CHAPTER 1
TEMPORARY GROUND
Phoenix
SUNDAY JULY 29, MANHATTAN
Phoenix never believed today was goodbye. Even though hellos come with goodbyes. Like black holes and Stephen Hawking. Like doughnuts and doughnut holes.
But today’s goodbye wasn’t the end of something.
Orchid’s kiss, petal-soft, had changed everything. That was last night. Today, she stood before him, in a leather-edged tunic layered over tights. “It’s not too late to come with me,” she said, her laugh tinkling like the metal bangles on her arm. She and Phoenix stood at the mouth of the TSA pre-check line before airport security, parting a stream of passengers. Lodged like two boulders in a brook. Her flight was boarding in minutes.
“I’m not going to spoil your moment in the spotlight,” he replied.
She reached up for a hug. Her slender frame made Phoenix feel even taller than six feet. Yet, there was tenderness too.Mentor,I’m her mentor,he recalled, slipping from her embrace.
“Spoil my moment? You know I wouldn’t be going to China if it weren’t for you. You always encouraged me.” Her voice rose above the hum of conversations around them. Her lashes were ringed kohl black. Pale skin and ebony hair framed her dark eyes.
“Who, me? You did all the hard work. Stop giving me the credityoudeserve. You’re going to be awesome,” Phoenix said.
“Thank you. Thanks for seeing me off.”
“How else was I going to get rid of you?” he asked, his voice oddly gruff.
“Shut up. I have abandonment issues, you know that.” She blinked, then her left cheek dimpled. He knew better than to think that she was joking. He wasn’t going to tell her, but if it came to it he’d protect her from a 787 Dreamliner crashing through the windows of their terminal.
Orchid tiptoed up to kiss his cheek. The edges of their mouths brushed.Crap.He stepped back and her hopeful expression came into focus.
“You better get going or there won’t be any China,” he said and released her elbow. It struck him that their stance mimicked Michelangelo’sCreation of Adam, their hands nearly touching, as if heaven was in those millimeters between.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she said.
“You have to. You have exactly ten minutes to get through security.”
She held his glance for a beat too long and opened her mouth. “This thing between us—”
He shook his head to stop her words before it was too late. “Don’t go all dramatic on me,” he said. What he really meant was,Don’t screw upour magic, the thing that keeps it real.
So real that she’d comforted him when he confessed it was too late to live up to Dad’s expectations.Gone one year today. That had led Orchid to trust him with memories of the accident that had killed her parents. The one thing they shouldn’t talk about was them. Phoenix’s ex, tough mouthy Tish, had said it best.You break women until there’s nothing left,Tish had said as tears fell down her face. And she never cried.
“You better go,” he said, distancing himself from Orchid’s reach.
She looked at him as he soft-pedaled back, keeping the attraction between them at arm’s length.
Her mouth opened and closed. “Do you want to talk about last night?”
The previous evening validated every feeling Phoenix had suppressed since starting work with Orchid on apro bonoproject months earlier.
Standing in the airport he recalled what his brother, Caleb, had said the first time he’d seen them together.“You two are hot for each other.”
“You’re going to miss your flight. We’ll talk when you’re back,” Phoenix said.
She sighed and ran a hand with rings on every finger through her silken hair. “You’re a piece of work, Walker.”
She used his surname when she was pissed.
“And you are a magnificent marketer about to wow the world of beauty. Now go,” he said, and watched as she passed through security to board her overseas flight.
