Sighing, I save the document and snap the cover of my laptop shut.
My favorite professor always told me to take a day to sit on your words before you show them to anyone, so that’s what I’m going to do.
I hear footsteps on the approach down the corridor, so I glance toward the doorway.
Nigel pops his head in. “How are you doing, Juliet?”
“I think I’m going to call it a day.”
He nods before he steals a glance over his shoulder. “If you could stay in your office for the next fifteen minutes, you’d have my eternal gratitude.”
You can’t say something like that to an investigative journalist and expect them to stay put.
“Why?” I ask with a sweet smile that I hope will lure the truth from Nigel.
“I can’t say,” he answers softly.
“You can say,” I correct him. “You just don’t want to.”
He pops a finger in the air. “Touché.”
“I could pretend I didn’t hear you and wander out into the main living room,” I suggest with a tilt of my chin. “It’s not like I’m going to come across Mr. Bane doing something he shouldn’t, right? Is he out there eating a frozen pizza or a candy bar?”
His hearty laughter fills the air. “Those are sights I’d long to see.”
“Me too,” I whisper.
He steps into my office far enough that he can close the door behind him. “May I speak frankly, Juliet?”
I cross my legs and turn toward him so he knows he has my full attention. “Please do.”
He heads for the vacant chair and sits down. His fingers migrate to the pin on his lapel. Today it’s a bluebird. The color of the rhinestones is vibrant against the dark material of his suit jacket.
“I’ve known Kavan for his entire life.” His voice has a tremor in it. “I’ve watched him grow from a playful boy into a troubled teen, and now, into a man.”
I nod.
“He has frozen his life in time.” His gaze drops to his lap. “Before you came along, there was no joy in his eyes.”
My eyes start to well with unshed tears. “He deserves to feel joy.”
“He does.” He nods curtly. “He truly does, Juliet.”
I rest my hands on my desk. “I want to help him, Nigel.”
“As do I.” His eyes find mine. “I learned a very long time ago that pushing him will only cause him to retreat, but with you…with you, I see him opening up.”
I smile. “You do?”
“He laughs with you.” He lets out a chuckle. “Do you know how many years I waited to hear that again?”
“Too many.”
He nods. “Yes. Too many.”
“How do I help him open up to me?” I ask. “How can I make him see that he can trust me?”
Resting his forearms on his thighs, he scrubs one hand over his knee. “Dare I say love him, Juliet? I may be seeing something that isn’t there, but I believe you’re falling in love with Mr. Bane, and if you are, please love him with the understanding that beneath that gruff exterior, and hardened attitude, there is a broken man carrying a burden that is much too heavy for one person.”
“I’m falling in love with him,” I confess, for the first time. “I’ll help him carry that burden.”
He pushes off the chair to reach for my hand. “You are a gift, Juliet. Not only to Kavan, but to everyone who loves him.”
I look into his face hoping that he sees the uncertainty I feel. “Nigel, do you think it’s possible he’s falling in love with me too?”
“He’s fallen, Juliet.” He pats the top of my hand. “He hasn’t said a word to me, but it’s those unspoken cues that tell me Mr. Bane is in love with you too.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kavan
“I thought you were planning a surprise party for me, Mr. Bane.”
I turn to find Juliet standing behind me with a sly smile on her face.
“A surprise party?” I question. “Does anyone actually like those things?”
She jerks a thumb toward the center of her chest. “This anyone does.”
“Noted.”
She approaches me with slow steps. “Nigel held me hostage in my office.”
“He did, did he?”
“One he did is enough, or a did he.” She laughs. “Sometimes you speak like a cookie-cutter…”
“Billionaire,” I finish her sentence. “Do I fuck like one?”
That sends her gaze over my frame. “You’re my first billionaire. None of the other men I fucked were worth more than a hundred dollars.”
I smile. “Good to know, but don’t mention them again.”
Her tongue trails a slow path over her bottom lip. “Because hearing about them makes you jealous?”
“Damn right,” I admit.
“None of them had anything on you, Bane.” Her eyes narrow. “You’re hot, great in bed, and you’re open to trying new things.”
“I’m open to trying new things in bed?”
That lures a soft laugh from her. “Something tells me you’ve tried everything there is to try in the bedroom, and you may have even thought up a few new things.”
“Why try new things when you’re about to fuck the best thing that’s ever happened to you?”
My words surprise me as much as they do Juliet.
Her hand jumps the middle of her chest, so I add to the moment and point toward the dining room table. “I arranged something for you. It’s a not a surprise party, but it’s a little something.”
She spins around to take a look and all I hear is a squeal before she sets off in that direction.
“Oh my god, Kavan. This is breathtaking.”
It’s beautiful, I suppose, but the only thing I’ve ever seen in my life that I consider breathtaking is her.
I scan the bouquets of purple flowers that were delivered a few minutes ago. All are exquisitely arranged in glass vases of varying heights.
“These are all for me?” She laughs as she turns to look at me. “There must be ten bouquets here.”
“I didn’t know what your favorite flowers are, so I chose the ones I thought you’d like.”
“I love them.” She moves to kiss me softly. “I love them so much. Thank you.”
“I sent everyone home,” I tell her.
She glances over her shoulder. “I thought Nara and Alcott lived here.”
“I have an apartment one floor down that Nara lives in. Alcott lives a floor below that.”
She shakes her head. “You own two other apartments in this building?”
I hold up a hand. “Wait. Are you going to tell me that’s a cookie-cutter billionaire thing?”
“I’m going to tell you that it’s a pretty sweet thing.”
“I don’t do sweet, Juliet.” I chuckle. “Explain how it’s sweet, though, because I don’t see it.”
“You do sweet, Bane. All the flowers are very sweet.” She steps closer to me. “You don’t see what’s happening between Nara and Alcott?”