23. Alexander

23

ALEXANDER

W hatever was bothering Clara turned me inside out. I’d tried talking to her several times at work, but she always brushed me off, all of us. Even Liam, with his quick wit and laughter, struggled to get a smile from Clara. I’d never seen her sullen or repressed, but she’d been both in the last two weeks.

Ever since her bout of food poisoning, things had changed. I paced back and forth across my office. It smelled like her after our latest meeting. She’d sat in her chair, poised and completely in control.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was avoiding us. Hell, maybe I didn’t know better and she was avoiding us. Nothing else made sense. The room closed in around me. I stopped pacing and grabbed her chair, sinking my fingers into the fabric where her body heat remained. Heat swept up my hands, and I dug my fingers in deeper.

“What the hell was that?” Ethan stalked into the office, his hair mussed from running his hands through it, and his tie hung crooked.

Liam’s stride carried him past Ethan. He kicked the door closed in passing and slammed his hands onto his hips. “How are we going to fix this?”

“Did you tell her we fixed the issue with Robbie’s client?” I forced my hands to relax before I hurled the chair into the wall. The scumbag had been kicked from our client list and all his emails, calls, and texts sent to the police for further investigation. Robbie’s concerns about coming to us set off more than one alarm bell in my head. We were supposed to be there for our employees. What had happened to make any of them think we would not stand with them? I understood that it was difficult for a woman to come to one of us—since we were all men—and talk about possible sexual harassment. But Robbie refused to talk to anyone except Clara. Why? Where had we failed? The unknowns circled around in an unstoppable wave.

Ethan and Liam sank into chairs across from each other. “I told her. She thanked me very politely, in a way that said she was grateful and fuck off all at the same time.”

Yeah, she’d gotten good at that in the last two weeks. I racked my brain for anything that could have set her off. Was she done with us? That made no sense. Electricity still sparked in the air every time we were together. I caught her looking at me, that hunger in her eyes and it devastated us all that she refused to talk about what was bothering her. Work-wise, we were all in good standing. Harrington loved Clara’s input on the project, and we were moving along at a good pace.

“Have either of you had sex with Clara since the theater?” They’d told me about the theater, and I’d cursed my shareholder meeting for a solid five minutes before I calmed down.

“No,” Ethan answered for both him and Liam. “Seems she’s avoiding that too.”

Unease danced its way along my spine, the sharp taps warning of the wrongness happening. “We need to spend some time together outside the office.” I recalled what she said the day after her illness. “She told us we were causing a scene. And she was right. In the office, we have to treat her like everyone else. But out there…” I pointed toward the snowy town about to slip from winter into spring. “Out there, we can be ourselves. Maybe she’ll talk to us away from here.”

“How are we going to get her to go anywhere with us?” Liam fiddled with a pen, taking it apart and laying all the pieces out on the table. He picked up the spring and bounced it between his fingers several times. His attention locked onto the device, but he shot a quick look at me. “She’s said no to every lunch and dinner invitation.”

“Yesterday, she told me she was tired and wanted to go home.” Ethan reclined, his legs stretched out and his hands behind his head. “That’s not the first time, either. I wondered if something happened with her mom, but I’ve been reassured her mother is fine.”

As fine as a woman recovering from cancer and chemo could ever be. I leaned over the table, resting my weight on my closed fists. The bite of pain along my knuckles kept me in place. I relished the physical ache to knock back the emotional blows. “What about shopping? We could take her downtown, get her mind off the project. Maybe we’ll learn what’s been bothering her.”

It was a long shot, but they were all desperate enough to make an attempt.

Ethan rocked forward and back in the chair. “Sounds good to me. Who’s going to ask her?”

“I will.” Liam planted his feet and stood. “She responds best to me when she’s stressed.” A side-eye followed by a smirk begged me to argue, but Liam had a point.

“Only because you’re less threatening.” I crossed my arms and gave him a smile that made most men shit their pants.

Liam threw his head back and laughed in my face. “Yeah. Exactly. I’ll meet you downstairs.” He spun on his heel and walked away, stopping once he reached the door. “With Clara.”

He said it like a challenge, and both Ethan and I knew him well enough to understand he’d reached the point where he would convince Clara or die trying. Maybe not anything as dramatic as that, but Liam had a stubborn streak that served us well through the years.

“Well. Let’s go.” Ethan stood. “We might as well wait for them at the car.”

I allowed Ethan to lead the way from the office, not bothering to stop and chat like we sometimes did to the employees we passed along the way.

Liam and Clara stood together in the lounge, their heads bent close together against the backdrop of Silverbrook. They made an interesting pair, and when Clara smiled and nodded, it burst through me with the force of a lightning strike.

Liam’s subtle nod pushed my feet faster, urging me outside in a matter of minutes.

By the time I’d brought up the car and parked at the side entrance we always used, Clara and Liam were waiting for us. She slipped into the backseat with Liam and tucked her hands over her stomach.

“Where are we going?” Her voice came out wrong, almost fearful. But a look in the rearview mirror showed excitement in her eyes.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and pulled out into the late afternoon traffic. “There’s a new shopping mall at the edge of town. I thought we’d check it out.” Her smile of approval pressed my foot harder on the gas. Silverbrook flashed past, the businesses turning to housing developments, and then back to shops that eventually ended at the Silver Mall, a giant building that covered five full blocks and offered anything a person could ever wish for. Except the one thing I truly wanted: Clara.

I longed for her to trust us enough to talk about whatever bothered her.

Liam and Clara’s chatter filled the car throughout the ride. They’d talked about work, her mom, Robbie’s project and how she was feeling better about the situation now that the client was gone from the business. Clara thanked Liam for that though I’d been the one to give the man the boot and a fierce talking to that had my vision blotching at the edges as I worked to keep my temper in check. The praise and thanks mattered little in light of Clara’s obvious discomfort around us. Something had shifted in the last two weeks, and I was determined to find out what caused her sudden change in attitude.

Ethan directed me into the underground parking garage with the careful precision he put into every action. It took less than a minute to find a parking spot and make our way to the elevator that would deposit us in the center of the mall. Clara walked in the center of our group, a place where no one else had ever belonged.

“Where do you want to go first?” I slid my hands into my pockets and stared up the escalator at the variety of shops lining the upper balconies. Skylights in the roof let in massive amounts of natural light that caught on the glass and chrome storefronts even this late in the day.

“Pick a store.” I fell back a step, putting her in front of me.

Clara hesitated, then stepped onto the escalator. We crowded in behind her, enjoying the view of her backside.

Liam wiggled his eyebrows. “Anyone else feeling like a bodyguard.” He stiffened his shoulders, making them bulge inside his jacket. “Don’t worry, Miss Perry, we won’t let anyone bother you.”

Ethan rolled his eyes, but a smile tipped his lips. “You sound like a high school boy in gym class.”

“Oh, really?” Liam elbowed Ethan in the gut. “Think you can do better?”

“Yes.” Ethan squared up with Clara and stood at military attention, his right hand grasping his left wrist and his legs locked. “We’re prepared to protect you, Miss Perry. Nothing and no one will come between us and you.” The richness of his voice raised the hair on the back of my neck. Damn the man and his radio smooth tenor.

Clara turned slowly. The top of the escalator appeared, and she stepped off onto solid ground. “I’d like to believe that.”

“You can.” The temptation to reach for her overwhelmed me, and I skated a knuckle down her cheek. “Is there anything we can do to prove we’re worth trusting?”

Her hesitation—slight though it was—ruined me. She stopped trusting us. When? Why?

“It’s not that I don’t trust you.” Her words said one thing, her actions another.

I understood what she meant about promises as her voice flowed over me.

“We’re in a delicate position.” Her hand lifted to her cheek where I’d touched her. “Even here, in this place where no one knows us, we’re at risk. What if you hug me, or kiss me, and the wrong person sees? We could lose everything.”

Silence met her statement. The noise of a busy mall infiltrated, but I ignored that in favor of Clara and the sudden insight she’d given us. “We would not let anything happen to you. What we are, what I feel for you, is not the kind of thing that passes on a whim.” It was the closest I allowed myself to come to admitting my real feelings. “Have you decided you’re done?”

She jolted, her head jerking up and eyes flying wide. “What do you mean?”

“You know damned well what I mean.” I strode toward the nearest store with the least amount of patrons. “Are you done with us?”

“No.” The quiet exhale and lowering of her chin spoke the truth more than the single denial. “It’s complicated. You understand how this could all fall apart, right?”

Of course I did. But I’d made my peace with the possible repercussions. Apparently, Clara had not.

“I thought we came here to shop?” Liam walked around me, cutting between me and Clara. “We can hash out semantics later. We’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves.”

Leave it to Liam to cut through the bullshit and remind me that I couldn’t bulldoze my way to an answer. Not with Clara.

“Yes. Let’s shop.” Clara turned and marched into the nearest store, a boutique full of dresses that lined all three walls. Mannequins dressed in glittering gowns sparkled from pedestals. Clara stopped in front of one and tipped her head to the side, one finger tapping her lips. “Seems a bit chilly.”

Liam’s sly grin snapped out. “If I saw you in that, it would be up around your hips in five seconds.”

“Oh, really?” Clara’s eyebrows arched.

He dipped his head. “Really. What was it you said in the theater? Next time you wanted all of our clothes off.” He jerked his chin toward the dress. “What if we were naked while you wore that?”

Her breath hitched and for the first time in weeks, her eyes filled with that delicate heat that set me on fire. “I think I’d like that. A lot.”

“I’m buying.” Ethan strode over to the cash register.

Clara’s mouth fell open with a pop. “I didn’t…I mean…”

“Don’t bother trying to stop him.” Liam took her hand and led her around the room. “We brought you here to spoil you. Anything you want, you get.”

“Anything?” She whispered while taking in the dresses. Sparkles shone and sequins glittered, and the look on her face was enough to drop me to my knees.

I waited for her and Liam to make a complete sweep of the room before I stopped them with an outstretched hand. “What about the jewelry store next? There’s something I’d like to get for you, but I want to make sure you like it first.”

“Dresses and jewelry.” She shook her head like it overwhelmed her. “You know I could take offense to this. It almost feels like you’re bribing me, or trying to buy me.”

I stiffened so fast my neck popped and a spasm of pain ran across my chest. “We would never.”

“I know.” She smiled up at me, and it was the genuine smile that fully reached her eyes, lighting her up from the inside. “That’s why I’m not offended but flattered. You don’t have to buy me anything.”

“I want to.” The adamant need clawing through me demanded I do anything to keep that smile on her face.

Ethan returned carrying a bag with the silver dress nestled inside and covered with pink tissue paper. He swung it back and forth. “Found a few other necessities to go with it.”

“Necessities?” Clara had that confused squeak again.

Ethan hid the bag behind his back. “You’ll see later.”

“Sounds scandalous.” She winked. “Can’t wait.”

There she was, the woman we’d first met and loved. A breath of relief stuck in my throat. Loved? No. Surely not. “The jewelry store is this way.” I took her hand and led the way.

Liam released her and fell back to talk to Ethan.

She stayed beside me as we entered the jewelry store and walked to the counter. I laced our fingers together and eased my other hand out to point at a necklace I’d spotted a week ago. The green jade was as close to her eye color as I could find, and the rose gold chain complemented her skin tone. “What do you think?”

I swore I heard her breath hitch, but when I turned to look, her eyes were downcast, keeping me from seeing her genuine feelings. Had she expected something else? Damn it. What if she’d thought I brought her here to buy an engagement ring? The thought crossed my mind once or twice, but things were too new and uncertain for me to promise her a forever I’d never believed in for myself.

“I think you can buy me that if you’ll let me get you a snow globe for your collection.” She squeezed my fingers when I sucked air through my teeth. “Yes, I found your collection hidden behind your desk. No, I won’t tell anyone the big, bad CEO everyone is afraid of loves vintage snow globes.”

“You’re a menace,” I said with as much emotion as I dared to show in this place. “I accept. I’ll be right back.” With Ethan and Liam watching from several feet away, I left her at the counter to talk to the manager. We completed the transaction with quick efficiency.

On my way back to Clara, an older man rushing toward her snagged my attention. “Miss Perry?” The balding man pushed his thick glasses up his nose. “Oh, it is you.” He swooped her into an embrace and rocked her side to side like a child.

She seemed surprised but not uncomfortable, so I slowed my approach to give them time to talk. Their voices muffled together, the old man patting Clara’s hands and whispering.

I grinned at Ethan and Liam and set a hand on the small of Clara’s back while kissing her shoulder. “We’re all set.”

“And you must be the father.” He dropped Clara’s hands and stuck one out toward me. “Congratulations. Becoming a father is such a blessing.”

Air left me in a rush. I pulled in a fresh breath that went no further than my throat.

Clara’s face drained of color. She wobbled before grabbing the counter with both hands.