ONE
“AND THEY LIVED happily ever after,” she murmured to herself.
Yeah, that could be the end of their tale.“Their” who?Her smarmy cheating ex and the peppy young woman, new to the office, who specialized in turning men’s heads.Not her fault, some men’s heads turned easy.
Would the traitorous couple get a HEA?It being true, fated love might make their betrayal easier to endure.If love was true, it was true, no matter how wrong it may be.Still, she doubted there was a fairytale wedding in Mason and Terra’s future.
Come on.Honestly?Who cared?They’d done her a favor.She’d wasted a year on that guy; now he was Terra’s problem.
Unfortunately, or not, she’d uncovered the deception right before this Brooker mixer.The one her boss said was compulsory.And didn’t she just blow a big, fat raspberry to that.Ha!No less than it deserved.She blew that big raspberry then, throat clear, showed up anyway.
What?She should’ve stuck to her morals?Her guns?Her convictions?Phooey to that, she needed the paycheck.And right now, she was hanging on to this job by one very thin, very frayed thread.
God, she had to learn not to complicate everything.
The mixer?Right.Yeah.The mixer.
Boston Rouge was a trendy hotspot, part of the flashy Crimson nightclub.Many of her colleagues exaggerated their reverence in the face of its exclusivity.Totally not her scene.By equal measure, she had no objection to alcohol or loud music, crowds on the other hand… To tell the truth, she and crowds had agreed to take a break from each other.No hard feelings just… no.
In her assessment so far, the wine was okay.Thankfully.It was the only thing keeping her going.Not that she’d run out on the party early.No siree.She wasn’t the one in the wrong.What did she have to be ashamed of?In this particular situation?Nothing.Elsewhere…?Less said about that, the better.
Others whispered about the torrid affair that went on under her oblivious nose.Of course they did.Didn’t matter.There was no way she’d shrink in the face of humiliation.Nope.She’d stick around as a sore thumb reminder to the new couple of their nefarious beginnings.Still, despite that, she’d slunk away to find a quiet spot to breathe for a minute.She wasn’t leaving, just pausing the carousel.
Sneaking past a plant on the patio, she descended a wooden stair and snuck around a corner.An adventure?Where would she end up?Checking over her shoulder to ensure she hadn’t been followed, she rounded an awkward angle jutting out at the back of the building and went down another wooden stair.
Kudos to her, this was it, her secret little—her proud grin dropped.
A guy occupied the private bolt hole.A guy?Damnit.She hadn’t ordered company.The small concrete square had a hip high retaining wall around two perpendicular landscaped sides.Other buildings blocked them from prying eyes.Other prying eyes anyway.The guy’s eyes tainted the seclusion.Or they would, if not buried in his phone.
He was texting… or emailing.Typing something into his phone.Sexting?Maybe.Ew, was that why he needed the privacy?
She could slip away.Disappear.He’d never know she’d been there… but that meant going back to the party.
“Pretend I’m not here,” he said without lifting his head.
Oh, ah, was that for her?Busted.
“Excuse me?”she asked, in case he wasn’t talking to her.
Just because she couldn’t see another person didn’t mean they weren’t there.Eyes and ears lurked everywhere.The most likely culprit?She couldn’t see the guy’s screen so maybe…
“You’re sneaking away from the party,” he said, still typing on his phone.“Wanted to disappear for a minute… Me too.”
“Oh,” she said, relaxing some.“In which case, I’ll ignore you.”
The retaining walls held dirt for the surrounding shrubs.Were they shrubs?Bushes.No idea.She chose the closest one, wall that was, as her perch, leaving him perpendicular, facing the building.Or he would be facing it if he wasn’t so enraptured by his phone.
Putting her clutch down next to her, she ran her fingers through the ends of her updo.
Okay.Sitting there.Doing nothing.Not talking to Sir Texts-A-Lot.Totally normal and comfortable… If he wasn’t there, she’d be on her phone… Would he think she was copying him if she took her phone out?Mocking him maybe?
“…that’s always the way, isn’t it?”she asked.“Nobody looks at each other anymore.We just sit around, hunched, fiddling with our little devices.No one talks to each other.No chance meetings.No hello, how you doing?What do you do for a living?Wanna have sex in the shrubs?Nothing.Are they shrubs?Do you know anything about plants?”
His brow rose in time with his chin.Suddenly the device wasn’t as interesting.Nope, his attention fixed on her.
“Are you talking to me?”he asked doing a bad job of containing his smirk.
“Yes,” she said then bobbed her head in concession.“Not exactly you, it’s aimed at everyone.But you’re the only one here so…”
