I don't have much blue in my wardrobe, but it is a highly overlooked color. There is no reason for Vincent to have women's brand-new attire in our hotel room. Is it possible he realized he left me with nothing to wear in a new city? My heart softens a fraction. For just a minute. Forty seconds tops.Vincent Valiant is an ass who always thinks of business first, but in a small recess in the back of his mind for even a moment he thought of me last night. And not only during our kiss, but enough he recognized the need for a phone charger and clothes.No one has ever worried about me this way. Not even my parents.I give him way too many brownie points for the actions, but I can't help it.It wasn't his problem, yet he took it on his own and solved it. What would it be like to have that much of someone's attention?Probably annoying.The tag on the shirt falls to the side as I play with the material deciding if I should get dressed in the new clothing first or wait to make sure
Five minutes of beating myself up mentally while I change passes and I find myself back in the common room much too early. Vincent walks back into the living room carrying his laptop and a large cup of coffee. Rather than pack the machine into a case, he sets it on the small coffee table in front of him and places the cup on the table at the end of the couch."When are we going home?" I ask.As soon as my phone hit one percent charged, I sent Ashley a message, letting her know I wasn't somewhere in a ditch dead, but she'd already worked herself into an uproar because I hadn't officially messaged her the night before. I'd let her know early in the day my phone was dying, but since I never charged it last night, I couldn't update her.Vincent lifts his is head, looking at me as if he just realized I'm in the room. "You are going home now. I'll fly in later."I knew it! He does have a damn plane. Why is it he gets to take the company plane and I'm stuck riding in the car for four
Next, he passes me a napkin and I manage a small thanks. Against my best efforts, a small tear works its way past my eyelid and I hurry to wipe it away. I hate throwing up, especially around other people. No one wants an audience. Car sickness isn't something that should happen to adults. My doctor promised my mother I'd grow out of it, but I never did."I'm sorry. I think I got the tire dirty." I contemplate throwing up again as Davis leans his body in the front seat, trying to see out the door and the damage I've done."It's okay. I have a subscription to the car wash.""I don't normally get carsick," I lie.As if he senses my fib, he doesn't even nod but holds open a small bag for me to throw my napkin and empty water glass into before he folds over the top. "Would it be better if you rode up front?"I nod. "If you wouldn't mind.""Not at all," he says patting the seat beside him. "Just let me know when you think you're safe to go."I wait a few more minutes, breathing
Ashley's been impulsive in the past, but I can't see her going out and charging this to a credit card. Hell, I don't see a furniture store needing sales enough to approve her for a credit card with her student loan debt.I find my way into the room and stand at the end of the couch where Ashley flips the channels on the television.She grins. "It matters because this is from your loverboy." Without looking in my direction she passes me a small white envelope with my name scribbled in hasty masculine penmanship across the front.I take the card from her slowly, concerned it may burn off a finger when I touch it. Because if it's from Vincent it might."Movie night tonight. He hooked us up with all the streaming services," Ashley says as I step away from the couch and find my way into my bedroom. It's been a long day already and I need privacy. Time to reflect and process.My door is closed in the short hallway, but when I open it, I catch a similar sight as the living room. An
I shrug still chewing. Lunch needs to end so I can get back to the office and continue my stalking behavior in private. I don't want witnesses."The guys from marketing make really stupid jokes from old people TV shows I've never watched. They call each other steak sauce or something. It's so stupid."If what he said was a pickup line, it's the weirdest one I've ever heard, but it brings a smile to my face so I suppose in a way it works. "I'm Mackenzie," I say reaching out my hand and shaking his."Levi." He mixes up a small carton of chocolate milk like they served in high school and opens one end.I bet Vincent loves the milk here. It hits on his love for childhood food.No, Mackenzie. Don't think of that jerk now."Chocolate milk?" I ask.He laughs and takes a large swallow. "Some things are worth bringing into adulthood. You can't judge a man for his drink choices."It was so far from the coffees Vincent forced me to get him every day. I couldn't see my stuffy boss
"My boss said something?" Vincent spoke to Levi? When? How? With whom?He shakes his head twice and his easy smile returns. "Forget about it. I probably misunderstood."But I can't let it go. Vincent hasn't spoken to me all day, but he talked to Levi? Why? "You had a conversation with Vincent Valiant today?" I ask as together we walk down the steps and make a right once we hit the sidewalk."Yeah, he stopped by marketing and said it was extremely busy in his office. He and his assistant had to worry about the priorities. Work came first for top notch employees."Vincent was in the marketing department today but never stopped in his actual office. Interesting. "I have no idea what he was talking about," I say honestly. Today I played sixty-seven games of solitaire. There's nothing busy about my work day.A few clubs, bars, and other establishments dot downtown Lansing. One of them is Omar's, a strip club, which probably has more secrets than the national archives. If you keep
The runner stops, his chest rising and lowering, but only when he lifts his gaze do I recognize his features.Vincent shakes his head, looking at me puzzled, as if I'm a mirage he's not quite sure is real. "What are you doing out here alone?" he asks.I look at him just as puzzled. "I didn't see you today. You said I'd see you Friday. Where were you?"The jerk smiles, his breathing slowing. "It's still Friday and you're seeing me right now."This man could drive a woman insane. His old assistant didn't have a baby. She fled the country to be away from him."That's not what I meant and you know it. Why didn't you come into work? Levi said you were in marketing."Vincent crosses his arms. "So, you met with him," he says, emphasizing him like it's a dirty word.A-ha! He was checking up on me. Wasn't he?"Why are you out here alone?" He's a bazillion-zillianaire or something. It can't be safe for him to always be wandering around unguarded.Vincent rolls his eyes and poin
The phone rings again and I shake my head. Vincent would never let me call him V or refuse a telephone call regardless of how excited I might have him.Another ring fills the space, and I roll over, getting caught up in the comfortable sheets. My eyelid cracks open and I feel lower, noticing I'm still wearing pants. Speckles of light shine through the large bedroom windows of the apartment, and Vincent isn't in bed beside me. The side of the bed where he lay a second earlier in my mind is cold. City lights twinkle under a starless sky, and with one hand I reach out and find my phone on the dark wood nightstand that came with the bed."Hello?" I say into the phone, not checking to see who is calling."Mackenzie," my mother's voice screams into the phone and I sit up, clutching the covers to my chest as an icy chill causes my muscles to flex."Mom?"She sobs into the phone so loudly I'm forced to pull it from my ear."What's going on? What happened?" My body grows heavy with