“Thirty seconds down and fourteen and a half minutes to go,” I pep-talked myself. “You can do it. You got this.”
I took off at an ineffective sprint. Last night McKenna and I had watched YouTube videos on running while eating frozen pizza. I wasn’t an expert by any means, but based on what I’d learned from the videos, my form was atrocious.
“It’s the thought that counts. A sticker for effort,” I huffed out, my breath a hazy cloud in front of me. My keys and phone, gripped in my hand, jingled as I ran.
Ahead of me, coming down a path that intersected mine at a diagonal, was a man who had perfect running form. Well, he had a perfect everything form—tall, broad shoulders, handsome face partially in shadow from his black hood, long muscular legs like springs propelling him forward—and he ran like an Olympian, body in perfect sync. The muscles under the tight workout jacket flexed as his torso twisted.
I swooned.
Then I sucked in a breath.
“Looking good, hot stuff!” I yelled out the compliment.
The man broke stride, and his head snapped toward me.
I flashed him a thumbs-up as I passed him and kept up my trudging pace.
“You. Can’t. Afford. New. Clothes,” I gasped out in time to my heavy footfalls.
Gravel crunched behind me. I moved aside to let whoever was behind me pass.
Instead a large hand grabbed the back of my sparkly green Tinker Bell jacket complete with fairy wings.
I yelped in surprise as the man I’d just passed spun me around to face him.
“Are you out of your mind?” His deep voice—rich, dark, baritone—rang out in the cold air.
I smiled up at him gamely. “Do you like this jacket? Bought it in a pop-up shop outside of Cinderella’s castle. It’s kind of expensive but worth it, if I do say so myself.”
The man’s face was in shadow, but I could see enough of his downturned mouth to know he was not amused.
“You are completely crazy.”
“Anyone out here running at cold-o’clock in the morning is crazy,” I joked.
“Look, lady, what you’re doing is dangerous. You can’t talk to strangers.” He pushed back the jacket hood to reveal dark-brown hair that fell rakishly over his forehead, piercing green eyes, and a strong jaw.
My eyes bugged out of my head.Oh no. No, no, no.
Don’t recognize me.
There are lots of people in this park. Just act normal. We’re being so totally normal.
I could feel my eyes flitting around in my head, trying to look anywhere except for at the guy who was my boss. Well, my boss’sboss’s boss. I was the assistant to the assistant to the secretary to Grayson Richmond.
The man who now stood here before me. All six foot five of him.
“Every stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet.”
Surely he didn’t recognize me, right? All those billionaires were so far up their own behind that they didn’t even know they had assistants.
I reached up to fuss with my Minnie Mouse ears, hoping that I looked disheveled enough that Mr. Richmond wouldn’t put two and two together and realize he’d seen me around his office.
His lip curled up into a sneer.
“Did you just move to this city?”
“No,” I said defiantly. “I’ve been here four months.”
