Trusting Fate (2 page)

Chapter 2

I could feel how red my skin was and I was thanking God that I was in the back of the room so no one would notice.

“
Good morning everyone, my name is Jace Greene and I am the new CEO of Greene Incorporated. Yes, I am related to the Greene family. My grandfather founded this company and I am now left in charge. I want to thank you all for coming to this meeting on such short notice,
”
he said.

Geez the man was flawless, his facial features looked like he just stepped out of a GQ magazine.

All of the women in the room were swooning during the meeting, which would normally make me roll my eyes except that I was swooning as well.
This is ridiculous Gabby, get a grip; the man is now your boss.
I had to admit that made things even hotter for me, but that was beside the point. He is now my boss. If I keep saying it, maybe I will stop blushing every time he looks this way.

“
In the next few weeks I
’
m afraid you are going to see some dramatic changes in this company. I apologize in advance, but my grandfather and his other colleagues did a horrible job of running things. I am going to see to it that this company gets cleaned up. We make too much damn money around here and are too important to go under for bad management problems. No one will lose their jobs unless they do not adapt to the changes. I have been fully informed of who does what around here, and I intend to fix the system,
”
he grinned.

Honestly, nothing of what he just said scared me at all. I did my job and I did it well. I wish I could say the same for most of the people around here but I cannot. Maybe this will scare them enough to get them going.

Once the meeting was over, I was packing up my stuff in the conference room and was surprised at how fast everyone scattered out of there. I looked up to find Mr. Greene himself staring at me from his chair.
Crap, we
’
re all alone in here

“
Is there something that I can help you with, Mr. Greene?
”
I asked sternly. I was no stranger to an attitude problem, but I was uncomfortable with how he was staring at me.

He smiled and said,
“
No, Miss
…
I believe we met earlier and I didn
’
t catch your name.
”

That
’
s because I didn
’
t tell you my name; I was too busy drooling all over myself.
“
I
’
m Gabriella Thomas, but everyone calls me Gabby,
”
I said.

He immediately flashed his million dollar grin. That grin would be the death of me.
“
Well Gabriella, it
’
s a pleasure to meet you again. How long have you worked here?
”
he asked.

“
I have been here almost four years,
”
I said quickly. He was eyeing my every move, it seemed.

“
Well Gabriella, it
’
s a pleasure to have you on board here. I understand that you have recently been given a promotion?
”
I nodded my head.

“
Good, well I am in need of an assistant and to be honest, you are the only one here who has a clean file, and also the only one who wasn
’
t snickering at every word I said during the meeting. I would raise your pay by $10,000 per year and you would get an office outside of mine,
”
he said, smiling.

Holy crap, did I just hallucinate? He must have seen that I am a single mother in my file or something. He feels sorry for me, or maybe he is hitting on me? Well my days of sleeping with complete strangers are over. No way is this guy buying me.
“
I appreciate the offer but I am happy with what I am doing now,
”
I smiled kindly. He must think I am an idiot. I grabbed my things and headed for the door.

I was almost to the conference room door when he reached his arm out to me.
“
Miss Thomas, please, I am sorry if I have offended you in some way. I really did not mean to. I was trying to be polite and offer you a life-changing opportunity,
”
he said.

It felt like he had read a lot about me and I did not like it. Boss or not.
“
Mr. Greene, I really do appreciate the offer, but if you are looking for an office fling I am not your girl, and if you are feeling sorry for me because I have a son, then please spare me. I have a lifetime of regret and this job is the only thing besides my son that keeps me going most days,
”
I said sternly.
Holy crap, way to spill your life story to him, Gabby.
You may as well have told him the whole thing.

His eyes narrowed, as if he wasn
’
t sure what I just said.
“
Gabriella, I am sorry for wasting your time. I see you have made up your mind.
”
With that, he waved his hand in front of him, letting me leave.

My face turned bright red and I reached for the door handle. As I was walking out of the room I could have sworn I heard him sigh and say,
“
You will come around,
”
or something of the sort. I quickly brushed it off and went back to work.

I had been working all day and skipped my lunch so that I could get this horrendous day over with. So to see that the clock said 4 p.m. made me so happy. I turned off my computer, grabbed my stuff, and headed out the door.

Chapter 3

Jace

I watched her pack up her desk to leave for the day and I swear I wanted to call her into my office and not take no for an answer to work for me, but I just watched as she walked to the elevators and left. I never got to watch her leave the last time I saw her. I will never forget the way she looked that night in the bar by my college. I had just graduated and was desperately trying to avoid my future of taking over the family business. Getting drunk and forgetting my name was in the plan for the evening but when I saw her dancing with her friend across the bar, I could not help myself. I had to know her, and I had to do it with my mind clear. She was a beautiful blonde, with the greenest eyes I had ever seen. She smiled and it lit up the room. I was not used to being so drawn to a woman before and it made me nervous but I liked it.

We ended up talking the entire night and I took her home with me. Needless to say, it was a great night, but when I woke up the next day she was gone, leaving me with nothing but her name. Gabriella. No last name and no history of her whatsoever. But I would never forget that face or that smile as long as I lived. I tried going back to the bar where we met to ask around about her but no one claimed to know her. I gave up eventually and moved on with my life, but this morning when I saw her in the parking lot of my new company, I thought I was going to drop dead on the concrete.

Three year later and here she is, in the same town we met in, and I never found her until now. She has no idea who I am and I have to say, as much as that stings slightly, I will let it go. She was drinking pretty heavily that night and I almost felt guilty taking her home with me because of the state she was in, but she was acting normal, like she knew what she was doing. I'd had my share of one-night stands but something about her was different. Seeing her again reminded me of how right I was; she was different, and this time I was not about to let her go. Not without a fight. She may not remember me now, but she will sooner or later. I do not remember her mentioning to me that night that she had a son, and the way she was behaving did not remind me of the way a mother would behave, but now she has a child. That may or may not complicate things.

Gabby

I had picked up Theo from preschool and finally gotten home and gotten him fed, bathed and in bed all before 8:30. I was exhausted from the day. What a powerful man Jace Greene was; every word out of his sexy mouth made me nervous and excited at the same time. He was my boss though, and it was not appropriate to have such thoughts about your boss unless you were sleeping with him, which I most definitely was not. I changed into a T-shirt and shorts because my work clothes were still wet from Theo
’
s bath, grabbed my slippers and Kindle, and sat on the couch with a glass of wine. Breathing a sigh of relief that this day had come to an end, I was starting to nod off while reading when I heard a knock at my door. Oh great. My entire apartment was covered in boxes because we were moving this weekend and I was in my pajamas, my ugly mommy pajamas, I might add. Who in the world could this even be? I hopped up and checked myself in the mirror by the door.
Ugh hopeless, oh well.
I looked through the peep hole and noticed a delivery man standing in the hallway looking annoyed that no one had come to the door yet. I opened the door and saw a huge bouquet of flowers, calla lilies and roses. Wow this guy was lost.
“
Hello. Can I help you?
”
I said to the man.

“
Yes, hello ma
’
am, are you Gabriella Thomas?
”
he said.

I quickly nodded my head in disbelief.
“
Well then these beauties are for you. I just need you to sign for them right here,
”
he said, handing me a clipboard. I signed and the man handed them to me with a smile and left. Once I got them inside, I was nervous to read the card. I grabbed the envelope and carefully opened it up. Holding my breath, I read the first line:

“
Gabriella, please accept my apologies for how we left things this afternoon. I assure you that my intentions are not as you may think. Please rethink my offer, I promise that you will not regret it.

-Jace
”

Holy crap, did I just burst into flames? My face was so hot and my skin was on fire. This bouquet of flowers had to be a couple hundred dollars. What kind of man just sends someone he doesn
’
t even know something like this? This was beyond crazy, but if he was so hell-bent on me working for him and he was willing to pay me so much more money, then maybe I was overthinking this. I mean it
’
s not like I couldn
’
t use the boost in salary and job security. Ugh, I wanted to cave and say yes. Maybe I just needed to sleep on it.

I was thinking so hard about my decision that I did not get much sleep. I heard my alarm go off and then little feet came running into my bedroom.
“
Mommy, why are you still in bed, sleepy head?
”
he asked. My little man. All I could do was smile. As scary as it has been being a single mother, I wouldn
’
t trade a single moment with him. This little boy has changed me in so many ways.

I am not sure where I would be today without him in my life. Well, in some ways I do know. I would be lost, as lost as I once was. Hiding from responsibility and the real world. I will always regret not knowing who Theo
’
s father is; it will haunt me forever. At first I thought, oh well, he probably wasn
’
t a very good person, considering the men I used to pick up. But then as the months went on and I began to change, I was sad that I had been so selfish and so stupid, because what will I tell my son someday when he asks me where his daddy is? What kind of person does that make me that I can say I don
’
t really know son
’
s father? My days of partying had me so messed up that I blacked out most nights. The only night I can vaguely remember is blurry, and part of me is not even sure if the memory is real, like maybe I had a dream about a one-night stand with this man. He came in for a drink and sat quietly at the end of the bar watching me dance with Taylor, I had just gotten off work and I loved hanging out after my shift because I usually got off before we closed down. It was allowed and I was good at my job so my boss never said a word. I still have a hard time remembering his face, but I will never forget his body or his smell. He pursued me for maybe five minutes and I was already tripping over my feet and leaping into the sack with him. Kind of sad when you think about it. Regardless of what kind of a person I was, he was gentle and that is the most I can remember. The reason I even remember anything is because no man I ever brought home or went home with had ever treated me gently or with respect. He also had a small tattoo on his upper right bicep that had an arrow with a date on it. It was one of a kind, so that was hard to forget. It took me awhile to realize that this may have been the night that I had gotten pregnant with Theo. Actually I am almost certain it was, but considering my track record, I couldn
’
t really trust myself to know for sure.