“That she left. Total power move. She stole your thunder.”
“She didn’t steal my thunder,” I say, rolling my eyes. “And it doesn’t bother me. I kind of like it, actually.”
Even though the words come out of my mouth, I’m not sure I believe them. Not totally, anyway. It might be nice not to have to be the one to enforce a one-night stand for once, but I wouldn’t have minded a goodbye.
Hell, I might have even offered breakfast before going our separate ways.
When I think of Blaire, I’m heated. Energized. Itching to have a conversation with the woman who intrigues me mentally as well as physically.
But she’s gone. While that might make things less interesting this morning, it keeps it a clean break. There’s a beauty in that.
Still …
“She did leave her credit card,” I say. “I need to figure out how to get it back to her.”
“Um, call her?”
“Would you believe that I don’t have her number?”
It doesn’t take long before his laughter fills the phone again.
“You don’t have her fucking number? This is gold. She just played you.”
“She did not,” I fire back, annoyed at his amusement in all this.
“Yeah, she did. Blaire is my fucking hero right now.”
“I haven’tneededher number,” I insist. “I ran into her at the Landrys, and we had dinner. I haven’t had to call her because she’s been with me, asshole.”
Oliver’s laugh dies down. He takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly.
“As the smartest of the Mason family, let me point out one piece of the puzzle that you’ve not yet put together,” he says. “Youmight not have her phone number, but the Landrys do. And I might have told Graham that you would call him today about Wade being a closet hippie.”
I shove off the desk. Whether it’s my imagination or whether the sun really did choose this moment to shine brightly into the room, I don’t know. But the warmth radiating in from its rays is impossible to deny.
Returning her card is the practical thing to do. It’s the right, moral thing. And asking the Landrys to contact her for me—she’s practically their family—would only make me look good in their eyes too.
It’s genius.
I grin. “Ollie, I really hate to say I appreciate you, but I appreciate you, man.”
“Hold on. I’m going to put that on the calendar right next to the words Holt Got Played.”
“You are such a dick,” I say with a laugh.
He chuckles. “So, you’re good then? You’re calling Landry? Andyou’ll remember to bring up the project and not just your own personal one?”
“Yes, sir, I will.”
“Good.” Papers shuffle in the background. “Are you coming to the office today?”
I slip my hand into my pocket and feel the lace slip across my fingers. My brain tries to imagine the scarlet fabric on Blaire’s smooth skin. My blood heats my flesh, and I’m forcing a swallow as Oliver sighs at my pause.
“Yeah,” I say, “but it might be later.”
“Well, I’ll be here for another hour or so. Told Gramps I’d come over and watch golf with him this afternoon.”
“You have fun with that,” I say.
