Chapter One
I smoothed my fingers over the initials etched into the cufflinks with an ache inside my chest. These were definitely the ones. The ones I’d been trying to track down for weeks, since Kane told me they were stolen.
The price tag to retrieve them was well over two months of my salary. I could just call him and tell him I’d found them. But that wasn’t what I wanted.
One last gift.
That’s what these would be. A way to express my gratitude and show him in my own little way how much the past three years had meant to me.
“I’ll take them,” I said before I could change my mind.
The man behind the counter looked at me like I was missing a few screws. He cleared his throat and lingered a little longer than necessary.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I can’t budge on the price.”
My bittersweet moment quickly turned to indignation. I knew what he must think of me in my nondescript jeans and paint splattered shirt. My blonde hair tossed up into a messy bun and not a smidgeon of makeup on my face. From this angle, I appeared very much a starving artist.
“I work for Kane Stryker,” I huffed.
The clerk simply blinked at me.
“You know, the CEO of the biggest media conglomerate in the nation?”
Crickets.
“The billionaire?” I clarified.
He wasn’t impressed. He simply shrugged and went about wrapping up my purchase before he took my credit card warily. I was certain he expected it to be declined.
Now he was not only grating on my nerves but insulting Kane too. Kane was one of the wealthiest men in America, and his face had been splashed across every newspaper more times than I could count. For this man to feign ignorance really irritated me.
It was my one day off, hence the reason I was dressed like a hobo. Because during the other six days of the week, I spent hours polishing my hair and makeup. I rocked the professional black skirt suits and took on the world in my red-bottomed heels. I wanted my appearance to be a reflection of Kane. To show all of New York that his assistant could and would handle anything he threw her way.
And for the last three years, I had done just that.
But where had it left me? With a broken heart and a plane ticket to Florida. That’s where. Because in two weeks, I would be starting over. A new city, a new job, and no Kane.
It hurt, but it was necessary. Because while I had put Kane on a pedestal, he’d hardly even deemed to notice me. I was his Girl Friday. His bringer of bagels and coffee, and organizer of meetings and appointments. Nothing more. He called me when he needed something, and never for anything else. And yet, somewhere along the line, I had fallen in love with him.
I closed my eyes and took a shaky breath. My heart ached when I recalled the annual charity ball last month. It was the one event that Kane never took a date to. He’d always reserved it just for me and him. We would dance and drink and laugh, and for a moment, I could almost forget that he was my boss.
But this year, he’d invited someone else. Not just someone else, but a model. Alayna something or other. And it shattered what little strength I had left. It was then that I realized I couldn’t do it anymore. I’d given him sixty hours a week and three years of my life. I’d given him my heart.
And when the clerk walked back with the wrapped up cufflinks, I gave him a half-hearted smile. Because now I’d be giving Kane the one thing that actually meant something to him. Along with my resignation.
Chapter Two
I’d just swiped a broad stroke of dark red paint across the canvas when the doorbell rang.
I could barely hear it over the sound of Blue October blaring through my iPod dock. I was in a dark mood which meant I needed the right music to accompany my creativity.
I wiped my hands on my faded jeans and walked to the door, staring through the peephole. Dark chocolate eyes stared back at me as Kane waited impatiently on the other side.
What the hell was he doing here?
I stole a nervous glance at some of the boxes that I’d already packed when the sound of his fist echoed again on the other side.
Dammit. I did not want to lie to him.
