Billionaire's Contract Engagement(53)

If he really needed to be at work, why did Ash feel like such a jackass?

Mel was just going to have to learn that this was the way things were.  The way it had always been. They had always led very separate lives. She  was there when he had time for her, and when he didn't she filled her  days with school and shopping. And she had never had a problem with that  before.

It made sense that being stuck at home would drive her a little nuts.  What she needed was a car, and her credit cards back. That should make  her happy.

He rode the elevator up to his floor, feeling better about the whole  situation, and wasn't surprised to see Rachel sitting there as he  approached his office. She always worked half a day on Saturdays.  Sometimes longer if there was a critical pitch in the works.

"G'morning, beautiful," he said and she just rolled her eyes.

"Coffee?"

"Please."

He shrugged out of his jacket and had settled behind his desk by the time she returned.

"How is Melody today?" she asked, setting his coffee in front of him.

"Better." He'd given her a very vague explanation of yesterday's event.  He said only that she was out, and wasn't feeling well, and didn't think  she could get back home on her own. Rachel hadn't said a word to him  about his and Melody's supposed engagement. He didn't doubt that she was  simply biding her time.

"I'm a little surprised to see you here," she said.

"Why? I always work Saturday."

"Well, with Melody still recovering  … "

"She's okay. It's good for her to do things on her own."

Rachel shrugged and said, "If you say so." And before he could tell her to mind her own business she was gone.

Melody was a big girl, and she had always been extremely independent.  Once she had a car, and money to spend, she would stop giving him a hard  time.         

     



 

Instead of working he spent the better part of the morning on the phone  with his regular car dealership, negotiating a deal. Because he was a  regular and valued customer the salesman even offered to bring the model  he was interested in over for a test drive. Unfortunately they didn't  have one in stock with all the options he wanted and had to ship it in  from a dealership in L.A., but delivery was promised on Monday.

With that taken care of, he called to reinstate all the credit cards  he'd cancelled when she left. With expedited delivery they would arrive  around the same time as the car. By the time Rachel popped in at noon to  let him know she was leaving, he was finally ready to start working.

"Stay home tomorrow," Rachel told him. "Melody needs you just as much as these clowns do. Probably more."

"Thanks, Dr. Phil."

She rolled her eyes and walked out.

Not ten minutes later Brock rang him.

"I need you in the conference room now," he said sternly. Considering  his tone, this wasn't going to be a friendly chat, and Ash was not in  the mood to get chewed out again. He couldn't even imagine what he'd  done. Had Brock found something else to pin on Melody?

Dragging himself up from his desk, he headed down the hall. The normally  clear glass walls of the conference room were opaque, which in itself  was not a good sign.

The door was closed, so he knocked.

"Come in," Brock snapped.

Jesus, he so didn't need this today. Ash sighed and pushed the door  open, ready to tell Brock to go screw himself, and was nearly knocked  backward by a roomful of people shouting, "Surprise!" at the top of  their lungs.

He must have looked the part because after a beat, everyone started to  laugh. They were obviously celebrating something, but he had no idea  what. Had he gotten a raise that no one told him about?

On the conference table was a cake, then he noticed the hand-drawn banner draped from the ceiling.

Congratulations, Mr. Melody Trent.





Eleven


People started milling over to Ash, shaking his hand and congratulating  him on his engagement. Brock and Flynn and Jason Reagert. Gavin Spencer,  Celia Taylor and Celia's fiancé, Evan Reese. There were even a few  public relations people, several creatives and a large group of his  financial people from the fifth floor.

Everyone knew.

Dammit. So much for it not being a big stink when he dumped Melody.

Between handshakes someone stuck a drink in his hand and he took a long  swallow. "You guys really didn't have to do this," he said.

"When we heard the news we knew we had to have some sort of  celebration," Flynn said. "We wanted to invite Melody, but Rachel didn't  think she would be feeling up to it."

Jesus, what a nightmare that would have been.

Rachel, the person he assumed was responsible for this fiasco, was on  the opposite side of the room so it took him a few minutes to make his  way over. When he did, she gave him a huge smile and hugged him.  "Congratulations, Mr. Williams."

"You are so fired," he said, hugging her back.

She knew it was an empty threat, so she just patted his arm and said, "You're welcome."

Celia approached and handed him another drink. "I figured you could use it. I know you hate big productions like this."

"Thank you." He accepted the glass and took a long drink.

"I can't tell you how thrilled I am for the two of you," she said. "I  know how hard the past couple of months have been. I'm so glad  everything worked out. Have you set a date?"

He took another slug of his drink. "Not yet."

"I hope you're not planning to elope, or get hitched in Vegas. You know everyone here is expecting an invitation."

Well, then, everyone here was going to be very disappointed.

He finished his drink and someone gave him another, then someone else  handed him a slice of cake. As desperately as he wanted to get the hell  out of there, he was more or less stuck until the party wound down  around three. And though he could have easily drunk himself into a  stupor, he stopped at five scotches-although two were doubles. He wasn't  drunk by any means, but tipsy enough to know he shouldn't be driving.

When everyone but the executives had cleared out, Ash figured it was  finally safe to get the hell out of there. He hadn't gotten squat done.  Not work anyway, and he was in no condition to go back to his office.

"I'm going to call a cab and head home," he told everyone.

"We're heading out, too," Celia said. "Why don't you let us drive you? You don't mind, do you, Evan?"

Her fiancé shrugged. "Fine with me. If you want, Celia could take you  home in your car and I can follow. That way you won't have to take a cab  into work."         

     



 

"That would be great," Ash said.

Feeling pleasantly buzzed, he said his goodbyes to everyone else, and the three of them headed down to the parking garage.

When he and Celia were alone in the car and on their way to his condo she told him, "There's something we need to talk about."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Everything is actually going great. But it's clear that the  long-distance relationship Evan and I have is going to get tedious."

"But things are okay with you two?"

"Yeah. Things are so good, I'm moving to Seattle at the end of the year."

Ash hated to see her go, but he wasn't exactly surprised. She had fallen  pretty hard for Evan. He just wanted her to be happy. "I guess this  means you're leaving Maddox?"

"Technically, no. I'll be handling all of the advertising for Reese  Enterprises as a consultant for Maddox. I'll just be doing it from  Seattle."

"Wow, that's great."

"I told Brock and Flynn I was thinking of leaving, and they didn't want to lose me."

"That's because you've made them a lot of money. They know a good thing when they see it."

"I'm excited, but I'm going to miss everyone here."

"Who's going to take your place?"

"His name is Logan Emerson, he's going to start working with me Monday.  I'll train him for a couple of weeks, then I'll be exclusively on the  Reese account. I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of traveling back and forth  until I make the move."

"Well, we'll miss you, but it sounds like an awesome opportunity."

They reached Ash's building and he directed her down into the parking  garage, then they walked up to the street where Evan was waiting.

"Thanks for the ride," he said.

Celia smiled. "No problem. See you Monday. And say congratulations to  Melody for us. We should all get together for dinner sometime, when  she's feeling better."

"Definitely," he said, knowing that would never happen.

Ash waved as they drove off, then he went upstairs. The condo was quiet  so he figured Mel was probably out for a walk, but then he saw her key  on the counter. He walked to her room and looked in but she wasn't in  bed, then he heard water turn on in her bathroom. He crossed the room,  and since the bathroom door was open, he looked in.

Hot damn. Melody was in the shower.

He wondered if she might be in the mood for company. After watching her  watch that video the other day, he had the feeling it could get very  interesting.