“I just want – ”“You said you wanted me to come with you, but what does that mean? For how long?”“I don’t know how long – ”“Well, give me something – a day? A week? A month?”“I don’t know!” he barked. “We’ll see how it goes!”The ice was growing inside me now, the crystals branching off like the limbs of a tree, filling me slowly. “Oh… I see. I’m just supposed to be convenient, until you get tired of me.”He was really angry now. “I don’t know how long – I just know that, right now, I don’t want ‘forever,’ okay?”If my heart was frozen before, it shattered into pieces when he said that.He must have seen it on my face, because I heard desperation creep into his voice. “That didn’t come out right.”“I think it came out exactly the way you meant it.”“All I’m saying is…”He breathed out hard, then regrouped.“You knew what I was asking Friday night! I said, ‘come with me this weekend.’ Not ‘let’s get married,’ not ‘let’s move in together’ – come with me for this weekend.”“I know th
By the time Anh rushed in, I was wailing like a wounded animal. I was doubled over, holding my stomach, like somebody had stabbed me.It really felt like he had – but in my heart.“Oh my God, Lily, what’s wrong?!” Anh cried out. She sank down beside me on the bed and put her arms around me, and pulled my head onto her shoulder.“He – he – ”But I couldn’t go on. I just sobbed for a minute as she stroked my hair and rocked me gently, like a mother with her child.Finally I could speak. “He… he asked me to quit my job and go with him.”“Um… okay, that’s kinda weird…”“And he offered to pay me. Like a prostitute or something.”I looked at Anh to see her reaction.“Eww,” she said, curling up her lip a little.“I know!” I sobbed. “Like, I don’t know, like I’m a hooker or something!”“Um… this might not be the best question right now… but… he, like, didn’t give you any money for this weekend or anything, did he?”“NO! How could you even think that?!”She looked around at the bags of expensi
Anh gave me a ride the next morning, and the whole time I felt like a prisoner on Death Row, headed for the execution chamber.Add to that I hadn’t slept but maybe an hour or two. Mostly I just cried all night, in fits and starts, until I finally dropped off to sleep from sheer exhaustion.And the alarm blared five minutes later, it seemed.I’d forced myself through my normal routine – shower, getting dressed, light makeup – but I felt like a zombie the entire time. The only thing that kept me going was the routine itself.It was better than lying there in bed, thinking of Connor. And my possible firing gave me something to worry about besides him.About what I’d lost last night.On the way to the office in Anh’s car, I sat there trying to come up with excuses I could give Klaus, but I couldn’t think of any. My mind, already numb and overloaded, was of no use to me. The only thing it could do was force my feet forward, one after the other… make my hands open and close car doors… tell
Connor stood about fifty feet away, his arms open wide, like, What UP, bro?Klaus whipped around, a look of stark terror on his face.He obviously remembered the voice, too… and the humiliations he’d suffered because of its owner.Toss in the fact that he’d been speaking ill of Connor just a few seconds before, and Klaus was not a happy camper.Me?I was not a happy camper at ALL.Connor strolled over, gorgeous and every inch the billionaire. He wore a tailored, grey pinstripe suit, crisp white shirt, and maroon silk tie studded with a gold pin.I thought he looked a little tired around the eyes… but then I convinced myself I just saw that because I wanted to see it.I didn’t want to believe he could have dumped me and slept like a baby afterward.Although that was probably what happened.I did notice one thing, though, that was undeniable: He didn’t look at me once.He kept his eyes laser-focused on Klaus.Inside, I felt like crying.You can’t even LOOK at me?!But I quickly forgot
I almost went crazy as I sat at my desk, wringing my hands, obsessing about what was going on up in the boardroom.Not least of all because I wondered if anybody noticed a stain on the plush carpet, or if they could detect the lingering scent of sex in the air.“Oh God,” I whispered to myself, and put my head in my hands.Emails went unanswered. I let calls go straight to voicemail.I was a nervous wreck.I played out a dozen scenarios in my head, all of them different in the particulars, but all boiling down to the same inescapable outcome:Connor letting them know that the buyoff was off.Would he tell them that the Teramore job was fake, designed to test the exec comp division?Would he repeat the lie that Klaus had shown him all the files on Friday night?And if he did, what could Klaus do but sit there and take it? Especially after he had lied right to the face of the CEO?And if Klaus sat there, the scapegoat for the failure… just how mad was he going to be when he came out of t
The Lamborghini roared through the parking deck outside my former workplace.I’d never been in a Lamborghini before. I might have enjoyed the experience more if it didn’t feel like somebody had put my brain in a blender and hit frappé.I settled back wearily into the leather seat and lolled my head towards the driver.Connor Templeton.Gorgeous Adonis. Billionaire businessman. Scion of one of the wealthiest families in America.“You’re a real asshole sometimes,” I murmured.He gave a tight little smile. Not one of his usual cocky grins; more like grim agreement.“Yeah, I know,” he said in a low voice.He reached one arm across the center console of the car and took my hand in his.The warmth of his skin on mine melted the tension in my body.The sweetness of the gesture melted my heart.I couldn’t help myself: I broke down in tears.Funny… after the last few hours, I didn’t think I had any left.He slammed on the brakes, pulled off his sunglasses, and stared at me with those gorgeou
Johnny was piiiiiissed.I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying, but whatever it was, he said it loudly enough for Connor to make a face and hold the cell phone away from his ear.It sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher’s wah-wah-wah-WAAAH crossed with a fire-and-brimstone preacher.Connor let him vent for a few seconds, then said, “I’m getting on 10 East… you can find me, I’ll be the maroon Lamborghini Aventador.”More wah-wah-wah-WAAAAH.“Yes, fine, okay, I’ll drive under the speed limit so you can get to me… jeez, man, I don’t know who’s worse, you or Lily.”Things quieted down on the other end as Johnny asked something in a lower tone of voice.Connor smiled. “Because she’s with me.”Silence. Then Johnny said something else, and Connor pulled the cell away from his ear and hit a button for speakerphone.“Lily?”I smiled. “Hi, Johnny.”“You made him call me, didn’t you?”“Yes.”“Thank you. At least SOMEBODY’S brain is working right.”“Hey,” Connor warned.“Where’d you get th
I experienced vague flashes of the trip as I dozed. Whispered phone calls… the purr of the engine… patterns of sunlight and shadow…Once or twice I woke long enough to take swigs from a bottle of water, but then I lapsed back into semi-consciousness.Until I felt someone’s arms circling around me and lifting me out of my seat.I looked over blearily. “…wha… where…”I tried to force myself awake, but I was still so tired, it was like I was drugged.“We’re here,” Connor said as he held me against his massive chest. Even through his suit, I could feel his hard muscles pressed against my body.The sun was beating down with scorching heat against my skin. I saw the blurry outline of a gigantic white and glass building, much taller than the Dubai Hotel.I winced against the bright light. “…what are you doing…?”“I’m carrying you,” he said, and then we were moving. The bright light ended and shadow enveloped me. There was the sound of an automatic door, and cold air swept over me. The light