Worthy of Redemption (8 page)

“Maybe I can buy you a beer after work and you can return it then,” Pete said with too much hope in his tone.

“Sure,” she said, but I knew it wasn’t just an answer to shut him up as most women would do. I knew she would really have a beer with him in lieu of the borrowed tie. It was both i
mpressive and disgusting.

“You don’t have to have a drink with him,” I told her as I climbed in the car behind her. “I’ll pay him for the use of his tie.”

She balanced herself on her knees, practically in my lap as her fingers hurriedly untied my tie.

“I don’t mind,” she said, her warm sweet breath washing over my face. “Pete’s a nice guy.”

“Pete thinks you’re going to be his girlfriend,” I snorted.

“Pete is just lonely. His wife died a couple of years ago and his son just went away to co
llege.”

“I didn’t know he was ever married,” I said, feeling a little guilty for not kno
wing anything about the man.

“You can learn a lot when you talk to other people about non-work related to
pics,” she said, meeting my eyes.

Emmy had helped me to be more personable at one time, but the stresses of life at that time forced me to become introverted again. I wasn’t insensitive to the needs and problems of others. I have helped Sterling employees at my own expense and I often donated to charities, but I ne
ver struck up a conversation with the random Pete’s, discovering their trials and tribulations.

I watched
Lily’s face as she wrapped Pete’s tie around my neck and tied it. What were her trials and tribulations? She had spoken about having pain on her first day. Was it physical? Was it emotional, and if so, from whom? I wondered how much I could learn from her if I just asked. How much would she be willing to reveal? How much could I
convince
her to reveal if I reached my hand up her short skirt?

The car stopped suddenly to avoid an accident. Reflexively, I grabbed
Lily’s hip to keep her from slamming into the front seat. Even after the car continued on smoothly, I didn’t release her. I had not felt curves like hers since the last time I had the privilege of holding her. Her eyes locked with mine for a second before she put all of her focus into my tie.

“Much better,” she murmured, smoothing my tie
down my chest. I didn’t miss the fact that her hands paused over my pectorals and abs.

I was forced to release her when she sat down on the other side of the car. Her skirt rode up her thighs, revealing creamy, smooth skin. She tugged nervously on the hem, trying to cover herself. We were silent for the rest of the short trip.
Lily stared out of her window and I stared at her, fantasizing about her thick thighs wrapped around my waist and her bare breasts pressed up against my bare chest.

When we arrived at our destination, I got out ahead of her and offered her my hand to assist her out of the car. She hesitated, looking at my hand with her mouth slightly open. I urged her on with a quick, firm wave of my hand and she finally put her soft hand into mine. As she climbed out, her skirt rode impossibly further up her legs and I was rewarded with a glimpse of black, lacey panties before she stood up an
d adjusted her skirt. The October wind whipped her loose tendrils about her face, making her appear wild and uninhibited.

I possessively put my hand on the small of her back and lead her inside the restaurant, ho
ping no one would notice how aroused this red headed beauty just made me.

~Lily~

“Marco, it’s nice to see you again.” Kyle was shaking hands with a man that must have been chiseled out of stone in the image of the gods.

Mangini was around the six foot mark, with jet black hair, steel blue eyes, and a smile that made me stumble. Fortunately, no one noticed that I grabbed onto the back of a chair to keep myself from falling on my face in front of Mr. Wonderful.

“Had I known you were going to bring a date, I would have brought my own,” Marco said, as his eyes fell on me.

Kyle cleared his throat and his business smile faltered for a second. “This is my assistant Lily,” he said quietly.

Marco’s eyebrows shot up as he looked at Kyle in amusement. “Oh, is our lunch going to be as serious as that, Kyle? You may have warned a friend that we were going to have a
serious
business meeting.” He looked away from Kyle and met my gaze. “Ciao, Bella,” he said in a smooth tone.

I extended my hand for a handshake, but he engulfed my hand in one of his and brought it to his lips, never looking away from my eyes. Little shockwaves of e
nergy shot up my arm. I’m not a girly girl by any means, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling like a fool.

"Ciao. Come stai?"

His eyes widened in surprise. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle look at me with bewilderment at first, but then irritation.

“Ora sono molto meglio,” Marco grinned.

Yes, I’m much better now, too
.

“Why don’t we sit down?” Kyle suggested
and then his mouth set in a firm line. He forced Marco to drop my hand by forcing his way between us. He pulled out my chair for me and gave me a glare that indicated that I was to sit down immediately. I took my seat and Kyle took the seat beside me.

“How are things at Sterling Corp, Kyle?” Marco asked after we ordered our drinks.

“Improving more each day,” Kyle answered with confidence. “We didn’t let a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.”

“One of those bad apples is your own father,” Marco challenged. “How are you handling that?”

“I’m handling it,” Kyle answered tightly.

“How are
you
doing at the company? At one point you were thought to be in on the whole conspiracy.”

“You know that I wasn’t, Marco. You know what I did.”

Marco thought about it for a moment as he tapped the table with his finger. I felt a little uneasy. Things had quickly gone from easy to intense in less than three minutes, and I really had no idea what they were talking about. I knew about Kyle’s ‘dad’ stealing money from the company and investors, and I had heard rumors that Kyle was somehow involved, but it never made since to me. Kyle had a place in the company while Walter Sterling not only lost his place in the company, but had done a little time for his deeds.

“You saved thousands of jobs,” Marco acknowledged with a nod. I tried to hide my own surpr
ise at that. I never heard that, not exactly. Now Kyle’s words from that long ago morning made some sense.

“And I saved people like you a lot of money,” Kyle added.

Marco nodded again. “Yes, you did. So, what do you want from me now?”

“Some of that money I helped you to save,” Kyle grinned. I grinned because he grinned. It was one of the rarest sights I had ever seen.

“I should have known when you showed up with the pretty assistant that you were going to reach into my pockets,” Marco laughed. “You have plenty of your own money, Sterling. Why do you need mine?”

“I have a project you may be interested in,” Kyle said and leaned forward. “I want to deve
lop affordable housing for working middle to lower income families.”

I looked at him with bewilderment. I didn’t know that Kyle Sterling cared about where the people below his class lived.

“What would I want with housing for the poor?” Marco spit out. “You’ll build them nice homes and they’ll wreck them. That’s what they do. It will become nothing but a hassle and a cesspool for drugs, crime, stupidity, teenage pregnancies and breeding more lower income children that will grow up to be like their disgusting parents.”

The image of the man chiseled by the gods was obliterated as I glared at him.

“I resent that,” I said sharply.

“Lily!” Kyle snapped.

“No, you’re not going to hush me,” I snapped back at him before turning back to Marco. “I resent your words.”

“Have I insulted you, Lily?” Marco asked casually.

“I grew up in low income housing. There have been more drugs and crimes in your high class society than there ever were in our development. My mother worked her ass off to care for me and my sister, and both of us are college educated and drug free.”

“Then you and your sister are an exception,” Marco shrugged.

“Why not make us the norm?” I challenged.

“Lily, that’s enough,” Kyle whispered harshly in my ear.

“Allow her to speak,” Marco said casually. “What do you mean make you the norm?”

I took a deep breath before speaking to try and quell my anger and gather my words. I didn’t expect to have to do
much talking at this meeting. I was there to look pretty, take notes, make appointments, and look pretty.

“Look,” I started slowly. “I understand where you are coming from, I really do, but we were very fortunate. The proprietors of our development set very high standards for the tenants and held us accountable for our actions. Sure there were some problems, but nothing too crazy. The development was mostly occupied by working families who wanted more out of life, but the fact of the matter is not ev
eryone can have ‘more.’ But they always worked for it. Maybe you can have the same type of community. There has to be standards and accountability and you cannot lower the standards or ease back on accountability. You can give people who are willing to work for ‘more’ that opportunity, and even if they never reach a higher place in life, they will definitely have laid the way for their children as my mother did for my sister and I.”

Kyle stopped trying to get me to shut up and was now looking at me with inte
rest. Marco gazed at me from across the table while his fingers continued to tap on the table. The waiter appeared to bring our drinks and take our orders, but none of us had looked at a menu yet. Marco sent him away without taking his eyes off of me.

“Did you have a good childhood, Lily?” he asked.

“Yes, despite living in a ‘cesspool of stupidity,” I answered sourly.

“You’ve mentioned a sister and a mother, did you have a father?” Marco asked.

Kyle shifted in his seat, but he didn’t stop this line of questioning.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked quietly.

“I am trying to get an idea of what kind of people live in these developments,” he shrugged.

“My father left us when my sister was only six months old. I was almost two. I don’t have any memory of him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marco said sincerely.

I glanced at Kyle who was now staring at his glass of iced tea with a distracted expression.

“At least you have your mother and sister,” Marco said with a soft smile.

“I only have myself,” I responded quietly and picked up my menu.

Kyle was staring at me. I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my face, but he remained quiet.

“In the end, I guess that is all we have,” Marco solemnly said.

I nodded my agreement just as the waiter reappeared to take our orders.

“What do I get out of making an investment into something like this?” Marco asked me and not Kyle after the waiter had gone. “If everyone is middle class to low income, how do I profit from such a thing?”

“I’m not sure what Kyle had in mind,” I said. “This is his project not mine.”

Kyle took his cue and jumped in. I relaxed into my seat and for the next two hours I sat back to enjoy the ride that was Kyle Sterling while he was talking bus
iness. He was animated, bright eyed, and enthusiastic about his proposal. Occasionally, the men would refer to me for my opinion. I didn’t see how my opinion mattered, but I gave it anyway. When I wasn’t talking, I was eating and drinking Malibu Sunrises. The bartender made them really well –not as well as me, but well enough.

“I have to get back,” Marco said later after glancing at his watch. “I have a
nother meeting. I would like to meet tonight for some drinks if you’re available. I love the Philadelphia night life. It’s unlike any other city in the world.”

The two shared a knowing look before they each broke out in a grin.

“Those were good times,” Marco said.

“Yes, they were,” Kyle agreed.

“We used to party pretty hard,” Marco explained to me. “Kyle always got more women than me, thanks to his ultimate dance moves.”

My eyebrows shot up as I looked over at my typically moody boss. “
You
have dance moves?” I asked.

He waved a hand. “That was a long time ago,” he said dismissively.

“I’ll bet he still has them,” Marco grinned. “We will persuade him to dance for you tonight, Lily.”

“Oh, I’m invited out for the night of debauchery?” I teased.

“Of course,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’ll call you with the details in a couple of hours.”

Ky
le stood up and shook his hand. Marco rounded the table as I got to my feet. He embraced me briefly and kissed each cheek.

“Ciao, Bella. Ci vediamo più tardi stasera.”

“Yes, see you tonight,” I smiled and watched him walk away. “I like him,” I announced.

Kyle scowled and then gestured for me to walk ahead of him. He put his hand on the small of my back and guided me along.

~~~

“Do you know anything about your father?” Kyle asked in the car ride back to the office.

I looked over at him a little startled. It was the first he spo
ke since we left the restaurant nearly twenty minutes before. We were stuck in traffic. I suppose he needed something to entertain him.

“That’s a personal question,” I remarked.

“Unfortunately, we already have a very personal relationship,” he said grimly.

I couldn’t stop my sardonic smile. “Yes, I suppose that is true,” I said. After a moment I said “My father lives twenty miles from the town I grew up in, where my mother and sister live now,” I said quietly as I watched the traffic outside of my window.

I haven’t spoken of my father in years, since I was with Gavin, and even then we rarely had reason to bring him up. I was a little uncomfortable speaking to Kyle of all people about something so personal, but he had his own daddy problems. Maybe he understood a little.

“When I was in high school, I went on a quest to find him. I found that he had a wife and four children – two boys and two girls.” I finally looked at Kyle. He was watching me with i
nterest. “The oldest is a girl only a few weeks older than my sister. I met her once, completely by coincidence. I went to a party in another town and she was there. Even before I asked her name, I knew who she was. Nina Whitman looked
just like me
. She looked more like me than my real sister Lydia. I lied to her, gave her a fake last name and then I left the party. I walked home five miles in the rain, in the dark so no one would see me cry. I was so
angry
and
hurt
. How could he look at
her
every day and not think of
me
? How could he not think of the baby he left behind?”

The memory was more painful than I anticipated. I felt as if someone had closed a tight fist over my chest. I put my hand there and rubbed softly to alleviate some of the pressure. Kyle looked at me somberly.

“I never went looking for him again. I changed after that. I became a different person. I did everything I could not to look like Nina. I started dressing differently, dying my hair, getting pierced and inked. I wasn’t satisfied until I could no longer see her face when I looked in the mirror.”

“You’ve never thought about contacting your father directly?” Kyle asked.

“What for?” I shrugged. “I wouldn’t have been able to handle that kind of rejection. He could have found me just as easily as I found him and he didn’t. Anyway, he was the one that left.”

We were quiet for the rest of the trip back to the office. When the car pulled over, Kyle threw open the door but didn’t immediately step out.

“Lily, I’m sorry your father is a jackass,” he said sincerely.

I gave him a small smile. “I’m sorry your fake father is a jackass.”

He actually smiled at me before stepping out of the car. When he offered his hand to help me out, I didn’t hesitate in putting my hand in his. Like in the restaurant, Kyle put his strong hand on the small of my back and led me through the lobby to the elevator. We were alone in the cab, but he stood so close behind me I could feel the heat of his body. I turned around, bumping into him in the process. Kyle was like a rock and unmovable, but I almost fell on my ass. He grabbed me around the waist, saving me from injury for the second time that day.