DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN Page 21

  Melanie inwardly smiled. They were on the rocks and about to tip over. Hooray!

  “Knock knock,” Phillip Grayson’s voice was suddenly heard from outside the office, and Melanie, still stunned by Daniel’s revelation, turned quickly. Phillip walked on in. “Hey, Daniel. Hello, Mel.”

  Daniel spoke back. Melanie was still reeling. If what Daniel said was true, and Nikki was trying to wean herself off of him, her work just got a lot easier. She knew she had to capitalize on the situation. And so did Luke. But she also had to be careful. If she read too much into what Daniel was telling her, if Nikki’s so-called epiphany was more like a bump in the road than a life-altering event, then her actions could backfire.

  But just the thought that Nikki was finally weighing her options raised the stakes. And Melanie was more than ready to move her planning into elevated gear.

  “You might wanna sit down, bud,” Phillip said to Daniel.

  Daniel frowned. “What are you talking about, Phillip?”

  “Brace yourself.”

  “I’m braced. Now what is it?”

  Phillip smiled. “Word on the Street - as in Wall Street - is that Daniel Crane is among one of two finalists for CEO of Dreeson.”

  Melanie smiled. Then looked at Daniel.

  “One of two?” Daniel asked.

  “One of two, my friend. Congratulations.”

  “You’re certain of this?”

  “Of course I am. Have I ever brought you wrong intel before? You’ll be getting a call before the night is through.”

  “Who’s the other guy?”

  “Fastower. Michael Alexander Fastower.”

  “Him.”

  “Yep, him.”

  “I thought you said there was a problem with Fastower?”

  “There was. But nobody’s saying what. Apparently it wasn’t worth revealing because I couldn’t get anything after the initial buzz.”

  “Who’s Fastower anyway?” Melanie asked.

  “Big name. A one-time whiz kid at Halliburton. He’s a heavy-hitter, no doubt about it. Smart. Harvard-educated. Ambitious. Unlike Daniel, he’s been dreaming his whole life for this opportunity.”

  “He sounds like a shoo-in,” Melanie said.

  “He would be. But the big boys don’t like Fastower. And that’s your saving grace, Daniel.” Phillip said this and looked at Daniel. “Michael Fast-talker is what they call him behind his back. He’s a little too ambitious, too smart and smooth for them. You, on the other hand, is well known because you’re already here, well liked because you know how to keep a low profile, and you have zero credibility issues. Word on the Street is that you’re the shoo-in.”

  Daniel remained even-keeled. Melanie smiled greatly. “Wow,” was the only word she could think to say. You’re the last person on earth who deserves it, she wanted to add.

  “I told you I was gonna do it for you boy!” Phillip said with a sudden burst of energy as he pumped his fist in the air.

  “I am so happy for you, Daniel,” Melanie said.

  “If it’s true it’s incredible,” Daniel admitted.

  “Yes, it is,” Melanie agreed. “It’s wonderful.”

  “As soon as I got off of the phone with my contacts I came to you,” Phillip said. “I ran up ten flights.”

  “That’s what I’ve never understood about the corporate world,” Melanie said. “Why would Phillip’s contacts know before you, Daniel, that you’re one of two finalists?”

  “That’s just the nature of the business, Mel,” Phillip said. “The board notifies a middle guy so that he can start dripping the word out and Wall Street can begin to adjust before an official announcement, so it won’t be a shock to their system, and then you let the middle guy get the word to the principals. That way it appears that the board’s allegiance is with the bigger picture, with Wall Street, and not with just one or two men.”

  Daniel smiled. “And it’s also a cover should they change their minds and neither man will do. After all they never said it themselves.”

  “They won’t change their minds,” Melanie said. “Not if it’s you.”

  “Tell him, Melanie,” Phillip said. “Besides, their window of opportunity is too narrow. They’ve got to make a decision and an official announcement within the next month.”

  “What’s going to be the strategy then?” Melanie asked Phillip. “I’m sure you have one.”

  Phillip walked further up to Daniel’s desk. “Okay,” he said, his eyes focused exclusively on Daniel. “You’ve got to keep a low profile. That’s key. That’s what distinguishes you from Fastower. Word is he’s already planning a publicity blitz through the Midwest to drum up support, as if those old geezers on the board of directors are gonna listen to outsiders. But that’s Fastower’s style. And that’s exactly what the board hates about him. But the good news is that he doesn’t know it. So you keep a low profile, keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be fine. I guarantee it.”

  Daniel looked at Phillip, and then looked past him, at the numerous plaques on his wall. He honed in on one particular plaque. Man of The Year, it said, and it was from a small, local recreation center that he backed financially. It didn’t make a ripple in the corporate world. No news media covered the ceremony. Not even Nikki knew he had received it. But it was, to Daniel, his greatest accomplishment. Because he didn’t have to do anything but write a check every month. And that little gesture meant the world to them. If he was named CEO, he would have earned it through sweat and blood. And the thrill of the chase could very well be more preferable than the capture. Because the capture would not be an end, but a beginning of more. More sweat. More blood. More. And in the end it was not going to be an accomplishment at all. Because, in the end, the more he gave, like former CEO Murdock found out, the more he would have to give.

  “I’d better go,” Melanie said, rising to her feet. Daniel stood too as she walked around his desk smiling as she came. “And I can’t express how happy I am for you, Daniel. Congratulations.” She said this and gave him a friendly hug. When they released, she kissed him on the mouth. Daniel felt a blush of irritation, but also of arousal, as Melanie’s lips parted from his.

  Phillip could not believe his eyes.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Melanie said, as if stunned by her own behavior. “Did I do that? I did not mean to do that! I’m sorry, Daniel. I am so sorry.”

  Daniel removed his hand from around her waist and smiled too. “It’s all right,” he said. Although he knew that it wasn’t.

  “Hello?” Nikki said into the phone. It was Val.

  “Hey, girl,” Val said.

  Nikki smiled and readjusted her laptop computer on her lap. She was in bed, in her nightgown, conducting a series of searches on the internet. “Hey yourself. I haven’t heard from you in a minute. How’s Detroit treating you?”

  “Like a queen, my dear,” Val said and Nikki laughed. “What about you? What are you doing? No, no, let me guess. You’re lying on that bed of yours pining away because Daniel ain’t there.”

  “He wish. I’m working, for your information. A source gave me some info that Oxidare may be involved in some illegal dumping that’s making elementary kids sick. I’m just doing some background, although I’m not getting very far.”

  “And where’s Daniel?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Wait a minute now. Daniel ain’t there, and you don’t care?”

  “I know you didn’t call me, boy, to talk about Daniel. What’s happened?”

  “Nothing’s happened.”

  “Liar.”

  “I’m in love, okay? Satisfied?”

  “In love?”

  “Yes, girl. As in happy.”

  “Who is it this time? A liar, a thief, or a combination thereof?”

  “Forget you.”

  “Who is he?”

  Val paused. “Bruce.”

  “Again? The thief? I thought you said it was over, Val?”

  “When I said it, it was. But
we worked out our differences.”

  “You need to quit. You didn’t used to be this hard-up.”

  “I’m not hard-up.”

  “Yes, you are. Why would you keep going back to that loser? A man who stole from you and tried to beat your ass? Please.”

  “He’s changed, Nikki, all right? Why do you keep running back to Daniel?”

  “Daniel doesn’t steal from me and he’s never beat my ass.”

  “He’s done something to that ass. That’s why you keep running back to him. Even after the naked photos. Even after that phone call. Y’all still together. Well it’s the same way with Bruce. I feel like he’s the one.”

  “He’s the one all right. The one in the next police line-up.”

  “I don’t know why I even bother with you. I knew you wasn’t gonna be happy for me.”

  “I’m not gonna lie to you, Val, and pretend it’s all right what you’re doing. It’s not all right. Bruce ain’t shit. He’s a player. A user. He bleed you dry then he move on to his next victim. And then when he runs out of victims he starts over. You’re just a part of the rotation.”

  There was silence over the phone. Nikki leaned her head back and lifted her bang out of her face. She had gone too far. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You’re telling nothing but the truth as usual.”

  “You’re a good looking, smart, successful man, Val. You shouldn’t have to take all that crap over and over again. You don’t have to take that.” Nikki could hear a car pull up on her drive. She got up, with cordless phone in hand, and walked toward the window. “And why? Just because you don’t wanna be alone? Please. Peace of mind is worth it, take it from me.”

  It was Daniel’s Jaguar. The engine cut off and then he slowly emerged. Nikki watched him.

  “But another jarring truth is that I’m not like you,” Val said. “I hate being alone.”

  “I hear you, but being hurt is worse.”

  “I know. It’s tough.”

  Nikki began walking back toward the bed. “Daniel just drove up.”

  “Uh-oh, now you’re ready to give me the brush off.”

  “I’ll call you back.” Nikki said this as she began shutting down her computer and removing it off of her bed.

  “And you’re preaching to me?” Val asked. “You’re doing the same thing. Daniel shows up and suddenly your whole world revolves around him.”

  “It ain’t even like that.”

  “Oh, yes, it is.”

  Nikki hesitated. Val was right. It was exactly like that. She sat back on her bed, her back against the headboard. “You know what? You’re right. You are absolutely right.” The doorbell began ringing. “Now what were we talking about?”

  Val laughed. “Don’t even try it, Nikki. Go on and hang up because I know that’s what you’re dying to do. I know you gots to be with your sweetie.”

  “He has a key. If I don’t answer the doorbell, he’ll use it. Now what were we talking about, Val?”

  “What you doing girl?”

  “I thought you called to talk to me.”

  “I did.”

  The doorbell began ringing. “Then talk.”

  “Okay. Dang. Don’t take my head off. I was just trying to help your trifling butt.”

  “What were we talking about?”

  “Bruce, of course.”

  Nikki could hear the front door unlock and Daniel entering in. Val continued talking, as she had requested, but Nikki only half-listened.

  Daniel was on her mind. He walked slowly, up her stairs, and by the time he made it to the landing and appeared at her bedroom door, her heart was racing. He looked great, she thought, no looks of worry about her absence in his life at all. Maybe content was the word, as he stood in her doorway, his hands in his pockets, his muscular body leaned against the frame. Uncertainty too. That was what she saw when she looked at him. Contentment with uncertainty. As if he still wasn’t sure if he should be there. She stayed away from him for two weeks. Two long weeks. And he seemed the better for it. That was sobering to Nikki. And that was why she was glad she decided to keep talking to Val.

  “I still say you deserve better,” she said into the phone.

  “And I agree with you,” Val replied. “And when better comes along I’ll take it. But in the meantime, and just in case fairy tales really don’t come true, I’ll stick with Bruce.”

  “It’s your life.” Nikki said this and looked at Daniel. He moved, seemingly reluctantly, away from the door frame and across the room. He listened only slightly as Nikki continued running her mouth on the phone, all but ignoring him. He glanced out the window, at the empty street in Nikki’s quiet neighborhood. The rain was still pelting down, but less dramatically now, but Daniel still felt that sense of dread that began to overtake him when he got the call from the chairman.

  He sat in the chair against the wall. Nikki began laughing, as if her phone companion was just cracking her up. Daniel sat back and watched her; watched her lift her head back and rub her shoulder, her V-neck nightgown revealing the top tip of her large breasts. It had been a long time since he touched her, nearly two weeks now, and he wanted her so badly he could feel it beneath the belt. He crossed his legs. He knew Nikki. It was no accident that he hadn’t heard from her in weeks. She had some serious thinking to do and he respected that. But enough was enough.

  “Nikki?” he said in the midst of another round of laughter from her. She looked at him and then placed her hand over the phone’s transmitter. “Why don’t you tell your friend you’ll call her back,” he said.

  “It’s not a her,” Nikki said and then quickly regretted that she had said it. She removed her hand from the phone. “Listen, I have to talk to you later,” she said into the phone.

  “No he ain’t demanding that you hang up from me,” Val said. “Put him on the phone, girl. I can handle Daniel Crane.”

  “Okay. Talk to you later. Bye.”

  Val laughed. “We are so alike,” he said. “Bye, girl.”

  Nikki hung up. Then she looked at Daniel. “Yes?” she said.

  “How have you been doing?”

  “Good. What about you?”

  Daniel nodded, with some hesitation. “Okay,” he said. Their eyes finally locked onto each other. Nikki wanted to jump from her bed and run to him. But she didn’t. She finally worked up enough courage to function without the constancy of Daniel in her every thought and action and she wasn’t about to throw it all away just because he showed up.

  “Why haven’t you called me?”

  “Why haven’t you called me?”

  “I didn’t know it was a contest.”

  “I didn’t either.”

  Daniel paused. “I’m one of two finalists, Nikki.”

  “Two finalists? For what?” Daniel didn’t respond. “CEO?”

  “Yes.”

  It was stunning news. She was able to smile. “That’s great. Congratulations. You’ll be the top man at Dreeson? That’s. . . You deserve it, Daniel.”

  Daniel smiled. “Thank-you.”

  “Who’s the other guy?”

  “Fastower. Michael Fastower. Well-credentialed, affable fellow from what I understand.”

  “But he won’t beat you.”

  “He might.”

  “No way! What he’s got that you don’t have?”

  Daniel smiled. “Youth. He’s four years younger. Sometimes that matters.”

  “That’s crazy. You’re older and wiser and experienced in so many different things.”

  “If the selection committee is as positive as you are, I’ll be a shoo-in.”

  Nikki laughed. “Now you’re talking right!”

  Daniel looked at Nikki. She looked gorgeous to him, sitting there, so filled with life and vitality and such unbridled enthusiasm that it was almost contagious. “I miss you,” he finally said to her.

  Nikki didn’t respond. She missed him too, more than he probably realized. But she had decided during her time away from him
that she was no longer wearing her feelings on her sleeve.

  Daniel was disappointed by her lack of response, but he decided to keep plugging at it. “I’m used to getting four or five phone calls from you every day, and then suddenly nothing. Even Whitney was concerned.”

  Nikki smiled. “She would be.”

  Daniel’s look turned decidedly serious. “I’ve got to be in New York tomorrow.”

  Nikki looked at him. “For how long?”

  “A few days.”

  She asked for space, and he was giving it to her. But now it was beginning to feel scary. Like they were drifting apart. She didn’t want that.

  And neither did he.

  “Come here,” he said to her.

  He had said those two words to Nikki many times before, when he wanted to hold her or kiss her or lecture her. And every time she jumped at his command. She went to him. But not this time. “I don’t see anything wrong with your two legs,” she said.

  Daniel couldn’t help but smile. “Good answer,” he said as he stood and walked to the side of her bed. It was a change, seeing Nikki like this, and he wasn’t sure yet if he liked what he saw.

  He sat down on the edge of the bed. He smelled like a combination of perfume and masculinity. A combination she missed.

  “Now,” he said as he sat down, “is that better?”

  “I guess,” she said. She avoided eye contact. He was too close now. But he was the same old Daniel, who never relented in his stare, who made her so nervous that she felt she had no choice but to stare back. And she did, looking at his mouth first, and then into his eyes. His soft, caring hazel eyes. And as soon as she did it, as soon as her bright brown eyes looked into his hazel eyes, she wanted to cry.

  His heart melted as tears appeared in her eyes. He leaned over to her and placed his hands on either side of her face. Then he kissed her, first on those eyes, and then on the mouth. Her body pushed back against the bed’s headboard as he kissed her hard, and all of her resistance, all of her need to stay in control, to let him know that she’s no push-over any longer, flew away like a feather on a paper airplane as soon as she felt the warmth of his lips against hers.