It was a grumpy and groggy Ridge who showed up at the office that morning. When he walked in he tried to fake a smile but his assistant could read him like an open book.
“You look terrible,” Miss Poole said, giving him a stern once-over. “I would suggest you save the partying for the weekend.”
Ridge just gave her a noncommittal grunt and kept walking until he’d entered his office and closed the door behind him. In the privacy of the room he relaxed his clenched teeth and gave way to a groan. He was exhausted and he was in the same bad mood Lani had put him in the night before. It was only because he had an important board meeting that afternoon that he’d even ventured out in public. He was in no condition to mix and mingle with anyone. Not today.
When Miss Poole buzzed to tell him it was time for his meeting he put on his game face and headed off to the conference room. It wasn’t going to be easy but like any professional worth his salt he was going to have to push his personal problems to the distant corners of his mind and deal with the issues at hand.
It was a long four hours but Ridge made it to the end of the meeting. Unfortunately, it was not before he’d nearly chewed off the head of his CEO for making a costly blunder. For the most part he’d kept his anger under control but this wasn’t one of those days when he was going to play nice.
When the meeting finally ended and he got up to go he could see the flash of relief that crossed the face of his second-in-command. Suddenly feeling guilty that he’d been so harsh, Ridge gave Jeff Bentley a curt nod. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” he said, his voice calm, the very opposite of what he’d been just minutes before. “We’ll find a solution to this.” With those words of reassurance he left the conference room and, not stopping, he left the office building and went straight to his Jaguar in his reserved parking spot. He was going home. There was something he needed to do and the sooner, the better.
Ridge was on his way to the house when he called Lani from his cell phone. Like he could have guessed, she was still at the lab, hard at work.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked. “Can you talk?”
There was a brief pause and when she spoke her voice was hesitant. After what she’d done to him she was probably expecting a shouting match. She would have a long wait for that one. “I’m sort of busy right now,” she said. “I can only give you a couple of minutes.”
“That’s all I need,” he said. “You got what you wanted. You won’t have me around to bother you anymore.”
He heard a soft gasp. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
“When you get home I won’t be there,” he said brusquely. “I’m moving out.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Where’s the flippin’ travel pouch?”
Ridge was muttering to himself as he threw shirts, socks, underwear and trousers into his suitcase. By the time Lani got home from work he would be long gone and he couldn’t have made a better decision. He would be far away from the little witch and he’d finally have peace.
After a few more frustrating minutes of searching he finally found the pouch he’d been looking for, tucked way to the back of the shelf in his closet. How that had gotten all the way back there, he couldn’t tell. He’d probably been in one of his mad moods when he’d thrown it on top of the shelf. Now, with it plopped on top of his clothes, he could close his suitcase.
But just before he did there was one quick thing he wanted to do. He’d been wound so tight he’d been sweating buckets all day. He felt too sticky to go out like this. He glanced at the clock, checking to make sure he had enough time for a quick shower. He didn’t want to be there when Lani got home but, knowing her, she wouldn’t leave the lab until the sun had gone down.
Ridge had just shrugged out of his suit jacket and was reaching for his tie when he heard tires screeching down below. Frowning, he went over to the window. Shit. It was Lani. How had she gotten home so fast?
Looking like an angry swan with her white lab coat sailing behind her, the little woman hopped out of her car and tore up the driveway toward the front porch. Ridge heard when she flung the front door open and then her footsteps sounded on the stairs.
He shook his head. Why the heck had she bothered to come home? There was nothing she could say that would stop him from leaving.
He’d turned away from the window and was heading toward the bathroom as planned when his bedroom door burst open and Lani stood there, panting from her run. Her brows fell in a frown. “Where do you think you’re going?” Then, like one of those wrestlers getting ready to rumble, she stood in the doorway, feet planted firmly apart, and folded her arms across her chest.
If Ridge weren’t so dang tired of Lani and her games he would have laughed. Did she really think she could stop him? He turned to face her. “I’m leaving,” he said, his voice stone cold. “You’re driving me crazy. I’m getting out of here before I do something I regret.”
That should have been enough to send any woman running, but not Lani. Instead of accepting his declaration and backing down in defeat, her face tightened. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Now Ridge did laugh. He couldn’t help it. At his six-foot-four height and brawny build was he really being bullied by a woman a foot shorter than he was? “You gotta be kidding me,” he said with a snort. “Who’s going to stop me? You?” It was more a sneer of disdain than a question.
She didn’t answer. At least not in words. Before he even realized what she was doing Lani was inside the room, standing right in front of him, her eyes flashing with fury. She caught him by surprise when her hand shot out and grabbed his tie. She yanked on it hard, almost breaking his neck. “I said you’re not going anywhere.”
Her hands shot up again but this time it was to grab fistfuls of his shirt then she was pushing against his chest, pushing with all her might, propelling him backwards toward the bed.
He could have stopped her. Easy. If he’d planted his feet firmly on the ground she couldn’t have moved him an inch. But he couldn’t believe it. The wee woman had him in shock. The little elf had actually gotten it into her head that she could boss him around.
Ridge was so bemused by his wife’s fearless behavior that he didn’t notice they’d reached the bed until she gave him a hearty shove in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards.