Hate Notes

Out of breath and frazzled when I returned to my office, I pulled up Max’s cell-phone number as fast as I could.

He picked up on the first ring. “Well, hello. To what do I owe this—”

“Max!” I interrupted. “Listen. I need a favor. You haven’t spoken to Reed since the lunch meeting this afternoon, have you?”

“No. I never ended up going back to the office. I went home. What’s up?”

Covering my chest, I let out a sigh of relief.

“I lied to your brother. I told him that I had a date with you tomorrow night.”

Max’s laughter filled my eardrum. “Um . . . okay. Let me get this straight. I’ve been trying to get you to go out with me since day one. You turn me down every time, but you’re telling people that we’re dating?”

“Well . . . yes. But just Reed.”

“You’re a trip, Charlotte. What . . . were you trying to get a rise out of him? You two have a strange-as-fuck dynamic.”

“I was trying to teach him a lesson—sort of. It’s complicated. Anyway, he forbade me from going out with you.”

“What a dick.” He chuckled.

“If he mentions anything to you, will you go along with it for a little while? I’ll probably tell him the truth at some point.”

“Anytime I can get my brother riled up and out of his funk, I’m happy to do it. Can I tell him you were the one who pursued me if he confronts me?”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

He was laughing in my ear. “Okay.”

“I made a bargain with Reed. It’s not something I’m at liberty to talk about, but my end of the deal was cancelling the date. So I’m cancelling it.”

“You’re cancelling the date that never existed. Gotcha.”

“Yes. And thank you, by the way. I owe you one.”

“How about dinner next week?”

“You’re relentless.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

After we hung up, I sat at my desk, thinking about the Eastwood brothers. Max was a carefree playboy, but he was a good guy, and I knew he cared about Reed a lot. Max was definitely the crazier brother. And some might even label him the better-looking one, depending on their taste. He was wilder, too, for sure. But in my opinion, brooding, intense Reed was far sexier. In fact, I’d never found him sexier than in his car today when he turned to me and demanded that I stay away from Max. Todd never gave me that kind of single-minded attention; it felt good to be a recipient of it. While some women would have advised me to smack him upside his head in that very moment, I couldn’t help but be turned on by Reed’s protectiveness. It didn’t hurt that the sun was blazing into his beautiful, espresso-colored eyes when he made the demand, or that the car was filled with his intoxicating Ralph Lauren cologne.

My body begged for him to take that intensity out on me in other ways. But there was clearly an invisible barricade that Reed had put up between us.

The next morning, I entered my office to find a blue note staring me in the face atop my desk.

From the desk of Reed Eastwood

Charlotte:

Congratulations on setting a precedent. See the employee manual on the server for the addition of Eastwood/Locklear’s new nonfraternization policy. Additionally, I would think long and hard before bribing your boss again. That’s grounds for termination, too. P.S. You’re late. I got my own coffee, which means it wasn’t laden with too much cream for once. Try better to be on time from now on.

Reed

Fuming, I decided not to give him the benefit of a reaction, so I kept to myself most of the morning and knocked off the items on my to-do list.

After I cooled off in the early afternoon, I ventured down to his office to feel out his mood and to offer moral support since tonight was his tryout at the Tabernacle.

To my surprise, a gorgeous woman with auburn hair was in there with him, not across from his desk like most visitors, but right next to him. She didn’t work here, so she must have been a client. She was leaning into him and laughing at everything he was saying.

Wearing those expensive red-bottomed heels and with a string of pearls wrapped around her neck, it was evident she was well off. Her body was against his as he showed her properties on his computer.

The memory of walking into Todd’s office and finding him in that compromising position flashed through my mind. It was a horrible feeling to be blindsided and to discover that your entire relationship was just an illusion. That experience would always serve as a reminder that things could change in an instant. The fact that I was experiencing a familiar sense of dread was very telling in terms of my feelings for Reed. We weren’t even together, yet I was feeling a hint of betrayal.

My stomach suddenly felt sick as I knocked, making my presence known for the first time.

“Hi,” I said. “I was just checking in to see if everything is still on schedule with your appointment tonight and if you needed anything.”

Reed looked up. “Yes, it is. And no, I don’t need anything.” He then turned his attention back to the woman and ignored me.

“Very well, then,” I said, basically talking to the wall.

Taking a few steps forward, I introduced myself to Reed’s guest. “I’m Charlotte, Reed’s assistant. You are?”

“Eve Lennon—a private client of Mr. Eastwood’s. He’s going to be showing me a few properties today.”

Reed finally addressed me. “Charlotte, while I have you, can you call ahead to Le Coucou and let them know I’ll be coming there in about fifteen minutes? Have them set up a table for two.” He turned to her. “We’ll go to lunch first.”

I forced a smile. “Of course.”

After I lingered at the doorway for a bit, Reed abruptly took off his glasses, looked over at me, and in the rudest tone said, “You can go.”

Was he kidding?

He was giving me permission to go? How nice of him!

After begrudgingly heading back to my office to make the reservation, I ventured into the kitchen for some much-needed coffee to cure my splitting headache. Still reeling from the way Reed had spoken to me, I was dropping things left and right—first the open sugar packet, then the stirrer.

Iris was there and must have noticed my slippery fingers.

“Charlotte, is everything okay? You seem frazzled.”

Stirring my coffee, I asked, “Who’s Eve Lennon?”

“The Lennon family has been a client of ours for years. Why do you ask?”

“Eve is with Reed in his office, and I got the impression that maybe there was something going on with them. She was all over him. Anyway, it’s none of my business.”

Understanding filled Iris’s eyes. “But it is . . . your business . . . because you have to work with him every day, and you work with all facets of our lives. Reed is very much your business, Charlotte.” She paused. “You have feelings for him, don’t you?”

“Not in that way . . .” I hesitated and let out a breath, realizing I didn’t really need to put up a front with Iris. “I don’t know. Things are just weird between us . . . all of the time. He’s so hot and cold with me. I don’t really understand him. You know what he said to me when I went into his office while she was there?”

“What?”

Deepening my voice, I gave my best Reed impression. “‘You can go.’ Just like that. ‘You can go.’ He can be so condescending.”

Iris seemed upset to see me so bothered by him. She nudged her head for me to join her at one of the tables.

She leaned in. “With my grandson . . . it’s a battle between who he really is and who he thinks he should be . . . between what he really wants and what he thinks he deserves. He has his reasons for how he acts sometimes. But one thing I can tell you is that Eve Lennon doesn’t hold a candle to you. And if Reed is shooing you away and letting that woman near him, he’s using her as a human shield from something he otherwise can’t resist.”