Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Evie

“Andrea!”

The bellow came from behind Merrick’s closed door. I’d just come upstairs to talk to his assistant about scheduling an appointment, but Andrea wasn’t at her desk. I looked around, and she was nowhere in sight. So I walked to his office and waved so he could see me before popping my head in.

Two people were arguing loudly through his desk speakerphone. But Merrick waved me inside and pushed a button, which I assumed was mute.

“Sorry, I see you’re on a call,” I said. “I heard you yell for Andrea, so I figured I’d let you know she’s not at her desk. I just came up to speak to her myself.”

“Shit.”

“What’s the matter?”

“This call I’m on was in my calendar for this afternoon, not eight in the morning. I think she might’ve flip-flopped two clients when she input the appointments.”

“Oh. Well, do you need something?”

“I need Andrea to run upstairs to my apartment and grab a file that has the reports for this call.”

“I can do that.”

He hesitated. “You sure she’s not around?”

I looked back over my shoulder. “I don’t see her anywhere. But I can check the break room for you, and if I don’t find her, I can grab your file.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I’m happy to help.”

Merrick nodded. “If you don’t find her, the file should be on the living room table. Some of the contents are probably outside the folder, so just grab whatever you see.” He pulled out a set of keys. “Top floor, apartment two.”

“Okay. Be right back.”

I quickly checked both the break room and the ladies’ room, but there was no sign of his assistant. So I headed to the elevator and pushed the button for the highest floor on the panel.

When I arrived, I realized apartment two was really penthouse two. I stood with my jaw hanging open as I let myself inside. Merrick’s place was ginormous, with an open floorplan that swept from the gourmet kitchen to the living room and dining room, separated only by a few steps down. I made my way to where he’d said his file was, drooling over the stainless-and-marble kitchen as I passed. Then I completely forgot why I was up here once I got a load of the view from the living room. Floor-to-ceiling windows lined one wall, looking out onto the river and bridge, while the adjoining wall showcased a skyline of tall buildings. I bet it looked incredible all lit up at night.

I could’ve gazed all day, but the boss needed his file—and I needed thirty seconds to nose around the rest of the apartment. At the far end of the living room, there was a long hall, which I assumed led to the bedrooms. So I scooped up the file I’d come to collect and the papers scattered around it, and went to check out the rest of the place.

The first room was an office, with gorgeous built-in bookshelves and one of those ladders attached at the top that could be rolled from one end to the other. God, I always wanted a ladder with my bookshelves.

The next room was a bathroom, and there was a bedroom across from that. At the end of the hall was a set of double doors. I might’ve gasped when I creaked them open and got a look at the master. The man had a terrace off his bedroom, with enough room to have a small party. And the bed? It had to be a California King—or bigger? Was there anything bigger? The four dark-wood, carved posts were so masculine and definitely matched the bossman downstairs.

Speaking of which…I needed to get the hell out of here. I would’ve loved a little more time to poke around, maybe check out the closet and master bath, but I wasn’t about to push my luck. As I pulled the bedroom door closed, a flash of color caught my eye on the nightstand on the far side of the bed.

Goldfish?

I don’t know why, but it struck me as odd that two plain jane, orange goldfish were sitting in a small bowl on a nightstand. Now, if there had been a five-hundred-gallon tank filled with exotic saltwater fish? That wouldn’t have seemed strange. But two simple fish that probably cost a dollar? While I stood there trying to make a piece fit into a puzzle, my phone rang. The number was familiar, although I couldn’t place it until I swiped to answer and heard the voice.

“Where are you?”

Crap. Merrick. “I’m…waiting for the elevator.”

“That thing is slow as shit. Take the stairs, please. I need the damn file.”

“Okay. I’ll be right there.”

I swiped my phone off and rushed out of his apartment, double-checking that the door locked behind me while looking around for the stairwell. But as I headed toward it, the elevator dinged, so I backed up and rushed in as soon as the doors slid open—and almost collided with a woman coming off.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

The woman had to be over six-feet tall with the statuesque heels she had on. And five of those feet were legs.

She looked me up and down. “Why are you on this floor?”

“I, umm…” I pointed over my shoulder to penthouse two. “I had to pick up a file for Merrick.”

She tilted her head and squinted. “And you are?”

“I work at Crawford Investments.”

“Oh.” The woman gave me a last once-over and seemed to lose interest. She stepped around me. “I should’ve guessed that.”

What the hell did that mean? I was pretty sure it was an insult, but when the elevator doors started to slide closed, I realized I didn’t have time to worry about it. So I jumped inside, glancing over my shoulder toward where Miss Daddy Long Legs was heading. Apparently, she lived in penthouse one—or at least she had the key.

Andrea was back at her desk when I returned, so I explained what had happened, and she quickly took the file to the boss.

The rest of the day was pretty unremarkable. I didn’t see Merrick again until his voice made me jump at seven that evening. I’d been reading and hadn’t heard him approach my open office door.

“Did you get here at the ass crack of dawn again this morning?”

I smiled. “Maybe a little later.”

He had a leather strap diagonally across his chest, with a stuffed briefcase hanging behind him. He looked at his watch. “Why don’t you go home? You don’t have to work twelve hours a day.”

“Thanks. I was just going to pack up.” I lifted my chin, motioning toward his bag. “Looks like you plan on working a lot more than twelve hours with that bag.”

He nodded. “I have a lot of shit to catch up on. Unfortunately, I have a dinner meeting first.”

Merrick’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the screen, and swiped to answer with a groan. “I’m on my way.”

The other person said something I couldn’t make out. It made Merrick roll his eyes. “I’ll avoid it. Thank you. See you in a bit.”

He swiped his phone off, shaking his head. “Don’t become one of those annoying New Yorkers who has to tell everyone what route to take to get somewhere.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem. I barely know my right from my left.”

Merrick smiled. I thought it might be the first real, unguarded one I’d been treated to. I pointed to his face. “You should do that more often.”

“What?”

“Smile. It makes you seem like less of an ogre.”

“So I’m an ogre?”

“Well, I think you have to be a minimum of nine-feet tall to be an ogre. So maybe a mini ogre.”

Tiny wrinkles creased around his eyes as he smiled again, even as he tried to hide it. “By the way,” he said. “That reminds me—I never thanked you for not dropping a dime on me to Grams.”

“What do you mean?”

“She told me you said I was polite and professional in our first interview. In hindsight, perhaps I was a little curt.”

“A little?”

Merrick smiled some more. His phone buzzed in his hand, and he glanced down before shaking his head. “Now I’m supposed to avoid 144th at Convent Avenue for some reason.”

I nodded. “Oh, that’s two blocks from where I’m staying. They actually have the entire block shut down. They’re filming something. I tried to get a peek at it when I passed this morning.”

“You live uptown?”

“My sister does. I’m staying with her until I can find something.”

He nodded toward the hall. “Come on. I’ll drop you on the way.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I can take the subway.”

“I’m going right near you. I have a car waiting outside.”

“You sure?”

He nodded. “It’s not a problem at all.”

We rode the elevator down together and got into the waiting Town Car, where I gave the driver my sister’s address. As we pulled away from the curb, this time my phone rang.

“Would you excuse me for a minute? It’s my sister.”

“Do whatever you need to.” Merrick sat a few feet away, scrolling through his phone while I answered.

“Hey,” Greer said. “I just wanted to tell you I walked Mrs. Aster’s dog for you. I was taking Buddy out anyway. Plus, you’ve been getting home so late. Just figured I’d tell you in case you planned to stop in her apartment on your way up.”

“Oh, thanks so much. You didn’t have to do that. Why are you home so early?”

“I have that part-timer who closes on Tuesdays and Thursdays now, remember? So I can walk her dog Thursday, too, if you need it.”

“Thanks, but Mrs. Aster will be back tomorrow. She’s away at her sister’s.”

“You and your crazy barter deals. What does she give you in return, anyway?”

“Homemade cat treats.”

“Cat treats? But you don’t even have a cat.”

“Yes, but I trade them to a guy who does website development. He’s making one for me, for my rentals. If I rent direct, I can save the Airbnb fees.”

Greer sighed. “Why can’t you figure out how to trade for some primo sperm for me?”

Through my peripheral vision, I noticed Merrick glance over. His brows pulled together as he looked back down at his phone.

“Are you still at the office?” she asked.

“Actually, I’m on my way home.”

“Okay, be careful on the subway.”

“I’m in a car. My boss was heading uptown, so he offered to drop me off.”

“Oooh… Is this hot boss?”

This time my eyes flashed to Merrick. If he’d heard, he didn’t react. “I gotta run. Thank you for doing that for me. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Get me some sperm from hot boss!”

Now Merrick’s eyes definitely widened. Did she have to yell that? I closed my eyes. “Goodbye, Greer.” I felt the man next to me staring. I sighed. “You heard that, didn’t you?”

“Do you want me to pretend I didn’t?”

I nodded. “That would be great. Thank you.”

The corner of Merrick’s lip twitched, but he went back to staring at his phone. After a few minutes of awkward silence, I gave in.

“My sister and her husband have had some fertility issues. They’re in the process of looking for a donor. It’s been a running joke since I interviewed that she wants your sperm.”

“Why?”

“She wants someone with good genes—you know, smart, good looking, successful.”

“Did she and I ever meet?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Did she see a picture of me somewhere?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

Merrick’s mouth slid to a cocky grin. “So she got her information about my appearance from…”

Shit. I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to be obnoxious about it. You’re good looking. Big deal. So are a lot of men.”

Merrick chuckled. “And the cat treat-website development barter?”

“Man, you heard everything, huh?”

He smiled. “Perhaps you should turn the volume down on your phone.”

“Or…you can just mind your own beeswax and pretend you didn’t overhear.”

“Why would I do that when you were engrossed in such a riveting conversation? Your sister is bartering for sperm?”

I laughed. “No, the bartering part of the conversation didn’t have anything to do with the sperm part—not really, anyway. I’m taking care of my sister’s neighbor’s dog. That neighbor makes organic cat treats that have CBD in them, so she pays me in those. I don’t have a cat, but the guy who’s building the website for my rental properties has one with bad anxiety, so it works out all around.”

Merrick shook his head. “Just curious. What could I get for sperm in the racket you have going?”

“Sadly, I probably can’t do much better than organic cat treats right now. I’m still establishing my network here in New York. I stopped doing it for a few years because Christian, my ex, hated when I bartered.”

“Why did he hate it?”

I shrugged. “I think it embarrassed him. He didn’t like people thinking I couldn’t afford things. But I had fun organizing all the barters and getting stuff for free. I sort of find it exhilarating. In hindsight, I should have bartered his ass for a backbone and done what makes me happy.”

Merrick’s eyes swept over my face, and he smiled. “Tell me what else you’ve bartered.”

“Everything.” I shrugged. “Anything. I’ve babysat for frequent flyer miles, got my oil changed in exchange for tutoring a mechanic’s daughter in math. Once I even traded baking forty dozen cookies to get my friend’s nursery painted with a Pete the Cat mural.”

“What’s Pete the Cat?”

“A cartoon.”

“Who needed forty dozen cookies?”

“A couple getting married who wanted to give everyone a small box with fresh-baked Italian flag cookies as a parting gift.”

“You make those things?”

I nodded. “I bake a lot. My grandmother owned a bakery when I was a little girl.”

“Milly did? I didn’t know that.”

“Yep. She sold it a year or two after my grandfather died. She said it wasn’t the same without him. But she still baked a lot, and it was something we did together every time I visited. I don’t remember ever walking into her house without it smelling like a fresh batch of cookies or a cake. I’m more of a mood baker than a regular baker, though. I don’t usually bake if things are just rolling along in my life. But if I’m happy or sad, I get a certain energy and need to keep myself busy, so I wind up in the kitchen. I also tend to snack when I’m nervous, so I suppose the baking and snacking go hand in hand. And…” I laughed. “I have no idea why I’m telling you all this.”

Merrick smiled. “I’m not even sure how this conversation started anymore.”

“Ah…” I raised a finger. “My sister wants your sperm.”

Merrick’s phone buzzed. “We might’ve needed this call as an interruption. God knows where this discussion would go next.”

He swiped to answer and brought the phone to his ear. “What’s up, Bree?”

Unlike the way he’d listened to my entire conversation, I couldn’t make out more than a word or two of his. Though the voice on the other end was definitely a woman. After a minute, he shook his head.

“Sorry. I won’t be around next week. I have a business trip.”

He listened again. This time, he looked over at me before he spoke. “That’s nice of you to offer, but I’m not home now either.”

Quiet.

“Probably not. I’ll be pretty late. But thank you anyway.”

He swiped his phone off and went silent. I just couldn’t help myself.

“You know, your phone is so low, I could only hear one side of the conversation.”

“That’s because I turned it down after you were able to hear my entire conversation with Kitty the other day.”

I shifted in my seat to face him. “So you’re not going to tell me who you just blew off?”

“How do you know I blew someone off if you didn’t hear the person on the other end?”

“A woman knows when she hears a blow off, whether it’s for her or someone else. It’s one of our innate talents.”

Merrick’s lip twitched. “Bree is my neighbor.”

“Is she super tall?”

“Yes, why?”

“I think I met her when I went upstairs to get your file earlier today. I’m pretty sure she insulted me, but I can’t be sure.”

Merrick smiled. “I don’t even know what she said, but I’m sure it was insulting. Bree’s not a big fan of women.”

“The entire gender?”

He shook his head. “She’s a model, and apparently it’s very competitive.”

“She’s a model—one who is very pretty with great legs. So why would you blow her off?”

“I don’t shit where I eat, Dr. Vaughn.” His eyes dropped to my lips for a fraction of a second. If I’d blinked, I would have missed it. He caught my gaze again. “Getting involved with a neighbor is almost as stupid as getting involved with a coworker.”

An odd disappointment hit me. “Oh… Yeah, that makes sense.”

When we turned the corner to my block, my sister was coming out the front door of her building with Buddy on a leash. I leaned forward to let the driver know which building it was, and we pulled up right next to where Greer and her dog were standing. I had a sneaking suspicion she was out here on purpose, waiting for me to pull up so she could take a look at the man sitting next to me since she’d told me she just took out her dog with the neighbor’s.

“Thank you very much for the ride home.”

Merrick nodded. “Of course.”

I grabbed the door handle, but Merrick stopped me. “Hang on. Don’t open that side. This is a busy road, and no one pays attention. I’ll let you out on this side.”

“Umm… You might want me to risk it.” I pointed to my sister, who was smiling like a loon. “That’s my sister, Greer, who wants your sperm. I’m not sure you want to get out.”

Merrick chuckled. “This should be interesting.” He climbed out of the car and offered his hand to me.

Greer’s eyes sparkled as she watched the scene. I had no choice but to make the introduction. “Uh, Merrick, this is my sister, Greer. Greer, meet my boss, Merrick Crawford.”

The two of them shook, and Greer looked Merrick up and down. “You’re tall.”

He smiled politely.

“What, about six two?”

“Exactly. Very good guess.”

She nodded. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve met your grandmother. She’s a hoot.”

“That she is, indeed.”

I could see the wheels spinning in my sister’s head. “How old is she now? She and our grandmother were born the same year. So that must make her close to eighty?”

“Seventy-eight. But if she were seventy-nine and three-hundred-and-sixty-four days, I wouldn’t call her close to eighty to her face.”

Greer smiled. “Longevity in the family. You must have good genes. Any family history of severe illness?”

Oh my God. I shoved my sister toward the apartment building and waved behind me to Merrick. “We definitely need to run. Thanks again for the ride, boss.”

He chuckled.

Inside the lobby, I shook my head. “I cannot believe you just did that.”

“What?”

“Questioning him like he was a serious sperm-donor candidate. He’s my boss, Greer.”

“Sorry. I got carried away. He’s even better than you described, though. Those eyelashes. I pay eighty dollars a month, and mine aren’t nearly as full and dark. If I can’t have his sperm, you definitely should take some.”

“That’s not happening.”

“Really? Are you ignoring the way he looks at you?”

Lines creased between my brows. “What are you talking about?”

“I was around the man one minute, and I know he’s hot for you.”

“You’re crazy.”

I turned and looked back through the front door. Merrick was still standing outside the car watching me.

But that didn’t mean anything…right?