Letters From The Ledge (11 page)

Frank looked pleased. "I look forward to a full report."

"I’ll need another few days to trace it all the way down, but now that I’ve found the false front, knocking a hole in it is just a matter of time." She smiled confidently, pulling her hair out of the back of her coat. "And Frank? Don’t touch me like that."

The girl with the keys in her hand stood speechless in the background, looking to Frank for direction. The subtle nod and slight inclination of his head was all she needed.

"Right this way, Ms. Hadley."

"Thank you."

As soon as they were out of earshot the girl laughed loudly, clapping her hands in an encore-style salute. Paige stopped walking and kicked one hip out to the side. "What? What is so funny?"

"I have never seen
anyone
talk to Mr. Evans that way."

"Well, maybe if more people talked to him that way he wouldn’t have such a God complex."

The girl looked overly impressed. "How long have you been working for him?"

"A couple of weeks, I guess. What was your name?"

The girl shook her head and laughed some more. "Elena. Come on. My car is this way."

When they pulled up in front of the hotel, Paige thanked the girl and went in. The concierge handed her a list of messages, one of which was from Frank, reminding her that dinner was at eight in the hotel restaurant. The soaking tub was calling her name, so she headed to her room, reading the other messages in the elevator on the way up. Someone in the clerical staff had found a stack of documents she’d requested, there was a message to call Kevin, and one was from Nate–"Can’t wait to see you again."
One day down, nine to go.

The door to her room shut behind her with finality. She started the tub and kicked off her shoes in the bathroom. By the time she reached the bedroom she’d also discarded her pants and peeled off her sweater, dropping them wherever they fell, and popped her laptop open to check email while the bathtub was filling.

"Do you always check your mail partially naked? Cause if you do, I should stay home from work more often."

Paige spun around to find Nate sitting quietly in a chair by the window, watching her with an enormous grin on his face.

Her mouth dropped open and she let out a high-pitched squeal. "Oh my God!"

He stood up just in time to catch her as she jumped into his arms. When he spun her around, they fell onto the bed.

"I am so glad to see you! What are you doing here?" She pulled back. "How on earth did you get into my room?"

"Didn’t you get my message? I told you I couldn’t wait to see you again." His kiss was tender and affectionate. "I wasn’t kidding."

"I can’t believe you did this! You’re a nut, you know that? With entirely too much disposable income!"

He couldn’t stop grinning. "I’m glad you’re happy about it."

"Of course I’m happy! Why wouldn’t I be happy?"

He rolled her over so they were lying face to face and brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I wouldn’t want to cramp your independent spirit."

"Not a chance, cowboy."

He traced the side of her cheek with one finger. "I couldn’t sleep last night after we talked."

"You should’ve stuffed the pillows behind your back–worked like a charm."

"I’d rather have the real thing." He cupped her head in his hands and pulled her into his mouth.

"What about my bath?"

"Don’t worry. We’ll get there…”

“I trust everyone. It’s the devil inside them I don’t trust.”

The Italian Job

Nate caught the scowl on Frank’s face when the two of them showed up for what was obviously intended as a tête-à-tête. He was seated at a small table for two in the back corner of the dimly lit restaurant. They were quickly moved to another table, but Frank was visibly miffed.

Paige looked absolutely stunning in a basic black dress and heels, but if she knew it, she certainly wasn’t taking advantage of it. It wasn’t often that Nate got to see her in action. She was absolutely glowing, sitting there next to him. When she was in her element, talking business, it was mesmerizing. Who would’ve thought a business dinner could be sexy as hell?

Nate listened quietly as Paige filled Frank in on some of the mistakes she’d found so far. Apparently he wasn’t the only one finding Paige’s knowledge and insight attractive.

"You really have a head for business Paige."

Her professional smile was polite. "So I’ve been told. Thank you."

Frank swirled the scotch in his glass. "Tell me, what would it take to get you to consider a more
permanent
working relationship with Evans and Associates?"

Nate squeezed her hand under the table. She stirred her cocktail and looked up at Frank, smiling. "Tempting, Frank. Really. I just- I’m happy where I am. It’s flattering though. Thank you."

Frank leaned forward. "Let’s say I
really
make it worth your while?"

"Meaning?"

Frank tipped his head back and forth, considering his explanation. "Meaning I double your salary, throw in full benefits, a pension plan, bonuses, paid vacations–the works."

Nate couldn’t believe Frank’s audacity. The man’s self-importance was nauseating, and he only played by one set of rules: his own. Nate wanted him in a chokehold, but kept his mouth shut and let Paige handle it.

She stayed perfectly calm. "Why would you do that? You have a very competent staff. On both continents, actually."

"Because a man like me needs someone he can trust handling his finances, that’s why. In the two weeks we’ve known one another you’ve shown me nothing but good things."

"Thank you. I–don’t take your confidence lightly. It’s just–"

Frank cut her off mid-sentence. "I like your spunk, although your edges need a little softening.”

Nate’s grip tightened on Paige’s hand as Frank kept up the ridiculous upside-down compliments.

“You think like a man, but you look–very much like a woman, if you'll pardon me for noticing."

He gave the appropriate nod to Nate, whose tight-lipped smile, he hoped, was hiding his intent to kill.

"And you do more than just accounting.” Frank continued. “You have this–I don’t know, innate sense of how things fit together and the best way to make them work. That’s rare, my dear. Most accountants are mealy-mouthed little peons that only do what you tell them to and not an inch beyond. They’re boring. They can’t function at board meetings and they’re ridiculous at business dinners. Am I right or am I right?"

Paige was smiling. "I have known my share of socially challenged accountants. But you're not paying them to schmooze, Frank."

"Well, what if I want both? You’re different Paige, and I don’t know what to call it, but whatever it is I like it. I want more of it on my team."

Wow. He really knew how to lay it on thick. Nate took a long drink, convinced that she would decline his offer, but unsure whether or not she would do it gracefully.

Paige looked down at the table, then back at his face. "I don’t know what to say."

"Say you’ll think about it. Please. Seriously consider it."

Paige hesitated, then took a sip of water. "As long as we’re getting things out on the table, can I be honest with you?"

"Please do."

"Part of what you’ve said is true. I do see the big picture, and sometimes that works against me as an accountant. Often my clients aren't looking for advice, so this ‘instinct’ you’re talking about has gotten me into trouble more than once."

A sly smile spread slowly across Frank’s lips. "Perhaps some men are threatened by brilliant women. I don't happen to be one of them."

Nate took another long drink and signaled the waitress for a refill.

"When I doubled my major and paired the accounting with an MBA, I did so because ultimately I wanted to be more than a CPA. Eventually I
would
like to move into some type of a CFO position, but I’d really like a few more years of broad-based experience before I pursue other avenues. My position with Kevin has me on the exact track I want for now. So, while I thank you once again for the offer, I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline."

Nate squeezed her hand again below decks. He wanted to stand up and cheer.

Frank sighed heavily and raised his glass to the two of them. "Well, I haven’t gotten this far without knowing when I’m beat. To Kevin and Nate."

"Excuse me?" Paige lifted her glass hesitantly.

Frank held his glass in a high salute. "Currently the two luckiest men on earth. One gets all her brains, and the other gets…
everything else
."

They left the restaurant around ten. Nate wrapped Paige in his arm and kissed the side of her head. “You want to walk a little?”

She nodded silently.

They walked the picturesque streets of Bern’s old town arm-in-arm.

“I’m proud of you.” Nate whispered.

“Thanks. Not like it was a tough decision.”

“No, but the
way
you said no was very diplomatic.”

“I thought so. Especially since he decided to insult me in the middle of offering me a job.”

Nate nodded, laughing. “I caught that, yeah. What a pompous ass!”

“Did he really think that telling me my ‘edges need softening’ was going to somehow seal the deal?”

“Exactly.” Nate wasn’t even going to mention the shameless way he added sexual innuendo to every possible comment. His free hand was pumping relentlessly as they walked. He needed to change the subject.

"Come on! I have to show you this bridge.” He pulled her off in a slightly different direction. “It has a bear pit on the other side of it."

"A
bear
pit?"

"Yes. With real, live bears in it.”

“And you know this how?”

“My dad brought me here once. We bought bunches of carrots from a street vendor and threw them over the edge of the bridge to feed them."

"Are you sure there wasn’t a "Don’t Feed The Bears" sign posted in German somewhere?

"Yes, I’m sure! The vendor sells the carrots so that people
can
feed the bears."

"And they’re just sitting out there–for no reason? It’s not part of a zoo or anything?"

"Nope. They’ve been here since the sixteenth century. Well, not these exact bears of course. You probably can’t see them in the dark, but maybe we can come back when it's light and I'll prove it to you."

"This is definitely
not
New York. Can you imagine bears in New York? Some Bellevue psycho would probably free them and let them roam the streets for fun. It’d be all over You Tube."

"I know, right? It is a little quirky, but I’ve always loved this city!"

"How old were you when you visited?"

"I was ten when my dad first brought me. Then I spent a few weeks here the summer I turned sixteen."

"Can you believe he did that?" Paige was staring off into the night sky as they walked.

"Brought me to Switzerland?"

Paige wasn’t even listening. "After he promised Kevin he wouldn’t try to steal me away! I mean, do I tell Kevin or keep it to myself?"

So much for romance and reminiscing. "I don’t know.” The thought of Kevin needing to step in and rescue her from Frank was not easy for him to stomach, even if it was part of the business world.

He squeezed her shoulders lightly. “It’s not easy to hold your ground against such a lucrative offer. At least he didn’t
make you an offer you couldn’t refuse
." His Brando wasn’t quite as good as his Monty Python, but she laughed anyway.

"One of the first principles of business is to count the cost. All I could think of was what an incredibly high price I’d have to pay in order to have all that money, all those perks. It's like being asked to sell my soul to the devil." She shivered at the thought. "No thank you!"

Nate pulled her closer into him. "That’s why I love you. That, and the uh–
everything else
part." He smiled and kissed her head.

They stopped on a bridge from which you could see the lights of the Münster and thousands of red-roofed silhouettes against the night sky. He turned her shoulders just right so that she had the best view.

"Wow. In my whole life I’ve never seen anything this beautiful." She started to cry.

"Don’t cry yet. I haven’t even asked you."

"You what?"

He got down on one knee and pulled out a gorgeous red velvet box, opened to reveal a beautiful white gold and diamond ring.

"I’ve counted the cost a million times Paige. Being without you is just too damned expensive. I can’t afford it.” He watched her eyes mist over. “I love you with everything that’s in me. I want to be with you every day for the rest of our natural lives and even then, into eternity. I want to walk beside you. I want to live with you and love with you. But most of all, I want to give you your wings. I want to watch you fly."

She was looking at him through full pools of deep green, and he wanted to wrap his entire being around the ache.

"Will you marry me?"

Some people had stopped along the bridge, pointing at the two of them and staring, no doubt wondering about the outcome of the proposal.

Paige shook her head almost imperceptibly. "I can’t, Nate. I’m not ready."

His head went down, his lower jaw quivering against the urge to cry. It took all his strength to maintain composure as the breath leaked slowly out of his lungs. He couldn’t let her see–not in the face of a rejection. He’d been foolish to jump the gun. He knew she wasn’t ready. He knew it and he tried anyway.

The onlookers began to move away. A picture was worth a thousand words in any language, and the interpretation was pretty obvious in this one.

She grabbed both of his cheeks in her hands and tried to get him to look up at her. "Nate, please! Look at me! You have to understand something."

He shook off her arms and stood up, but kept his head turned to the side. "I do understand. I understand Paige."

"No, Nate–I don’t think you do. Please…look at me!"

His emotions were like a swirled cone, so intermingled were the dark and the light in him. He wasn’t able to bury it. Finally, frustration and impatience got the best of him. He turned and gave it all to her, right between the eyes, his face filled with the fusion of love and hate. What he hated was what life had dealt her, and how that affected her ability to love him–to love anyone. She couldn’t possibly understand how much he hated those men that had stolen her heart right out from under him.

Paige turned and ran off the bridge.

For a long time Nate stood against the railing. He should’ve known better. He should’ve waited a little longer. Eventually he walked to the other side and started talking to the bears.

"Switzerland seemed like such an ideal place to propose. Could you blame a guy for trying?" He could hear the bears wandering around below him; could just barely make out some of their shapes. "What, you only speak German? I don’t know how to say ‘I really fucked that up’ in German." The bears grunted their approval. "Well, thanks for agreeing with me, anyway." He leaned his head into his arms.

“I thought this would be the perfect place, you know? I figured if I told her how much I didn’t want to hold her back it would be enough. I thought…hell, I don’t know what I thought. All I know right now is that I love her. And this ring was a lousy idea."

He flipped the case open again and fingered the diamond, poised so perfectly above the princess setting. Once again the timing was off, and it was entirely possibly that he’d just blown his only shot.

__________

Discovering more of you each day

The sound of your breath

The feel of your touch

The fragrance of your presence

Closer – closer –

Don’t stop until it’s all of you I see

Without these eyes to blind my heart

And to deceive…

Somewhere in the distance Brendan woke with the taste of apples on his lips. He’d fallen asleep reading Tess’s poems, yet dreamt all night about kissing Sarah– one long, soft kiss that seemed to last for hours. It unnerved him, and he was thinking about her still as he fired up his computer and started clicking through the photos he’d taken over the last week or two. He came to the two or three shots from the coffee shop and studied them with interest, especially the close-ups of Sarah’s face. He found himself peering past the veil, catching glimpses of her deeper parts, and somewhere on the inside, he felt himself stumble. He straightened and tried to catch himself. She was just a girl. She had no right.