“That would be me, babe, unlike some of us, I rolled myself out of bed at a reasonable hour this morning so I could fix breakfast for you lovely ladies.”
With a chuckle, Suzy said, “Pouring it on there a little thick this morning aren’t ya? But hey whatever the reason, I’m glad, this is great. I can’t believe you and Gray can cook like this.”
“I know my brother seemed to be cooking something up last night too, say around two?”
Suzy choked on her coffee and Beth patted her on the back. “You’re a pervert Nick, has anyone ever told you that?”
“Ah, yes they have, but only in the most complimentary of terms.”
Suzy had to give it to the man, he didn’t lack for confidence. She could see how women would throw themselves at him on a regular basis. It was hard to believe that he’d been content to play house here for several weeks without as much as a date. Maybe he was having a lunchtime quickie or something.
When everyone had finished breakfast, Nick insisted on driving them to the office in his van. Suzy couldn’t help it, she still had to chuckle every time he hit the button to open the sliding side door for her. Maybe Nick’s inner soccer mom had been dying to get out for a while.
Chapter Nineteen
Suzy couldn’t contain the sigh of contentment she felt when she walked or hobbled back in the door at Danver’s International. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed being here until she stepped out of the elevator and saw all of the familiar faces. Nick had continued on up to his floor while she and Beth were now walking towards the reception area and a smiling Ella. Suzy still couldn’t get over the transformation there. Ella really was beautiful now, and her personality seemed to have changed as well.
She’d frankly found Ella annoying and tried to avoid her. Now that people were finally seeing her, Ella seemed to have lost the need to constantly seek attention and approval. Her sister had done a good thing there. Suzy smiled warmly at her and said, “Good morning Ella.”
With a shy smile, Ella said, “Good morning Ms. Denton, it’s so good to have you back.”
“Please Ella, call me Suzy. I think we are past all of the formalities now. I’ll even try to curb my four-letter words in front of you today.”
“Th…That’s ok, Ms…er Suzy, I’ve gotten used to that here. This is a very colorful place to work.”
“Colorful huh? Yeah, I like that.”
Beth followed her down the hall to her office and Suzy was surprised to see how organized everything was. Her desk was always rather like organized chaos. She assumed it was Beth who had neatly stacked messages on one corner, put her files in alphabetical order on the other corner and set a status update on all of their current projects in the center.
“Wow sis, did you do all of this?”
“Um, yes, I hope you don’t mind that I decided to straighten your desk some. I thought it might be easier for you to find things.” Then rolling her eyes, Beth said, “I know you’re a little anal about your paperwork so if you want to put it back the way it was, I can do that.”
Suzy couldn’t contain her laughter. “Did you just call me anal? Beth Denton, I know you didn’t use that dirty mouth when you were teaching.”
“Like Ella says, this place rubs off on you. Now master what do you want to start on today?”
~~~
They worked steadily through the morning returning calls and placing orders for an upcoming training conference. The first hour she was in her office, it seemed that everyone in the building had dropped by with their well wishes. Claire and Jason had stopped by a short while ago and she’d made plans for lunch with her. Claire looked even bigger than when she’d seen her last week. Suzy was afraid she was going to explode at any moment. Jason followed her around like a mother hen, obviously worried out of his mind about her. She didn’t know how the poor man would make it until the baby was born; he looked like he was close to a nervous breakdown now.
Gray called just before she was leaving for lunch and her heart skipped a beat when she heard his sexy voice on the phone. “Hey, baby, how is your first day back?”
“Hi yourself, you sexy man. My day has been great so far. Did you make it back in time for your meeting this morning without breaking too many laws?”
“I cut it a little close, but I made it.” Then lowering his voice to that sexy rumble that she loved so well, he said, “Last night was mind blowing. You blow me away baby. Every time I take you, I just want you that much more. There seems to be no relief from wanting you, even after last night, I ache for you.”
What girl could hold out against something like that? Suzy felt her body key up, nearly purring in pleasure at his words. “I know how you feel, slick, I can think of at least a dozen things I’d like to do on this desk right now and none of them involves work.”
“Aghhh god, don’t even go there baby. I really don’t want to go to my lunch meeting with an erection; they frown on stuff like that. Sooo, what’s the rest of your day like?”
“Just finishing up some things for a few events, how about you?”
“The lunch meeting that I mentioned and then this evening, well, um, I’m having dinner with Reva.”
Suzy held the phone, but couldn’t seem to force herself to say anything. Dinner with Reva, really? You better get used to it, if this is his baby, Reva will always be there.
“Suzy?”
“Uh huh, I’m here.”
With a sigh, Gray said, “You know this is just about the baby. I have to find out what’s going on. There is nothing romantic here and never will be.”
Suzy turned in her chair towards the window, trying to will her voice to sound normal. “I know Gray, its ok.” She was relieved when he changed the subject.
“Hey a little birdie told me that someone is having a birthday Friday.”
“Ugh please, don’t say that out loud. I’m not acknowledging them anymore.”
“Oh, yes you are. I’ll be back Friday evening early so I want you to have either your sister or my brother in his mini-van to take you shopping for a new dress because we are going to do the town when I get home. I’m not opposed to something very sexy, Ms. Denton.”
“Is that right Mr. Merimon? Well, I’ll see what I can do.”
“I love you, baby. I’ll call you tonight.”