Sweet Deal

Chapter Twenty-One

As soon as Andrew had gone, Jake picked up the phone and called Shelby’s cell phone. She didn’t answer. Of course not. Then he called her office number. He didn’t expect her to answer there either, waited impatiently until it had rung four times and gone to voice mail, then stabbed the zero on his phone so he’d be connected to a live body.

“Susan speaking.”

“I need to talk to Shelby Leighton.”

“I’m sorry, but she’s gone for the day. Did you want her voice mail?”

“No. Thanks.” He slammed the phone down, knowing it was rude. She’d gone. Had she gone home?

He told his secretary he had an appointment out of the office then jogged to the elevator. He tapped his foot as the elevator descended to the underground parking garage. Fuck! Could this thing go any slower? Why the hell did people get in on the fourth floor and out on the third? Had they never heard of stairs? Come on, people!

Finally he was in his car, peeling out of the concrete garage and driving toward Shelby’s home. Traffic was slow and leisurely. Nobody else seemed in any hurry to get anywhere, dammit.

Why had she gone home? He could only think it was because she was upset about the project.

And maybe about him. But he wasn’t worth being upset about.

He couldn’t believe she hadn’t told Andrew about her idea. It was beautiful and he’d helped her do the research she needed to build her business case. It would totally work.

He slammed a hand on the steering wheel as the traffic light in front of him turned red. Another red light.

As he sat there waiting, he started wondering why he was going to see Shelby. She clearly wanted nothing to do with him and he didn’t blame her, but if she was upset, he wanted to help. And dammit, maybe he could talk to her and…and…tell her the truth.

The truth. Whatever that was.

He swiped a hand over his forehead, started forward with the traffic.

The truth was he was in love with her.

His gut cramped. Well, no wonder he didn’t give a shit about Gianna. He really was over her. And if this was how Andrew felt about Gianna, and she about him—well then, no wonder Gianna had dumped him.

That thought didn’t even hurt like it used to.

It did make him wonder, though—if he’d been in Andrew’s position, what would he have done? What if Shelby had belonged to Andrew, and Jake had had to choose between Shelby and his friendship with Andrew—what would he have done?

He didn’t know the answer and he never really would because it was impossible to say how someone would react in a given situation until they were actually there. Which sadly made him think that maybe Andrew had faced the same dilemma and been just as conflicted. If it meant losing Shelby and seeing her with another man for the rest of their lives, would he have had the strength to resist? It’d be different if Andrew had loved Gianna from afar, but the reality was Gianna had been in love with Andrew too. That must have made it a hundred times more difficult.

Yeah. He was in love with Shelby.

She wasn’t supposed to get hurt in all this, but he’d fucked things up. Now he had to try to fix things.

He pulled up on the street in front of Shelby’s apartment building and was just getting out of his SUV when he saw her car pulling out of her parking lot. Hey!

He took a step toward it, without really thinking, but obviously there was no way he could stop her. He watched her tail lights disappear down the street. Where was she going?

He jumped back into his own vehicle, started it up and laid some rubber as he pulled away from the curb.

He spotted her car a block up. She was driving fast, damn fast, and it took some effort to keep up with her in traffic. He didn’t care if she saw him, he just had to keep her in his sights. It soon became obvious she was headed back downtown. Was she going back to work?

Apparently, yes. She drove into the parking garage where she parked during the day. He hesitated only a few seconds. He had a parking spot below his own building but that was two blocks away. Or he could just go in this building and pay to park. Another car got between them, but that was okay now he knew where she was. So he waited to pull a ticket from the machine, waited for the arm to lift, waited while the goof in front of him drove slowly up each level, carefully rounded the corner and drove up the next until he finally found an empty spot. The only empty spot.

Jake kept his eyes sharp for Shelby, spotted her car on the fifth level, but no sign of her. Damn! She had to be going back to her office. Finally he found a spot, jumped out and locked his vehicle, jogged toward the elevator.

Why was he doing this? He shook his head while he waited for the elevator. Was he nuts? If she was going back to work, she must be okay.

His guts felt twisted up, though, because he’d gotten all psyched up to go see her and then she’d left. He needed to see her, needed to make sure she was okay, needed to tell her to get back in there and fight.

It took a few minutes to walk from the parking garage to the office tower that housed Gold Shield Insurance. He took the elevator up to the twenty-first floor and faced a receptionist. “Hi,” he said smiling. “I’m here to see Shelby Leighton.”

“Is she expecting you?”

“No. But…” He broadened his smile. “She’ll see me. Jake Magill.”

“I’ll try her line.”

He waited, but the receptionist hung up. “I’m sorry,” she said with a smile. “Her voice mail says she’s not in.”

“Yes she is.” Desperation edged his voice. She blinked at him. “I know she is. She left earlier but she just came back.” God, she was going to call security on him if he kept babbling like an idiot. “Maybe you could try Andrew Haddon for me.”

“Sure.” She called Andrew’s number. “I’m sorry. He’s not in either.”

Jesus. Where had he gone when he’d left Jake’s office? He turned away from the reception desk just as Andrew walked in.

He saw Jake and scowled at him. “Now what?”

Shelby stood alone in the elevator, the button for the twenty-sixth floor lit up. She pressed her lips together as she waited, flutters of anticipation and nerves like wings inside her.

The elevator came to a halt on the twentieth floor and Bram got in. They greeted each other, Shelby still feeling a touch of annoyance at how he’d gone to Andrew behind her back with complaints about her ability to manage the project. She recalled her meeting with him where she’d told him he should have gone to her, instead of going to her boss behind her back.

Exactly what she was about to do to Andrew.

Bram got off on twenty-four. Shelby stood frozen as the elevator doors closed, staring at the lit-up button for twenty-six, where the executive offices were located. Then she stabbed twenty-five, not sure if she was fast enough. The elevator glided to a stop. She stepped out of the elevator, turned and went into the ladies’ room on that floor.

She set her purse on the counter and took a breath.

Dammit, if she hadn’t already kissed this job goodbye, going above Andrew’s head would definitely do it. Her insides twisted into knots. Firming her lips, she picked up her purse and left the ladies’ room.

Jake glanced at the receptionist and smiled, moved closer to Andrew and spoke in a low voice. “I need to see Shelby.”

“She’s not here. She went home earlier. My secretary said she was sick.”

“She’s not sick. I went to her house. She was just leaving, and she came back here.”

Andrew’s forehead creased then he moved toward the door. “Come to my office.”

Jake followed him through a maze of cubicles to a corner office, glancing into each cubicle, wondering if it was Shelby’s. But he didn’t see her. Andrew paused at his secretary’s desk.

“Have you seen Shelby?” he asked her. Jake recalled sitting with her at the picnic. Uh…Susan, that was it.

She shook her head, looking up at him from behind her desk, her face full of confusion as she saw Jake. “No. She left this morning, remember?”

“Yeah, but she may have come back.”

“Oh, I doubt it. She really didn’t look well.” She squinted at Jake but he said nothing.

Andrew gave a short nod and walked into his office. Jake followed. He looked around. He’d visited Andrew’s office a few times, a long time ago. Weird.

“Did you try her cell phone?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah, but she didn’t answer. She’d know it was me.”

“Let me try.” But she didn’t answer Andrew’s call either.

“You’re sure she’s here?”

“Well. I didn’t see her walk into the building, but she parked in the parking garage.”

Andrew shrugged. “Don’t know what else I can do.”

Jake sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Short of searching the building, which I guess is a bit much, huh?”

Andrew regarded him thoughtfully. “Yeah. Not that I don’t know how you feel.”

“Andrew, can we…oh.”

They both turned at the feminine voice in Andrew’s open door. Jake’s mouth dropped open to see Shelby standing there, staring at both of them.

She was stunning in a little suit that hugged her curves, killer heels, and those glasses that made her look like the sexiest little librarian he’d ever seen, even though her nose was faintly pink under light makeup.

She glared at Jake. “What are you doing here?”