Love Takes Time (Christian Romance) (5 page)

When
the infomercial spokesman started shouting about how great this invention was for
people everywhere who knew how scary the wrong germ could be, he turned the
volume down.  He never understood why these shouting maniacs always got
these jobs.  Not once had a hairy, shouting man convinced him to buy
anything at this time of the day.  Now if someone like Chelsea was on the
other side of the camera—shouting, singing, or just smiling, it didn’t
matter—he would probably buy whatever she was selling.  In triplicate. 

And
there it was again.  For the second consecutive day Chelsea worked her way
back into his thoughts.  At first he fought it, trying his hardest to
focus on whatever he was doing.  When it became apparent that he couldn’t,
he just went with it.  It was no doubt because of how attracted he was to
her.  He found her to be beautiful and intriguing. 

Of
course that didn’t matter.  He was fairly certain that she must think him
to be the biggest jerk in history.  Normally he was so intent on
performing at work that he never had the time to worry about what any woman
thought of him.  He hadn’t had a steady female in his life besides his
mother and he was satisfied with that.  He didn’t have time for a real
relationship and he knew it.  So even though he did want marriage and the
whole nine yards one day, he never allowed himself to dwell on it. 

Until
now.  Since she’d bumped into his life a little under a week ago that had
changed.  Now he couldn’t get her off his mind even when he tried.   

A
ridiculous pounding on his doors jostled him from his thoughts.  

What
in the world?

“Just
a second!  I’m coming.”  

He
shouted towards the door.  He jumped off of the couch, bouncing against
the center table and almost shouted when his water bottle turned over and
spilled on the tile floor and center table.   He picked up the
bottle, with a sigh of relief that it was a clear liquid.  Unless it was
the police, he was going to strangle the person on the other side of the door.
 It was way too late for banging on his door and if he was right, he knew
exactly who it was.  When he looked through the peephole, he almost wished
it was the cops instead.   

He
opened the door just barely before it was pushed open the rest of the way from
the outside.

“
Come on
Trent,
why do you do this?  It’s after midnight.”  He hissed at him through
clenched teeth before closing the door behind him.

Trent
looked at Ryder and laughed before throwing his hands up in a very poor attempt
at an apology.  

“My
mistake.  I figured you’d still be up.  It’s early and you aren’t
that old yet, so why were you asleep?”

“I
was up
thank
you.  Well technically I had fallen
asleep after the game.  I woke up about five minute ago but none of that
matters.  How many times have I asked you to just ring the doorbell? 
That’s all I want.  Just ring the doorbell man.  It’s like you are
doing this just to get me in trouble.  I know that I’m a Chatham but that
won’t stop the neighbors from reporting me for disturbing the peace.”

Trent
looked dismissively at him.

“Actually
it will completely stop the neighbors from calling the cops on you.  And
even if they did, having your name in this city is like a guaranteed get out of
jail free card.  Your family isn’t like the rest of us.  Your people
are like royalty in this city.”

As
much as Ryder wanted to argue, he knew Trent was right. He had been blessed to
have been born into the Chatham family.  In the state of New York, his
family name was almost synonymous with the likes of the
Bloombergs
. 
Of course the
Bloombergs
clan was on another level
but the
Chathams
were nothing to sniff at.  At
first it was due to all the money that his grandfather had made in most of the
financial sector after the depression.  He was a savvy investor. 
When his father had taken over the business, they branched into real estate as
a secondary arm of the business and built condos all over the state.  They
also built high rise units, including the one that they were currently in.
 His father had built it from the ground up and it was one of his crown jewels
of his legacy.  

They’d
done a good job doing things behind the scenes.  Only the people that were
in the know knew just how influential his people were.  All of that
changed when Ramsey stepped onto the political scene a few years back. 
That was when the family went from being behind the scenes to center stage. 

It
had really turned his parents off since his father, while he liked most of the
things that money afforded, really hated the attention that it brought the
family--the tabloids and news media looking for a scoop on the up and coming
congressman from New York.  People fully expected Ramsey to run for one of
the really big offices one day but he hadn’t made any promises. Regardless, the
family had been dragged into all kinds of financial reviews and the like when
opponents of his targeted his personal life.  It wasn’t his fault but it
was part of politics.  Luckily for everyone, the negativity started to
wane as the election ended.

Ryder
was the middle son, a full four years younger than Ramsey and they had taken
totally different paths.  While Ramsey didn’t necessarily care for the
spotlight, he did use it to his advantage.  On the other hand, Ryder did
most of his work in the shadows.  Working deals to create capital, and
using that capital to strengthen the family business, both domestic and
internationally. 

He
really did hate unwanted attention.  

Like
being named one of New York’s most eligible bachelors two years in a row. 
That wasn’t so bad. However, the drama that came with it in the form of some
females with less than good intentions was one he could do without.  Once
he had to speak to a PR guy because his last quasi girlfriend made up a story
about him proposing to her and had put it on all her social media pages.  His
dad didn’t take too kindly to it and his mother had a fit, especially since she
had never liked her from the get go.  

At
least he wasn’t as bad as his trouble making younger brother Royce, who was
always off with who knows who doing who knows what who knows where. 
Regularly.  If Ramsey didn’t mind the spotlight, then Royce actually fed
off of it.  Ryder never wanted to even consider what Royce was doing any
given day of the week.  He wasn’t a bad kid, but just enjoyed being a
young rich guy as much as possible.  As long as it didn’t devastate the
bottom line of the company, it was acceptable for Ryder, even if it wasn’t
enjoyable. 

Ryder
followed Trent as he made his way to the fridge, grabbing a cola and then sat
on the couch, taking a piece of pizza out of the box.  Ryder looked at him
incredulously.

“You
might be right about not getting in trouble but still, try to respect the place
and just use the doorbell next time.  Either that or call.  Better
yet don’t even show up randomly to eat my food.  I don’t remember inviting
you over for a midnight snack.  Don’t we pay you enough to buy your own
food?”

Ryder
sat on the couch next to his friend.  

“Dude,
can you just relax with that ‘I pay your bills’ stuff man.  We are friends
right?  So then I can come over when I want.”

“Idiot. 
I mean you are a total idiot.  I’m just saying that one day you’re
gonna
come knocking and I might actually call the
cops.  You ever think I might be on a date?  Maybe cooking dinner for
a woman?”

“Never
happening Ryder, but the day ever comes that it does, I’ll gladly go to jail in
shock.  I’m not worried though.  Out of all the times I have popped
up on you on a Friday night, the most exciting thing you ever have going here
is TV and stale pizza.”

He threw
the crust of the pizza back in the box.

“Speaking
of women, I meant to ask you the other day.  Who was the woman that I saw
you drooling over at the restaurant the other night?”

“I
wasn’t drooling.”  Ryder hadn’t realized he was obvious regarding Chelsea.
 Apparently it must have shown.  

“Not
drooling?  Dude, you’re drooling right now.  Look at your table
here.  Wet with your drool.  This is gross by the way.”

Ryder
watched as Trent took several napkins from the box and started to clean the spilled
water.   

“That’s
funny.” 

“So
you find me cleaning up after you drool all over the place funny?  All I
am saying is that you need to get it together man.  Seriously.  So
what’s the deal?”

“Isn’t
it a little bit late for you to be getting into my business anyway?”

“I
told you already, it’s never too late.”

“Alright.
 If it will get you to go home, then I met her earlier that day.  You
saw how pretty she was.”

“Did
I ever.  I mean she loo…”

“I
didn’t ask for the play by play.  Anyway.  You didn’t get the chance
to spend time talking to her and laughing like I did.  When I first met
her I gave her a lift to some performing arts college and . . . I don’t know
man.  We just clicked and just when I was about to get her number, my secretary
called.  Chelsea was running late herself so she couldn’t wait for my call
to finish and you know I had to get to the meeting that morning so I couldn’t
go after her.”

“Chelsea.
 So you got her name at least.”

“Yeah,
but that’s about all I got at the time.  I thought I’d never see her again
by chance.  I liked her and figured I would made a way to find her
eventually.  That was before she showed up at the restaurant.  Well
you know how my father is, and I in no way felt like explaining to the old man
who she was with our clients there.  You know he is about that
keep-your-eye-on-the-prize thing, right?”

“Of
course.  I got chewed out once about it and I’m not even his child.”

While
it was true that Trent wasn’t a Chatham, he was like the next best thing--his
lifelong friend.  Ramsey was so much older than Ryder that while they were
great brothers they didn’t really hang together much as kids so different
schools and different friends.  Trent had filled that void as he was
Ryder’s best friend throughout high school and college.  They hung out so
often that people thought that they were brothers, going so far as to call them
the twins.  

“Close
enough.  Anyway, I’m already upset enough at myself for not saying
anything to her all night long.  Just when I was ready to go talk to her,
that was when our waitress changed.”

“Wow.
 You are the only rich guy I know that can make a woman run away from him.
 All that money and still no luck with the ladies.”

“Shut
up man.”

“No,
seriously.  Let that have been me.  I would have been like ‘dad, meet
my future wife.’”

“Blah
blah blah.  It’s easy to say that but you would have buckled too. 
That’s why you always have stupid advice.  Like I even asked for it.
 Wait a minute.  Why did you even come over here in the first place
Trent?”

“Oh,
I was having so much fun messing with you that I almost forgot.  Let me
just say that it pains me to see how bad you swung out with her so if you need
me to introduce you to a few ladies, I’ll see if I can find anyone willing to
take a chance on a moping rich guy.”

“I
don’t know how to respond to that.  Gee, thanks I guess.”

“And
you are welcome, my friend.  But you are right.  I didn’t come over
here to talk about your saddening love life.”

Trent’s
face took on a different tone and Ryder knew he was serious.

“I
just found out from my guy at
Bandel
and Roberts that
the execs over there went to lunch with 
the
 Paul Hollyford.”

Ryder
practically jumped out of his seat.  The
Bandel
and Roberts account was a big part of the company’s future interest.  He
shouted at his uninvited guest.