Page 13 of Mending Our Chance

6 Marcus

The next day I began a careful balancing act. I wanted to follow up on Felicity’s gesture of the pasta she had prepared for me, but I didn’t want to do anything that would spook her. That apology had been heartfelt and because of that, a door had been opened. I knew Felicity would be stopping by on her lunch break to mark a few things off her checklist. My eyes flicked over the email she had sent me at four in the morning. She must have been up all night.

Felicity had been formulating a host of other things I had never thought to apply to my portfolio of ideas, and I wanted to show her my appreciation. If she could cook me food and work all night on my business, then the least I could do was show my appreciation. It was what friends did, after all. She had made it clear we weren’t at that point, but I wanted to bridge the distance and earn her friendship as quickly as possible.

I arrived before Harold, who would likely be late again if he bothered to show at all after what went down yesterday. There was plenty of time to conceal my offering to the goddess who was fast becoming my saving grace. Then, all I had to do was fill the hours before lunch—that sacred time when she would make her appearance.

I wanted to make this work. And that meant more than a successful company. I wanted Felicity at my side, for us to be running this together, and at night… I smiled longingly as I fantasized about that dark hair spilling over my pillows as I clutched her to my side. Maybe with her in my bed, I would finally be granted sweet dreams. It wasn’t like I had nightmares often, but I didn’t have rest-filled sleep either. Would that change?

I sighed, realizing that the day would go faster if I kept myself busy. Casting one last glance at the clock, I resolutely pushed my fantasy to the side and turned to address my list of tasks for the day. But after answering a few important emails, I found myself typing random searches into the web browser. I wanted to look into Felicity.

That desire had been something I had been avoiding for various reasons. Fuck it. If I’m going to figure out her problems and atone for any sins, I need to know everything. Firing up my personal laptop, I began my search on social media. There was nothing of interest on there, but there were other sites I knew of and people who knew how to scour them. After shooting off an email to an old contact of mine, I clicked through a number of uninteresting pages until I came across a newspaper clipping dated some six years ago. I froze.

Felicity is married.

Rage bubbled inside me. It was dated two months after we broke up. I sat back and stared at the clipping. It wasn’t enough to unlock the mystery of my Romanesque beauty, but it sure helped paint a picture. I had gotten her to go out with me when she thought I was a playboy and made every excuse there was to stay away from me. Then, I had broken my own damned heart when I left her, only for her to run off with some fool named, Toby McIntyre, and marry him. Not knowing her stricter religious background, I had assumed she wouldn’t have been celibate all those years apart, but never in a million years would I have guessed she would marry!

Felicity had married. Is she still Mrs. McIntyre? My Felicity! The thoughts roared through my head. I didn’t personally know the fool, but having a face to the man who had been her rebound provided a sense of jolting reality. Would she have come to me if there was someone else? I couldn’t pursue her with another fucker in my way. Here she was, pissed at me because I couldn’t give her a ring back then, but then she just up and married the first guy to come after me? And she didn’t have the balls to tell me.

My shocked revelation was cut short by a ping, notifying me I had an email. Out of desperation for more information, I clicked it open to find that my contact had shot me back a detailed email on Felicity. He was always happy to hear from me; the bastard owed me, after all. I scanned through the official documents and saw that Felicity had filed and been granted an annulment a few days after her marriage. Phew! She didn’t stay long with the fool. Had she rebounded too hard after me and got burned?

The realization caused my heart to jump. Felicity had wanted me. She had tried to keep me and it broke my heart to think that despite all her efforts, she never could have succeeded. Now that I knew there had been more to our fling, I determined to resolve the past. Going to the top of the email, I reread the parts I had glossed over, finding out that Felicity had graduated with honors and moved east. One interesting footnote my contact included was that the ex-husband had died several weeks after their annulment in an accident involving a bad meal at a vegan restaurant. That was also reassuring. I never had to run into the bastard or have him pop up in Felicity’s life.

I heard the elevator doors chime closed as the main doors to our office suite opened. An amateur would have rushed to close the computer windows, but even out in the lobby, Felicity would have noticed such suspicious behavior. I, on the other hand, merely flicked my eyes toward the mystery that entered and called out to her, “Ms. Saccone, a word?”

I knew how she despised being summoned. The scowl on Felicity’s face was a mar to her beauty. As she walked toward me, I hid the evidence of my search. When she entered, I rose from my chair—a gentlemen always rises when a lady enters, after all.

“I have something for you,” I said to her as I stooped to pick up the bouquet from behind the file cabinet. “Thank you for all you’re hard work last night. I saw your email and am ready to go over your report whenever you are.”

“Oh.” Felicity stopped dead, the frown swiped clean off her face. “I mean, why thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

“I did. And also, I want you to know the pasta was delicious and I’m sorry you couldn’t stay and enjoy it with me.” I smiled at her, letting my fingers linger on her hand as she took the roses out of my arms.

It was as if I had bitten her hand. She pulled it back with a sharp intake of breath. I couldn’t read her expression as she promptly hid her face in the flowers and inhaled, but when her head popped back up, that scowl was back. I thought her admission last night was going to bring about some change, starting the transformation from enemy to friend… and hopefully lover. But something was brewing in her dark eyes. Instead of some amicable response, I was suddenly hit with a wave of anger. Her ire was palpable.

Fuck me.

“Thank you for the flowers, they are beautiful. But I’m getting off track… have you heard from the little shit yet this morning? I have words for him.”

I breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that her icy words were not for me. “He’s in his office actually. He showed up about half an hour ago. Would you like me to handle him?”

“No, that’s on me. You need to call Mr. Stonewell and nail down a date for dinner. I’ll handle the little twerp developer.” Her marching orders were clear and decisive. Too bad I couldn’t follow them.

“I was saving the good news for when I saw your pretty face, city slicker.” I leaned my hip against my desk, feigning natural ease. It was all a façade. “Stonewell will be there, a week from Friday, with his associate. Harold might be so dumb as to throw himself on the ground and miss, but I think we can still make something out of this mess.”

“Of course we can,” Felicity huffed. “I will change the date with the paps. At least I don’t have to cancel on them.”

It had been spoken dismissively, almost to herself, but I responded to her admission because I wanted to talk to her a little longer. “You called the paparazzi?”

“Publicity stunt, Marcus. Keep up.” Felicity turned on her heel, the flowers in her arms, and walked toward the conference room. She called out to Harold as she walked past his door, “Come with me, Mr. Graceson. We are having a briefing huddle. Please join us.”

Felicity didn’t even pause at his door when she summoned him. It was as if she had silently agreed with me about Harold being a special breed of ignorant. It was like mama always said, the lights were on with Harold, but no one was home. And I was glad Felicity wasn’t giving him a tongue lashing right this second. Harold might have deserved it, but we had other priorities to worry about right now.

As I walked past Harold’s door, there was a bumbling noise just before he emerged from his private office, all disheveled, with his fly unzipped. I didn’t want to think about what Harold had been doing in there. As long as he created what I needed him to, I would choose to ignore his disgusting behavior—for now. However, once we were properly staffed, he was going to have to keep his fly zipped up during work hours.

Harold’s eyes grew wide when he caught sight of the flowers. I wanted to laugh when I saw the red flush creep up his fair neck. I knew why he was pissed. Not only had I had just interfered with his designs on Felicity, but I had also failed in my duties as his wingman. Not that Harold had a chance in hell with her.

Hiding my smirk, I entered the conference room and saw the smallest of smiles on Felicity’s face. Then she went and rubbed it in deeper. “Aren’t these red blooms lovely?” she asked Harold as she laid them on the conference table. “Now, let’s get to work. I have class at three.”

That smile. That admission. They were a start—a good start. It also gave me hope that Felicity could be mine againand I’d move heaven and earth to claim another chance with her.

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