Naked (33 page)

But Noah’s appearance had done more than remind her of her feelings, it led to the most brilliant idea. What if there had been a vehicle for her to learn how to fix a toilet? Or change a light fixture? Or plant a garden? How to embrace her confidence or just learn to relax. She was too damn busy with Walker Industries, and what little time she did have she gave to charities and other associations. She knew she couldn’t be the only woman in the city who felt this way.

But she’d had to put a pin in her idea, because the gala was already set.

The usual suspects were in the boardroom when she arrived. All decked out in their two-thousand-dollar suits and shiny shoes.

“Let’s call this meeting to order, shall we, gentlemen,” she said as she sat down, not wanting to waste any time.

Unfortunately, the only spot available at the table was her father’s seat at the head. Reluctantly, she took it, not wanting to be too presumptuous, but fully aware of the eyes on her.

She hadn’t had a chance to discuss with Brian the progress of his work. She’d been with Noah until this morning, and after her revelation about giving away all her time, she had refused to let work interfere until she walked in the door this morning.

Sitting in the boardroom now, she realized that had been a bad decision.

“Brian, why don’t you start?” She waved her hand to the rest of the gentlemen. “How are we doing with the plan to purchase the land in Stillbride?”

He nodded, looking a little green.

“Ms. Walker asked me to make contact with all but two of the properties in question. I am happy to report that all seven houses have received the purchase package and all of them have given a verbal agreement; four of them have sent me the signed documents.”

Shit! He was already done? She’d expected him to take weeks to get everyone on board.

“In one week?” Clive asked. “You managed to get everyone to sign in one week?”

Brian nodded. He looked as pleased with himself as a pig in shit.

Insecurity gripped her like a vise, freezing her in place as she listened to the board praise him.

“How much did we offer?” Ian asked.

“Our starting offer was ten percent above market value.” Brian flipped through a few papers in front of him. He let his finger trail down as if looking through a list. “Four out of the seven took the initial offer. Two held out for twenty percent, and one was a hard negotiator. They wanted twenty-five percent.”

The stern faces of the board made Brian uncomfortable. He pulled at the collar of his shirt.

He didn’t look so pleased right now. It was one thing to deliver the good news, completely different to have to stand by your decisions. He faltered. “Ms. Walker advised that I could up the—”

Violet reached over, and held up her finger. She nodded in understanding. He wasn’t in trouble. In fact, if anyone was in trouble, it was her.

“Despite offering above market value, this deal is a steal, gentlemen.” She settled back in her chair.

“The contracts stipulate they are to be out by the first of October.” Brian looked over at her for reassurance. “I thought that was sufficient time for residents to secure a new place to live.”

The board nodded agreement.

“Which means, gentlemen, if all goes according to plan, a year from now we will have already begun tearing down the existing structures.”

She had been fearful of Brian, given that he had been her father’s right hand while she’d been away. She thought he might have gained some insight. Some kind of advantage over her that he could use to prove she wasn’t the right fit for the company. But his performance here today, while spot-on in terms of information, showed he was nervous as hell. Insecure about his decisions. And at the end of the day, that made the difference between a CEO and a regular executive. She was the damn CEO. She was in charge. And she would stand by her decisions.

“What about the remaining properties?” Paul asked, shaking her out of her internal pep talk.

Leave it to him to be so thorough. She’d thought maybe she could get away with not having to mention she was behind.

“One is the property I own.” She smiled. “I assure you, I will sell.”

The rest of the men in the room smiled at her little joke.

“The last property I’m handling personally. It’s a little more complicated.”

“Then offer them fifty percent above market value,” Clive said. “If this deal is as sweet as you suggest, Violet, we need to close it. And soon.”

“I’ll be honest. It’s come to my attention that the house belongs to a family member of one of my employees.”

“Do you expect a problem?” Jonathon asked. He rapped his knuckles on the table at the opposite end in his regular seat, the one closest to the window. Sometimes he swiveled around and looked out into the daylight even if someone else was speaking.

“No.” That was a lie. The first lie she’d told her board of directors. She wondered if it was the first of many lies she’d tell over the years. “It’s just a delicate situation that I want to approach properly, with compassion. Like my father would have.”

And that was the first low blow she’d given her board of directors.

“I’ve already laid the groundwork. I should have an answer by the end of the week.”

A year ago she’d made a bad decision. One that had cost her fiancé his life. Her father had always taught her to tell the truth. Especially in business, the truth was always the right path.

So far, in her first official board of directors meeting without her father, she’d forgotten that rule.

“This is your baby, Violet,” Paul said. “I’d hate to see the project squashed because you can’t follow through.”

She felt the knife slice right through her gut. If the day ever came when she had won these men over, when she was secure in her place, she was going to get rid of Paul’s undermining ass. As CFO, he might have pledged his allegiance to her father, but right now, she couldn’t trust him. Trust was earned, and everyone in this company needed to prove their loyalty to her, before she’d give it away.

“I’ll take care of it.” She stared down the men at the table, her gaze ending with Paul, who cleared his throat and pulled at his tie.

At least she’d gotten the stern face down. Only ninety-nine thousand more things to learn about being CEO.

Although she’d lied to her board, it didn’t feel as bad as knowing she’d been lying to Noah this whole time. Even before she’d found out about his mother, she hadn’t told him about the possibility of the project getting approved.

You started your relationship with no history. He couldn’t have expected you to tell him anything.

She had no idea how she was going to approach the conversation. But she had to do it soon. He was working tonight and tomorrow, so they had a date scheduled for Sunday.

It was the perfect opportunity to talk. As long as the date didn’t start off with her practically naked in his bed. Which was a real possibility considering that three out of the last four nights had started that way.

They had turned another corner of their relationship. She’d thought she knew what love felt like. She’d thought she had it with Steven. But over the last week, she’d come to realize that this feeling with Noah was new, so very real, and definitely love.

And it scared her to death.

On Sunday when she mustered the courage to ask him to sell his childhood home so she could put her career ahead of everything else, she was going to crush him. And he’d probably never want to speak to her again.

And that’s when it dawned on her. Because of her insecurity and ambition, she was going to be the one responsible for breaking her own heart.

Chapter 28

He’d never brought a woman home before. Other than Megan. So Noah knew as soon as he walked in the door that this time the hushed voices had everything to do with meeting Violet, rather than because Henry had developed another videogame.

But then, true to form, Ariel, Trevor, and Sam barreled into the front foyer. Two monsters wrapped their arms around him, but Ariel made a beeline to Violet.

She tumbled back with the force of Ariel’s attack, but just laughed it off, palming her head and murmuring a hello.

“Violet!” Sam was next to greet her. Trevor just waved hello shyly, while maintaining his death grip on Noah’s leg.

“Violet.” His mother’s voice carried from the hallway. When he looked up, she stood there, and he could tell her arms were practically itching to engulf her in a hug.

“Mrs. Young. It’s so lovely to meet you.” Violet walked forward, the bouquet of flowers she’d insisted they stopped to pick up on the way extended. “These are for you.”

His mother placed her hand on her chest in surprise, a tiny gasp escaping, just before she said, “Beautiful. Thank you.”

But the exchange of flowers didn’t stop her from stepping forward, her hand beckoning Violet to come closer for a hug.

His mother winked at him from over Violet’s shoulder. She was loving this. And he might never hear the end of it.

“I’ve made all of Noah’s favorites tonight,” his mother said. “I hope you like meat.”

“Yes, Mrs.—”

His mother clucked her tongue. “Please, call me Mary.” Flowers in one hand, Violet’s forearm in the other, his mother led her through the narrow hallway to the kitchen. “I might be close to retirement, but I’m not an old lady yet.”

“My father says the same thing.” Violet chuckled. “He hates being called Mr. Walker.”

Noah had learned that the night of his retirement party.

When Noah walked into the kitchen, he saw his two sisters and his brother-in-law Philip sitting at the table with Henry, laughing their asses off.

“What’s so funny in here?”

“Hey, Noah.” Charlotte burst out laughing again, but managed to acknowledge Violet. “So nice to see you again, Violet.”

“Hi, Violet,” Paige blurted, then responded to Noah’s question. “Henry was just telling us about some of his students. Particularly the ones who like to fall asleep in class. He’s a jokester. He drew on one of his student’s foreheads.”

Violet chuckled beside him.

He never would have pegged Henry as the jokester type. “I’m not a stick-in-the-mud,” Henry said. “It wasn’t a permanent marker.” He laughed at himself. “I was young once, too. I remember sleeping through some of my own university classes. But I wish I’d had someone to draw on my face reminding me that I was missing out on one of the best parts of school.”

“What’s that?” Charlotte asked.

“Learning.” He looked at them one by one, shaking his head in disbelief. “I know all professors aren’t great. Some drone on about nothing. Some read from a paper. But I make an effort to tie my lessons in to real life. To talk about my experiences, rather than what’s written in a textbook. Believe me, computer science is one of the most boring subjects out there.”

“My roommate in university was a computer science major.” Violet contributing to the conversation so early in the night? Surprising. “I remember looking at her textbooks and wanting to gouge my eyes out.”

“Exactly.” Like the gentleman they had come to know, Henry was on his feet and approaching, his hand extended to Violet for a proper introduction.

“Violet…” Noah started, “This is my mother’s…friend, Henry.”

Friend? He didn’t know what to call him. Boyfriend seemed inappropriate since he was a sixty-year-old man.

“Henry.” Violet spoke his name with such fondness. “Lovely to meet you.”

He had to admit, it was weird walking into his house and seeing a man at the table. Henry had made no attempt at trying to waltz into the family and replace his father. He was simply ecstatic that they’d welcomed him at all. Noah appreciated that. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t weirded out by the fact there was someone sitting where his father should be.

“So this is the woman who has
really
bad taste in men?”

Noah laughed. “And this is Philip.” He jerked his thumb behind him just as a hand clasped his shoulder. He turned to give him a backslap in greeting. “Although I could say the same thing for your wife.”

He’d known Philip since high school. And he was
that
guy: the quarterback and catcher for the baseball team, ogled by every girl in school, and still unafraid to show that he was a brainiac when it came to math. It wasn’t until they were in university that he started dating Paige.

Philip reached across Noah’s body and held out his hand. “Great to meet you, Violet. Charlotte’s told me—”

In an exaggerated way, Noah cleared his throat. “When’s dinner?”

While Violet and Philip made their short introduction, Noah noticed something strange with Charlotte’s hair.

“Charlie?” The top of her hair was natural, shiny blond, but underneath, it was bright pink. “Did Harper do that to you?”

He glanced over at Paige, who rolled her eyes at their sister’s dumb decision to ruin her hair. Or was the eye roll for him?

“I did this myself, thanks.” Charlotte looked positively pleased with herself.

He was all for people expressing themselves through their appearance—otherwise, what kind of hypocrite would he be, with friends like Luke and Harper?—but for Charlotte, this behavior bordered on reckless.

“How was Prism, Charlie?” Noah glared at her, where she sat beside Henry, pretending not to hear him. “Charlotte?” His voice was stern, maybe even angered. Violet slipped her arm under his, squeezing him in a sign of comfort.

“What happens at Prism, stays at Prism.” With a flick of her head, she snickered at him and went back to talking to Henry.

“All right. It’s time for everyone to get the hell out,” his mother yelled from the opposite side of the counter.

Violet jerked her head up, a frown darkening her face.

Noah whispered in her ear. “My mom kicks everyone out so she can cook. She puts us to work when she’s ready.”

An hour later at the dinner table, and after he’d sufficiently plied the kids with sugar, Noah sat at the head of the table, Violet to his right, Charlotte to his left. Across from him, at the opposite end was his mother, Henry to her left. In between were Paige and Philip. The munchkins sat at a smaller table of their own.