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Fuck. He left Ovi so he could be with another woman? So much for missing his wife.
I was so pissed, but I needed to speak to him. Just not sure if now was the time. I had planned on telling him how much Ovi needed him. How the factory needed him. Now I wasn’t so damn sure. Maybe she was better off without him.
“Sorry. Wrong number.”
I ended the call and tossed my phone on the passenger seat. It dawned on me that Bennett had already known this and didn’t share. He was on my shit list right now too.
There was one thing to be thankful for, that I decided to call without Ovi beside me. I wasn’t sure her heart could take another blow.
Sorry, sweetheart. I wanted to give you your father back. I wanted to make you happy again. Guess I’ll have to find another way.
I was almost home when I quickly pulled a U-turn and headed to New Hope. I needed to see Dean. Not that I wanted to, but maybe it was time for me to sit down and listen to whatever crazy-ass idea he had been trying to pitch to Alex. If the factory tanked, I needed a backup plan.
When I got to the gate at the resort and asked to see Dean, I was told that he wasn’t there. He’d boarded the Henderson jet a couple of hours ago.
Damn it. Strike two. This really isn’t my day.
I wasn’t giving up. If Dean was flying back to Boston, then I knew he had a long ass flight ahead of him. What better way to spend it than giving me all the details?
Can’t say I was looking forward to it. I’d much rather be spending my night with Ovi in my arms. Since that couldn’t happen, I might as well secure my future.
CHAPTER 14
Ovi
Walking into the office this morning felt different. Maybe it was our conversation last night. Learning what this factory meant to Niko changed a lot for me. He was right, I didn’t know him before. But I believe I was getting to it. As we spent more time together, my feelings were getting stronger. The man I thought I hated, was now the one I liked… well more than liked.
Last night I woke up laughing at a dream I had. Niko and I were married, and we had a bunch of children. All the boys looked like him, and the girls looked like me. I still worked at the factory, and we brought all the kids with us to work. They were climbing on the couch, on the desk, under the desk, and playing with laptops. No work was getting done. It looked more like a daycare than a business. But the one thing that was evident in the dream was how happy me, Niko and all the kids were.
It was a dream that I wasn’t about to share with Niko, but as I dissected the meaning of it, I realized it was trying to tell me something. That work is work, but family comes first. Strangebecause my father was all I had, and he left. And from what I knew about Niko, his parents were both deceased. We had no family. All we both had was work.
Sitting at my desk, I got it. It wasn’t that work needed to be a lax place, but we needed to lighten up a little. Yes, it was business, but what was lacking was it being a fun place to work. Why couldn’t it be both?
Niko had a lot going on, and he pretty much had closed himself in his office. He’d really gone out of his way to do things to brighten my days. Now it was my turn. What would make him smile?
There really wasn’t anything here that one could consider fun. If I left the building, he’d know. That would ruin the surprise. I remember my mother doing something for my birthdays. She took a bunch of paper and folded them into flowers. Granted, hers were different colors, but I had printer paper here. I could do something with that.
Niko didn’t strike me as the flower kind, but I had to make it fun so he would want to participate. Maybe...hidden messages in the flowers. That would be fun. Now all I needed was to think what to put in the messages. They had to be a little flirty, but not overboard. Also intriguing, but not silly.
Instead of taking a lunch break, I worked on my little surprise. As I finished a flower, I numbered it. It took longer than I thought, almost two hours, but they were complete. I had a dozen paper flowers, each with a message for Niko.
I opened my office door and looked down the hallway. No one was there. I called his office phone and he didn’t answer. Good. Maybe I could sneak in and put the flowers on his desk. I double-checked the hallway and it was still clear. I kicked off my shoes and made a dash for his office. The door was open and he wasn’t there. I placed the flowers on the desk with a note.
OPEN NUMBER 12 FIRST.
Then I quickly rushed back to my office. It was just about time to call it a day. He was probably on the factory floor doing a quality control check before they all left. I didn’t want to be here when he found the flowers. Gathering my laptop, I left my office and locked the door. I had a few errands to run before going home.
I wasn’t sure how much fun Niko was going to have, but I had a blast pulling it all together.
It wasn’t long before I was home and was through most of my to-do list. The house smelled great. If he followed all the instructions on each flower, he should be arriving any time now.
I saw the headlights of his SUV shine in my living room window. I rushed into the kitchen, lit the candles, and went to answer the door. I never even gave him a chance to knock and opened the door right away.
He was standing there holding a bouquet of flowers, real ones. “These are for you,” he said, handing them to me.
“Wildflowers are my favorite. Did you pick these for me?” I asked.
“I did. From the place we had our picnic last night.”
