The Billionaire's New Year Gift. Emma Darcy

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       Chapter Eight

      The week went fast for Alex. They were extremely busy at work, and it felt as if he’d no sooner had lunch than it would be time to punch out.

      After work, he always ran his five miles in Jansen Park. He kept hoping he’d see P.J. there since Chick Fogarty had told them she was in management meetings in Seattle this week. But she didn’t come to the park, or if she did, she came earlier or later than he did.

      Because he was curious, he gave Gray a call and found out the meetings would be over by noon on Thursday. While he had Gray on the phone, he asked him how his bride hunt was going. As always, Gray was noncommittal.

      “What about you?” he asked.

      “I’m working on it,” Alex said.

      After they’d hung up, Alex wondered if P.J. would be back to work on Friday. He hoped so. Now that he’d decided Miss Paige Jeffers Kinkaid was the perfect candidate for his bride hunt, he was determined to make some forward progress in his campaign to win her.

      On Friday morning, as he entered the quad, the first person he saw was P.J. sitting at her desk. She looked up when she heard his footsteps. “Good morning.”

      “Good morning,” he said, smiling down at her. She looked great in a short-sleeved sweater the same blue as her eyes. It hugged her breasts and Alex couldn’t help noticing the faint outline of her bra. “How were your meetings?”

      She shrugged, not meeting his gaze. “Fine.”

      Alex started to say something else, but she’d already turned her attention back to her computer.

      Alex frowned as he walked away. She certainly wasn’t very friendly this morning. He wondered if something was wrong. And if so, if it had to do with him. Could she have found out who he was? But he didn’t have time to think about her for long because only minutes later the morning orders began pouring in.

      Again, the day went by fast. He barely saw P.J. When he passed her desk, she always seemed to be somewhere else, and she wasn’t around at lunchtime, either. And when he did see her, she never stopped to talk, not even for a few minutes. By the end of the day, he had the distinct feeling she was purposely avoiding him.

      When Rick asked if he was planning to go to Jake’s after work, Alex said yes. He hoped P.J. would be there, too. If she was, he was going to make it his business to talk to her.

      She was still at her desk when he and Rick left, and Alex was glad when Rick said, “Hey, boss, you goin’ to Jake’s?”

      She looked up. Her gaze met Alex’s for an instant before resting on Rick. After hesitating a moment, she shrugged. “I don’t know.”

      “Ah, c’mon, boss,” Rick cajoled. “Do you good to go. You’ve been uptight all day. Those meetings must’ve done you in. We’ll see you there, okay?”

      Alex wondered if she’d show up. He’d almost given up after an hour went by and she didn’t appear. And then suddenly, there she was. She looked tired, not her usual lively self at all. Something must be wrong. Maybe whatever it was had nothing to do with Alex at all. Maybe the week had just been a rough one for her. He wished there was an empty chair near where he was sitting, but even though he’d tried to sit at the far end of the table where there was room for a few more, Rick wouldn’t hear of it and had insisted Alex come and join him and Wayne and Jim, who were all sitting together.

      The good thing was, Carrie Wancheck wasn’t there. In fact, the only female to join the group that night was Ruby.

      P.J. walked over to the bar, got herself a beer, then sat at the far end where Alex had initially wanted to sit, too.

      Damn. She hadn’t even acknowledged his presence, just gave a nod and general “hello” to everyone. Soon she was engaged in a conversation with Buddy Willis, one of the pickers from Quad A. Alex might have been worried at the intimate way they were talking, but Buddy couldn’t have been more than twenty, way too young for P.J. After a few minutes, Ruby drifted down to that end of the table and joined them.

      Rick nudgedAlex. “Ruby’s got the hots for Buddy.”

      Alex smiled. “What about him?”

      Rick grinned. “I think he’s into her, too.”

      About six, Rick said he had to go. Soon after that, the other married men left one by one. By six-thirty, only Alex, two of the dock workers, Buddy, Ruby and P.J. were left and finally Alex was close enough to P.J. to actually talk to her.

      “While you were gone we had a really busy week,” he said.

      “I noticed.”

      “We missed you, though.” He nudged Ruby. “Didn’t we?”

      Ruby grinned. “You might have. I didn’t.”

      P.J. laughed. “Ruby tells it like it СКАЧАТЬ