His Forever Girl

Her only response was a moan. Graham ducked his head and rained kisses around her belly button. “But I’m hungry for dessert.”

“Oh, sweet—” Tess arched against him as he slid lower.

“You taste so good,” he murmured, his hands lifting her hips.

Tess’s hands slid to his hair, fisting in the depths. “Graham.”

He sighed as he lowered his head and dropped kisses along her hip bone. “I’m so glad I walked into that bar and saw you. It’s like getting the sweetest of gifts, Tess.”

“Oh, Graham,” she begged, wiggling her hips. “Please—”

And so he gave her what she wanted.

* * *

BY THE TIME Tess slid from her bed, she’d managed a good hour or two of sleep and that was it. She’d be toast for her meeting, but she had no regrets.

All night, she and Graham had laughed, dreamed and made love on those new sheets, and it had been the most wonderful night of her life.

Seriously.

She’d had lovers—ever since she’d let Justin Hogue go all the way with her the night of her senior prom—but she’d never had one like Graham. She couldn’t believe how good they’d been together. Everything he did felt ten times more incredible than with any other guy. Tess had hit the jackpot with the unlikeliest of guys, and it felt a little surreal...and maybe a little scary. Sex had never been so mind-blowing before.

She glanced at the suit folded on the funky polka-dot chair that matched her apple-green duvet and smiled. Buttoned-up, wing-tip boy. Who’d have thought?

Joy bubbled inside her as she walked naked into the bathroom and turned the knobs in the shower. Waiting for the water to heat, she glanced back and found Graham still asleep, sprawled on his stomach, the sheet barely covering his splendid backside.

She stepped into the marbled shower stall and sighed as the hot water coursed down her body. Minutes later she felt two arms slip around her.

“Got room for me?” he murmured in her ear, causing goose bumps to shiver down her length.

She turned, wrapping her arms around his neck and grinning at him as he brought her body against his. “Always.”

“You’ll change your tune when I use all your hot water.”

“I have a tankless hot water heater. I don’t run out.” She rocked her hips against his.

“Oh, my naughty Tess. We could have some fun in here, huh?”

Wiggling her eyebrows, Tess turned and handed him the loofah. “Do my back?”

“As long as I can also do your front.”

Tess sighed and the shower that normally took her ten minutes stretched into twenty-five.

Finally, wrapped in a fluffy robe, Tess stood cradling a steaming mug of coffee in her kitchen. Graham walked in, towel tucked around his waist.

“When do you leave?” she asked, pulling a carton of eggs from the depths of her mostly empty fridge. If she had some onion and spinach, she could make an omelet. But, alas, only a few cartons of yogurt and a pint of creamer.

“As soon as I take a cab back to my car.”

“Don’t bother with a cab. Since I have a meeting with a client today, I’m not taking my bike. I can drop you off.”

He smiled and something in her chest grew warm. “Damn, I thought I would ride on your handle bars, but I guess since I have to wear my suit...”

“Handle bars? I totally have a basket you could sit in,” she joked.

“Hope it’s still there.”

“The suit or the car?” she said, grabbing a pan from the dish rack.

“Both,” he said, sliding his arms around her and dropping a kiss on her ear. “Is it going to sound totally crazy to say this was the best night I’ve had in forever?”

She leaned back into him. “No. I feel like we’ve known each other for longer than a day. It’s strange, but I’m loving it.”

“Yeah, I’m loving it, too. This feels right. I can’t wait to come back to New Orleans. I can’t wait to take you out in that black dress and then bring you back here and take it off.”

Tess set the eggs and pan on the stove and turned in his arms, lifting on her toes so she could kiss him. “I can’t wait for you to come back, either.”

Kissing her thoroughly, Graham smiled at her, his blue eyes full with something deeper than she expected. “I’m going to get the job, and then we’re going to celebrate. This is a fate thing. I can feel it in my bones.”

“You think so?” Tess searched his eyes, afraid they were going too fast. After all, though she knew every inch of his body, she didn’t know much else about him. There was no room for talk of something serious, right? Just because they’d fit together so well, just because he’d made her heart gallop, her body sing and her soul shine brighter, didn’t mean they were moving toward the L word.

No. Tess couldn’t allow herself to go over the cliff after one night with a man. That was movie crap. Not real life.

But when she looked at Graham, she could almost believe in love at first sight.

“I know so,” he said, kissing her again, taking away any doubts she had about a guy walking into a bar and tying a girl up in ribbons of fate.

Tess pulled herself away and jogged to the bar between the kitchen and living area. Picking up her phone, she handed it to him. “Here. Put your info into my phone. Where’s yours? I’ll put in mine.”

They tapped the info into each other’s phones. He handed Tess her phone and she set it on the bar and directed him to the table. “I’m not the greatest of chefs but I can manage eggs and toast. Then I have to run. I need to go by my office before my meeting at nine o’clock.”

“That’s fine. I need to get going, too. I’m stopping by Emily’s school and I need to hit Houston before rush hour. And you never told me where you work. Is it—”

The harsh shriek of the teakettle going off interrupted him. Tess turned around and snatched it off the burner, accidently touching the hot kettle to her wrist.

“Ow!” She set the kettle on another burner and ran some cold water over her arm. Total klutz...or maybe she was nervous about talking about taking whatever this was to another level...or maybe she was scared it was all too good to be true.

“Let me get ice,” he said, scrambling to the freezer.

Thirty minutes and two pieces of burnt toast later, Tess stood outside her apartment dressed in her best go-to-meeting business dress that happened to match the deep pink burn on her wrist. Graham wore his suit, tie stuffed in pocket, shirt open at the neck. His tousled dark hair made him look exactly what he was—a businessman who’d gotten lucky...and not much sleep.

To Tess he looked terrific.

They kissed, a slow, sweet kiss laden with goodbye and tinged with possibility.

“I’ll call you soon,” he said.

“Good,” she said, running a hand along his jaw. “I’ll be waiting.”

CHAPTER FOUR

A month later

FRANK ULLO SHOVED the lab report from his oncologist’s office into the top drawer and spun his chair toward the bulletin boards. Pinned up were various sketches of Mardi Gras floats dated from 1967 to present. Elaborate plans cobbled together into breathtaking beauty. His life’s work sprawled across a wall—a reminder of what he’d built and sustained...and what he was about to hand over to the man sitting on the other side of his desk.

Doubt fluttered in his gut before he centered himself. He had to keep emotion out of this decision. Had to remember what he did now was for the best...even if it was a bit chickenshit of him.

Then he touched the photo on his desk as he often did. A tap for luck. In the silver frame smiled three dark-headed teenaged boys and a fierce little girl who snarled at the camera. Frank cherished this particular picture of his other life’s work: his children. Each boy stared back at him, intelligent, smirking with their father’s Italian temperament. Their chins jutted out with their mother’s Irish stubbornness.

And centered in the middle was Therese, his Tess.

His hellion with dark blond hair and eyes blazing a path to the heart. A difficult child, Tess challenged everyone around her as much as she blessed them with her warmth. The girl never took no for an answer and wrapped her older brothers around her proverbial pinky. Tess was never a princess...more like a bruiser in soccer cleats with a crooked hair bow and bandages on her knees. Tess—his sunshine girl with an unceasing passion for all she did.

And he felt very, very sure she would hate his guts for what he was about to do.

He tapped the photo again, making sure it faced him. Then picking up the phone, he dialed Billie. “Hey, ring Therese. I need to talk to her.”

Billie gave him her usual monotone. “Whatever you want, Boss.”

Frank pressed his hands against the ink blotter and looked across his desk at Graham Naquin, the man he’d hired to become the next chief executive officer of Frank Ullo Float Builders. “This ain’t gonna be easy. My vice president of operations don’t know about this.”

Graham folded his hands across his stomach and squared his chin. He was maybe too handsome for this job, too slick and together. Doubt nickered at Frank, but he squashed it.

“It’s never easy for employees to accept change,” Graham said. “My coming on board will take some adjustment but I’m determined this will work. I’m a good fit.”

“You are. But this employee’s a little different because she’s my daughter.”

Mr. Spit and Polish actually grew green around the gills. “Your daughter—who is the VP of Operations—doesn’t know you’re hiring me to run the company? Don’t you think you should have told her before you hired me?”

Frank didn’t like to be questioned, but Graham wasn’t altogether wrong in his comment. “Yeah, but I got my reasons. She ain’t ready to run a company. I’m not saying she’s deadweight or anything. She’s good at her job, but she don’t have the head for making tough decisions. And let’s face it, we still live in a man’s world.”

Graham’s eyes widened and he got kinda choky-looking. Briefly Frank wondered, yet again, if he’d missed the boat on the whole equality thing.

“I’m not sure I feel comfortable with this situation, Frank. You should have been up front about her earlier. I’d rather not start the job with animosity in the workplace. Transparency is always best in business dealings.”

Frank shrugged. He couldn’t just say “I have cancer and I’m trying to protect my daughter.” But that was his main reason. Wasn’t like he wanted to hand over the reins of his company to anyone, but in a few days he’d have a stent placed in his ducts to alleviate the jaundice he’d been suffering. Then he’d start weekly chemo treatments to help shrink the tumor and prevent further metastasizing, and that would make him feel like shit. He’d have to rest and stay away from people who could make him sick. The least he could do for his employees and family was to leave the company in capable hands...and Graham Naquin seemed almost too good to be true.

The kid had graduated in mechanical engineering and then started a float company with two others—Upstart thrived and was currently the biggest thorn in Frank’s side. Graham could take Frank’s company on his broad shoulders and free him from the day-to-day minutiae. And hopefully, the energetic engineer holding a new MBA could revitalize a business mired in its own success.

Frank didn’t want to place that burden on his Tess. She already thought she could handle more than she actually could. “I wasn’t trying to dupe you, if that’s what you’re implying. Things are delicate, you see.”

“I think there is a lot you’re not telling me, Frank, and that worries me. If there is something I need to be aware of, you need to be forthcoming about it. Don’t set me up for failure, especially with your family.”

“The only one of my children who works here is Therese, and she’s a good girl even if she is headstrong. She’s young, you know? But family is more important to her than ruffled feathers. Give her a day or two and she’ll see she’s not prepared to deal with the business end of this company. Her head’s in her art, designing the floats and dazzling the krewes. We all have our talents, right?”

Graham pressed his hands down his thighs, smoothing his trousers, and then refolded them in his lap. Nervous for a man who exuded extreme capability. But Frank would give him being a little nervous. Frank had known this would be hard.

A knock sounded at his office door and Tess stuck her head in. “Hey, you wanted to see me?”

“Come on in, honey,” Frank said, motioning her into the room. She wore her customary jeans and T-shirt and a flash of guilt struck at not making the meeting more official, at not giving Tess a chance to get her professional game face on. Another mistake he’d weather.

Graham’s eyebrows drew together and he spun around as Tess stepped inside. Frank saw his body go rigid. “Tess?”

Tess’s eyes widened and her mouth gaped for a second. “Graham?”

For several seconds they stared at one another in shock.

“Wait, you know each other?” Frank hadn’t considered Tess might know the young man he’d chosen to run their family business. Graham had lived in Houston for the past six years, but since the man had grown up in New Orleans, it wasn’t impossible. But this seemed more than casual.

Tess ignored his question and closed the door before advancing toward his desk, her gaze crackling. “What are you doing in my father’s office?”

Graham stood. “You’re Therese?”

“I prefer Tess.” She crossed her arms and shot a look from her father to Graham. “Yeah. So back to the original question—what are you doing here? I assumed you didn’t—” And then her mouth snapped shut as something altogether different flitted through her gaze. In that moment, Frank realized however his daughter knew Graham, it hadn’t ended well. Which meant this situation wasn’t going to be slightly uncomfortable. Nope, it was atomic-wedgie uncomfortable.

“I—” Graham made another choked face and shook his head. “You never told me your last name. You put, uh, Two-Legged Tess in my phone.”

“Thought it was cute and memorable. Big fail, huh?” she said, voice like poison darts. Even Frank wanted to duck.

He cleared his throat. “Two-legged Tess? What the hell are you two talking about?”

Graham sat like he’d been hit by bad news. “I met your daughter at the bar you recommended to me after the interview. Two-Legged Pete’s.”

“Wait a sec, you told him about Pete’s?” Tess asked, her eyes narrowing as something in her head started clicking. Her voice faded as she murmured, “At a job interview.”

Her head whipped around, her arms dropped, fists at her sides as she faced the new CEO. “You had a job interview with my dad. A job interview for what?”

Graham sank in the leather chair. Or was it cowered? “Christ, this is crazy. How are you Frank Ullo’s daughter?”

“Why are you interviewing for a position I don’t know about?”

Both of them directed their gaze toward Frank.

“Okay, okay. Tess, have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chair beside Graham.

“I think I’ll stand.” She crossed her arms, her chin jutting out. “I don’t want to sit for what you’re about to tell me because obviously I’m the last to know about what’s going down at our family company.”

“This is exactly the reason I had to make this decision.”

Her eyes glittered like icy, cold emeralds that reminded him of his wife Maggie’s when she was pissed. “What decision?”

“If you’d sit, I’d tell you. But as usual you’re acting like your mother,” Frank said, annoyed a simple announcement and introduction could get bogged down in drama before he’d said his piece. But what had he expected from Tess? Reasonable wasn’t her middle name.

“If it means that much to you, fine.” Tess sat. “So what’s the deal, Dad?”

“The deal is a change that’s been forthcoming here.”

“Really?” she said at a near growl. Graham averted his gaze to the sketches on the wall.

“You know I’ve been talking about retirement in the past several weeks. Now’s the time. I wanna pull back and enjoy life with your mother before I cash in my ticket.”

Tess said nothing...just stared at him. Frank nearly shifted in his chair, but refrained because he was a man, damn it. He didn’t shrink under the disdain of any woman...much less his youngest child who hadn’t even reached age thirty yet. Hell, she was still a kid.

“And?” she asked.

“I hired a headhunting company to look for someone who could—”

“You hired a headhunting company?” Tess arched one eyebrow. Frank felt the steam coming off her. She had never been laid-back, but she had a good temperament on most days. Everyone at Ullo liked her. She got what she wanted, but it was because she always leaned on people rather than pushed them. Honeyed words and all that. Still, when crossed, her Irish-Italian temper simmered out of control.

“That’s what I said, Therese. These guys go out and find—”

“I know what they do. You should have inferred my question to mean why not who.”

Frank had to think about that because he hadn’t had a fancy liberal arts education—he’d been raised on the streets and got his business smarts from what had always worked for him. “I hired a headhunter because I can’t leave the company with no one to look after it. You need help and your brothers have their own careers.”

Tess slapped her hands together. “Perfect. I see where this is going now. You want a man to run the company instead of trusting your own flesh and blood. You’re just that egotistical and misogynist.”

“I don’t know those words, but if you think this is because of what you ain’t got between your legs, you’re wrong.” Leave it to Tess to think this was about gender. Okay, maybe ten percent of his reasoning had to do with her being a woman. He wanted Tess to find love, settle down, have some babies—something hard to do running a company like Frank Ullo. But mostly this was about protecting her. She couldn’t shoulder the entire burden of this place alone.

Tess had amazing talent and a keen intellect, but she possessed very little business acumen. For the past seven years, ever since she’d graduated and come to work for him, they’d done wonderful things together. Tess had found better materials for their floats, and her clever design work had krewes lining up, willing to pay big bucks for Ullo to design their floats. Frank had handled the business end and thus far it had worked like a well-oiled engine. He didn’t see any reason to change things. She had to understand that. “This is about doing what’s best for our company.”

“How can you say that?” she asked in a small voice. It was as if the anger had dissipated, leaving a shaken shell in its place. Somehow this was worse. Anger he could handle. Hurt? Not so much.

“This ain’t personal, baby,” he said, leaning forward, keenly aware the PET scan report he’d received from the doctor a week ago sat in the drawer beneath the blotter. It pulsed into his psyche, reminding him how little time he had to settle things...how little time he had to insure his family stayed healthy, wealthy and stable.

“Wrong. It’s extremely personal.” Tess stared at the family crest ring he’d given her for her college graduation. “More than you even know.”

Graham had very wisely stayed out of the fray, but now he looked at Frank, something wavering in his eyes. Briefly, Frank wondered what he didn’t know about Graham Naquin...and what the man had meant to his daughter.

“I shouldn’t be here for this conversation, Frank,” Graham said.

“Of course you should. You’re going to be working with Tess. Better to clear the air and get us all on firm ground.”

“No, he’s right. This is between you and me,” Tess said, her voice low. “This is about you not trusting me.”

Frank shook his head. “You’re being dramatic, Tess. This is—”

“No. You hid this from me because you knew what would happen. Don’t act as if you didn’t know I’d be upset. You created the drama, Frank.”

Frank snapped his fingers. “Don’t call me Frank. And this does concern Graham. He’ll be working with you.”

“As what?”

Frank shrugged, almost too scared to say the words. “Technically, he’ll be the chief executive officer. Your job will remain the same. He’ll need you to help him—”

“No.” Tess slammed her hand on his desk. “I don’t accept this.”

Frank narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have a say.”

“The hell I don’t. I’ve worked here all my life. In case you’ve forgotten, my last name is Ullo. You’re skipping over me, your daughter, to hire someone else. I don’t accept that.”

“This is my company. Not yours.”

Tess reeled back as if he’d slapped her.

Graham shifted in his chair. “I’m stepping outside.”

“Yes, go.” Tess jabbed a finger at the door.

Graham ignored her and looked at him. In his eyes, Frank saw frustration and something else that looked like regret. “I’ll take a walk and return in half an hour.”

“Take a walk off the pier, why don’t you?” Tess said, before turning a frosty gaze to her father. No more defeated Tess. This was his pissed-off sunshine girl who had scored the winning goal in the state soccer finals. She didn’t know the words give up.

Graham didn’t take the bait. He merely shook his head and walked out.

The door snicked closed and Tess put her hands over her face. “Why are you doing this, Dad? I’ve been working so hard to earn... I thought you wanted me in this company. I thought it was understood that I would take over when you retired.”

“There are things you don’t understand, honey,” he said, softening his tone.

“So why didn’t you come to me and discuss the issues you had? Instead of doing that, you went behind my back. In fact, you interviewed him on the day I took Granny B to the doctor so you could hide it. I suppose you swore Billie to silence, too?”

“Billie doesn’t know everything that goes on in this company.”

“Ha.” Tess sank back into the chair. “Well, the solution to all this is simple—tell Graham you were wrong. Tell him thanks, but no thanks. I’m totally prepared to run Frank Ullo Float Builders, and you can do a step-down retirement over the next several months. This is what I’ve been preparing for over the past seven years—an Ullo running our company. I’m going to pretend like you didn’t say the company belongs to you.”

“But it does.”

“Technically, but it’s ours. Our family’s.”

“I’m not firing Graham. He signed the contracts this morning.”

Her gaze went feral. “What I say doesn’t matter?”

Frank closed his eyes. Knowing that telling Tess would be hard was way different from actually doing it. He hadn’t told his children about his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, except for his son Joseph who’d been his consult during the whole process. Frank still wanted to talk to Maggie about how to handle telling them. Hell, he still hadn’t come to terms with the thought of not making it to next Christmas.

But he wouldn’t use his illness to make Tess relent. He knew he wasn’t the best father in the world, but he’d never resorted to manipulation with his children. He ignored the small voice that said he’d tricked Tess to get his way in the first place. “You matter to me more than you know, but in this instance I will stand firm. You’re not ready to run the company. Plain and simple.”

“But why? If you knew you were going to retire this soon, you should have brought me in and prepared me. You should have taught me what you do. None of this makes sense. You were always so proud I followed in your footsteps. I just thought...” Tess covered her face again with her hands.

For a few moments neither of them said anything.

“I’m not staying if you hire him.” Tess dropped her hands, her gaze resolute.

“So you’ll quit?” Frank had never even contemplated the possibility his daughter would leave if he didn’t give her the wheel. “Like a child taking her toys and going home, huh?”

“No. I’m not being unreasonable in leaving a place where I have little respect.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Doesn’t feel like it, Dad.” Tess swallowed hard. “I refuse to remain where there is no future for me.”