Page 34 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jill

I’d been avoiding Alex all day, but it hadn’t been easy. Somehow, Mom had convinced him to do chores around the house.

I’d almost knocked him off a ladder when I hurried out the front door for a jog. He’d been replacing the porch light.

Now, I was in my room, the door locked, but I could hear the rumble of his laughter mixed in with that of Cody and Carrie’s kids. I couldn’t believe they were letting him babysit. They didn’t even know Alex Owings.

I’d told them he was the last person on earth I’d leave my kids with, but they’d just laughed like I’d made a joke.

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to the laughter, sleep refusing to come. I’d wanted to go to bed early so I could get up before the sun. I loved watching the sun rise while I ran and watching it rise over the mountains would be spectacular.

I didn’t need to be downstairs, laughing with my nieces and nephew, all of whom had looked at me like I was just another strange adult when I’d met them before. I may have practically raised my younger siblings, but I didn’t know what to say to those kids or how to interact with them. Which was fine. I could be a good aunt without getting too close to them. I’d waited a long time to find my independence, to not be the person everyone called when they had a problem, to not have to worry about anyone but myself.

It had been what I’d thought I’d wanted for so long, but now…I huffed, as more laughter rolled up from below, and flipped, pulling the heavy blankets with me.

It was fine. I was glad my siblings and my mother were all so happy. I was glad they didn’t need me. I was really happy.

I sniffled. When I reached up and touched my cheek, I was surprised to find it was wet. What the hell was wrong with me?

I wiped my face. It had been a mistake to come here for my vacation. I’d wanted to be with my family, to relax, but Alex had ruined any hope I’d had of that.

He was crazy, stalking me like a creep. He could have any woman he wanted in the city. The only reason he was hung up on me was because I’d turned him down. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, so typical of a man, and now he was playing with my nieces and nephew, having fun with them, fitting in where I no longer felt I belonged.

I wished to be back in my office, staring down numbers. I understood numbers, they were rational and always worked to a tangible answer.

I flipped again and sighed. Why did Alex have to ruin this vacation? I’d needed so badly to get away not just from the city, but from him. I needed a break, so I didn’t think of him several times a day, so I didn’t feel my will to say no to him softening.

I sat up and pushed off the covers. At least him being there had strengthened my will. He was so obnoxious I could be sure I wouldn’t invite him into my life. I didn’t need his pushy, bull in a china shop, needy attitude in my well-planned, quiet life.

I didn’t need him and yet…I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. I hated the floor between us, hated that he was so close and that I wanted him so badly.

Worse, I didn’t just want his body anymore. Ever since he’d shown me pictures of what he’d done for me, vandalizing that jerk’s house, I’d wanted more. I’d wanted to talk to him, to see his face and his too-perfect smile. He was bad for me. A relationship with him would be an utter disaster, but I couldn’t think of a single thing I wanted more.

With a frustrated huff, I hopped out of bed. I dressed in jeans, boots, a couple of long-sleeved shirts and a sweatshirt. Then I pulled on a coat, hat, scarf and mittens. The mountains of Virginia in December were cold, and I was a thin-blooded Georgian.

I unlocked my door and slipped out as silently as I could. I cursed myself for not leaving my boots by the back door, but I hadn’t wanted to clutter up the downstairs area. Walking on my toes, I crept down the hall and down the back stairs, hoping to avoid running into any family.

I didn’t take a full breath until the side door had closed behind me. Outside, there was a distinct chill in the air and it smelled colder than anything I’d smelled in Atlanta, some scent I didn’t recognize but that tickled my nose and made me want to sneeze.

Beyond the lights of the house, there was only darkness, darker than it could ever be in the city. I pulled out my cell phone, turned on the flashlight app, and lit my path through the darkness. I’d visited my mom’s place only three times since she’d bought it, but I’d found my favorite place. I headed there, hardly needing the light, the path was so worn and smooth.

I smiled when I saw it, a bench on the edge of a wide-open space with Cody’s vineyards beyond and the mountains beyond that. In the daylight, the view was breathtaking, but I had a different view in mind that night.

I turned off my flashlight, laid on my back on the bench, and looked up at the sky. My breath caught, and my eyes watered at the beauty above me. So many stars dotting the infinite, unknowable universe beyond.

Somehow, in the face of that enormous expanse, my loneliness faded. My heart beat slowed, and I relaxed. I’d been meaning to do this, to view the night sky without the lights of a city marring the view, for so long and I couldn’t remember why I hadn’t done it sooner.

I shivered in the cold, but I didn’t want to move. I soaked in the beauty of that night sky until I was so cold I’d stopped shivering and my earlier disquiet, my earlier doubts and worries, had subsided.

I stood and walked back to the house, feeling somehow lighter.

I crept inside via the side door and almost turned around and went back out when I saw the kitchen light was on.

I hesitated in the doorway, but there was only silence. The laughter had quieted, likely everyone had gone to bed.

I walked into the kitchen and stopped again at the sight of Alex, in pajama pants and a t-shirt that clung to every line of his muscled form. He held a steaming mug in his hand and his smile…The way his face opened and his smile lit his eyes at the sight of me, hurt my eyes after the darkness to which they’d become adjusted.

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