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Chapter Twenty-Six
Vivian
The bureau received an official invitation to the grand opening of Grand Marin, so Daniel arranged for the three of us—me, him, and Amber—to attend. It’s three thirty on a Thursday as the hot sun beats down onto the crowd. An intimate group of sixty or seventy of us sits outside on folding chairs facing a stage.
The temps reached eighty-eight degrees at noon, and the breeze isn’t helping cool me down. I hope the mayor’s speech won’t take long. I send a longing gaze at one of the shops, coveting its air-conditioned interior.
Amber and I are in the front row. She’s fanning herself with the program and Daniel is acting as if he’s on the verge of spontaneously combusting. He keeps murmuring under his breath about how he’s uncomfortable, and then shifting in his seat. I’m doing my best to ignore him.
“Nate Owen is a staple in Clear Ridge, and I don’t know what we’d do without him,” Mayor Dolans is saying.
“We’d have a lot less headaches,” Daniel mumbles. Nate is trying to zone a residential area to include retail. Daniel’s been complaining about it for a week. It’s making my job less pleasant and that’s saying something. I’ve stolen a few glances at Grand Marin’s corner office since we arrived, that’s for damn sure.
Daniel seems to remember I’m sitting next to him and offers a pained, and possibly sheepish, smile before adding, “Sorry. I forgot you two are…” He gestures with his hand rather than finishing his sentence.
We are.
That’s as good a description as any. I’ve rarely slept in my own bed for nearly a month. I sleep next to Nate.
“How are things with the billionaire?” Amber whispers to me. Amber has become a close friend. We’ve had lunch together a lot over the last month or so. She’s heard my stories about Walt and my suspicions of Dee. She knows about Nate and me, though I kept his proclamation to myself.
“The same. I mean, I drive an extra twenty minutes to work every day now. And Odessa plies me with food the second I come home. She’s on a nutrition kick lately so I’ve eaten a lot of salads and drunk a lot of juices.”
“I’ve always wanted a juicer.”
“You can have Walt’s. He left it when he moved to Chicago.”
“Really?”
“Sure.” I think of the juicer on my countertop Walt bought with my money and wish I had insisted he take it with him when he moved. I’ve watched him spend fifteen minutes scrubbing it clean. No thanks.
“No, I don’t mean the juicer. I didn’t know Walt moved to Chicago.”
“This past weekend.” I feel her eyes on the side of my head and turn. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
“I think so. I can’t run his life for him.” Nate is teaching me that.
Amber looks like she has more to say, but applause erupts around us, signaling the end of the mayor’s speech. As he steps aside, Nate, dressed in lightweight gray trousers and a tight pale-blue polo shirt, grins at the crowd from in front of the microphone. I all but purr. His chest is testing the confines of his shirt, the sleeves tight around thick biceps. Even after months together, the sight of him makes me gooey.
“He’s pretty,” Amber whispers, pausing her fanning to slap me with the program. “Lucky.”
Not a word I’ve attributed to myself in a long while, but I can’t argue. He is pretty and I am lucky. Since the start of this whole new-identity thing, I haven’t thought too far into the future. Honestly, I half expected Daniel to figure out who I was and fire me. I guess that doesn’t make a lot of sense now that I think about it. I slide a glance over at my surly boss and consider while he’s not the friendliest person on the planet, I doubt he’d can me because I was Walter Steele’s daughter. Until that night at the bar when Nate outed me to random strangers, I believed the world hated me.
“God, it’s hot today.” Amber fans her program faster and I lift mine and do the same. I allow my eyes to rake over the handsome speaker, sweat glistening on his upper lip, and remember last night in bed and how he was working up a sweat for a different reason entirely.
Mmm.
“Thank you for coming out today. You have vouchers in your programs for food and discounts at the shops,” Nate announces. “Take advantage of it, it won’t be a regular occurrence.” His voice is a low, teasing warning that makes women in the crowd giggle and sends goosebumps skittering over my skin, even in this heat.
He steps off the stage as people begin to disperse. Daniel grumbles something about taking off, and for us to enjoy ourselves as Nate approaches. They exchange dismissive male glances and then Nate is at my side.
“Hi, Amber.”
“Hi.” She beams. Seriously, she could give the sun a run for its money today. “I’m…thank you. For the…things.” She waves her program awkwardly. “Coupons. Whatever. I’m going shopping.” She leans a tad closer to me to mutter, “You kids have fun.” Then she wanders off.
“She okay?” he asks, looking genuinely confused.
