The Inheritance (Forever Bound #1) (19 page)

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in her chair. “I just about have everyone called,” she frantically replied.

“I can see that,” he mumbled. Her eyes locked with his and the deafening quiet hit her. “Just don’t let it interfere with your nap,” he sarcastically replied. He left her desk and headed to his own office, where once again he closed the door behind him.

“Unbelievable,” she mumbled. She couldn’t do anything right and she was five seconds from getting fired. She realized it looked strange, having her eyes closed at her desk, but she didn’t stand for anyone thinking she was a bad worker.

She couldn’t fight the urge and she had to head to his office, so he would get one thing straight. She knocked on his door. “Yeah?” he called out.

She stared at his door.
Yeah?
“May I come in?” she asked.

His words were muffled, but she gathered that he reluctantly agreed. She opened the door and he looked up at her. “Yes?” he asked, sounding beyond irritated.

“Listen…I need this job and I don’t know what I did to deserve some of this treatment, but if you want me to look for something else…I will.” He sighed, but didn’t talk, as she continued to speak her mind. “You told me to tell you when you're out of line and frankly…I have no other choice but to tell you that Derek…you’re being a jackass.” She couldn’t believe the words blurted out and she anticipated he would instantly fire her, but she didn’t care. She had to tell him the truth.

His mouth opened and no words come out. He just started to laugh and nodded. “You’re right and I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’ve had a lot going on and I’ve taken some of it out on you and you don’t deserve that. Thank you for setting me straight.”

She stood there, strangely considering what she should do next. “I…I’m not fired?” she sheepishly asked.

He snickered, shaking his head. “I appreciate your honesty and I appreciate your hard work.”

“No problem,” she mumbled. “I guess I’ll go back to my desk now. Thanks for hearing me out.”

He nodded, still holding a smile on his lips. She fumbled to his door and started to close it, when he stated she could leave it open. She headed back to her desk and sat down. She glanced back towards his office and she felt a weird tingling inside of her. She suddenly didn’t know how to take the Mayor, but she did know that she didn’t want to go anywhere.

***

Derek felt better after talking to Charity, which just so happened only ten minutes after his failed date with Holly. They had nothing to talk about and he couldn’t wait to get out of the restaurant. He settled on simply hearing her go on and on about what she wanted out of life. Then getting back to his office and getting scolded by Charity, made him smile.

He enjoyed her honesty. As the rest of the day wore on, he was glad for five o’clock to arrive. He grabbed his things and headed out of his office, to find Charity ending another call. She crossed it off her list and then looked up at him. “Leaving for the day, I presume?” she asked.

He nodded. “Something you should be thinking about doing, as well.”

She looked down at her list. “I have one more call, then I think I’ll head out.”

He absentmindedly stood there, unmoving and not knowing what to add to the conversation. “Well, I’ll leave you to it,” he finally replied.

She nodded, smiling. “See you tomorrow!”

He nodded. “Goodbye!” He headed towards the elevator, as she picked up the phone. Before the door shut, he grabbed it and called out to her. “Charity?”

She looked up. “Yes?” she asked.

“I promise to make sure tomorrow I’m not as cranky as I was today.”

She smiled at him, but didn’t respond as the person had come onto the line and she started talking to them. The door closed and he pressed the number for the lobby and fell back against the wall of the elevator.
Would it ruin anything if he just admitted he enjoyed being around her
, he wondered. It was something he never wanted to feel again, but it was there and the truth couldn’t hide that. He needed to do his best and keep his promise and not scare her away, because he couldn’t push her away anymore.

***

Charity grabbed her purse and keys and left the office as soon as she was finished with the last call. She found herself smiling as she rode the elevator down to the lobby, then as the door opened she exited the elevator and her eyes went to a picture of Derek on the wall.

He was handsome and from seeing him in person, he was sexy, but it was only a fantasy to believe that anything could ever happen between them. He was the Mayor of Belfast and she was the woman that lived from paycheck to paycheck. They were so different. His half smile in the picture seemed to hide years of hurt and pain, but it didn’t make him any less handsome and deserving of someone to love. Yet, she couldn’t be that woman for him.

She left the building and headed to the parking garage, where she reached her car and unlocked the door with her fob. She sat down in the front seat and fished her phone out of her purse. She pulled up Damian’s name and typed in her message.

Charity: Up for company?

The text message signaled almost immediately, before she even started her car.

Damian: Better believe it. Can’t wait to see you!

She sighed, putting her phone back into her purse. She couldn’t wait to get to his house and forget the nonsense of Derek and her ever happening. The radio drowned out her thoughts and she drove out of the parking garage. She picked up her pace the closer she got to his house. She pulled into his driveway and barely had the car in park, before she jumped out and quickly walked up to his door.

He held it open, as he had seen her coming, and the moment she reached him she threw her arms around him. He closed the door behind them as she frantically tore his clothes off, then helped him with her own. “What brought this on?” he asked, breathlessly kissing her.

“You have no idea how much I need you,” she answered between her tongue dashing across his. He picked her up in his arms and didn’t bother carrying her upstairs. He carried her into the living room and laid her down on the plush rug. He kissed her for a few moments, rocking his hips against hers, until he was ready to explode and had to pull back.

It was then that she realized what Damian meant. Even though she knew they had to stop, while he grabbed a condom from the drawer in the living room, she didn’t want to stop. She stared at him. “You’re keeping condoms there, now?” she asked with a laugh.

He smiled. “Easier access. I have them in the kitchen, too.” He winked at her, as he slid the condom on. He hovered over her and they kissed softly. She opened her legs to him and he plunged into her. Derek slowly faded from her memory as Damian came into the picture.

Derek took a drink of brandy and sunk down in his office chair at home. He turned on his computer, but before it loaded up, he received a phone call. He answered it on the second ring. “This is Derek Worthington.”

“Hey, it’s Calvin.”

Derek sighed. He’d sent a couple of emails and tried three times to reach him over the past few days, and he was thankful to finally hear him on the other end. “Cal…please tell me you have good news.”

“Well…I have news, but I’m not sure how good you’ll think it is.”

“Okay.” Derek took a sip from his glass, bracing him for what Calvin would tell him. “What’s going on?”

“I found her. She looks different than you’ve described. She has blonde hair and goes by the name JoJo Bradley.”

Derek nearly choked on his brandy when he heard the name. “JoJo?” Derek asked.

There was a slight pause on the other end before Calvin continued. “It’s her modeling stage name of sorts. Honestly, you wouldn’t probably recognize her if she was walking down the street. Maybe if she bumped into you, but even that’s a long shot.”

“Okay…I get it. She looks different, but the point is you saw her. Will she talk to you or me?”

“I reached out to her, but unfortunately, she won’t talk.”

Derek groaned. It was one thing to see her, but quite another to get her to communicate. They couldn’t force her to talk. “Now what?” Derek asked.

“I wish I could tell you that. I can text you the address in California, but outside of you flying out here I don’t know what else can be done.”

Derek thought about it. The last thing he wanted to do was take a trip to California, but it probably would be helpful. He could get through to her. He was sure of that. “You’ve tried, and I appreciate that, but I understand you have other clients, and I can’t take up any more of your time.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

Derek was too, but it wasn’t Calvin’s fault. It appeared she was doing a great job of not being located. “Take care, Cal.”

“You too, Derek. Let me know if you need anything else.”

They disconnected the call and Derek thought of the information he did gather from his private investigator. His phone dinged with a text message, that was Jenna’s address. He put his phone down and went into google, looking up information on JoJo Bradley. Immediately three pictures popped up on his computer. He stared at the picture in front of him. Calvin was right, he wouldn’t have recognized her. It wasn’t just the blonde hair. She used to have greener eyes and now she had contacts in that changed her eyes to blue. Either that or it was photoshopped. Her smile was as breathtaking as he had remembered it, but her eyes appeared almost dull.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” he asked the one picture.

He glanced at the other pictures and then got off the screen. He took only a minute to decide what to do. He picked up his phone and thumbed through his contact list until he found the number to the airport. He clicked on the number and waited for a representative to answer. “Hello, this is Rachel with US Air. How may I help you?”

“Hey, Rachel…this is Mayor Derek Worthington. I need a flight to Los Angeles for either Friday night or Saturday morning.”

“Sure, Mayor Worthington.” He waited for her to check into her information, then she returned to the call. “I have two flights. I have a non-stop for Saturday morning at 6:30 and one on Friday night departing at 11:10 with a two-hour layover in Atlanta. There’s only one ticket left on the flight on Saturday.”

“I’ll take Friday night,” he quickly said. He wanted to get there as early as he could, so he could get to her and talk some sense into her and then get back home and continue the project.”

The woman calculated his total, and he gave his credit card information and received his confirmation number. He thanked her and hung up the call. He sat there, stunned that he just made plans to go to California. He stood up and left the den, nearly bumping into Mary as she came down the steps.

“I’m going out of town for a few days,” he stated.

She tilted her head. “You’re just the traveler all of a sudden, aren’t you?”

He laughed. “Appears that way. I leave Friday night and will be back probably on Monday.”

She smiled. “Business I’m assuming?”

He nodded. “Both!” He smiled. “So, I guess you’ll get a few more days off to spend time with that grandbaby.”

“Twist my arm!” She laughed as she left him at the bottom of the stairs. He would have to cancel his Monday appointments and talk to Charity about his trip.

***

Tuesday and Wednesday went a little better for Charity, in that Derek didn’t seem as much of a dictator as the first day she worked by herself. Although, it wasn’t really because he finally had an epiphany and decided she wasn’t his slave. Even if he made a point to express how he would try to go easier on her. It was because he was so busy with meetings that she spent most of the time at the office alone, and she thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet. At night, she made her way to Damian’s house, and she always made sure she was home before ten o’clock. It was a well-oiled machine that she didn’t want to stop.

When she woke up on Thursday, she anxiously called the bank to see that her money had been deposited into her checking account. Before she rushed out the door to go to work, she made out a check for Richard. It wasn’t the entire amount, as he wasn’t the only one she was indebted to, but she hoped he would let it go until the following day; despite giving her the deadline.

She placed the check in an envelope and grabbed her purse, then headed out of her apartment and down the stairs. She crossed the parking lot and attempted to open the door to his office. To her, relief washed over her, that the door was locked. She didn’t expect him to be in that early. She opened up the nighttime drop box and put the check inside where two other envelopes already were. She didn’t have time to waste, so she went to her car, got in and drove away.

When she got to the office, she noticed Derek’s door open, and he was working in his office. He looked up when she stepped off the elevator. She waved to him and was surprised to see he at least made note of her gesture. He smiled and casually waved back. She got to her desk and started to prepare herself for the day when her phone rang. His number popped up on her screen. She answered it, while logging into her computer.

“Hello?”

“Hey…will you grab the calendar for next week and come in here when you get a chance?”

“Sure! I’ll be there in a minute.”

“No rush!” he replied, before disconnecting their call.

She was genuinely pleased that maybe he did have an epiphany and decide she should be treated more like a human. She checked her emails and after finding none, she printed off his calendar. She went into his office, and he looked up, greeting her with a smile…an actual smile. She took a seat in front of him, and he pulled out his phone. When he got the calendar pulled up, he looked up.

“I’ll need you to cancel all Mondays appointments,” he said.

She looked up. “All of them?” she asked.

He nodded, slightly smiling. “Going out of town and won’t be coming back until late on Monday. I should’ve told you as soon as I made the trip, but if it fell through I didn’t want to bother wasting your time.”

She was pleased he even considered that. Not wanting to pry, she just marked a note next to each appointment she had down for Monday. “Alright. I’ll work on that.”

“Thank you!” he replied quietly. There was a long pause, agonizingly long pause, until he spoke again. “I have some business in California,” he replied.

She shrugged. “I wasn’t going to ask.”

He laughed softly. “I noticed, but just thought you should know I was going to go on some sort of vacation, while giving more work to you.”

She snickered. “Good to know.” She looked down at his schedule. “What about Tuesday?”

“Should be back, so let’s compare our schedules. They went over the rest of the week, only making slight changes to what their schedules read. When they were done, she looked up at him. “Anything else?” she asked.

“Not that I can think of.”

She stood up, and he did the same. “This does mean that you can take Monday off. No need for you to be here, when I’m not.”

“Thanks, Derek.” She smiled and turned around before she got out of the office, he had stopped her.

“What are you doing for lunch?” he asked.

She paused and turned around. “Eating at my desk probably,” she replied, chuckling.

“Not today!” he said. “You’re going to Marco’s .” He sat down at his desk, and she frowned.

“Marcos? Did I miss a lunch meeting that’s on the calendar?” She flipped back a page and shook her head; there was no mention of a meeting at Marcos.

He laughed, interrupting her. “There’s no lunch meeting. You like Italian, don’t you?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“That’s settled…Marcos it is.” He looked back down at his computer, ignoring her confused expression.

She slowly walked out of his office and went back to her own desk. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve said Mayor Derek Worthington just asked her out on a date. She laughed at the idea. It definitely wasn’t a date.

***

Derek didn’t know what got into him to invite Charity to lunch, but it just felt right. He walked to her desk, and she had already grabbed her purse. “Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, appearing nervous at the moment. He held back as she led the way and they both got onto the elevator. He didn’t want things to be awkward between them, but it was evident that it wouldn’t be easy. He had brought that on himself, he was positive about that. They got off the elevator, with neither one speaking a word. They walked through the lobby, and she started to reach for the door. He quickly rushed ahead so he could open the door for her. When their eyes met, he noticed redness had snuck up on her cheeks.

“Thank you!” she softly said, breaking the silence.

“You’re welcome!” he mumbled. “I’ll drive,” he said, continuing the conversation. As if that wasn’t a given, they walked to his car. Again, he nearly did flips to make sure he opened her car door. She seemed surprised by his quick actions. Again she thanked him, and he waited for her to get in the car, then closed the door on her.

When he got into the driver’s seat, he started the car. Before pulling out of the parking garage, he said, “If you would prefer something besides Italian, then speak up or forever hold your peace.” He smiled, hoping she liked his light-hearted attitude.

She smiled, relieving him. “Italian’s great, but thanks.”

He nodded. “Italian it is.” He pulled out of the parking garage and headed in the direction of the restaurant. “We could’ve gone to Bill’s Diner,” he replied quietly, almost in a teasing tone.

He heard her softly chuckle, but didn’t say a word as she looked out the window. He drove the two blocks to the restaurant and pulled into the parking lot. He would’ve gotten out and ran to open her door again, but she was quick to take the lead. He couldn’t understand why his sudden over eagerness to open doors for her and be nicer towards her, other than he could chalk it up as wanting to be a gentleman.

They reached the door of the restaurant and already someone had the door held open. They approached the hostess, and she greeted them with a smile. “Good afternoon…two today?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you,” he replied. She carried their menus to a table and glanced at him.

“Will this do for you?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s fine. Thanks!” He waited for Charity to take a seat, then sat down and reached for his menu. As he opened it up, he told her his recommendation, even though she didn’t ask. “Their lasagna is fabulous here, they sprinkle—.”

“A pinch of parmesan and garlic is just the right touch of flavor,” she finished for him.

He looked up, and they laughed in unison. “My sentiments exactly.”

She nodded. My mom’s favorite meal and it kind of stuck with me.” There was a slight distance in her expression, but her smile took away the pain she had.

He didn’t want to bring up bad memories with her, but he felt compelled to say something. “I heard you lost them suddenly, and I’m sorry for your loss.”

She smiled, keeping her eyes locked on his. He didn’t know how long they’d been in the position, but when the waitress came to their table, they were interrupted. “What can I get you to drink?”

Derek cleared his throat and pointed to Charity to make her choice first. “I’ll have tea with two sugars.”

“Sure thing, Miss.” The woman then glanced at Derek. “For you, Mayor Worthington?”

“Coffee…black, please.” The woman nodded and left their table.

He figured their conversation from earlier had passed, but she didn’t think so. “It isn’t easy losing your parents at any age. I’m sorry for the loss of your dad.”

He nodded, looking down at his menu. “Thank you, but things had been distant for a long time.” He didn’t want to focus the meal around him and his father, so he kept his eyes on the menu. He hoped she would do the same. To his relief, she did.