Vibrizzio (22 page)

“I don’t think time is going to change my mind.” She slowly lifted her eyes to him.

“But you haven’t made up your mind.” His gaze flicked back and forth over her face. “I can see it. Let’s do this—proceed as normal for the next two weeks, no more talking about it until after the final Pineapple presentation, and then I’ll accept your answer no matter what it is.”

“No matter what?” Lyssa arched a skeptical eyebrow.

“No matter what.” He pushed back from the counter. “And now we’d better get back to business as usual before the lunch crowd pours in. I was going to eat at my desk, but do you want to go grab—”

“Yeah, no. I’ve got a lot of work, and I was going to do the same.”

“All right … so we’re good?” She nodded, and Hayden didn’t say any more on the subject, though he looked doubtful. They exited the lunchroom, and before they went their opposite ways, he said, “Unless we cross paths in the meantime, I’ll see you in my office on Wednesday, two PM, to review the report.”

“See you then.” Lyssa returned to her desk but had trouble concentrating on the numbers and notes in front of her. Hayden’s declarations hadn’t been a complete surprise to her—she wasn’t ignorant of the growing affection between them. Although she’d truly been chalking it up to friendship, now that Hayden had said it out loud, it was so obvious that they’d been hurtling toward something more. She forced her mind onto the report and kept it there until she’d completed a satisfactory amount of work for the day and then went home.

That night, as she heated up a quick dinner and cleaned around her apartment, she asked herself the obvious question:
Why the hell not
? Why not dive into a relationship with Hayden and see where it went? The only thing that’d been keeping her from entertaining the notion before was his perceived lack of interest. Now that he was practically on his knees for her, why resist?

She was back to the same thought that had niggled at her earlier—the timing. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he’d only started feeling this way about her after getting summarily dumped by Roni and Sabine—two women who were on the furthest end of the female spectrum from Lyssa. They were in Hayden’s league, his sport, and now he sought solace in badminton. Someone
gettable
as Sean had put it.

Or maybe … maybe the reason for his sudden attraction was the opposite—what better challenge than a woman who’d given up on men entirely? Hayden certainly did like a challenge, didn’t he? Wasn’t that why he’d kept his sights on Sabine for so long? And who knew what kinds of hurdles he’d cleared to conquer Roni. Lyssa had turned down his friends with benefits offer the other night, so maybe he was taking a different route to getting her in his bed. Once conquering Vibrator Girl, would he immediately lose interest? No. Hayden wouldn’t do that to her, not consciously … but what if the evil plan was buried in his subconscious and he didn’t realize it?

This mental torture was giving her a headache and getting her nowhere. She needed a break from her real-life dilemma. Stowing her bags for the laundromat near the door, she turned off all the lamps, leaving only the glow of buttons and numbers from her electronics to cast any illumination. Stripping down and unfolding the futon, she soothed herself with the familiar hum and gentle, pulsating ministrations of her steadfast friend.

Before her imagination found purchase on a solid fantasy, however, her thoughts returned to Hayden. He’d indicated that he was ready for a new approach, hoping that starting out as friends would make the relationship last longer. That was a good sign. But as his exact words ran through her mind—
If I really want to find the girl who’s going to be it for me for the rest of my life, I think maybe I ought to try starting with friendship first—
she zeroed in on a few words in particular:
if
…
I think
…
maybe
…
try.
So the whole thing was experimental, and Lyssa was his test subject.

“Ack!” she shouted into the darkness. They weren’t even officially a couple yet, and she was already driving herself batty second-guessing his motives. Clearly she needed more time as the Vibster’s mistress before she’d be ready to venture back into the dating jungle again.

“Sorry, baby,” she said to the electronic device. “No more thinking about anyone else tonight. It’s you and me … as soon as I give you a little pick-me-up, eh?” She reached over to the drawer where she kept extra batteries and pulled out the last two, setting them on the mattress while she popped out the old ones. “Shit!” The worn batteries slid from her grasp and clunked onto the wood floor before rolling away in an uncertain direction. It was too dark to hope to see them, so she decided to leave them until morning. She had a date with the new recruits.

“Gah!” When she’d scooped the fresh batteries from the mattress, one of them fell from her hand. She instinctively bent forward to see if she could track it, and the other slipped out to join his comrades in dropping and rolling. Leaning over the side of her bed, she patted the floor in as wide of a circle as her arm span would allow. The tip of her finger bumped against something and more rolling ensued. She groaned and buried her face in her mattress. Even if she crawled around bare-assed to find the batteries, she had no way of knowing which were new and which were spent and would have to go through a series of testing to identify the right combination.

Blowing out a huff, she clicked Vibby’s cover back into place. “Sorry, sweetie pie, I’m not in the mood to deal with this right now.”

After pulling on her flannel pants, she lulled herself to sleep with a new source of comfort: Hayden had said business as usual until the project was finished. That gave her almost two full weeks before she’d have to make her decision. Two weeks in which most of her work could be completed away from Hayden. Even when they’d be together, it’d be for short periods in the office, and wholly focused on business. She’d be free to clear her head and craft a coherent and sensible response to his proposition … assuming he’d still be interested in two weeks.

* * *

She was put in a room with Hayden sooner than expected when Beecher called them both into his office the next morning.

“Just got off the phone with Randall Shepherd,” Beecher said. “You know he’s been a proponent of adding L.T. Bell’s company to DH’s wildcard stable, and you also know he’s not been able to make enough progress with her to satisfy the board. Well, he called with a top-priority request.”

Hayden sat forward and Lyssa leaned back.

“It appears Miss Bell is willing to expose more about her process, but only to you two.”

“Us?” Lyssa said.

“Why us?” Hayden asked. “Did she give any reason?”

“Does she ever?” Beecher responded. “That’s all she told Shep—she’ll provide the requested insight to the process, but only to the two from F and K who visited her last fall. Needless to say, this has to be done before the final presentation at the end of next week. You two will be getting on a plane tomorrow and spending the night at her farm.”

Lyssa opened her mouth to question the necessity of an overnight, but the resolute, unflinching eyes of her boss—fixed on her—told her not to bother. She’d have to spend the night with Hayden.

Chapter Nineteen

Lyssa and Hayden arrived at the Indiana farmhouse to find a note from Lula on the bulky oak table in the kitchen. The investor said to show themselves to the same bedrooms as last time and she’d be back around four o’clock. Hayden grunted and stomped up the stairs to where he’d slept last time.

Lyssa took the opportunity to situate herself in her designated room at the back of the house. While she pulled a few things out of her overnight bag and set them on the tall dresser, Hayden appeared in the doorway.

“Oh, sorry, do you two want to be alone?” he asked.

She glanced down at the thick, black tube of plastic in her hand. “Hey! This really is a flashlight.” She flicked it on and shined the bright beam straight into his eyes. “This place gets freaky at night, so I’m prepared to do battle with the ghouls.”

“All right, all right.” He squinted and held his hands up in front of his eyes. “Can you shut it off so we can talk business?” She complied, and he lowered his hands. “We need to present a unified front with Lula. Judging by that note, it looks like she’s up to her old tricks, and we’ve got too much to do before the DH board meeting next week to let her waste any more of our time. This place has a surprisingly good Internet connection. If she won’t talk, we’ll have to ignore her, plug in, and get as much other work done as we can.”

“Agreed.” Though Lyssa didn’t relish the idea of being outright rude to the eccentric portfolio manager. “And since we have a couple of hours before she comes back, we can finish going over the draft right now.”

“Yep. I’ll meet you in the kitchen. Just as soon as you finish fondling your new toy.” He was gone before the next beam could attack his pupils.

Hayden kept his word and left the topic of becoming more than friends off the table. They focused strictly on the report, and everything felt back to normal between them … causing Lyssa to consider once again whether this was where they should leave the relationship. Why mess with a good thing?

They shut down their computers and discussed ideas for the format of the final presentation until Lula T. Bell came in at precisely four o’clock. If Lyssa hadn’t been sitting in the woman’s kitchen, she wasn’t sure she’d have recognized her—the portfolio manager wore a pair of dark, pinstriped slacks and a crisp, white, button-down shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail like before, but it was brushed to a silky sheen with a simple black scarf wound neatly around it instead of the gauzy pink bow.

“Good,” Lula said. “Glad to see you made it okay. I hope you won’t mind diving right in.” She handed them each a glossy folder. “I figured we could spend today on the
what
of the investment process, and then tomorrow I’ll show you the
how
.”

Hayden appeared too stunned to move, so Lyssa cleared the papers from in front of him and added them to her small pile, then got up to shake Lula’s hand. “Nice to see you again.” Hayden recovered and offered his own greeting.

“That’s where it all begins,” Lula said, pointing to a stack of newspapers and magazines in the corner and walking over to them. “I read everything I can.” She hoisted an armload and plopped it onto the table, letting the periodicals slip off one another and spread out while she took a seat on the opposite side of the table from the F&K employees.

Her collection was eclectic:
The Wall Street Journal
and
Forbes
, of course, but also
People Magazin
e,
The National Enquirer,
the tiny, local newspaper, beauty magazines, sports journals, literary quarterlies, and science publications. Everything.

“I look for trends,” Lula continued, “and I pay attention to marketing strategies. People are the most important factor on both sides of the investment equation—those running the company and those buying what they’re selling.” She went on to explain the qualities she looked for and gave examples of companies she’d discovered through scouring newspapers and magazines. When dinnertime came, she pulled out a tray of cold cuts and salads from the local deli, and she openly answered all of Hayden and Lyssa’s questions as they ate. She was a woman who knew when to play coy and when it was time to give it all up.

After they’d finished eating and cleaned up the dinner dishes, Lula concluded with, “So that’s how I build my list of potential investments. I’ll show you how we decide who actually gets our money tomorrow. Now who’s interested in seeing my baby chicks?”

Hayden chuckled. Apparently the deluge of forthright information had increased his threshold for his hostess’s quirkiness. “Sure. Let’s go see some chicks.”

Upon opening the door to the small coop next to the barn, Lyssa couldn’t stop cooing. Dozens of fluffy, yellow chicks chirped and scurried under the glow of a heat lamp. “How old are they?” she asked.

“Hatched last week. You can pick them up. Here.” Lula reached in and snatched one, handing it to Lyssa, who immediately cupped her hands together to give it a nest. The chick’s warm feathers tickled her skin while its tiny claws poked like gentle pinpricks. Lifting it up to nose level, she held it close. The fuzzy little guy looked directly at her and squeaked.

“Aww.” Hayden stepped behind Lyssa and leaned forward, lightly stroking the top of the chick’s head with the tip of his index finger. “How long before we can eat him?”

Lyssa nudged him with her shoulder as best she could without disturbing the chick.

“Roughly five months,” Lula answered. “But these, I think, I’ll keep. I miss having chickens about.”

Lyssa smiled and lifted the chick higher so she could turn and place it on top of Hayden’s thick waves. He raised his eyes, but the bird was too far back for him to see. “What’s it doing? Besides tickling me.”

“Just having a look around,” Lyssa answered. “Oh, and now she’s poking around at your head. Do you feel it?”

He winced. “Yeah.”

“Oh no.” Lyssa pushed up on her tiptoes as Hayden gingerly crouched so she could reach the chick and lift it away from his hair. “Uh, Hayden, are you trying out a new hair gel?”

“Nooo.”

“Does your head feel a little warm?”

Hayden groaned and reached a hand up toward his hair but paused before he touched anything gooey and lowered it.

Lyssa sniggered. “I’m so sorry.” She meant it, but that didn’t stop her from continuing to giggle as she dropped the offending fowl back in with its siblings.

“Well, ladies, it’s been a blast, but I’m going to go inside and boil my head now.” He held his arms out, bent at the elbow, with his hands clutching and unclutching the air as if torn between wiping the nasty stuff from his hair and keeping his hands clean. When Lyssa snorted, he cast a glare in her direction, but his expression melted into a smile. “If it was anyone but you, Bates … ” As he made his way to the door, he said, “I’ve got a lot of e-mails to return from earlier in the day, so I’ll say goodnight now, and see you in the morning.”