I want You Deeper

Nicholas had left without even saying goodbye.

Not only had he stranded her at the hotel without a ride, but she hadn’t gotten a chance to see him one last time. The ride was no big deal. She just called for a rideshare. San Francisco had no shortage of those. But not being able to have that final moment with him was a problem.

And now she had to face Brooke.

“So?”

Charlie winced. She’d expected Brooke to wait at least half an hour after arriving to pounce. Instead, she’d plopped down in Charlie’s guest chair-the one intended for employees to discuss their benefits and workplace issues.

“So?” Charlie repeated. Obviously, delaying was the tactic she was going with here.

“Did you talk to him?”

Charlie shook her head. “Apparently Justin slipped up while he was talking to Caroline. Nicholas had to confess everything. Then he stomped out, leaving me there with a roomful of people who were suddenly very uncomfortable with me there. I left.”

Shrugging, Charlie returned her attention to the numbers she’d been double-checking on her screen. It wasn’t that this work was all that urgent.

She just wanted a way out of this conversation.

“Oh. Oh, my. I’ll have a talk with Justin. I can’t believe he’d do that.” Charlie shook her head, not taking her eyes off the screen. “No need. It’s all over now. I’m ready to move on.”

One good thing about everything that had happened-no way would Donna show up for their lunch date. She truly could move forward without having to worry about the Shaw family being in her life. Things had gone back to the simple predictability she preferred.

That was what she told herself, anyway.

“That’s rough. I can have Justin talk to him for you.”

Charlie turned, giving Brooke a half-smile. It was the best she could do at this point. It felt like all the energy had been sucked out of her. Time would fix that, she figured.

“I’d rather just forget about it.” Charlie turned back to her screen. “Thanks, though.”

Seeming to get the hint, Brooke hopped up to make a phone call. They had a staff meeting that morning, so they all had things to do. Charlie had to get these numbers together to show her boss how much they were spending on payroll. It kept her busy, which helped occupy her mind. That was what she needed now.

What she didn’t count on, though, was that Justin would remind her so much of Nicholas. Not that they were all that much alike, either in looks or personality. But he knew Nicholas better than most people did. They’d been friends for a long time. She couldn’t help but think of that when she looked at him. She only hoped that would go away over time since she definitely didn’t want to switch jobs right now.

As they exited the conference room, she got an even more direct reminder of Nicholas Shaw. A text from his mother.

I’m out here.

What? Charlie came to a dead stop outside the conference room, nearly causing a collision with the development team streaming out behind her. Donna was out there? Outside the building? She searched her mind for anything else that could have meant and came up with nothing.

“I’ll be right back,” Charlie said to nobody in particular, slipping the phone in pocket of her suit jacket as she rushed toward the door. She didn’t need her purse or sunglasses. She wasn’t going anywhere with this woman if she was, in fact, waiting outside the front door of the building. Charlie had no need to go to lunch with Donna Baker Shaw now that things were over with her son, but even if she did, the last thing Nicholas would want was for his mother to meddle again.

The passenger-side window stayed rolled up as Charlie approached. She waited for it to roll down. It didn’t, so she knocked on it.

A millisecond later, the window lowered with a gentle whir. It stopped when there was about a few-inch opening for Charlie to peer through.

“Get in!” Donna ordered.

Wow. This was a side of Nicholas’s mom that Charlie hadn’t seen. Physically, she looked like the same Donna that Charlie had experienced all along, complete with her hair pinned up in something straight out of the nineteen-fifties. There was something interesting about this commanding, direct Donna, especially when compared to the loud-but-syrupy-sweet Donna she’d been all weekend.

A couple of factors combined to convince Charlie to hop in. One, she didn’t want to stand out here on the sidewalk, having a discussion with a woman in an overpriced luxury vehicle. Two, she was curious to see what would happen if she got in the car.

“I didn’t bring my purse,” Charlie said once she was seated, door closed, seatbelt fastened.

“You don’t need it.” Donna sped away from the curb, driving much faster than Charlie would have imagined. She seemed like the type who drove with her hands in the proper positions, focused heavily on the road ahead of her. Instead, she had one hand on the wheel and a relaxed posture.

Charlie decided she may as well take this opportunity to say what she wanted to say. “Look, I want to apologize to you. Tricking you was the wrong thing to do. I just liked hanging out with your son and wanted to get to know his family. I didn’t think about how it might hurt people until I met all of you.”

“So you like hanging out with Nicholas.”

Charlie winced. She hadn’t meant to reveal that. She definitely didn’t want to inspire Donna to play matchmaker for her son again. “We had fun. It was nice of him to help me. That’s all.”

Hopefully, that would be enough to throw Donna off the trail. If she was on a trail, that was. They pulled up to a valet stand in front of a fancy new French restaurant near the office and Charlie’s jaw dropped. She’d heard Justin talk about how hard it was to get a reservation here. They were booked months in advance.

“How did you get in on such short notice?” Charlie asked as the valet rushed around the front of the vehicle to open Donna’s door.

Donna didn’t answer, just looked at Charlie as though that was the most absurd question ever asked. She then climbed out of the car without answering. Charlie couldn’t wait to share all this with Brooke. She’d appreciate the absurdity of someone being able to just show up at one of the town’s most exclusive restaurants without notice…especially since Donna lived a good hour away from here.

Sure enough, there wasn’t even a discussion as they entered. The maitre d’ escorted them to a table near the back of the restaurant in a room that seemed reserved for VIPs. They were the only two back there, for one, while the rest of the restaurant seemed packed. Also, in fancy restaurants like this, menus weren’t even handed to you when you were seated, apparently. Charlie wondered if she was supposed to know what food they served.

“I recommend the salmon salad.”

At Donna’s recommendation, Charlie thought about just going along with it, even though she hated fish. But no. The Charlie she was after the events of the past couple of weeks did not worry what other people thought. She was determined to come out of her experiences having lost her peoplepleasing instincts.

“Do they have a grilled chicken salad?”

Just as Charlie asked the question, a server arrived with two menus. She could look for herself.

“Yes, but it isn’t very good. The salmon is better. Trust me.” Donna held up her hand to stave off the offer of a menu. “We’ll both have the salmon salad.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

“I’d like to look at the menu first.”

Maybe it wasn’t fancy. Maybe it wasn’t bourgeois enough for a restaurant of this caliber, but Charlie didn’t care. She wasn’t going to force down salmon salad to fit in here.

“We’ll just need a few extra minutes.” Donna flashed an apologetic look before the server spun and headed back to the kitchen.

Proving she wasn’t rattled by all this, Charlie opened the menu and scanned it. In a matter of a couple of minutes, she’d found the exact salad she wanted and closed the menu.

Charlie leveled a serious look at Donna. “You wanted to talk to me about something?”

It was a guess. Donna had, after all, suggested they get together for lunch despite the mess of the previous day’s brunch. The fact that she was here had to mean she wanted to have a talk, right?