It’s not that bad. You’re overreacting, I tell myself. Everything is going to be fine. Going after me is one thing. Jaxon’s a soft trust-fund kid—there’s no way he’s going toe-to-toe with Salinger.
Trying to shake off the apprehension, I turn to my emails. Linda, Isaacs’s ex-wife, has finally written me back about a meeting. She can do Friday afternoon—thirty minutes, that’s it.
I start prepping my pitch.
If I make sure that Salinger wins the port contract, maybe I can convince him to give me a small percentage of the bonus. Then I can disappear somewhere or at least hire a better lawyer.
Salinger’snot in his office when I return from teaching the interns how to make chocolate cake. I think I’m hallucinating when I see dozens of yellow roses on my desk.
“You must have really had a fun weekend for him to buy you all these flowers.” Jess waggles her eyebrows at me.
“I need to get rid of these. If anyone sees them, they’ll think they’re from a boyfriend. Rumors could start.” I hate lying to Jess, but I’m too deep in my little protective cocoon of lies.
“Flowers like that, and I’m starting to think Salinger wants something more.”
My friend thinks this is a fun office hookup. She doesn’t know who the flowers are really from, though I know without even reading the card that they are absolutelynotfrom Salinger.
Scooping the flower up, I hurry them to the break room, dump them into the trash can, and close the lid. I don’t read the card.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I crouch down in the chilly break room. I can’t ignore it, can’t pretend anymore. The flowers on my desk mean I am no longer safe in the office.
The only place I’m really, truly safe is in Salinger’s arms.
I’m torn. I want to tell Salinger, want him to save me, want him to finally make it stop, but I also don’t want him to get hurt. Who knows what Jaxon is capable of? Salinger is clearly insane and unstable and Jaxon went after Pepper just for being a dog defending her owner. I bet he could get Salinger the death penalty or locked in a cell for the rest of his life. I would just crumble from the guilt, from the loss, from not having him around.
Maybe if Salinger hadn’t come with me to my parents’ house or been so nice to my dad or slept curled around me or cared for my dog, I might have actually given in and just let him and Jaxon throw lightning bolts at each other, but now I’m too worried about Salinger. I care about him too much to let Jaxon hurt him, especially to fix a mistakeImade.
From the lobby, the elevator dings. I race out, trying to get to my desk, just in case it’s him.
Too late.
Salinger steps off the elevator with Scarlett.
I freeze midstep, hoping they don’t notice the sweat pooling under my arms.
“Scarlett has some insight on the port contract,” Salinger explains. “Hold my calls for the next half hour.”
“Sure.” My voice is weak.
He nods, like we’re just boss and assistant, like he didn’t just come all over me the other night. “We need to work this thing from all angles. I am not losing this contract.”
In Salinger’s office, Scarlett is at the white board, drawing arrows from a list of names she’s writing down. He’s leaning against his desk, legs crossed at the ankles, suit jacket off.
Jaxon’s words haunt me.
Of course I’m not the type of woman Salinger really wants to be with. It’s fine because I don’t want to marry him anyway. Can you imagine him as the father of my children?
Yes. Yes, I can.
Not happening.
Inside his office, he’s laughing at some joke Scarlett makes. Salinger wants someone likeher.
“You need some coffee.” Jess reaches for her purse.
I hadn’t dared ask Salinger to stop at Starbucks that morning, and he hadn’t offered.
“Come on, let’s get a latte.”
