Since He Really Feels (He Feels) (9 page)

“Why not?”

“You’re such a guy sometimes.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That means you have no concept of what planning a wedding takes.”

“Oh?” He looked annoyed by my comment. “Have you ever planned a wedding?”

“I helped plan my sister’s wedding. And it took her a year to get it all together.”

“What if I told you I’d hire us a wedding planner?”

“That would be fantastic, Nick, but don’t waste your money.”

He pulled me into his arms again. “About that,” he said. “I have plenty, and it won’t be a waste.”

“Speaking of that,” I started, “a
nd in the spirit of not keeping secrets, how is it exactly that you have so much money?”

Something flashed across his face that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I know about how much you were making at McMillan. I know you got a healthy raise to move to BKG, but you owned this house long before all of that. If I’m marrying you, don’t you think I should know the source of your income?”

He glanced away from me. “What do you mean ‘If’ you’re marrying me?”

“Answer the question.”

“It’s a long story.”

I glanced at the clock on the oven. “I’ve got time.”

“No, you don’t. We need to get to work.”

“Then let’s carpool. You can tell me on the way.”

He sighed and pulled out of our hug. “Oh, now you want to ride together?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Why all the secrecy, Nick?”

“It’s not secrecy. It’s just a long story.”

“I’m dropping it for now, but you’re telling me someday. Soon.”

“Deal.
So back to the date. End of July?”

“Nick, I need more time.”

“For what?”

“Why the rush?”

“It’s not a rush. A rush would be next week. I just want you to be my wife.”

“And I can’t wait to be your wife,” I said. “I just want our day to be perfect.”

“It will be. If you’re there and I’m there, it will be perfect.”

I sighed.
“Fine. But you’re helping me plan this thing every step of the way.”

“There’s nothing I’d love more.”

“See you at the office, boss,” I said in my best breathless voice as I purposely dropped my keys on the floor and then bent over to pick them up, giving him a front row view of my cleavage.

“Jesus,” he breathed, and I grabbed my keys and headed out the door with a grin on my face.

The building that housed BKG in Mesa was smaller than the McMillan building in Tempe, but it was modern and classy from the outside with lots of glass providing the tenants with plenty of windows overlooking the mountains. McMillan rented only three floors of the building we used to work in, while the entire eight story structure before me housed BKG’s offices. Where McMillan gave offices only to executives, BKG had offices for each consultant… which meant that for the first time in my career, I was getting my own office.

Nick and I pulled in at the same time, and we walked into the building together. He informed me that our offices were on the eighth floor, so we got onto the elevator and he pressed the button. I flashed back to our time together at McMillan when we would board the elevator together and he would knock my socks off with some sort of electric kiss. But today, I was nervous for my first day
at my new job, and as the doors closed, I leaned against the wall, fidgeting as the elevator started its ascent toward the top floor.

“Stop squirming,” he warned.

I shot him a dirty look. 

“Are you nervous?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Let me calm you down, baby.” He grinned and stalked toward me. I stood rooted to the spot, and he pinned me to the wall with his hips. God, I loved it when he did that. I could feel his hardness for me pressed against my belly, and the nerves abated as I wrapped my arms around my fiancé’s neck and his lips crashed violently to mine.

He knew exactly what I needed.

His tongue danced against mine in a slow tango, and suddenly work was the furthest thing from my mind as I got caught up in our sensual, private moment. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed working with him until I was lucky enough to get an elevator ride alone with him.

The elevator slowed and Nick moved back to his corner while I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. But how do you pocket that much lust?

Nick led me off of the elevator and first in
troduced me to our receptionist.

“This is Darlene. She is amazing and will get you whatever you need.” He grinned at her, and she looked at my fiancé like he was a god, but that was something I had started to get used to. He was not difficult to look at, and it wasn’t the first time I’d seen ladies trip over
themselves for a better view. “Darlene, this is Julianne. She is on my team and today is her first day. And she happens to be my fiancée.”

I saw a flash of disappointment cross her face, and I beamed with sudden pride on the inside. Yep, this sexy man was taken.
By me.

I shook Darlene’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” I smiled warmly, and even through her disappointment that Nick was taken, she still managed a warm smile back. She seemed like someone who I wanted on my side.

Nick showed me to my office, and I was amazed at my new setup. I had a beautiful desk, a laptop and iPad, and floor to ceiling windows. I had a circular table in the space in front of my desk where I could design or meet with clients or hold small meetings with colleagues. It was gorgeous, and it was all mine.

“Holy shit, Nick.”

“I know. Nice, right?”

I grinned.
“McMillan who?”

He grinned back. “You think this is nice? Wait until you see my office.”

I giggled. “This is amazing.”

Just then a good looking man popped his head in my office. He was no match for Nick in my eyes, but he was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. His dark eyes gave off an air of mystery, and he had the most chiseled cheekbones I’d ever seen in my life. His black hair was cut short on the sides but longer on top and was neat but casual. I had to catch my breath for a second in the presence of two good looking men in my office.

“Cash,” Nick said. “This is Julianne. Today’s her first day, and she’s on our team.”

“Julianne.
A beautiful name for a beautiful lady,” he grinned, grasping my hand in his. My heart skipped a beat at his smile, and I felt immediately guilty for that in the presence of the man I was going to marry.

I pushed it out of my mind as I shook his hand and then dropped it quickly. “Nice to meet you, Cash.”

“Cash knows that we’re engaged,” Nick said, almost as if he was reiterating to Cash that I was taken.

If that was true, why the hell was he being so boldly flirtatious in front of Nick?

“We’re just getting to know the expertise of each member of the team, and we’ll be meeting later today to sort out some projects and discuss how this team is going to work,” Nick said to both of us.

“Sounds great, boss.
Would you like me to take Julianne around to introduce her to the rest of the team?” Cash asked.

Shit, I hoped Nick declined that offer. I liked having Nick introduce me, and besides, I didn’t know this Cash guy well enough. He made me feel uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure yet if it was because he had been so openly flirtatious or if it was because I liked
it.

“That would be great. I need to get my notes together for today’s meeting anyway. Julianne, enjoy your day and I’ll see you at noon in my office for our meeting. We’ll have a working lunch today.” Nick left my office and headed presumably toward his own.

I set my purse in the empty bottom drawer of my desk and glanced around my new office. I had a bookcase all to myself. I was used to a cubicle, so it would take me some time to get used to all of this space.

“Come,” Cash said, motioning for me to join him.

I was suddenly nervous. I didn’t like his commanding presence and I didn’t like him telling me what to do.

Cash walked out of the office ahead of me and turned to the right. He glanced into the office next to mine. “This is my office,” he said.
Fantastic… right next door.

We continued down the hall, and he poked his head into another office.

The next office belonged to Kaylee, and then I was introduced to Christine, Jace, Autumn, and Derrick.

The last office he took me into was Bree’s.

“Hey, Bree. This is Julianne.”

I was met with a woman who matched Cash in the looks department. She was tall, thin, and gorgeous, with flowing brunette hair curled into perfect waves and big brown eyes that looked shrewd and insightful. She looked more like a model than a marketing consultant.

I had the impression that you basically had to be good looking to be hired with this company after meeting the rest of my team.

She wore killer black heels that must’ve been at least four inches high and a red and black dress that accentuated her beautiful figure. I wondered if I was attractive enough to work in this place with people who looked like these two did.

“Ah, the infamous Julianne.” I felt an immediate distaste in my mouth for her. Something about the way she hissed my name and used a word like “infamous” along with it made me immediately dislike her.

“Infamous?” I asked, not one to take an insult lying down.

“Yes. Nick has told us all so much about you.”

“Good things, I hope.”

“But of course,” she said, her big eyes glaring in my general direction. What the fuck? I didn’t even know this person, and she was already acting like this. Probably just another woman who was after my fiancé, but he was coming home to me. And it would do Bree well to remember that.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, hoping that Cash would take the cue to move on. He did.

Cash walked me into Nick’s office last, which was all the way at the end of the hallway, furthest from my own office. I wondered if Nick had done that on purpose or if it had just worked out that way, and I hated the fact that his office was right next to Bree’s.

Nick’s office took up the entire end of the hall; he had two corners and wraparound windows. It was pretty freaking incredible. His desk was made of granite and wood, and built in bookcases lined the one wall that wasn’t made of windows. There was a huge conference table with ten chairs around it standing in front of that incredible desk, and I presumed that was where we would hold our team meetings, even though Cash had shown me a different conference room on the tour.

I was floored by how extravagant the facilities were.

And what floored me even more was seeing how stunning Nick looked behind that sexy desk. He was deep in concentration as he tapped away at his iPad, and I couldn’t help but stop and stare at him.

How in the world did I get so lucky? I was going to marry this man. I was going to have children with him someday. I was going to spend the rest of my life loving him.

He glanced up and caught me staring, and even after everything we had been through together, I blushed like a girl with a crush. Was it so wrong to have a serious crush on the man you were going to marry? And in that moment, I really felt like whatever stupid tension and arguments we had been working through would pass. I knew that no matter what, we’d end up happy together. Our love had already proven to be strong enough to overcome so many obstacles, and I knew that together we’d fight whatever else life threw at us.

I wish I could say that I loved BKG after my first day, but I couldn’t. I loved the job, and I loved my office. And I loved my boss. Literally. But I wasn’t too keen on my coworkers. I wasn’t sure that I fit in with them. They were all high class, and I was an average girl who liked to go home and put on sweatpants after a hard day at work. I imagined them sitting around in their designer clothes after work, sipping expensive wine out of crystal goblets while I chugged it directly from a bottle with a screw cap.

And the worst part of it all was that Nick fit right in with them. He fit in with their good looks, their expensive tastes, their outfits. They had inside jokes and had already bonded, and I felt like the outsider. Maybe it was because I started a day later than I was supposed to. Or maybe it was because I was engaged to marry the boss and they thought that was why I had been hired. Whatever the case, I didn’t get the warm
fuzzies from these people, despite Cash’s best efforts to show me around. Even he rubbed me the wrong way as he flirted with me throughout our day together. I felt uncomfortable, and I missed McMillan already. I missed working with Lucy and Holly, girls who had become my best friends. I couldn’t ever see myself chatting with Bree, Autumn, Christine, or Kaylee like I did with Lucy and Holly. I couldn’t imagine throwing out ideas in team meetings with Jace, Derrick, and Cash the way I had with my team at McMillan. I was seriously intimidated by these people, and it was already stifling my creativity.

Bree was sitting at the table directly next to Nick when I arrived. Nick was at the head of the table, and I didn’t want to be the girl who had to sit by her man even though I longed for that brush of his knee against mine. I took a seat a few chairs away from Nick, and he gave me a funny look. And then I briefly wondered if Bree’s knee would be brushing his instead of mine. I hated her. I didn’t know her, and I knew it was irrational, but I fucking hated her.