Wittmore

Saturday, the Twenty-S
ixth of June

Two Thousand and Twelve

Half past five o’clock in the afternoon

At

Desert Botanical Gardens

1201 North Galvin Parkway

Phoenix, AZ

Reception to follow/ Black Tie

Of course it was black ti
e.
I wouldn’t expect anything less from the man who had to make a production out of everything. A hot flash surged through my body and I quickly began fanning myself with the invitation.

“Why was I even invited?” I wondered
aloud to myself.

I bet she was happy about that one. I knew Nole all too well, I’m sure he fed her some bullshit line about how him and I are still extremely close, and it would only be fair to invite me because I would invite him.

Liar!

If I
had found someone that I could actually see myself spending an eternity with, I would never invite him. Although at one point, my heart had led me to believe that I would get that. If not with Nole, it would have been Darren.

Mmmmm Darren!

After the last and final time Nole and I had called it quits, Darren was there a couple years later to pick the shattered pieces. Little did I know, that he would be the cause for those pieces crumbling to the floor, yet again.

He had been the quintessential boy next door, in all his muscular broodiness. It was a romance straight out of a book. Girl sees guy moving in next
door (quite a sight I might add), they finally meet, she spends her time trying to get his attention, all the while guy has wanted her since day one. Ah, if only life worked out like a book.

As much as I had loved Nole and Darren, I had learned that you never mix your past with your present, or future for that matter. Besides that, there was too much left unsaid between
Nole and myself. Hi, can you say awkward?

I threw the small invitation along with the envelope into the top drawer of my desk. If I actually decided to attend, I would send in my RSVP later. I spun back around to stare out the window when I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, took a deep breath in and spun back around just in time to meet my boss’s gaze.

“How do you like the new office Ms. Boyd?” He was holding and scrutinizing my new nameplate as he asked.

“I like
it very much, Sir. I just want to thank you again for this opportunity. It means the world to me.” I was sucking up maybe a little too much. I mean I already had the job for crying out loud.

“Well you were the right woman for the job, and I don’t think I had any other choice, do you?” He stared intently into my eyes.

“Um… well I guess not.” I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by this, but who was I to question his authority?

“Well, enjoy the rest of your day Ms. Boyd. I am headed out for the day and I will see
you first thing Monday morning.” He turned and was out the door before I could even say good-bye.

If that wasn’t the weirdest conversation I had e
ver had, I don’t know what was. He was staring at me like a prime rib from Roaring Fork. The Roaring Fork is a gorgeous five star restaurant off of Scottsdale Road. I had spent many dates there wishing I could have gotten in my car and driven as far away as possible. For some reason, every guy who lived out in Scottsdale thought that this was the perfect place to go on your first date. Unfortunately, not every girl wants to eat a steak dinner every Friday or Saturday night.

My boss
, Jim, was one of those men. He was as cocky and as arrogant as they come. He stood at a daunting six feet three inches tall. He had smoldering amber eyes, which matched his perfectly groomed hair, and a perfect white smile. Besides the fact that I knew that he went to the gym every day, his body shadowed one of a personal trainer. He looked the part, minus the whole lisp issue, once he opened his mouth and spoke, women would literally run the other way. He had a way of talking about himself and never, I mean never, listening to anybody else.

When I first interviewed for my job, oh a thousand years ago, I was in awe of his looks. If I didn’t want the job that bad before, after seeing him
, I definitely wanted an opportunity to work side by side with this gorgeous creature. Of course, this was all before he had hit on me, and tried to convince me that it was okay to sleep my way to the top. I walked out of his office not wanting the job at all. But low and behold, his son had called me the following day to apologize and to assure me that I would work under him and not his father. Now, I had seen his son and I sure as hell had no qualms with working “under” him.

N
ow, after eight years of devote service, I was finally where I wanted to be. I knew how to handle myself around Jim and I was a successful senior editor in one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. Now all I had to do was muster up the courage to attend my ex-fiancé’s wedding in less than two months.

Sloan

I emerged out of the elevator, hung over worse than I had ever been before. After finishing a grueling day at the office the day prior, and having my father yammer on about our new editor, I needed a drink and a girl in the worst way.

A quick smile spread across my face as I remembered the petite brunette I h
ad bagged last night. She was definitely a good time. I shook the thought out of my mind as soon as the new editor's office came in to view. I wasn't a huge fan of hers, but I guess she had proven her worth to my father because he was quick as shit to move her on up. As long as she didn't take my place in the new office in New York, then I was good.

I had only met her a hand full of times, one of which was when my father was trying to get in her pants. At least she hadn't taken herself down to that level. I never not
iced much in the office seeing as how I honestly didn't give a shit.

My father had made it perfectly clear that if I didn't change my "bad boy" ways
, then I would be out on my ass and there would be nothing left between us. My father had always been an asshole and I was pretty certain it was never going to change, no matter how hard I worked for him. I made sure to show up on time, in a suit, and ready to do what was asked of me, even though I dreaded coming in to the office on a daily basis.

As I made my way past the new editor's office, I almost tripped as I caught sight of her. I stood there staring as her almost waist length blonde hair swished back and forth
while she paced in front of her window. She had long toned legs that peeked out from beneath her black pencil skirt and I was suddenly envisioning them wrapped around my waist.

Oh the things I could do to that girl!

My imagination was running wild just as she turned and I caught a glimpse of her full figure. Her white blouse emphasized her thin waist and amazing breasts. I licked my bottom lip as my eyes made their way up to her full pouty lips. Angelina Jolie had nothing on her. I wonder if they were real? Her skin looked as smooth as milk and when I got to her emerald green eyes hidden beneath her long black lashes, I almost choked on my own breath.

I don't know how I had never not
iced this divine woman before. She was absolutely stunning. She wore minimal amounts of makeup and that only added to her appeal. Seconds later, our eyes met and my lips curled up into a devilish grin. I expected a smile in return but she surprised me when she all but rolled her eyes and closed her office door.

She would be my new challenge, no doubt about it!

I gave a small wave to her assistant Annie and continued to my office. I half expected Ariel to be bouncing up and down waiting for me, but she was surprisingly calm and almost sedated.

"Morning Ariel. Any messages?"

"No Mr. Holden, there are no messages."

She kept her head down when she spoke to
me, which was utterly odd. "Is everything okay, Ariel?"

Her eyes were glistening as she finally made eye contact with me." I'm fine, Mr. Holden. Really."

I would have asked her if she was sure, but I didn't want to get into her drama or life for that matter. I simply nodded at her and went in to my office. I let out a loud sigh as I closed the heavy wood door behind me. My desk was covered in stacks of manuscripts and files of new prospective clients. I slipped off my navy, pinstriped suit jacket and meticulously placed it over the back of my desk chair. My fingers found themselves pushing back through my disheveled hair. I could feel myself starting to stress, so I wandered out to the coffee maker. Unfortunately, it was frowned upon to drink at seven in the morning, so I had to settle for coffee.

Just as my hand went for the freshly brewed pot of caffeine goodness
, so did someone else’s. I quickly apologized and lifted my eyes to see whose hand I had just grazed. I knew by the nail polish that it was a woman, but I wasn't prepared for what woman.

Holy shit! She was even hotter up close and personal.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Holden." Her voice was soft and smooth, almost silk like.

My eyes instantly fell to her lips, where that soft voice had come from and I wanted to have them against me, certain parts of me to be more exact.
My pants suddenly became a little bit tight and I was grateful that other people surrounded us.

"No worries, Ms.-" Shit, what was her name again?

"Boyd."

"Excuse me?" I was confused and needed some further explanation.

"My last name is Boyd. I'm Aston Boyd."

I could sense the irritation in her voice and I knew she was most likely thinking that I should know her name by now. I probably should, but I didn't.

"Ms. Boyd, please go ahead. I can wait." I took a small step back so she was still close to me but not uncomfortably so.

"Thank you." She forced a smile and finished pouring her cup of coffee.

When she was done, she turned and left without another word spoken. I watched her backside as she walked away and my pants became even tighter than they already were. What the hell was this girl doing to me, besides making my dick twitch?"

After I finished pouring myself a cup of coffee, I stopped to talk to Ariel for a minute. If I wanted information on this new editor of ours, then I needed to ask the office gossip girl.

"Ariel, do you know anything about Aston Boyd?"

"Not a whole lot. All I know is that she has worked here for eight years, worked her way up pretty quickly after starting as an assistant, and her assistant Annie is one of my best friends."

Eight years, really? How could I have not known that? "Married, single, widowed, engaged?"

"Single as far as I know."

"Hmm, okay thanks."

"Of course."

If I wanted this girl to notice me as more than her boss, I was going to have to up my contact with her. As god is my witness, I was going to have little Ms. Aston Boyd in my bed.

Aston

One month and one week later, I was knee deep in manuscripts and dresses. I had decided, pretty much last minute, to attend Nole’s wedding in June. I still hadn’t sent in my RSVP card, but I would first thing in the morning, if I could remember to do so. Work had gotten extremely crazy. I had at least 300 manuscripts to get through and either approve or deny by the end of the month and I was only half way through them. I was beginning to think that my boss had just a little bit more faith in me than I had in myself.

Along with work, work and work, I had to find a dress for this stupid wedding
, like yesterday. I didn’t necessarily have the time to head out to shop, so my lovely assistant Annie had called some designers and had them send some samples to the office for me. She truly was the best assistant anyone could ever ask for. I had an array of blacks, blues, plums, reds, and yellows all lined up on the clothes rack in the corner of my office. I was just hoping I made the correct color choice. Clashing with any part of the family would be embarrassing, or would it? Ha, I laughed to myself. I sure did have a bitchy streak and she was beginning to poke her little bitchy head out, just a tiny bit.

With manuscript, bagel and coffee in hand
, Annie slipped a plum colored Calvin Klein, wrap dress around me. I set my coffee cup down on the desk and glanced over in the full-length mirror she had set up by my door.

“I don’t think this color goes too well with my skin tone. I think I’
m a little too peachy.” I shook my head no.

“Okay then, next.” She sighed.

A beautiful navy gown stood out among the sea of color and I instantly wanted to try it on. “That one next.” I impatiently pointed at the gown so Annie would know exactly which one I was speaking of. I knew deep down, that I definitely needed a showstopper. It helped that I had been hitting the gym everyday since I received that invite. Oh yeah, he was going to regret inviting me. I could see it now.

I put d
own my bagel and the manuscripts I held in my hand again, for this dress. It was a beautiful full-length chiffon gown with one shoulder, crisscrossed back, with a small rib area encrusted in crystals. The same crystals ran up onto the crisscrossed straps and to top it all off, it had a very long slit up the front left leg. Hell yeah. I smiled to myself.