values a paper education over real life experience. Hence Cassandra does not meet her standards.”
“How good is this CEO?” Willow asked.
“She’s on top of everything. I just think that while she will make the shareholders very happy, she will run the office as a twentieth century well-oiled machine rather than a twenty-first century retreat from overbearing bosses.”
“Have you spoken to her?”
James watched her wince as she adjusted in the chair.
“Are you okay?” he asked again.
“Yes. So, have you spoken to her?”
“I was thinking maybe if I invited her and her husband over for dinner with us and Cassie she might loosen up a bit.”
“Dinner is a good idea, but all bosses are different,” Willow said. “Without Nancy, I think my company would fall apart at the seams. I don’t care about balance sheets and showing up at the office at eight in the morning. I would rather be outside with my camera. I get a paycheck and a quarterly report of how the business is doing. Even when we weren’t making money I couldn’t get up the effort to care about the balance sheet as much as she did. Maybe you should allow her to get her own assistant and assign Cassandra a different job.”
“Cassie is my eyes and ears when I’m away.”
“But you hired this woman to be you. You don’t need eyes and ears.”
“I’m sleeping with my brains.”
“Or maybe I’ve screwed all your brains out.”
“Naughty, naughty.”
Her laugh was cut short as she winced and held her side.
“What’s wrong?” James asked.
“Nothing.”
“Will?”
“I hit my side last night,” she confessed.
“Did I do that?”
“You were sleeping.”
“Damnit!” he swore.
“It’s nothing.”
“It is everything,” he said. “How did it happen?”
“I tried to shake you away and I guess you got spooked and threw me across the bed.”
“I am sorry.”
“You were having a nightmare. It is nothing.”
It was not unusual for Willow to go to bed before James, but it was unusual for him not to show up. When she woke at five in the morning, she found his side of the bed still perfectly made. She pulled on a short silk robe over her camisoles and briefs and went looking for him. He was not in any of the guest rooms or the office or the common rooms. She was about to give up when she thought about the basement. She had never been down there.
Now she descended the stairs, the automatic LED lights guiding her path. The stairs ended in a long hallway. She moved quietly through the gloom. There was a door to her right, she pushed it. The room was empty. In front of her, a dim light streaked out from under another door. The door was closed, but unlocked. She turned the handle when she heard sounds behind the door. Grunting, growling, she was not sure. Gingerly she pushed it open. He was sleeping, tossing turning, fighting in his sleep. Pillows were strewn every which way.
“James,” she said his name in a whisper.
He did not respond.
“James,” she almost shouted his name.
He jumped off the bed immediately. He looked haggard, frightened. He didn’t look at her immediately, but he’d heard her. Now he turned to the door where she stood.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I came to find you,” she said.
“Why?”
“I -.”
“You know what,” he said. “I don’t need to know. I don’t care. Just leave me alone.”
“Are you alright?”
“Just go,” he said.
“James, do you want to-?”
“Go! Leave me alone! Get out of my house! Just go!”
Willow was shocked. The look on his face was menacing. She had never seen him like this before.
“James -.”
“Didn’t you hear me? Go! Get the fuck out of my house!”
His words were cruel and it punched her in the stomach like no other blow she had ever gotten in her life. He was being deliberately mean and cruel. She stepped back through the hallway and fled.
Willow grabbed her laptop, her favorite camera and her purse. She didn’t need anything else. She wanted no reminder of the things she had done with him.
The house was void of inside security by choice. So Simon only saw her when the front door was opened. She was dressed in a silk robe clutching a laptop to her chest, and a camera and purse slung over her shoulder. He immediately left his station to investigate.
“Miss Barnes, Miss Barnes,” he yelled racing from the adjoining security suite.
She kept walking. Willow was busy battling the tears that had welled up in her eyes. He had been so nice in the evening when