I HELD TIGHT to the bag of pastries as the elevator ascended upward, loaded with employees of various floors. I hadn’t slept. My stomach was so twisted that I was nauseous. Light-headed.
You’re not.
I had lost track of time staring at that text message.
I hadn't stopped thinking about Chloe in the ten days she’d been absent from my life. Persephone had come by my office again to check on me. Upon hearing that I still hadn’t spoken to Chloe, Persephone had asked if she needed to make a trip to Chloe’s office to talk to her, but I had begged her not to.
The last thing I wanted was for Chloe to be bombarded by a goddess who might slip up and tell her who she was.
I was glad Hermes hadn’t been seen in a few years. Had he gotten ahold of this gossip, my mother would have already visited Chloe herself, and I might have lost Chloe due to her intervention.
Whenever I’d texted Chloe and not heard back from her, my mind went to the worst. I was terrified of losing her again. I couldn’t. I didn’t know what I would do if I did.
She was my weakness and my strength, and I needed her home in my arms.
The elevator dinged on her floor, and I filed out with a few of the employees I’d met previously. My gaze went straight to Chloe’s office, finding her standing by the table in the middle, her palms pressed into the surface. She wore a black jumper that day, a rust-colored tank beneath it, and white sneakers.
She was so effortlessly adorable that my cock stirred upon seeing her. I straightened my shirt out, nerves wracking my insides. I wondered if I would ever get over that feeling or if I would be doomed to stammering in her presence every waking day—if she would have me that long.
I knocked on her door twice, and her face lit up when her eyes met mine.
Fuck, it was painful.
She was an enigma that I was determined to figure out. I know we had only been apart ten days, but for me, it had felt like years—longer than the five years we’d previously spent apart. And maybe it was because I knew who she was now or had started getting used to having her in my life.
Either way, I had never felt such agony at seeing someone again.
I yearned for her more than my mind could fathom. It was beyond love, beyond need, beyond desire. It was a craving in the depths of my soul, and it took every fragment of my dilapidated willpower to keep from scooping her into my arms, kissing her, and telling her everything.
“Morning, Gavin,” she said as she straightened. She eyed the bag in my hand. “I believe you said you had some apologizing to do,” she said, propping her hand on her hip. “Is this it?” she asked, nodding toward the coffee.
Something felt different. Even her smile seemed less tense. How she looked at me—her eyes dilated, relaxed shoulders, and beaming face… I was curious if something had happened over this last week with her and Tyler or if things had changed between them.
I couldn’t get my hopes up too quickly.
“Gavin?”
I blinked twice, a sharp inhale rushed through me, and I set the bag of pastries on the table, along with her coffee, as I forced my earlier thoughts into a deep, dark corner of my mind.
“Apology breakfast. Apology coffee. And…” I stuffed my hands in my pockets and stared at her smiling figure, nervous about the question I was about to ask. “I wanted to see if you would join me at an Arrow event tonight.”
“What kind of event?” she asked.
“Speed dating,” I replied, grinning.
She snorted and clapped her hand over her mouth. It was so fucking cute.
“How does that work when I’m engaged?” she asked.
“Take the ring off. Flirt a little. We’ll have fun,” I said.
She hesitated, shaking her head and moving toward her desk. “I don’t know….”
“It’s harmless,” I said.“Call it a work event.”
“I have so much to do with myactualwork,” she said, and I knew she was making excuses. She grabbed her tablet from the desk and began perusing through a few files. “Where is it at?” she asked.
“My office,” I said. “It’s for Arrow employees and partners. We like to try out ideas before rolling them out to the public. If tonight is a success, we’ll have sponsored events all around the country at the end of August and throughout September.”
