“See you soon, Lindy darling.I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” I say before hitting the end button on our call.
“Feel better?”Logan asks, grinning from ear to ear from the driver’s seat.
“Much better,” I say.I wait for Logan to get out and grab all my stuff from the front seat.I took a lot of work back and forth with Cassius being gone.I needed to keep busy so I wouldn’t jump off the balcony.Logan opens my door for me and I start the countdown to lunch.
At one o’clock on the dot, my phone vibrates on my desk.Victoria looks up from the manuscript she’s been working on and giggles, literally giggles, when she sees Cassius’s name on the screen.
“Hello,” I say, rolling my eyes at her.
“Hello, darling,” Cassius answers.“I’m downstairs whenever you’re ready.”
“I’ll pack up and be right down.”I stand and grab my purse.
“Can’t wait,” Cassisus says and ends our call.
“I take it you’re not eating with me today?”Victoria teases as I back toward the door.
“I’m sorry.”I step further back into the room.“My brain is mush today.I should’ve told you sooner that I’d be leaving for lunch.”
“No worries, girl,” Victoria says.“Go get your man.”Again, she’s giggling at me and I can’t help but laugh with her.
“I’ll see you in an hour.”I pass Logan without saying anything, but he falls in behind me.I push through the exit and lock eyes with Cassius.He’s a beautiful navy-blue suit, leaning against a black car.I force myself to slow my pace, but when he opens his arms to me I throw calm, cool, and collected out the window and rush into his embrace.He kisses the top of my head and squeezes me tight.
“I missed you terribly.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.”
“I’ll never make that mistake again.I promise.”He tucks me into his side and turns us as one so he can open the car door for me.
“Take Melinda’s car and meet us atLuminara,” he tells Logan.
“Yes sir,” Logan answers.He’s strutting off toward the parking garage before I have the chance to say goodbye.I’ve never been toLuminarabut I’ve heard about it plenty from my brother.It’s on his very long restaurant bucket list.
“My brother is going to be jealous,” I tell Cassius once the car starts moving.
“Why?”Cassius puts his arm around my shoulders and tugs me across the small console and into him.I snuggle my head in his chest and breathe him in.I can’t believe how much I hated him being gone.
“He’s a chef andLuminarahas been on his bucket list for a while now.I keep telling him to visit and I’ll take him, but he’s busy opening a new restaurant in Boston.”
“Nathan, right?”
“How do you know that?”
“I know a lot of things about you.Not as much about your brother.”
“I think I should be offended,” I say.His chuckle vibrates against my cheek where it rests on his chest.
“No reason to be offended, darling,” he assures me, his eyes twinkling with a mix of mischief and affection.“In my world, knowing everything about you is essential.As for your brother, it’s enough for me to know he’s important to you.”
“He's going to demand every single detail,” I say.
Cassius kisses the top of my head, “Then we'll make sure you have plenty to tell him.”
I could press him for every detail about the way he already has all of mine.The files, the watching, the quiet competence that makes doors open and rooms rearrange around him.Ishouldask how far hisknowing everything about megoes.But Caleb’s voice from breakfast keeps looping in my head.
He’ll carry the dark.
