Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Mission accomplished,” Wren declared cheerfully. “Should we grab dinner?”
“Please. I’m starving.” I gestured down the street. “There’s a sushi place a few blocks from here. One of those spots with a conveyor belt where you grab whatever looks good. Eli and I used to go there.”
“Sounds perfect. Let’s walk.”
We placed the gown and shoes carefully in my car parked at the curb, and I triple-checked the locks. The last thing I needed was someone stealing what Simon had just bought me.
“Speaking of Eli,” I said as we started toward the restaurant, “I talked to him a few days ago. He’s moving back to New York.”
Eli was my ex who’d moved to Detroit two years ago for a job opportunity too good to refuse. We’d been dating for a while, even lived together, but I hadn’t been willing to leave New York and neither of us wanted a long-distance relationship. So we’d ended things, and for a long time afterward, the loss had felt devastating. I’d loved him. I’d imagined a future with him. I couldn’t even maintain a friendship at first, it hurt too much.
But the heartache had ebbed with time. Now, we kept in casual touch with occasional texts and friendly interactions on social media. When he’d called to tell me he was coming back, it was the first time I’d heard his voice in two years. The sound used to make my heart race. This time, I’d felt only warmth and a distant fondness.
Wren’s eyebrow arched. “You found this out days ago and you’re just now mentioning it? Isn’t that huge?”
“Not really.” I shrugged. “I’m over him.”
She looked unconvinced, which wasn’t unusual given Wren’s profession. She might as well have a degree in skepticism. “I know that’s what you’ve said, but… I always thought you might be saving face. You were so devastated when he left.”
“I was,” I agreed. “But time passed, and I’m genuinely okay now.” I considered my next words carefully. “I’ve also realized that if I’d truly loved him enough to spend my life with him, I would have moved. I love New York, but shouldn’t I have loved him more?”
“Maybe.”
We walked in silence for a moment, navigating the crowded sidewalk. Traffic clogged the street beside us, exhaust fumes thick in the warm air. I didn’t mind any of it. New York pulsed with life and I thrived on that energy. I never wanted to live anywhere else, not even when I’d struggled to find work, not even when Eli left.
“So…” Wren’s voice turned playful, breaking the contemplative silence. “If you’re truly over Eli, that means there’s room in your heart for your hot boss.”
I laughed, looping my arm through hers. “You never give up, do you?”
“And you love that about me.”
“I do.” I shook my head, still smiling. “But you’re barking up the wrong tree here. Simon and I are never going to happen.”
She was right about one thing, though. I did like him, far more than I should, terrible idea or not. And sometimes, I even wondered what it would be like if things were different. If Simon and I had met somewhere else, under different circumstances. At a coffee shop, maybe, or a friend’s party. Somewhere he wasn’t signing my paychecks and I wasn’t his employee.
Would he still be so guarded? Would I still catch those fleeting glimpses of heat in his eyes, or would he actually act on them?
The thought made my chest ache with a longing I had no business feeling.
But reality was reality. Simon was my boss, and I needed this job far too much to risk it on a fantasy. Whatever attraction simmered between us—if it even existed outside my own imagination—would have to stay buried.
Some doors were better left closed, no matter how badly you wanted to see what was on the other side.
CHAPTER NINE
Raina
The ballroom décor took my breath away. I’d known the gala would be impressive—this was one of Manhattan’s grandest hotels, after all—but I still paused just inside the entrance to absorb it all. The space stretched before me like something from a fairy tale, with white marble floors gleaming beneath three magnificent chandeliers dripping with hand-cut crystals. Deep crimson drapes hung between French doors that opened onto a terrace, beyond which I glimpsed a garden illuminated by soft golden lights.
Tables filled half the room, draped in crisp white linens and centered with glass vases overflowing with orchids and hydrangeas. Beyond them, there was an open area in front of a stage where a string quartet played, their music weaving through the hum of conversation.
I was right on time, but the gala was already in full swing. Men in tuxedos and women in elegant gowns moved through the space, sampling hors d’oeuvres from silver trays carried by waiters in black and white uniforms. One stopped beside me, offering his tray with a practiced smile.