It's Thursday afternoon, less than twenty-four hours after I drove to Alder Ridge to fix a security glitch and ended up with Sage Winters' tongue in my mouth.
All the while, I’m sitting in The Summit's mahogany-paneled lounge trying to look like a functional human being.
The October rain pelts the floor-to-ceiling windows forty-seven floors above Seattle, creating the kind of dramatic backdrop that usually makes me feel powerful and in control.
Today, it just reminds me of Sage's kitchen, moonlight, and the way her soft body felt against my mine destroyed my ability to think coherently.
"You're doing it again.”Connor’s gray-blue eyes are particularly penetrating from across the table, where we've gathered for another lunch to discuss Callum’s wedding."The staring thing."
"I'm not staring."I adjust my glasses and try to focus on the tablet in front of me.“Now that we’ve gotten which color cummerbunds we’re going to be wearing to the wedding out of the way, I’m reviewing the SafeStay metrics."
"You've been 'reviewing' the same page for ten minutes," Alex points out, cutting into his thirty-dollar salmon."Either those metrics are fascinating, or you're having a stroke."
"The Cascade View implementation is performing well," I say, which is true.My team has collected more useful data in a week than three months of laboratory testing."We've identified thirty-one areas for improvement."
“Thirty-one,” Grayson repeats, swirling his whiskey despite it being barely past noon."And how many of those improvements did you identify while your tongue was down the innkeeper's throat?"
I knock over my water glass.
"Shit."I grab napkins, trying to stem the flood while my supposedly mature, professional friends laugh like hyenas."How did you?—"
"Daniella.”Connor swipes a hand through his dark-golden locks."She mentioned you came in this morning looking like you'd been 'mauled by a very small but determined bear.'"
"I was not mauled."
“She said your shirt was inside out," Grayson adds.
"It was not—" I pause, thinking back to this morning's frantic dressing."That's irrelevant."
"So you did kiss her," Alex grins, looking far too pleased with himself."Mac owes me fifty bucks."
“For fuck’s sake, is there anything this group doesn’t bet on?”
“We like to think of it as an investment in each other’s personal lives,” Connor corrects.“Literally.Also, Callum's engagement party is in six weeks.You could bring Sage."
"I'm not bringing anyone."I focus on mopping up water.“Yes,” I pause, “I kissed her.No, it didn’t mean anything.And one hundred percent was it a momentary lapse in judgment.We're business partners.Nothing more."
Grayson’s hazel stare bears a hole in my face.“So, you’re…business partners who make out in kitchens?”
"It wasn't—how do you even know it was in a kitchen?"
"Lucky guess.You seem like a kitchen make-out guy."
“It wasn’t—I’m not—” I stop.
Because I did goddamned make-out in the kitchen with Sage.
Because I can stilltasteher.
Taste the cinnamon, wine, and something I can’t name that’s been lodged in my throat since the moment I walked out that door.
“I don’t do this,” I say.Quieter now.“I don’t let things happen.Not anymore.”
The table quiets.
Because they know.
They know what Veronica took from me.How much I’m not willing to lose again.
