His Leading Lady Page 7

  She may not have been much of a mother, but at least she’d taught Alice one valuable lesson: never get your hopes up. It only ended in tears. And tears she would not do.

  Her mind flashed back to that awful night at the hospital, and she shuddered at the memory of Nicholas’s tender gaze as he held her tight.

  That could never happen again. To lose control like that… It would never happen again.

  The floors ticked by one by one, giving her another minute to calm her nerves and straighten her back. The trick behind being confident, cool, and utterly under control? Fake it ‘til you make it. She’d learned that one on her own.

  By the time the elevator doors parted, Alice was herself once more. She pretended not to notice the stares of her male coworkers as she strode past, chin tilted up, eyes focused on the boss’s office door.

  This was it, the promotion she’d been waiting for. Somehow not even that thought could ease the hollow feeling. You should be happy. Her heels clicked against the tiles. You’ve earned this.

  Dixon’s door was shut, so she knocked once before entering. He looked up with a wide smile. As a long-time veteran in the marketing and public relations industry, he was quick to smile and always had a compliment handy.

  With salt-and-pepper hair and a perma-tan, despite the weather, his smile revealed shockingly white teeth. Alice thought he would make an excellent salesman if he ever decided to switch careers. As it was, he half stood as she entered—a nod to his age that he still thought men should stand when a lady entered a room.

  “Alice! Gorgeous as ever,” he said, gesturing toward the seat across from him.

  She returned his smile and settled into the seat, folding her hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting. This was it.

  “How’s your theater event going?” His eyes crinkled at the corners, as if he was struggling not to smile even as they sat there discussing business.

  “Fine—great,” she amended. “Everything is falling into place.”

  He was still watching her, waiting for more.

  “The theater got some good news, actually,” she said. “We just found out that it’s no longer in imminent danger of being sold to a developer who wanted to tear it down.”

  “That’s great,” he said, though she had the feeling he couldn’t care less about the little downtown theater.

  “Still,” she hurried on. “The fundraiser will be key to raising the funds we need to get the theater back to its original glory and hopefully find a buyer who shares the same goal.”

  He was nodding, but his eyes had a slightly dazed quality. Yeah, he had so not called her in here to hear about The Ellen. Impatience had her squirming in her seat. Get on with it already!

  “Mr. Jamison was very impressed to hear that you volunteered to lead a charity event,” he said.

  Mr. Jamison! He was Dixon’s boss’s boss. The head boss. The biggest of the bosses. For the first time she let herself experience a flicker of hope. This was it. Here it comes….

  “So impressed,” Dixon continued, “that he has handpicked you to lead an event that is near and dear to his heart.”

  Alice blinked in surprise. No mention of a promotion, but this was big, this was huge, this was—

  “It’s another pro bono event for charity.”

  This was bullshit. She struggled to keep her smile in place. Another charity event? So she could spend more time and energy working for free? No, thank you.

  Dixon turned to a stack of files on his desk and handed one to her. “It’s for the new children’s clinic at Hudson Hospital.”

  Alice silently cursed like a sailor, but her smile never faltered. Hudson Hospital—where Ena had been rushed for her heart attack. Where Nicholas worked. That place was haunting her.

  “As you may know, Mr. Jamison and his wife are heavily involved as donors at the hospital.”

  Alice nodded, though this was news to her. She’d met the head honcho once at a Christmas party, and all he’d talked about was golf.

  Dixon leaned over the desk and his eyes locked on hers. Oh no! She knew this look. She’d seen him do this to clients. He was in full-blown sales mode. “Mr. Jamison asked for the best to lead this project, and once I told him about your recent work and the way you’ve spearheaded the fundraiser at the theater—well, he was impressed, I’ll tell you that.”

  Despite herself, a flicker of hope fought its way through her irritation. Impressed, huh? That sounded good. She risked being bold—after all, she hadn’t gotten where she was by being meek. “Impressed enough to promote me to senior associate?”

  Dixon’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open, but a split second later his head fell back and he roared with laughter. Face red from laughing so hard, he jabbed a finger in her direction. “I like you, kid. You remind me of me when I was your age.”

  Alice grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You should!” He sobered a bit as he studied her. “And to answer your question—yes. If you make a success of this event, I guarantee you that Mr. Jamison will reward you with the promotion. But don’t tell him I told you so.”

  She gave him a wink. “It’s our little secret.”

  He chuckled at her saucy tone. “So, you’ll do it?”

  Alice leaned over to snag the folder from the top of his desk and sighed. It wasn’t the ideal scenario, but it was better than nothing. One more pro bono event—a few more weeks of working her butt off for free—and the promotion would be hers. She could hold out a little longer. “I’ll do it.”

  Dixon clapped his hands together. “Fantastic. Mr. Jamison will be glad to hear it.”

  She made a move to stand up but he held out a hand to stop her. “Wait right there, my next meeting is with the contact from the hospital who’ll be leading this from their end. He should be here any second.”

  Alice’s jaw dropped at her boss’s audacity. “You planned this? You knew I would say yes?”

  A knock at his office door had him standing and walking around the desk to answer it. As he passed her he patted her shoulder. “I told you, kid, you remind me of me. Of course you’d take the gig.”

  She didn’t have a chance to respond before he swung open the office door for the hospital’s contact.

  Alice’s heart sprang into her throat before dropping to the pit of her stomach. Noooo. This could not be happening.

  Wearing a blue button-up shirt and a pair of khakis, Nicholas stood in the doorway looking like a J. Crew model come to life. He was smiling at Dixon, but then his gaze turned from her boss to Alice, and she watched in horrified fascination as he froze, his face a mask of confusion.

  “Dr. Bale, so glad you could make it,” Dixon said, extending his hand for a handshake.

  She could practically see Nicholas’s brain working, clicking the pieces into place as Dixon introduced her as the lead on the project. “I’d like you to meet Alice Klein, a rising star in the PR world.”

  Alice recovered from the shock first. She had to take control, make sure that Nicholas didn’t ruin this for her.

  “Dr. Bale,” she said, hand extended and a bright smile plastered on her face. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  His eyes widened for a moment, but then he took her hand in his and gave a peremptory shake. “Ms. Klein,” he murmured.

  His voice made her insides quake, but externally she never faltered. She kept a look of polite attention on her face as Dixon gave her background and explained more details of the project. When he was done, he clapped his hands together. “Well, I’m sure the two of you want to delve right in to business. I’ll, uh…” He backed away toward the door. “I’ll just leave you to it.”

  He disappeared through the door, and Alice heard the door close behind him, but she didn’t watch him leave. She hadn’t been able to tear her gaze away from Nicholas. His blue eyes were locked on hers, but the emotions there were unreadable.

  The door clicked shut and the ensui
ng silence was deafening.

  Alice’s brain scrambled to come up with something to say—something to make this right. But holy freaking Christ, this was a disaster. This was her big chance to prove herself to the big boss—she couldn’t walk away from it.

  His gaze softened on her. Tender, sweet. Shit. There was no way she could work with this man. She couldn’t be around him—it was bad enough they lived in the same apartment building, but at least there she wouldn’t be forced to spend time with him.

  He broke the tense silence first. “Hello again.” His low voice rumbled through her, resonating in her chest and making her heart ache inexplicably.

  Shit, shit, shit. Panic added an edge to her voice. “What are you doing here?”

  He smiled at her, his head cocked to the side as if trying to read something in her face and body language. As if trying to understand her. To get her. Good luck, buddy.

  “I thought your boss made that pretty clear,” he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. “I’m spearheading the new children’s clinic. This fundraiser is my project.”

  Right. She knew that. Still, his calm rattled her, adding fuel to the chaotic emotions that had been lying dormant since their encounter the other night. Now they were back with a vengeance, and so many hit her at once, she couldn’t sort through them. All she knew was that a knot of anxiety had lodged in her chest and made her feel like she was choking. Panic had adrenaline coursing through her veins.

  “Did you know about this?” Her voice was shrill, and his head jerked back in surprise.

  “What?”

  “Did you know that I worked here? Did you ask for me?” The words were coming out as accusations even though a voice in the back of her head was insistently trying to remind her that he’d looked just as shocked as she’d felt when he’d first walked through the door.

  “No,” he said. “God, no. I didn’t even know your last name, let alone where you work.”

  He was telling the truth—of course he was. This man had never been anything but decent and honest with her. But that didn’t seem to make a difference to her rattled emotions. She was standing on shaky ground, and she needed to get out—she needed to run.

  He took a step toward her and she inched back, nearly tripping over the chair behind her. His gaze was too intense, too all-seeing…and way too kind. She didn’t deserve kindness, not after the way she’d pushed him away. What was wrong with this guy?

  He took another step toward her so he was only inches away, close enough that she could feel his heat and smell his masculine scent. It made her dizzy, confused. He was close enough that he could reach out and touch her. If that happened she would be well and truly lost.

  Alice acted on instinct. Moving quickly, she stepped around him, dodging his arm that reached out to touch her. “Alice…”

  Whatever he was going to say, she couldn’t hear it. “I’ve got to get out of here.”

  “Alice, wait.”

  But she didn’t pause, didn’t stop to think…didn’t even try to make an excuse for her sudden retreat. It wasn’t until she reached the crowded sidewalk that she could catch her breath or even comprehend what she’d done.

  Holy shit, she’d run away—from her office, from Nicholas…and from the career break she’d been dreaming about.

  What the hell had she done?

  * * * *

  Alone in the office, Nicholas didn’t know if he should punch a wall or run after her. What the hell was that?

  He should leave. He shouldn’t stay here when her boss would come back undoubtedly curious as to why his star employee had bolted out of here. But instead, he stared at the empty office before him dumbfounded, his brain too muddled to take action. In the past sixty seconds he’d gone from shocked to confused to angered to…. Well, he didn’t know what he was feeling now.

  He should be pissed. She was the one who kicked him out and now she had the audacity to make it sound like he was following her. Like he’d set this whole thing up.

  And he might have been angry…if he hadn’t seen it there in her eyes, plain as day. Terror. It had been there and gone so quickly he might not have noticed it if he wasn’t so obsessed with those remarkable sea-green eyes. But as it was, he’d been mesmerized once again and hadn’t been able to look away—and so he’d caught it.

  So instead of being pissed that the woman who’d slept with him, rejected him, and ignored him had thrown wild accusations his way before running away… He found himself feeling sorry for her.

  Pathetic, possibly, but there it was. His heart ached for the girl. No, the woman. She’d been all woman the other night, but here in this office when surprise and confusion had toppled her carefully maintained image, he’d seen a glimpse of Alice as a little girl, scared, cornered, and lashing out in defense.

  But why? That was the question.

  Before he could contemplate it any longer, Dixon came in looking entirely too happy. But once he saw that Nicholas was alone in his office, his face fell. “Where is Alice?”

  Nicholas stared blankly for a moment but then hurried to make up a lie. “She was called away suddenly—a family emergency, I believe.” When Dixon’s forehead furrowed, he quickly added, “But she and I have made plans to meet up later to discuss the upcoming fundraiser.”

  That cleared the concern from the older man’s expression, and his broad grin was once again in place. “Wonderful, wonderful. Trust me, Dr. Bale, you are in excellent hands with our Ms. Klein here. She is responsible, reliable, and committed.” He patted Nicholas’s back as he led him out of the office and toward the elevators. “Yes, sir. Alice is relentless—she’ll be by your side throughout all of this, you can count on that.”

  * * * *

  A little while later Nicholas found himself recounting the entire scene to Claudia. She’d texted to see if he wanted to meet for drinks, as he was heading back uptown. His shift was done for the day and he wasn’t on call... Why not? Maybe Claudia could shed some light on Alice’s strange behavior.

  “So…you’re still working on the event with her?” Claudia’s nose was crinkled up in disbelief, her glass of wine halfway to her lips where she’d apparently forgotten about it as his story had gone from bad to worse. He’d had to catch her up on the events of the other night—well, the safe-for-friends’-ears version at least, followed by the morning after from hell, and finally the afternoon’s latest turn of events.

  He shrugged. “I assume so. I mean I can’t step aside from this clinic. You know that. If this clinic opens, I’ll be the surefire pick to head up the pediatrics department at the Boston hospital.”

  She nodded in understanding—she was well aware of his career goals and their timeliness—his next logical step was to be the chief pediatric surgeon, and opening the clinic had been his chance to show the board that he was a capable leader—it helped him stand out above the rest of his competition. But if the whole project was a dismal failure because he couldn’t get along with the PR company who’d offered to sponsor the main fundraiser—well, he could kiss the promotion good-bye, no doubt.

  “Maybe she’ll quit,” she said.

  He frowned. “Maybe. But you’re missing the point.”

  Claudia finally sipped her wine and set it down. “And that is?”

  “I don’t want her to quit. This could be the perfect chance to get to know her better. I mean think about it. We would be on the same team—we’d have a common goal, we’d—”

  She held a hand up. “Easy, Casanova. I get it. This would be your chance to woo her.”

  He took a long swig of his own beer. When she put it that way it sounded ridiculous.

  Leaning over the table, she pursed her lips as she studied him. “Are you sure this girl is worth it?”

  Before he could reply, she continued on. “I mean you’ve been saying all this time that you want something simple. Something easy.”

  He winced to hear his own words thrown back in his face.
Because that was what he’d wanted. Until…until… “That was before I met Alice.”

  Claudia cringed a bit as she patted his hand. “Sorry, Nicholas. I hate to say I told you so, but…”

  He rolled his eyes. “You love to say I told you so. And I’ll admit it. You were right—I finally found someone who I might possibly have feelings for, and it is definitely not going according to plan.” That might be the understatement of the century. He studied his beer as if the rising bubbles might provide some answers.

  He heard Claudia shifting uncomfortably across from him and knew her well enough to know that she was struggling to say something he wouldn’t want to hear.

  “Spit it out, Claud.”

  He looked up to see her frowning at him. “I’m just wondering if maybe... I mean, have you thought of the possibility that you might want this woman so badly because… Well, because you can’t have her?”

  He blinked at Claudia as he processed the words. His initial response was to get annoyed and tell her, “of course not,” but he was a doctor, a scientist—he was fully capable of objectively looking at the situation, and her theory made sense. He had never truly faced rejection from a woman before. It wasn’t ego talking, it was the simple truth. He was handsome, successful, and never suffered from any major personality defects that would make him abhorrent to the opposite sex.

  “Maybe,” he said slowly. But then his memory called up an image of their tryst together—the way she’d looked up at him in the hallway. She’d given herself to him—hell, she’d practically seduced him—and that hadn’t ebbed any of his attraction or the connected feeling he’d experienced every time he looked into her eyes. If anything, it strengthened it, knowing that the intense attraction was shared.

  He set down his beer. “Maybe, but I don’t think so.”

  Claudia was studying him, but she nodded quietly at his admission.

  He toyed with a coaster on the table. “But I’d like the chance to find out either way. I mean I’ve made it well into my thirties, and this is the first time I’ve felt this way. I owe it to myself to at least try to see this through, don’t I?”