Nicholas POV:
“Who is she?”
My future wife. “Her name is Willow.” How did I explain this? “She’s… she’s special to me.” Kind of.
She moved back over to the stove, mixing the food around. “How long will Willow be staying?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. The knots of tension was killing me. I really needed a massage. When was the last time I had one?
I wondered what Willow’s fingers would feel like on me.
“Nicholas?” Laura scooped the chicken and vegetables onto my plate, an inquisitive look back on her face. I tried to remember what she’d asked me. Oh, yeah. She wanted to know how long Willow would be here.
Good question.
“I’m not sure yet. It will be up to her.”
She nodded, put the pan in the sink, and turned to face me again. It was difficult to eat with her staring.
I fidgeted on the stool, pushing the food around my plate more than eating it. I finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“What?”
She let out a short laugh. What was up with people laughing at me lately?
“I don’t know who she is, but I like her already. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this before, and I have a feeling it’s because of this Willow.” She walked over, grabbed my hand, and squeezed. “It’s about time you were turned inside out by a girl.” She grinned and squeezed my hand again. “I won’t bug you for any more details now, but I can’t wait to meet her.”
That made me feel a hell of a lot better. I had Laura on my side. Or she was on Willow’s side. But that was okay because I wanted to be on Willow’s side too.
I had finally fallen asleep, dreaming of long, dark hair and pink lips when I was woken up by my cell phone ringing. I glanced at the clock. It was almost two in the morning.
Virgil.
I grabbed my phone, knocking my alarm clock to the floor in a loud crash. I hated that fucking thing anyway.
“Virgil? What’s wrong? Why are you calling this late?”
“Boss, stay calm.”
That only made me more nervous. I threw the sheet off me and flipped on the light.
“What happened? Is she not coming?” I was going to fly out there and get her myself if he said no.
“Yes, she is. We’ll be there tomorrow evening.” He hesitated and I started tugging on my hair. “Something happened, but I want you to know first that she is fine. She’s on her way home with Lorelei and I’m right behind them.”
I was relieved to hear nothing had changed in her plans to come here tomorrow, but I was a ball of nerves from whatever he was holding back. I swore I could actually feel the blood rushing through my veins and the adrenaline pumping through me.
Was she in an accident? Did someone hurt her? My mind was not a happy place at the moment. “Tell me. I’m losing it here.”
“She and Lorelei made a stop at some graduation party. I stayed in the car and kept an eye out for them. Willow came out of the house alone, not too long later, and was standing on the porch. Some punk kid snuck up behind her and carried her around the house against her will.”
“He did what?” I roared. I stood up and started pacing.
“Calm down. I told you she was fine. I grabbed the kid and knocked him around. He was drunk and pretty confused. You should have seen Willow though.” He laughed. He actually laughed, while I was having a nervous breakdown. “She kicked him right in the balls and would have kept going if I hadn’t pulled her away.”
Good. I hope she got him good. Little fucker. I wanted his name. I’d make him really pay for touching her. “He didn’t hurt her? You are positive she’s okay?”
“She’s fine. They’re actually walking in the door right now. I’ll stay close to make sure they don’t make any other surprise trips, but I think they’re in for the night.”
My heart was still pounding so fast, I wasn’t sure if it would ever be normal again. Laura was right when she said Willow had me turned inside out.
I sat back down on the bed, palming my face as I took deep breaths.
“I…” I wasn’t even sure what to say to him. He’d gotten my Willow out of a bad situation. I was going to give him a huge raise. “Thank you, Virgil.”
I forbade myself from thinking about what could have happened if he hadn’t been there.
“No problem.” He cleared his throat. “Boss?”
“Yeah?”
“Be prepared. She’s a little spitfire.”
I choked out a laugh. That was one thing I knew already. “Thanks again.”
As soon as I ended the call, I rang up Willow. I had to hear her voice just to be sure.
The next morning I had quite a few things to take care of before Willow arrived.
“Julia, come in here.”
She walked into my office and I pointed to one of the chairs. I wanted to know-once and for all-what had happened with the scholarships. Someone was hiding something from me, and I was tired of it.
I also had to figure out what to do about the Grant kid’s award.
“Julia, I’m going to start by telling you that you will get to keep your job on one and only one condition.”
Her eyes widened when she realized she wasn’t called in for sunshine and light.
“I want the truth. If you lie to me even a little, you will be fired.”
She nodded her head after a few seconds, not saying a word.
“Tell me exactly what happened with the scholarship. Why did you send Miss Taylor an award letter and then rescind it without my authorization? Why did you then try to hide her submitted essay from me when I asked for them after I returned?”