Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Evie

“Come in!”

The door to my office opened, and Merrick poked his head inside. Finding just me, he let himself in.

“Hey.” I closed the notebook I’d been writing in. “Good timing. I’m done for the day.”

“Wish I could say the same thing. I’m running behind. The market went a little crazy today because of some unexpected news. The analysts just finished working on what it means so we can talk about it and decide on our holdings. Sorry, but I’m gonna be another hour or two.”

“Oh…” I shrugged. “That’s okay. I can find something to do.”

Merrick looked at his watch. “It’s already six thirty. Why don’t you go up and get comfortable? Order some dinner since it’s going to be too late to start cooking by the time I’m done.”

“I’ll just work some more.”

Merrick frowned and held out a key. “I noticed you left this behind yesterday when you left my place.”

“I figured you were just loaning it to me to let myself in. I didn’t think you wanted me to keep it.”

“Will it freak you out if I tell you to hold on to it? This is a copy.”

“Do you want me to answer that honestly?”

He smiled. “How about you take it and go up now, and we talk about it later?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Merrick handed me the key. “Go get changed and settle in. I don’t want you to stay just because I’m stuck for a while.”

I tilted my head. “You’re just hoping I greet you like I did before, aren’t you?”

He chuckled. “Go. You can snoop around some more.”

“I don’t think you realize the danger of making that statement to someone like me.”

He closed my palm with the key inside. “Have at it. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

It wasn’t lost on me that my ex wouldn’t even let me look at a picture on his phone without hovering to take it back. But then again, there was no comparison between Christian and Merrick. “What do you want me to order?”

He shrugged and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “Whatever you want. I’m not picky. But use my card to order it.”

“I can pay for dinner myself. Though, technically, I think you wind up paying for dinner either way, since you pay me the money I use to eat.”

His lip twitched. “Use my card, please. I gotta run. I have six people waiting in my office.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

A little while later, I headed to the elevator. I’d just entered and pushed the button for the top floor when Joan opened the double glass doors to the office and walked toward the waiting car.

Shit.

Merrick’s floor was illuminated. But I couldn’t very well close the elevator doors now that we’d made eye contact. So I panicked and did the only thing that came to mind. I hit every button on the panel.

Joan noticed as soon as she stepped inside. “Oh my.”

“Yeah, someone must’ve thought they were being funny.”

“We might be better off waiting for the other car. Looks like we’re going up before we even start heading down.”

“Good idea.”

We stepped back out into the hallway. Once that car left, we pushed the button to call the other one.

“Everything okay between you and Merrick?” Joan asked.

I was already nervous, so that question freaked me out completely. I tried to school my features. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“No reason. I just saw him coming from your office earlier and wanted to make sure he wasn’t pushing you for information on any of your patients. Not that you can’t talk to him, of course, but I figured I’d check in. He can be very persuasive when he wants to.”

Don’t I know it. I forced a smile past the nerves in my face. “No, he wasn’t doing that.” I’m not sure whether I felt guilty for hiding the truth, or Joan was actually waiting for more, but I felt the need to elaborate. Once again, I went with what popped into my head first. “He was talking to me about coming in for therapy.”

Joan’s eyes widened. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yep. It was a surprise to me, too.” Oh boy. I’m making this worse.

By the time we arrived at the lobby level, I felt like I might suffocate in the damn elevator. I was relieved when the doors slid open. Joan and I walked to the exit together. My train was to the left, so I pointed as if I were going home. “I’m this way.”

She smiled and pointed in the other direction. “My bus is that way.”

I couldn’t get out of here fast enough. “See you Monday,” I called, already moving down the sidewalk.

When I got to the subway station, I waited a few minutes in case Joan had forgotten something. You’d think I’d just stolen the Hope Diamond the way my heart hammered inside my chest. When I returned to the building, I held my breath until I arrived safely at Merrick’s floor.

Inside the apartment, I still felt tense. But then I stepped into the living room and saw something on the coffee table.

Was that…?

I walked over for a closer look. Sure enough, two orange goldfish were swimming around in a bowl. And it was not the same bowl that had been on the nightstand in his bedroom.

He got more fish? Or…

I dropped my purse on the couch and headed to the bedroom to investigate. As I opened the door, the jitters I’d had since Joan were finally pushed out by the warm feeling in my chest.

The fishbowl on the nightstand was gone. Merrick had moved it to a new home, in a new room. It was so minor and silly, but he’d taken the time to think about the comment I’d made last night, and he’d done something to alleviate my unvoiced concern.

Maybe I didn’t have to worry about fighting the shadow of another woman after all. It seemed Merrick wanted to let the sun in himself.

• • •

“Oh my gosh. That sounds like a huge undertaking.”

“Nah,” Kitty said. “It’ll give me something to do while I’m stuck here in the house. It’s only been two weeks. Eight more with this cast is going to make me go cuckoo if I don’t have something to occupy my time.”

“When would this reunion be happening?” I asked.

“I was thinking spring next year or the year after that, depending on the availability of the dude ranch.”

The front door opened, and Merrick walked in. I pointed to the phone and held up a finger. “Did you say dude ranch?”

“What better place than that? A lot of open land, night fires, horseback riding, and cowboys. Who doesn’t love a cowboy?”

“Well, I can’t argue with you there. What’s not to like about a cowboy?”

Merrick’s face scrunched up.

“But do you feel up to that already, Kitty?”

Merrick slapped his hand to his forehead and shook his head as he walked toward me.

“I’m fine—was fine last week when my jackass grandson thought I needed a nurse, too.”

I was pretty sure Merrick heard that last part. When I looked up, he held his palm out for the phone, but I shook my head. He took it from my hand and brought it to his ear anyway.

“Hey, Grams.” Merrick looked at me as he spoke. “No, I’m not working. And neither is Evie. We’re about to have dinner…alone in my apartment.”

I heard Kitty saying something else.

Merrick nodded. “Yep. You were right. So do you mind if she gives you a call tomorrow? Because while Evie is too polite to rush you off the phone, I’m not.” His eyes swept over me, lingering on my lips. “Thank you, I will. Goodnight, Grams.”

Looking pretty proud of himself, he tossed the phone to the couch and hooked an arm around my waist. “Now kiss me.”

“What if I don’t want to? That was kind of rud—” My words were swallowed in a kiss. And not just any kiss, but one where I had to cling to his shirt to make sure I stayed upright because the man could seriously make my knees weak with his mouth. For lack of a better description, he kissed the shit out of me. I was breathless when we broke.

Merrick pulled back to gaze into my eyes. His were hooded and filled with enough heat to make between my legs start to throb. “Sorry I made you wait.”

I smiled. “I like your apologies.”

His eyes sparkled. “Yeah? I’ll have to piss you off more.”

“Did you just out us to your grandmother?”

He nodded. “Should I apologize again?”

I laughed. “I think you should.”

Merrick resumed kissing me, this time slow and sweet. He pulled back and rubbed his nose with mine.

“You just angel kissed me!”

“I don’t think that’s what you call it.”

“It’s what my grandmother used to call it. Whenever we would leave my dad and go stay with her, I had trouble sleeping when we first arrived. So when she put me to bed, she would give me an angel kiss, which meant the angels would watch over me while I slept. No one else has ever done that to me.”

Merrick kissed my forehead. “Maybe it means I’m supposed to take the job from the angels now.”

I blinked. “That’s so incredibly sweet.”

He looked around the room. “Did you eat yet?”

“No, I waited for you. I ordered Chinese. It’s in the kitchen.”

“Come on, let’s eat so I can get you naked. We’re saving some sweet and sour sauce so I can lick it off your tits later.”

“Aaaaannnnd we go from sweet to dirty in three sentences.”

He winked. “It’s a talent.”

We sat at the island eating Kung Pao chicken and Szechwan shrimp while Merrick filled me in about the problem that had kept him and his team late tonight.

I shook my head. “You basically gamble for a living. Does that mean you like casinos, too?”

“Depends on the game. I only like to gamble when there’s more to it than playing the odds. If you sit at a table playing blackjack, the dealer is just putting cards on the table and turning them over, and you’re guessing based on statistics. If you’re playing poker against others, it involves reading people and studying their habits. That’s basically what I do at work, except with companies.”

I held out a shrimp with my chopsticks, and he took it in his mouth. “I never actually thought about it, but our jobs are similar in some ways,” I said. “We both study people to learn more about them. We look for the things they don’t tell us to put the pieces of a puzzle together.”

Merrick held out a piece of chicken. “Tell me what you’ve learned about me that I didn’t tell you.”

I thought a moment. “I’ve learned that you’re a caretaker from the way you treat your grandmother, but also by the small things you do. For example, if we’re walking down the street, you always walk on the outside. You never want me to take the subway at night, and the first thing you noticed about my new apartment was that it needed an alarm.”

He nodded. “Anything else, doc?”

I looked over at the fishbowl on the coffee table and pointed my chopstick. “You also reflect on things people say, long after they’ve been said.”

Merrick followed my line of sight and then turned back to me. “I didn’t think I was capable of moving on, but it turned out, I’d never really tried.”

I set my chopsticks down. “So what have you learned by studying me?”

He reached over, plucked a piece of broccoli from my plate, and popped it into his mouth. “You like your hair pulled and when I talk dirty to you.”

I smacked his arm. “It figures you’d take this conversation there.”

He finished chewing and swallowed. “You’re gun shy about men because the ones you loved hurt you really badly.”

I sighed and nodded. “I don’t think that one was too hard to figure out.”

“Maybe not. But you’re also the most resilient person I know. Most people who went through the shit you’ve gone through, whether it’s with your dad or your fuckwad ex, would feel like the victim. But not you. You don’t know how to be the victim in your story. You only know how to be the heroine, and the heroine always dusts herself off and goes on.”

“Thank you for saying that. But there have definitely been days where I’ve let myself wallow and feel like the victim.”

“Well, you’d never know it.”

“You probably won’t be saying that next week. I have my first court date with Christian next Friday.”

Merrick frowned. “Still can’t believe that guy is suing you. Why don’t I come to keep you company?”

“It’s sweet of you to offer. But I think it’s something I need to handle on my own.”

He nodded. “The offer wasn’t coming from an entirely sweet place. I’m a little territorial when it comes to you. But I understand.”

After we finished eating, I packed up the leftover food while Merrick got changed. Then we sat in the living room and watched TV for a while. Merrick had his feet propped up on the coffee table, and I lay down with my head on his lap.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” I turned on my side to look up at him. “I almost got caught coming up here. When I got in the elevator, I pushed your floor, but then Joan walked out of the office and joined me in the car.”

“Did she notice?”

“No. Because I panicked and hit all the buttons on the panel before she entered, so she couldn’t see what I’d pressed.”

Merrick chuckled. “That’s one way to handle it.”

“It was the best I could think of in the moment. But I think it worked. Oh, and she saw you coming out of my office earlier, so I told her you’d stopped in to let me know you wanted to start therapy yourself.”

“I’m starting therapy?”

“I felt like she was looking for a reason you were in my office, now that you’re not my boss anymore. I pulled that out of my ass. Then I had to walk to my train and wait until the coast was clear before coming back up. Let me tell you, I was a nervous wreck until I made it safely up here.”

Merrick stroked my hair. “You know I don’t want to hide you forever.”

Those damn butterflies in my belly went crazy once again. Merrick was not a man who spoke first and thought about his words later. So the fact that he’d used the word forever hit me hard. The signs were all there that I meant something to him, but I hadn’t let myself believe it yet.

“Maybe we could tell Joan soon,” I said. “That way I’m not lying to my boss. But I do think we should keep our relationship quiet when it comes to the employees, at least while I’m working to establish trust and let them get to know me.”

Merrick leaned over and brushed his lips with mine. “That sounds like a good compromise.”

I rested my head back in his lap and stared at the goldfish on the table, watching them swim before rolling on my back to look up at Merrick again. “Thank you for moving the goldfish.”

He smiled. “My apartment might be big, but I thought it was important to show you there was room for you.”

• • •

The next morning, I dragged Merrick out on a Saturday shopping trip to get things for my new apartment. I was going to get the keys on Monday, and I needed to get a bed before I could move in, so that was first on my list.

“What do you think of this one?” I lay back on a plush-top mattress and made Merrick do the same.

“I’m not sure. How about you get up on all fours so I can see if I’m gonna like it.”

I pulled the pillow out from behind my head and whacked him in the face with it, laughing. “I’m serious. A good night’s sleep is as important to your health as eating right and exercising. What bed do you have? Yours is really comfy.”

Merrick shrugged. “No idea.”

My nose scrunched up. “Oh.”

Merrick looked over and his forehead creased before a look of understanding crossed his face. “It’s not because another woman picked it out, if that’s what you’re thinking. Well, one did. But she was an interior designer. I hired someone to pick out everything I needed when I moved in.”

“She chose your mattress too? What if you didn’t like it?”

He shrugged. “I’d get a different one, I guess. She picked out everything. I basically just showed up one day and moved in.”

“Did you give her direction, like colors and stuff?”

Merrick shook his head. “Nope.” He looked around the mattress showroom. There were two salespeople, both currently helping other customers. Then he rolled on top of me and started jumping around, making the bed move up and down.

“Oh my God,” I laughed. “Stop it.”

He jumped a few more times before planting a chaste kiss on my lips. “This one will work. Let’s get it.”

After the mattress store, I dragged him to HomeGoods. For a man who didn’t even want to pick things for his own apartment, he was incredibly patient. My cart was soon full of bedding, candles, housewares, and even a stuffed pig, which I couldn’t resist buying for my soon-to-be niece or nephew. The checkout line was twenty deep when we joined the end of it. A little girl sat in the seat part of the cart in front of us. She had braces on her legs, and she pointed to the pig in my cart.

I smiled. “Aren’t you adorable?”

Merrick had been scanning messages on his cell, but he looked up at the little girl. He seemed to squint like she looked familiar, but I didn’t think anything of it, and he resumed scrolling on his phone.

“Puh! Puh! Puh!” she yelled, pointing to the pig again.

Her father turned around to see what his daughter was getting excited about. He smiled at the little girl and spoke as he simultaneously began to sign. “That’s right. Puh for Pinky, your pig.” The man looked at me. “She’s deaf and just started working with a facial-prompt therapist to learn sounds. She has a pet guinea pig named Pinky, and all stuffed animals are him lately.” Reaching into his cart, he pulled out a small stuffed frog. The little girl reached for it, making a Puh sound again. “I already got suckered into buying one today.”

The line moved up, so the guy pushed his cart forward. I followed, but Merrick didn’t. When I looked up, I found him staring at the little girl.

My brows furrowed. “Merrick?”

It was like he didn’t even hear me. He just kept staring. I finally rested my hand on his arm.

“Merrick? Are you okay?”

Through my peripheral vision, I saw the guy in front of me turn back around. Merrick’s eyes shifted to him and narrowed to daggers. My head volleyed back and forth. The man was also now staring back at Merrick.

Feeling a bit freaked out, I stepped in front of Merrick and nudged him a bit. “Merrick. What’s going on? Talk to me.”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll meet you outside, okay?”

“Yeah, sure. If you’re okay?”

His eyes shifted from the man to the little girl one more time and held for a moment. Then he stormed toward the front door.

I blinked after him, unsure what the hell had just transpired, before turning back to the man with the little girl.

“Do you two know each other or something?”

He lifted his daughter from the cart and held her tight. “I’m Aaron Jensen.”

The name meant nothing to me. I shook my head. “I’m confused. Should that be familiar to me?”

The man looked at his daughter. “Eloise’s mother was Amelia Evans.”

“Amelia, Merrick’s ex?”

He nodded.

I stared at the little girl. “How old is she?”

“She’ll be three in two months.”