The Love of Money II – Chapter 20: House Blend

Friday, September 13th, 10:37 am

The door opened, and I stepped out on the sidewalk and looked up at the sign showing a coffee cup surrounded by a mound of azure beans.

That’s new, I thought to myself as Chloe shut the door behind me. John stepped out of the passenger seat next to me, closed his door, and then the dark SUV sped off.

“Everything alright?” Chloe said, peering up at the sign I stared at.

“Yeah,” I said. “Looks like they’ve just updated a little.”

“You’ve been gone a month,” Chloe said. “This place moves fast.”

That was very true. As I took in the sights and sounds around me, I was almost overwhelmed with the bustle—New York was very different from the lonely forests of Norway or the Scottish Highlands. I remember my heart beating in time with this place before I became wealthy.

Now, after everything, I felt isolated… removed. I felt like a stranger in my hometown.

Helen’s words rang through my head—You’ve changed.

I didn’t feel all that different, but I kept running into things that seemed to bring out different reactions in me than before. Small things, but they added up.

“Guess I’ll just have to keep up,” I said. “Let’s get inside. Charity already has a table.”

Chloe took the lead with John following behind me. Both wore earpieces and had their heads on swivels.

Since my return, security had tripled, and they’d completely overhauled their processes. Erin was now required to submit a daily itinerary so that Chloe could coordinate with Hannon for security sweeps prior to my arrival. I didn’t want them making a scene everywhere I went, so whenever possible, they opted for something more subtle. Somewhere high up was probably a man with a sniper rifle watching the entire area. I knew for sure that a couple of agents had arrived at the restaurant twenty minutes earlier and posed as regular customers, communicating to Chloe that the Blue Beans was safe before I arrived.

At this point, it felt like Chloe and John would be needed more to keep the paparazzi at bay than to protect me from bad guys.

We entered the shop and I looked around—the sights, smells, and sounds were exactly the same and reminded me of all the other times I’d ordered coffee or a quick breakfast on my way to work. They transported me to a different time—poorer, but simpler. The most worrisome things in my life were dealing with Gina and Bobbi, or wondering when I would see Jessica next.

I hadn’t seen Gina since I’d fired her. Bobbi had essentially become my property, and Jessica now cleaned my toilets.

Maybe the city wasn’t the only thing that moved fast after all.

Then my eyes fell on her.

She was standing at the counter, talking to a barista. Her black hair fell down her back in a glossy sheet—I would have recognized it anywhere.

“Hey,” I said to Chloe. “Hang back a minute.”

Chloe followed my gaze and then said, “Ah. Yeah.”

I slowly approached her, stepping around a line of three other people, barely aware of their existence.

“Hey,” I said. “What are the odds of bumping into you here?”

Natalie turned and looked up from her phone, her big, gorgeous eyes focusing on me. Mild confusion melted into a wide smile.

“Oh my God! Marcus!”

She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight, and I was suddenly very aware of her generous breasts pillowed against my chest. Her cheek warmed mine as she said softly into my ear, “I’ve missed you so much!”

I slipped my arms around her waist—she felt as good as ever. My fingers pressed into the small of her back, pulling her a little tighter into me, and for a moment, I was transported back to those times we almost became a thing. What would my life have been like if we had dated? Would I have gone to Vegas? Would I have ended up in Norway? If I’d had a dedicated girlfriend like Natalie at the time, would I have made a different decision when Carla asked me for a date?

So many questions.

We held each other for a few moments and eventually pulled away, staying within close proximity. I looked her up and down as she smiled radiantly up at me, looking fantastic.

From the day I first met her, I thought Natalie was stunning.

She held my attention hostage. Her hair—sleek, just past her shoulders, the color of wet chestnuts, framed a face that was striking—like a model’s, but soft and youthful. Her skin was a rich, honeyed brown that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.

And those features… big, expressive eyes framed by thick lashes, a gently arched, subtly Nubian nose, and generous lips that always seemed to hover between a clever smile and a confession. I still remembered their taste.

She never seemed fully aware of how beautiful she was, but that only added to her allure.

It amazed me that Tyler had spent any amount of time with her and hadn’t immediately given up his vendetta against me just to keep this prize.

“I’ve missed you, too,” I said.

“Really?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at me in mock accusation. “I could tell… all those wordy texts.”

I could feel my face heat a little at the unspoken accusation.

After what happened with Tyler, Natalie and I seemed to come to a truce. The tension between us had abated, and what was left was an uneasy longing for what we had.

At least, that’s what I had felt.

After I disappeared to Europe, I would occasionally send her a picture of some of the sites we visited, and we would exchange brief text messages. That was all, though. I never got the impression that she was missing me or particularly interested in talking to me. She gave as good as she got.

I felt my hands go to the back of my head, my fingers scraping along my scalp as I looked away—a typical reaction when I was feeling on the defensive. Then I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and said, “Yeah, sorry about that. After everything that happened between us, I thought I should give you some space.”

Her smile became tinged with a bit of sadness as she said, “Maybe I did need a little space, but I wouldn’t have minded less.”

There wasn’t any accusation in her tone or the look she gave me—just warmth. We stayed like that for a beat, and then the barista behind her called out her name and set a to-go cup on the counter.

“Thanks!” she said, picking up her coffee. Then she turned back to me, looked around as if trying to find someone else, and asked, “So what brings you to my neck of the woods? Checking on your employees?”

“Oh,” I said, glancing around. “Meeting with my PR team. You know, doing damage control. Trying to keep my reputation clean.”

“Sounds fun,” she said. “Well, I need to get back to the office. I have a couple of staffers out sick, so I need to pick up the slack.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll have to stop by and see how things are going.”

“Do you have some time after your PR meeting?” The way she looked at me with those big eyes—there was no mistaking the hopefulness.

“Probably,” I said.

“I have some work to do as soon as I get to the office, but I’d love to catch up with you a little more if you have time. Maybe a couple of hours?”

“I’ll see what I can do—but I’d like that.”

Natalie reached out and placed her hand on my arm, squeezing it as she gave me another smile.

“Good,” she said. “Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.”

Her fingers on my arm squeezed a little more firmly, as if trying to send a message without actually saying anything. She leaned in, lifted herself onto her toes, and pressed her lips to my cheek in a swift kiss.

And then it was over as quickly as it had begun. Natalie gave me one last smile, then turned and headed for the door.

I just watched.

“How’d that go?” Chloe asked.

I felt my head snap to my left of its own volition, her sudden presence surprising me a little.

“I…

I didn’t want to talk to Chloe about Natalie. I didn’t want to confide in her about any of the women in my life. It felt weird after what happened between us… like talking to an ex about my love life.

She looked me up and down, and one corner of her mouth quirked in some hidden thought I couldn’t decipher. “Actually, don’t answer that. I just came over here to let you know I found Charity.” She nodded toward a table in the back corner of the shop where my director of public relations sat drinking from a glass filled with a purple smoothie.

She was in a loose-fitting short-sleeved shirt, a pair of jeans, and had a cardigan draped across her shoulders. Her jet black hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she was staring intently at her phone.

“Thanks,” I said. “You gonna be around?”

“I’ll be over there,” Chloe said, nodding to another table where a lean, handsome man sat. I didn’t recognize him.

“A date?” I asked before I could stop myself.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “One of yours. A new guy. He came here early to make sure everything looked good for you.”

“Oh.”

I studied him, taking in his perfect, chiseled jawline.

“I can’t fraternize with them,” Chloe said.

“I didn’t say anything,” I snapped.

Even I wanted to cringe at how defensive I sounded.

“You didn’t have to,” Chloe said and then left me to join a table with the new guy.

I watched her walk away and mentally flogged myself. If I wasn’t careful, I could push Chloe right out the door, and I’d have no one to blame but myself.

I also wasn’t being fair. Here I was sleeping with more women than I had fingers but get jealous as soon as I catch sight of Captain Jawline. Chloe deserved to have someone just as much as anyone else, and while I didn’t agree with her reasons to break things off with me, she deserved to have those reasons. I’d cut things off with Danni because I could tell she was envious of some of the other girls, even if she kept it under a pretty tight lid. Chloe was being infinitely more patient with me. I needed to get my shit together.

I shook my head, vowing to talk to her later. In the meantime, I had another woman whom I’d promised my attention to. Putting Chloe out of my mind, I approached Charity, who spotted me as I approached the table.

“Mr. Upton!” She said as she stood up.

“Whoa,” I said. “That’s not happening. You can call me Marcus.”

She smiled at my response, looking particularly pleased, and I, in turn, was pleased by the cute dimples in her cheeks.

“I guess when we’re in private,” she said. “It might be weird to do it around others, though.”

“Works for me,” I said. “Is this private enough?”

She closed the distance between us, gave a furtive glance around, and then grabbed my shoulders as she stood on her toes and pulled me down for a quick kiss on the cheek, followed by a light hug.

“Close enough,” Charity said, peering up at me.