It was such a stark contrast to the conversation we’d just had that it left me speechless, and I was damn thankful for Brit when she opened my door.
“Hey, you got a second, Becca?” she asked.
Thank fuck.“Duty calls.”
Tommy’s stare studied my breasts before he cleared his throat. “Give the second date a thought. I could really rock your world if you let me.”
And as I watched him walk out of my office, I made a mental note never to be alone with that man again. I wouldn’t go on a date with him. I wouldn’t go to lunch with him. I wouldn’t do anything that required him.
Because I’d be damned if I let two men ruin the life I was trying to build for myself.
7
Jospeh
Bramp!Bramp! Bramp! Bramp!
I slammed my hand against my cell phone to cease the effervescent bullshit sound that was my alarm. I hated it. Hell, I hated most sounds my phone made. But the more obnoxious the sound, the better chance it had of waking me up.
Because I was a hard fucking sleeper.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
I rolled out of bed and stood to my feet. Stretching my arms over my head was single-handedly the best part of my morning. My eyes rolled back as my spine snapped into place. Cracks and creaks ricocheted up every vertebra, as if my body were waking itself up in return. And after a shiver of satisfaction ran throughout my body, I shook my head to wake myself up.
Before I headed toward my bathroom.
“Elena,” I said.
My beach house A.I. came to life. “Good morning, Mr. Ryker.”
I cracked my neck. “Tell me the weather.”
She bleeped with satisfaction. “Right now, it is 62 degrees outside with partly cloudy skies expected by lunch time. No forecasted storms, and the high will be 79 degrees at three-thirty this afternoon.”
I drew in a deep breath as I splashed some water in my face. “Elena, unlock the gym for me.”
That telltale bleep made me grin every time. “Gym, unlocked.”
I dried off my face. “Thank you, Elena. That is all.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Ryker.”
I stared at myself in the mirror, my hand running along the stubble against my face. The bags beneath my eyes kept growing despite the thousands of dollars’ worth of product I had slathered on them this past year. My crow’s feet seemed to deepen every fucking time I looked in the mirror, and the harder I ran my fingers through my hair the more hair I seemed to have in my hand and on the bathroom countertop.
“Fucking hell, I need a hair transplant,” I grumbled.
Nevertheless, I took all of my vitamins and supplements before changing into my gym clothes. I pulled out a slender drawer in between the double marble vanity in my bathroom and the walk-in linen and toiletry closet. I plucked out my outfit for the gym and got changed into it before opening the cabinets beneath my side of the bathroom sink and pulled out my hamper. In went my pajamas so I didn’t toss them onto the floor, and then I allowed myself one more critical look at myself before a smirk spread across my cheeks.
“You handsome fucking devil, you.”
I slid the hamper back beneath the bathroom sink and slammed the door closed. Then, with a pep in my step, I headed down to the gym. I plucked a pair of workout socks from the dispenser I kept beside the door inside of my home gym, then I grabbed the first set of sneakers out of the glass display case I kept them in on the other side of the door.
Then, I cracked my knuckles and got to work.
Just like I did every damn day of my lonely, useless life.
* * *
