She's Got Dibs (35 page)

Whatever Michael had to say had better be worth it. She replaced the receiver and stood.

“Hi.” Dibs entered her office, eyes shimmering with desire. He rounded her desk, clasped her hips and yanked her forward, capturing her lips with his. His arms encircled her. The tip of his tongue danced lightly into her mouth. He trailed kisses down her neck, his hand nestled in the small of her back. “God, I missed the way you smell today.”

She shivered when his breath tickled the tender skin under her ear.

“I missed the way you feel.” He cinched her tighter, tangling his hands in her hair. “I missed your lips.” He tipped her head back and dotted kisses along her mouth.

She linked her hands behind his neck. “Anything else?”

“Your eyes.” He balanced his forehead against hers. “I missed the way you look at me.”

She smiled.

“Hi,” he said again.

She laughed quietly. “Hi.”

And standing in his arms, submersed in a love so strong it nearly stole her breath, a crisp image of Michael’s face flashed through her mind. Only moments before, she had agreed to see him.

Dibs abruptly straightened, a crease denting his brow. “What’s the matter?”

Shit!
“What? Nothing, why?”

His jaw tightened as he perused her face. “You suddenly had a strange look in your eyes.” He scanned her desk. “Who was that on the phone?”

“No one. Just a client.”

“Are you sure? Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing, really.” She closed the distance between them, hiding her face over his shoulder to avoid his intent inspection. “How was your day?”

“Fine.” He withdrew and lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers. “You sure you’re all right?”

“Yep. I’m just ready to get out of here.” She left his arms for her office door and removed her coat and purse from the hook. “Come on, let’s go home.”

****

Her first thought as she came fully awake—she had consented to meet with Michael that afternoon. She tried to block the nauseating visual from her mind, tightened her arms around Dibs, and snuggled deeper against him. How could she leave such a warm safe place only to start a day when she would have to look into Michael’s sad brown eyes? Sit across the table from him while he explained…whatever it was he needed to explain. The mere idea was revolting.

A pair of supple lips kissed the top of her head. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” She pushed up on her elbow. “I love you, David Isaac Brenner.”

He frowned. “What’s the matter?”

Dammit!
The man could read her like a book. “I say I love you and you ask me what’s the matter?”

Sadness softened the corners of his eyes as he combed his fingers through her hair. “Whatever it is, you know you can tell me, Rex.”

She folded her arms across his chest, her chin balanced on her hands. The last thing she wanted was for him to doubt her love. “If something was wrong, I would tell you. But since there isn’t, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He lifted an eyebrow, but the slight tip of his head said he was prepared to let the issue go…for now, at least. “What’s your day like today?”

“Busy. Lots of interviews for the assistant’s position, why?”

“I thought we might have lunch.” He brought a lock of hair to her lips.

She covered her slight hesitation with a quick shrug. “Can’t.”

“Okay, what is
wrong
with you?”

“
Nothing!
I swear to God, you’re making me nuts.” She pecked his lips. “I love you very much and now I’m getting in the shower.”

His hand slid down her arm as she rolled from the bed. “Hey,” he said.

She met his eyes over her shoulder.

“I love you, too.”

****

By the time Dibs dropped her at work, Tessa’s concerns regarding Michael had dulled to an insignificant nuisance. More than likely, her first instincts had been right. Whatever he wanted would be of little to no consequence to her, and expending any more energy over whatever he deemed
so important
was certainly a waste of time. Instead, she would use this opportunity to stare him directly in the face and tell him to get lost for the last and final time.

Her bigger fear was how meeting Michael might hurt Dibs. What if he somehow found out? Would he be angry? Distraught? Dismissive? His reaction was hard to predict without having all the facts. If she met with Michael on her own,
then
she could decide whether not to involve Dibs. Maybe Michael’s concerns surmounted to nothing other than a simple request. She could tell him no and forget he ever existed. The whole thing could be swept aside, and she and Dibs would both have one less thing to worry about.

She spent the morning in interviews, candidate after candidate sitting opposite her desk explaining why they would be the perfect addition to TNT. None of her choices really knocked her socks off, but then again, the constant distraction of the impending appointment percolating in the back of her brain made concentrating nearly impossible. After setting the last of the morning’s folders aside, she checked her desk clock to find the dreaded hour had arrived.

Snagging her coat and purse from the back of the door, a queasy anxiety roiling in her belly, she crossed reception and knocked on Tiffany’s open door. “I have some errands to run.”

“’Kay.” She glanced up and did a double-take. “What’s wrong?”

Tessa slumped. “I swear to God. Am I wearing a huge sign on my forehead that says ‘I’m in the midst of a crisis’?”

A knowing smirk quirked one side of Tiffany’s lips. “You wear your emotions on your face, Tessa. I can tell you’re stressed about something.”

“Everything’s fine.”

“Uh, oh.” She leaned forward on one forearm. “That’s code for ‘I’m hanging on by my fingernails,’ you know. Everything all right with Dibs?”

“Perfectly wonderful. I’m fine, he’s fine, everything’s fine.”

She narrowed her eyes, drumming her fingernails on her desk. She finally sat back. “I’m expecting a full report when you return from your meeting with Michael.”

Tessa groaned and left the doorway. It was small consolation Tiff had been privy to Michael’s phone calls, knew he’d been trying to reach her. The woman was just too damn perceptive. “Remind me to never throw you a surprise party!”

****

The revolving door of the Palmer House Hotel swung around at a steady pace, people coming and going about their daily chores. Tessa breathed deep and pushed through, walked the door around, and returned to the sidewalk.

Let Michael sit there and stew. Let him wait for her to never show up, just like she had with him. She hailed a cab, and once it eased to the sidewalk, she clutched the door handle…and then hesitated.

Michael had hounded her for this meeting, insisted on seeing her face to face. Standing him up would only delay the inevitable…or, God forbid, encourage him to show up at her office. She refocused on the steady pulse of the hotel door. Better to get it over with someplace public, someplace she could choose to leave, if need be. She waved the cab off, went back inside, and strode briskly down the corridor.

The staircase banister glided sleek and cold beneath her trembling fingers. She entered the dimly lit restaurant and immediately zeroed in on Michael, alone in a corner booth, a place mat and a glass of ice water sitting before him. She adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder, crammed her fists into her pockets, and forced her feet to cross the room.

He turned in her direction and quickly scooted from the seat, but she refused to get any closer than necessary, and stopped a few feet short of him. “What is it?”

He opened a hand toward the booth. “Please, sit down.”

She cautiously surveyed the table before studying his face. “This had better be good, Michael. And not some ridiculous ploy to see me again.”

“Just sit down, Tessa. I promise not to waste your time.”

His open expression conveyed sincerity, but irritation tightened her chest in its vice-like grip. How annoying to discover she could still so easily gauge his mood. She stalked to the booth and perched on the edge of the seat.

He slid in opposite her and gulped a mouthful of water. “How are you, Tessa?”

She glared at him.

He dropped his gaze to the backs of his hands, resting on each side of the glass, and filled his lungs. “Almost one year ago I started my own company, Phoenix Rising Video.”

“Good for you. Anything else?”

A weary sigh lowered his shoulders. “We make short educational films used for employee training purposes at large corporations.”

“Fascinating. What does that have to do with me?”

“Brenner Financial Group Investments has just become our biggest client.”

Her breath stopped. Only one word blurted from her closed throat. “And?”

“And, well, two things.” He sat forward, propping his elbows on the table. “The first is to let you know my company has been hired to film certain parts of the BFG summer event.”

The heat leached from her face. The restaurant reeled dangerously off kilter. She removed her hands from her pockets and seized the edge of the table to maintain her balance.

“I wanted to be the one to tell you,” he said quietly. “I thought it was the least I could do after…So, I guess we’ll be working together.”

This could not be happening!
No way, no way,
no way
could this be happening!
Her fingertips whitened as she struggled to control the hysterical screaming inside her head. “No. We won’t.”

Confusion furrowed his brow. “I’m sure you realize how important this event is to both our businesses. It would be a shame if we let our personal—”

“You will provide TNT Entertainment a schedule of dates and times Phoenix Rising plans to be at the Park.” She stayed riveted to the table, speaking over the shrilling whine in her ears. “If I find it unavoidable for us to be there at the same time, you will have contact with Tiffany
only
during the event. Never with me. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, but—”

“Am I clear?”
she asked loudly.

He collapsed against the booth. “I hoped we could get through this and be friends.”

She fought the urge to leap across the table and throttle his neck. “What’s number two?”

“It’s difficult for me to tell you this.” He darted a glance at the bracelet on her wrist.

“What’s number two, Michael, and be quick about it because being near you is making me ill.”

“Fine,” he snapped. “But understand I’m only telling you this because I care about you, Tessa. I know you don’t believe me, but I do still care.”

“You have ten seconds.”

“I’ve worked for the Brenner family before, and you need to be careful.” He spoke through a tight jaw. “They’re not normal people. They don’t do things the way you and I and the rest of the world do them. They have a power that runs deep. Connections that could destroy you, ruin everything you’ve spent the last four years building. I’m afraid you’re making a big mistake getting involved with this David Brenner character, that you’re in over your head. You need to be warned, Tessa, and since I know you and do care, I thought it best to let you know.”

He sat back, the unwavering finality of his words lingering in the air. He firmly believed everything he had said. His steady gaze alone confirmed it…but she didn’t care.

The man had virtually destroyed the last three years of her life, used her up and tossed her aside like yesterday’s trash. And now here he sat, offering his advice, insinuating his opinions into her life. Who the
hell
did he think he was? Her champion? Her knight in shining armor? The unmitigated
audacity
, saying something was wrong with Dibs, the one person who had literally saved her from self-destructing in the wake of his aftermath.

“How dare you,” she seethed.

“Please, Tessa. You need to be aware of this before the relationship goes too far.”

“How in the name of God do you expect me to believe a stinking word that comes out of your mouth? How can you sit here and presume to advise me about anything? What
right
justifies your badgering me to come here so you can tell me who I should or shouldn’t be involved with!”

“I know, I have no right.” He held up both hands. “I know I don’t. It’s just…ever since I saw your picture…I’m worried about you, Tessa. I still feel…I can’t help wondering…” He sprang forward. “What if I made a mistake? What if I’d never left?”

A
crack
split the air, met by immediate silence from the tables around them. She fell back in shock, the vicious red mark she’d left on his cheek contrasting sharply against his pale skin.

Tears flooded her eyes as she worked her legs out from the booth. “Do
not
call me again.”

She spun away and stormed from the restaurant.

****

Tessa shoved through the revolving door, desperate to be free, wishing the cool air would just wash the whole sickening ordeal away in the breeze.

Michael believed it was his responsibility to warn her about Dibs. A bitter laugh spilled from her lips. What a joke. What. A. Joke!

The man was an ass. He had no clue of the amount of love she shared with Dibs, the enormous sacrifice he might face so their love could continue. Michael didn’t understand the strength of Dibs’s promises, or how he was prepared to place their love above everything else.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets, her steps brisk down the sidewalk. As if being near Michael wasn’t vile enough, now she would have to tolerate his presence over and over again until the whole BFG event was concluded. The weight of her past strung like a noose around her neck while planning the biggest, most important event of her career. She hated him even more for spoiling the entire thing. Just like when he left, the excitement was gone. He had taken her accomplishment and success and flushed them straight down the toilet.