RISE - Part One (The RISE Series Book 1) (3 page)

"Is that your dinner?"

I feel a faint tap on my shoulder just as I hear the gruff tone of Landon's voice float into my ear. He's behind me. If I didn't recognize his voice, I'd know him by the scent of his cologne. It's the same fragrance that lingered in my office after he left three days ago.

I look down at the small salad I'm holding in my hand as I wait in line at the deli that's less than a block from my apartment. Ivy had called with an invite to her place for dinner but I'd asked for a rain check. A night spent in, with my feet up while I plotted out what I'd say in my meeting with Gabriel Foster, is all I really want.

"Tess?" His fingers race down my exposed arm until they reach my wrist. "It's you, isn't it?"

I take a deep breath, remembering the conversation I had with Ivy a few days ago. I turn quickly, wanting to get this over with so I can get home to the solace of my quiet apartment. I'm instantly taken back when my eyes race over his frame.

He's dressed as he was the first day we met, when I gripped tightly to his shirt to curb the urge I'd felt to panic during that unexpected jolt of turbulence. He looks as though he just stepped out of the cockpit of an airplane, complete with sunglasses. A small, black carry-on bag is in one of his hands. The other has dropped from my arm to my waist.

"Landon," I say his name quietly, instantly aware of how many people's eyes are trained on the two of us. "Are you on your way to work?"

"I just got back." He nods towards the carry-on." I was on my way home and stopped to pick up a few things. Do you live near here?"

He's one of Gabriel Foster's closest friends so it's highly unlikely that I need to cower behind a white lie about just being in the neighborhood. He doesn’t strike me as the type of man who would follow me to my place just so he could accost me, when I least expect it, on a dark and rainy night. "I live around the corner."

"Which corner?" By the sudden turn of his neck I can only assume that he's looking towards the street beyond the entrance to the deli. I can't see his eyes, behind the shaded lenses, which is both alluring and annoying.

I pull the small plastic container of salad more firmly into my grip. "My building is on 57
th
."
              "That's close." He reaches up to remove the sunglasses, revealing his blue eyes. He squints briefly as he adjusts to the stark fluorescent lights that flood this space. "I live a few blocks away. My place is on …"

"Next." A man's voice carries over the dull hum of the crowd. "You're next."

That's directed at me. I take a step forward but I'm stopped by the pressure of Landon's hand on my shoulder. "Ditch that. I know a place we can grab some dinner."

"I have some work to do," I begin as I step forward to hand the salad to the man behind the cash register. "I was going to eat in so I could do that."

"Save that for lunch tomorrow." Landon pulls a few bills out of the front pocket of his trousers before I have time to fish my wallet from my purse. "We'll have a quick dinner and you'll still have time to work."

I watch as he takes the change from the burly man who is already calling the next person in line to step forward.  I nod as I push the salad into my bag. It's only a quick dinner. What possible harm can come from that?

***

"You've never fucked a man on an airplane?"

There's the harm. It's a direct blow to my ego.

It's my own fault for talking about sex to a stranger on a flight. I should have known that not all mothers are like mine. Mine didn't even explain the facts of life to me when she found a box of condoms in my dresser drawer. She simply put them on my bed so I'd see them when I got home from school that day. I was a senior in high school then. I suppose it was a tactic meant to embarrass me into abstinence. Considering the fact that I'd already been sleeping with my boyfriend for a full year at that time, the condoms-in-full-view trick failed miserably.

"Gabriel's mom?" I blurt out with an almost full mouth of food. I chew quickly watching the wide grin that spreads over Landon's full lips. "Did Gabriel's mom tell you that?"

"Gianna thought you were adorable." His smile dims. "We shared a cab after the flight. She also said she thought you were in a lot of pain."

That's the kind of thing I'd expect a mom to say. I hadn't opened up to her about anything in my past. I had talked about the people I met in Italy and the beauty of the architecture there. Only after I sensed her reading the letter over my shoulder did I feel a shift in the air. She had become more compassionate, asking me questions about love. I had dodged those expertly, but by then, she had enough of a stolen glimpse into my past to know that heartache had touched me.

"I'm not in pain," I say confidently. I may have felt a small pang of the kind of regret that comes when a relationship can't be salvaged, but it's not going to define my future. I won't let that happen.

He rakes his hand through his short brown hair. "Are you seeing anyone right now?"

I don't answer immediately. It's a question that may hold an immense amount of promised meaning or it could just simply be a step towards another mini lecture about how I need to keep my options, concerning the man who wrote the letter, open. "No. I'm very single."

My smartphone rings, startling me briefly. I look down at the screen, half-hoping that it's a potential new client for my business. I'm relieved when I see my father's familiar number pop up. I reach forward to silence the call knowing that my pops will understand if I don't answer. I talk to him at least two or three times a day. We have an unspoken agreement that if either of us are busy with work, that we'll text or call back as soon as we can so we don't worry the other.

"Do you need to take that?" Landon leans forward in his chair, his eyes skimming the screen of my phone. "I can give you some privacy."

If I played the dating games that some of my friends prescribe to, I'd be tempted to tell him I need a moment and then when he got up to give me the space he thinks I need to take the call, I'd laugh and toss my hair back as if I was flirting with the person on the other end. It may be a technique my college roommate used to test her potential boyfriends to see if jealousy was already afoot, but I've never enjoyed games, dating or otherwise. My dad taught me to be direct if I want something in life, and right now, I want to know if Landon Beckett is interested in me.

"It's my dad," I admit without any hesitation. "I'll call him back later."

"Is he in New York? Do you live at home?"

I thought we already established that I'm a full-blown adult. I try not to sound sarcastic as I answer. "My mother lives in Boston. He lives in California. He moved there a few years ago when they divorced."

That may have been more information that he was fishing for, but I've got nothing to hide, at least here in America. Italy is another story altogether.

"Are you close to your father?" he asks as he reaches for the glass of ice water in front of him.

I smile. "I'm very close to him. I talk to him at least a few times a day."

He pinches the bridge of his nose while his eyes briefly flutter shut. "It sounds like he's an important part of your life."

"He is," I acknowledge with a brief nod of my head. "Isn't your dad important to you?"

"My father," he begins before his tongue darts over his bottom lip. "I lost my father when I was a teenager."

There's not enough familiarity between us for me to ask about details. I don't need to push to know more about what happened. The sorrow that I see on his face as he looks down at my smartphone as it rings again with another call from my dad tells me all I need to know about the depth of Landon's loss and how it's impacted him.

"You're telling me that he ditched you because your dad kept calling you?"

Leave it to Lilly to spell the humiliation of last night out for me. "I wouldn't say that exactly."

She tips her chin towards me. "You said he asked if you were single, but then when your dad called you a second time, he got up and left."

If we are going to dissect every aspect of my dinner with Landon, minute-by-minute, I'm going to need something stronger than the cup of tea I picked up on my way to Lilly's office. I tried to explain on the phone what happened last night, but she was insistent that I hop on the subway and come down to her office. Since I have absolutely nothing on my agenda today, I readily agreed. I got her a cup of herbal tea too since she's given up coffee while she's breastfeeding.

"He did leave shortly after that call." I nod slowly. I've replayed everything that happened last night in my mind since Landon abruptly stood to end our dinner while I was still putting food into my mouth. Just a few minutes after I silenced the second call from my dad, he left under the veil of an excuse about needing to get to bed early because he was jet lagged.

He told me, when we first arrived at the restaurant, that he'd picked up a quick round trip job to Chicago and had landed ninety minutes before I saw him at the deli. How that translates into going to sleep at eight o'clock is beyond me.

"I bet he's not used to hanging out with women your age." She taps a few keys on her laptop. "I just need to finish this code quickly. I can talk while I'm doing it."

Of course she can. If the baby was here, she'd also be cradling her in her arms right now. I've never known anyone as organized and efficient as Lilly.

When we met, shortly after I arrived in New York, we hit it off instantly. I was at a dinner party at Jax and Ivy's apartment. The room was filled with a sea of unfamiliar faces and suddenly, this fiery ball of red hair broke through and came walking towards me. She introduced herself as the wife of one of Jax's cousins.

I didn't have to say another word the entire evening. I tried, but in her nervous excitement she gave me a condensed version of her life story. It was painful to listen to and at the end of the night, when she pulled me into a tight embrace against her then swollen, pregnant, belly, I knew I'd made a friend for life.

"Maybe I just can't read men." I pull my hand to my mouth in an effort to stifle the uncontrollable giggle that accompanies the statement. The moment the words leave my lips I realize the absurd irony in them.

Her fingers pause as she turns to look at me. "What's so funny?"

It's not a question based in sarcasm. She's genuinely puzzled by the glee I'm taking in my admission that I don't know anything about men. I don't blame Lilly for not understanding. I've never told her about the man who wrote that marriage proposal to me. Some secrets are better left hidden away forever.

"It's nothing." I take another careful sip of the tea from the paper cup. "I think it's a sign that I should be focusing on my career."

"Oh shit." She closes her laptop with a quick flip of her hand. "I'm sorry, Tess. I completely forgot to tell you something."

I lean forward. I already know that she's going to tell me something about her baby. I love stories about the sweet things Haven does, even if the majority of them are about how she looks when she's asleep or the cute outfit Lilly dressed her in that day. "What did the baby do this morning?"

"The baby?" She runs her finger over her brow. "She smiled at me before I left for work."

The priceless look of utter contentment on Lilly's face is worth the crowded subway ride to get here. "Did you get a picture of it?"

"No." She shakes her head slightly. "That's not what I needed to tell you. This is about work."

"Your work?" I glance towards the corridor outside her open office door. I'm always impressed when I arrive at the tower that houses Hughes Enterprises, the company Lilly works for. It's an environment that suits her perfectly and judging by how excited she always is when she calls me from here, I know she's found the place she belongs.

"Your work," she corrects me with a pointed finger in my direction. "I have a job for you."

The last time she said that it was planning a birthday party for a five-year-old boy whose family lives in the same building as Lilly. It was a gesture that came from her desire to help me. I was touched, even though the job itself didn't fit into my criteria for budget or exposure. I'd sat down with the boy's mother one afternoon in Central Park and had helped her formulate a pirate themed birthday party for her son and six of his friends on a budget of less than a hundred dollars.

"What kind of a job?" I ask, knowing that whatever it is, I'll help. Taking on the task of assisting in planning someone's birthday or anniversary party may not add to my professional portfolio, but it does give me something to do and the feeling of accomplishment it provides is a rush that's hard to describe.

"It's for Corteck." She lowers her voice to a faint whisper.

The action is telling. Corteck, the company that Lilly's husband, Clive, owns is a direct competitor of Hughes Enterprises in the field of tech development. Lilly's assured me, more than once, that the rivalry only adds spice to her marriage. I've seen her and Clive together, and it's hard to imagine how anything, especially a business conflict, could tear them apart. She's also told me that her boss, Alec Hughes, is fine with the arrangement, as long as Lilly doesn't spend her time in the office talking about the latest app or gadget her husband has developed.

"Corteck?" I parrot back, mimicking her tone.

"Clive is planning a gala dinner and silent auction." Her entire face beams. "It's to raise funds for organ donation. It's not for months, but he wanted me to ask if you'd be interested. It's for charity, but he'll pay you."

I'm tempted to tell her I'll pitch in for free, but I have rent to pay and a health insurance premium to cover. I need the money and knowing what I do about Clive Parker, I sense he'll be generous. If I play my cards right, and the numbers line up, I can donate a portion back to the cause. "You know I'll do it, Lilly. Tell him to call me."

"Why don't you just come over for dinner one night next week?" She skims her fingers over the screen of her smartphone. "We can do Wednesday or Thursday night. Maybe you can bring Landon."

I know the last remark is meant to pull a laugh from me, but it doesn't. It's not that Lilly's comment isn't playful and teasing. It's that I have no idea whether I'll ever see the man again, and for some reason, that makes me feel a tinge of regret.