“Block my calendar for the next three days. We’re flying to Dallas tomorrow.”
I started for the door, leaving her with her anger that now turned to confusion.
“We?” she called after me, but I slipped out the door without another word.
* * *
As I walked through the lobby of my apartment, I kept my eyes down on my phone, going over the itinerary for Dallas. I looked up when I heard a familiar voice drift my way from the lobby bar. I peered up from my phone and spotted a familiar face sitting at the marbled black bar—Kevin. I didn’t know he was back in town.
I slipped my phone in my pants pocket and walked over to where he sat in a pair of gray sweats and a black t-shirt. He looked like he was about ready for bed.
“When the hell did you get back in town?” I asked, giving him a slap on the back and surprising him.
He looked up and smiled wide when he saw me.
“Jeremiah!” He clapped his hand in mine and pulled me in for a hug. “Just got in this afternoon. Hell of a long flight.”
“Where were you again?” I asked, leaning against the countertop.
“Cambodia,” he replied, running a hand through his sandy-blond hair.
Kevin was a photographer for a highly renowned nature magazine. He was often away for long chunks of time, traveling from country to country, snapping pictures of wildlife. Even though he was my good friend, I could hardly keep up with his schedule and the far-off places it took him.
“How was it?” I asked curiously.
“Wet.” He laughed, finishing the drink in his glass. Most likely a Jack and Coke. “But the animals were some of the best I’ve captured.”
He picked up his phone and opened his photos, pulling up various images of elephants and pythons and a red fox-like creature I didn’t recognize. I shook my head in awe. He lived a completely life than me.
“These are just from my phone, but the ones on my DSLR are fucking awesome,” he said proudly.
“You’ll have to show me soon,” I said.
“Why don’t we grab a drink tomorrow? I have to sleep off this jetlag now. I thought a little whiskey would help.” He pulled out his wallet and placed a fifty on the glossy countertop.
“Is that why you’re in pajamas?” I smirked. “I’m actually heading out to Dallas tomorrow. Raincheck?”
We were always missing each other, between my demanding job and his adventures in the jungle or the desert, or wherever his job took him.
“Sure,” he replied before his attention was suddenly pulled toward something behind me.
I turned and followed his gaze until it landed on Sadie, who was just walking out the elevator. I sucked in a quiet breath as I watched her walk through the lobby. She wore ass-hugging jeans and a white button-down that she had left mostly undone, revealing the fair skin of her stomach. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun atop her head, and she wore thick gold hoops in her ears that swayed as she walked. I almost had to do a double-take because I didn’t believe it was her. She never wore stuff like that, but then again, she worked in an office with me.
I swallowed hard as I felt my mouth water. She didn’t see me as she continued through the lobby, her eyes on her phone as she was texting. She was smiling down at her phone and I couldn’t help the creeping jealousy that came over me. I wondered who she was talking to, and where she was going looking like that.
Kevin’s whistle broke my questioning thoughts. I whipped my head to face him and saw his eyes drinking Sadie in the same way mine were.
“Who isthat?”he asked. “She is hot as hell.”
“She’s mine,” I growled, surprising myself with how I just snapped at one of my good friends.
He looked at me in surprise before shaking off the awkwardness. A curious look came over him before he gave me a small smile.
“Got it,” he simply said.
Chapter 17
Sadie
