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Chapter Five
James was all but whistlingwhen he walked into the office. Everything was back to normal between him and his little girl. The business was booming, which it had been for a while, but success was sweeter when he wasn’t feeling so out of sorts at home.
He unlocked the door to the darkened building and let himself in. The lights automatically brightened when he walked through the door and down the hall to his office.
He loved this time of day. Those few precious minutes of quiet before the office became a bustling hive of activity. Before the phones rang, before there were people knocking on his door demanding answers. It still baffled him some days that there was anybody to come knocking on his door. He had built his brokerage from the ground up, with Olivia by his side, and he never took that success for granted.
The image of Olivia, draped across his lap with her bottom turning pink from the firm application of her hairbrush that morning, made him grin. His little one would be testing him over the next few days, if not weeks. She always did when he tightened the reins. He was rather looking forward to what she might be getting up to over the next few days.
“All right, enough daydreaming,” he lectured himself, pulling his laptop from his bag and placing it on the desk. “You’ve got a business to run.”
“Sir?”
He considered it a testament to his strength that he didn’t jump at the unexpected voice. Turning, he found MaryAnn standing in the doorway to his office watching him with those wide, slightly terrified eyes of hers.
“Good morning, MaryAnn. I’m afraid you caught me giving myself a bit of a lecture. You’re early.”
Her eyes went even wider and she immediately looked at the floor. “I had some things to take care of, so I figured I’d get an early start. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course. I appreciate your dedication to the firm.”
She nodded without looking up and turned on her heel to flee. James sighed. He’d hired her based on her impressive resume, and he’d just prayed she’d become less of a little mouse as she became more comfortable with the office. But a year in, the prospect of her gaining any confidence seemed increasingly less likely. Of course, if Olivia had been giving her a hard time on a regular basis, that might explain some of MaryAnn’s continued timidity.
Making a mental note to keep a closer eye on his wife for a bit where MaryAnn was concerned, he docked his laptop and powered everything on. Jesus, how did he have so many emails since yesterday? Didn’t people ever turn their computers off these days? With a sigh, he settled in and lost himself in the work.
He’d worked through about a dozen emails when the scent of coffee pulled him from his work like a siren’s song. He looked over and found MaryAnn again standing in the doorway, this time holding a mug and a brown box.
“If that coffee is for me, you’re getting a raise.”
Her cheeks immediately turned bright red and she nodded. “This package also came for you just now.” She set both the coffee and the box on the desk and took a step back. James picked up the package and grinned at the return address.
“Liv is going to freak.” He set the box back on the desk and grabbed a letter opener to slice through the tape. When he opened the flaps, his wife’s face stared at him from the glossy cover ofMaryland Homes Today.He picked up one of the magazines and studied the picture. She looked confident and sexy as hell. The magazine was running a piece on local women in real estate, and Olivia had been beyond ecstatic when they’d asked not just to include her in the piece, but to put her on the cover.
The sound of heels clicking down the hall alerted him to the possibility of her presence and he quickly dropped the magazine back in the box and hid the evidence under his desk.
“Morning! Did you—oh.” Olivia stopped in the doorway of his office when she spotted MaryAnn. Her cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink and she glanced over at him. He simply raised an eyebrow in response, secretly adoring the resignation on her face.
“MaryAnn.” She smiled politely at the now visibly panicking receptionist. “I just wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I was rude and I never should have raised my voice or used the language I did. Forgive me?”
MaryAnn looked over at James, and he nearly burst out laughing at the confused look she sent him. “It’s not a trick, MaryAnn.” The daddy in him wanted to elaborate, but he’d never in a million years humiliate his wife that way, especially not at work.
“Oh.” She looked back at Olivia. “Um. Thank you. I know it was my fault for missing the deadline and everything so it’s not a big deal.”
