Chapter Ten
* * *
The night before the parties
THE POWER WAS back on in Lower Manhattan. It was said that cheers erupted when the lights finally flashed on. I would have loved to hear it—but not enough to trade in my luxurious uptown digs. For a few days, Duke, Roxanna and I had commuted to our offices by foot. At night, we watched movies and got room service. Then Duke and I slipped off to our king-sized bed and made love. From his every little touch, to his generosity, the man made me feel like a princess.
That didn’t mean everything was perfect.
Because the power was back on downtown, it meant that Duke and the Project-TK team was still scheduled to ring the opening bell at the Stock Exchange tomorrow morning.
As planned, they would celebrate their $20 billion IPO with an early party that night. Much as I wanted to go, Roxanna was right. I needed to go to my little party with my head held high. Then I’d scamper right back to the city and no longer look back at my life in Milford.
Duke, however, had a different idea.
“I don’t think you should go alone,” he said after a room service dinner for just the two of us—Roxanna had gone off with her boyfriend.
“So go with me,” I replied. It was that simple.
“I can’t go with you,” he said, anguished. “I want to, but I can’t. I want you to come to my party with me.”
“Won’t. You won’t go.”
He was the boss. He was a flipping billionaire—or he would be by this time tomorrow. This was a man who won and lost fortunes. Crowds parted to make way for him. I didn’t believe for a second that he couldn’t do something he wanted to. But then again, he had gotten to this pinnacle of success because he put his company and his team before himself.
“People are counting on me, Jane. Not just all the people on my team, but hundreds and thousands of investors. Twenty billion bucks are on the line here. It’s a big f*cking deal. I can’t just ditch it.”
I got that. Truly. And his party did sound more fun, but if this relationship was really going to make it, there were some things that needed to be said, like:
“Your stuff is always more important than mine,” I pointed out. “The stakes are always higher. There’s always more money involved. And it’s always about your dreams. Well, what about mine?”
“Is your dream really attending your small town high school reunion ? And with your f*cking douche of an ex-boyfriend there, too. What’s up with that, Jane?”
“I want to show him that he didn’t ruin me,” I said, head held high.
“Awww,” Duke replied sarcastically and my brows shot up, shocked. “Why didn’t you call the cops, Jane?”
“I’m thinking about it. But I just don’t see the point—will they even believe me now? He’s going through a rough patch. How will the cops help? How will a criminal record help him? He knows he f*cked up. You made that pretty clear. And I won’t be in his life anymore. I think that’s clear to everyone, even Sam.”
“What about the other girls?” Duke asked.
“What other girls?”
“Do you think you’re the first, the last, the one and only that Sam will do this too?” Duke asked angrily.
That cut deeply, and my temper flared at the suggestion that I was just another girl, that I wasn’t special. But then again—what happened was about Sam’s issues. It could have been any girl.
Oh God, what if he did that—or worse—to another girl? I swore under my breath at Sam. Was I supposed to act in my own best interests? His? Or for some hypothetical sisterhood?
“I’ll think about it,” I said to Duke. “I promise.”
I couldn’t think about it now while he was all tense and glaring at me across the dinner table.
“And the party? How will potentially putting yourself in harm’s way at this party help anyone?” Duke asked. I could see how he got shit done at Project-TK. I felt myself wavering under the intensity of his focus. But I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was my partner, not the boss of me.
“I won’t be alone,” I said. “I’ll have friends with me.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Duke said softly. “Not when I can’t protect you.”
We both glanced down at his hands. They were still bruised and swollen from the beating he’d given Sam the other day.
“So come with me,” I said. Again.
“I can’t.”
I laughed bitterly. “We had a deal, you know.”
His eyes flashed. He winced. He remembered.
“We had a deal,” I repeated. “I would pose as your fiancée to help you score that investment funding if you would be my hot date for this reunion . And now you’re reneging on the deal we made. You wouldn’t have your big party if it weren’t for me. Because you’re so notoriously unreliable, aren’t you? Don’t hold up your end of the bargain, do you? Maybe if I was some big-shot investor or whatever.”
I was so angry that he wasn’t going with me, that he had broken a promise, that his big shot job always came ahead of mine, and just . . . argh! I stalked off to our bedroom and slammed the door behind me.
“Jane . . .”
“I’m going,” I shouted at the door. “With or without you.”
DUKE WOKE ME up the next morning. He’d gone ahead and ordered room service breakfast—a steaming pot of coffee along with pancakes, bacon, and a side of fruit.
“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.
“This is quite an apology,” I said, eyeing the feast before me. He poured me a cup of coffee, added some milk, and handed it to me.
“I figured you’d be more amenable after you’ve had coffee and something to eat,” he said.
“You are a genius, aren’t you?” I said after a sip of coffee.
Duke just grinned. God, he was so handsome, especially when he grinned like that. Like a charming, devil-may-care, up-to-no-good-and-he-liked-it rogue. I couldn’t quite resist. I was still a little mad at him from our fight the night before. But the romantic gesture of breakfast and his smile started to make me feel better. Slightly.
“I’ve been thinking and I had an idea. Let’s go to my party. Wait—drink your coffee and hear me out,” he said when I opened my mouth to protest. “And then we get a car to take us out to yours.”
“That’s sweet, Duke, but it won’t work. I mean, just the tunnel traffic alone could take hours. I’ve thought about this. You go to yours and I’ll go to mine and then we can meet up later and tell each other all about it. In bed.”
“If we’re in bed, we’re not going to be talking.”
Our eyes met over the breakfast table. I had wicked thoughts. I know he did, too.
“I want to be there for you,” he said.
“I know,” I replied. I did want him there with me.
“Well,” he sighed. “If that’s really what you want.”
“I think it’s best.”
“I’ll get a driver to take you out there and bring you back to me.”
“Thanks, Duke.”
“Will you come down to Wall Street to ring the opening bell with me? It wouldn’t have happened without you Jane, and I can’t imagine that moment without you by my side.”
“Of course,” I said, smiling. This was a great reason to be late for work. “I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Babe.” Then Duke checked the time on his phone and swore. “Shit, we have to leave here in thirty minutes.”
“So much for this breakfast,” I said with a sigh as I headed off to the shower. After blowing out my hair, I dressed in one of my sweater sets, a pleated skirt and black patent wedges. It wasn’t the most practical of outfits, but Duke’s driver would pick us up or we would just get a cab—right?