Misguided Heart (22 page)

Sloan

I was having the hardest time concentrating as the meeting dragged on. All I could think about was Aston, and the expression on her face when she overheard my father’s conversation earlier. I felt like an asshole for not going after her to further explain what she had heard. My father and his big fucking mouth was always somehow or another reeking havoc in my life.

I just wanted to go back to the simpler days; the ones he had seemingly less control over. I hadn't realized I wasn't paying attention
, until my father's voice broke through my revelry.

"Sloan, pull your head out of your ass and open your ears son. Did you
even hear a word Mr. Wright said?"

I simply shook my head, because honestly, I hadn't. "Sorry Mr. Wright, what were you saying?"

"I was just explaining to you and your father that we are looking at bringing you out in about two weeks. We will get the office set up and do all of the hiring, so you won't have to deal with it. Does that sound okay to you?"

"That sounds great to me." I forced a smile at the older man sitting across from me.

Like I had a choice in the matter!

I was literally counting down the minutes until I could leave this god-awful meeting. As long as I played the part, the company would be mine sooner or later.

As much as I had been fighting it lately, all I wanted was to be with
her
. She was invading every aspect of my life, and I was slowly getting used to it. I never wanted to be a better man, especially after that fateful day. In fact, I was perfectly happy being my flawed self, until Aston became part of my life.

Aston was all I could ever ask for in a woman, and the fact that she was a little spit fire
, only made her that much more appealing. Who was I kidding? Everything about this woman was appealing to me, every last bit.

The way her perfect ass sways when she walks around the office,
how her long, lean, dancer like legs look when they wrap around my waist, the way her perky breasts seemed to always command my attention. Jesus, just thinking about her was making my dick hard. She was definitely a twelve on a scale of one to ten, easily.

"Sloan?"

Shit!

"Yes Dad?"

"The meeting is over, let's go. What the hell is wrong with you lately? Trying to keep your attention seems near impossible these days."

I rolled my eyes and smiled, knowing tha
t he couldn’t give a shit less as long as I kept my eye on the prize. "Nothing is wrong Dad, just busy working out all of the details of the upcoming move."

LIAR!

"Well, if you don't start showing some initiative soon, I might just change my damn mind."

God, could he be a bigger ass? I swear it was a wonder how my mother had continued to put up with his shit all these years.

We were back at the office before lunch, and I was looking forward to surprising Aston. I hadn't been able to talk to her, let alone see her, at all this morning. My mind was slowly going crazy with thoughts of ravaging her tight little body on her desk, or chair, whichever was easiest at the moment. I smiled a wicked grin, as my thoughts never strayed from all the wicked little things I wanted to do to her.

As we
approached the office, I could feel something in my stomach; something I hadn't felt in a long time. I was nervous, for what felt like the first time in my life.

My father parked the car and we amicably parted ways with the promise of me showing up for work early tomorrow to get some "things" straight, as my father so eloquently put it.

I all but ran to the elevator once my father was out of sight. My fingers tapped rapidly against the metal railing inside of the elevator, as it made its slow ascent to our floor. When the doors opened, I made a beeline for Aston's office, without being obvious of course. I was hoping I could catch her before she left for lunch.

My smile faded as Annie's desk came in to view and I noticed that she was nowhere to be found. If Annie wa
sn't here, then Aston was gone for lunch also.

Damn it!

As the prospect of having lunch with Aston passed, so did my incredibly good mood. I took the elevator back down to the lobby and headed across the street to grab some lunch, even though I didn't have much of an appetite anymore.

I thought about going to "our" place, but thought better of it once I realized, it wasn't really "our" place. God, I was like a fucking
schoolboy hoping the head cheerleader would ask me out. Shaking my head clear of all thoughts Aston, I caught a glimpse of a blonde who looked as if she could be Aston's twin, at the restaurant on the corner.

Of course like a creeper, I moved towards the window
to get a better look. When Aston’s smile was exposed by her hair bouncing, my heart dropped. I wanted to be the one to make her laugh, damn it. Honestly, I just wanted to be with her.

I made my way towards the door to interrupt her wonderful good time, when I noticed who exactly was making her laugh. I saw crimson when
his
face came into full view. I knew that piece of shit was going to make his presence known at some point, I just didn't think today would be the day.

My hands balled up into tight fists at my sides as I watched the two of them interacting with one another. Just as
his hand crept across the table to rest on top of hers, I lost it and headed back towards the parking garage.

I thought the short walk back to my car would have cooled me down, but it seemed to have only made me more livid. Had she been playing with me the whole time? I swear if I didn't have half a mind
, I would go back and beat the holy fuck out of that bastard. Who the hell did he think he was?

Aston

I was beginning to get restless waiting for Sloan to turn back up at the office. My stomach was in knots after having lunch with Nole. As good as it felt to reconnect with him, a part of me was pulling away. I knew what having Nole back in my life could mean, and I wasn’t ready to discuss
anything
with him.

My thoughts kept floating back to Sloan and I. What we had, or have, oh who knows what it was. I wanted more than anything to find out where this was all going, but something deep inside of me
, didn’t know if he wanted the same from me. I paced across my office so many times, I was positive I was going to start wearing a hole in the carpet. When I finally had enough, I made my way over to Sloan’s office door.

Ariel, his assistant, caught sight of me and shook her head fiercely. “He’s not here, Ms. Boyd. He never came back from lunch. I’m sorry.”

“Are you sure he never came back?” I was pissed. His mood swings or lack there of, were making my head hurt.

“I’m positive.”

Just then her phone rang. I was about to head back to my office, but her tone of voice alerted me to who she was talking to.

“Is that
him
?” My voice came out strained and more irritated than I thought it would.

She shook her head back and forth, holding her finger up for me to be quiet. Who the hell did this little girl think she was dealing with?

“Yes Mr. Holden, she’s actually standing in front of me right now. Would you like to talk to her? Oh, okay. No, that’s fine. Do you know when you will be back in the office?”

There was a long pregnant pause and I wa
s standing on the edge of my heels waiting to hear her response to whatever he was saying.

“Are you sure? Okay, I will see you after the weekend then. Have a good week Mr. Holden.”

I wanted to pounce on her the minute the phone slammed into its cradle, but instead, I waited with bated breath for the tiny girl in front of me to start speaking. I really didn’t want to have to force it out of her, but that’s exactly what I was going to do. “So?”

“He says he won’t be back in the office until Monday.” Ariel prattled about her little
space, moving papers, filing some of them and then reaching for her purse. “He gave me the rest of the week off, paid.”

“What the fu-”

“Ms. Boyd, how are we doing this afternoon?”

Shit!

“I’m doing great Mr. Holden and yourself?”

“Oh you know, busy trying to get my son to concentrate on work.” He let out a throaty laugh before he continued. “I just wanted to give you this in person.”

I reached for the silver envelope he held in his outstretched hand. I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion. “What is this?”

“The company is having a huge party to celebrate
the opening of our new offices in New York. The party is this weekend. I hope you can make it?”

Ugh, seriously?

I absolutely loathed company parties. Maybe, it was because I always ended up going alone. I plastered a fake smile on my face, as Mr. Holden sat back waiting for my response. “Of course, I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Fantastic.” His hand was on my wrist as he leaned in to whisper something in my ear. “Please make sure my son is there as well Ms. Boyd.” He pulled back with a smirk lurking around the corners of his lips.

I stood back in complete and utter shock. For all of this hiding and sneaking around, I would have thought for sure his father hadn’t been paying enough attention to know what we were doing.

“Will do, Sir.” I gave a small wave as he disappeared around the corner.

Well, as much as Sloan was obviously avoiding me, he was going to have no choice but to talk to me now. I made my way back to my office, praying the rest of the day would go by at lightening speed. Annie tried to get my attention, but I halted her mid-stride as I slammed my door behind me.

This day was turning to shit!

I plopped myself down in my chair and spun around, looking at the dusty Phoenix skyline. I let my head fall back against the headrest and closed my eyes. Just as my heart rate began to slow and relaxation started sinking in, my cell phone started ringing from my purse. As much as I didn’t want to answer it, I was secretly hoping it was Sloan.

I jammed my hand down into the inside pocket and retrieved my phone. When I saw Nole’s name across the screen
, I got a little bit excited. “Hey there, didn’t we just see each other?”

“We did, but I just wanted to warn you.”

“About what?”

“The huge arrangement you should be receiving shortly.”

“Nole, what did you do?”

“Have a wonderful rest of the day, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Before I could respond, the line went dead. I sat my phone on the corner of my desk and dropped my head down onto my arm. For the next half hour, I prayed and willed my phone to ring with Sloan’s name showing, but it never happened. As I picked up my last manuscript of the day, there was a small knock on my door. My heart leapt into my throat with excitement, but slowly deflated as Annie’s head popped through the small crack.

“Ms. Boyd there’s a delivery here for you.”

“Okay, send it in.” I waved my hand and went back to the thick stack of paper in my hands. A huge bouquet of roses caught my eye, followed by another and then another. Ten dozen roses sat randomly around my office. Every inch of surface was covered in vases full of pink, violet, yellow, white and red. A smile threatened to touch the edge of my mouth, but vanished as I searched for the card that came along with them. My hopes were high and pulling for Sloan. I was giddy and bouncing on the balls of my feet as I read the card out loud.

“For all the years I missed. Loving you forever, Nole.”

My smile faded and fell as my hopes were deflated, only to be renewed with a new sense of hope. Maybe Nole really had changed. With Sloan acting like an arrogant ass, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to explore what Nole had to offer.

Aston

I left the office shortly after my room full of flowers showed up. As much as I wanted to run to Nole and thank him, a better part of me guided me home. I knew I was taking a big risk heading home early, but my mind wasn't in the right state to stay and work. I gathered my things and made my way out to my car. The entire elevator ride, I secretly prayed for Sloan to some how track me down. I knew there was no chance in him being that thoughtful, given his history of walking away and leaving things unsaid.

When I walked through my fron
t door, I was greeted by the only constant male I ever needed. Bugsy was beyond excited to see me and I was grateful to have someone so loyal. We ran around the house playing catch and I eventually found myself outside by the pool. It was an extremely hot day, so the cold water was exactly what I needed.

After swimming more laps than I could count
, I emerged from the pool and decided to lay out for a bit. My mind of course wandered to visions of Sloan's hands all over my body. His mouth on my most private parts, his tongue touching all the right spots making me want to scream his name. I found myself breathing heavy and jumped back in the pool to calm myself back down. It was the equivalent of a cold shower, so I figured I was good.