The Fixed Trilogy: Found in You(15)

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about changing your schedule.” David stood and came around the front of the desk, leaning on the corner. “I promoted you so that you could do this kind of stuff. We have enough managerial coverage. If we need someone else—which I’m sure we will if your plans work out like I know they will—Sasha’s ready to be a manager. Your gift, what you bring to The Sky Launch, is your business ideas. I need you to go work magic. That’s not my department.”

“So,” I furrowed my brow, “what are you saying?”

“I’m saying make your own schedule. I need you on the clock forty hours a week—not a problem for you, you work addict—but you can put it in whenever you need it. Set up those meetings with the wedding planners. And I’d like to go forward with your idea of expanding hours and our services. That’s going to take a lot of daytime planning as well. You’ll need to meet with cooks and additional staff. It’s going to be a lot of work.”

It felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. “Seriously? I mean, seriously do all that amazing stuff and make my own hours?” This was my dream job coming to fruition. All the hours of fighting with my brother Brian about wasting my education and the job opportunities I’d turned down with Fortune 500 companies—this made every doubt and heartache worth it.

“Yes, seriously. I wouldn’t joke about this shit. Start with taking tonight off.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t run the upstairs bar with one person.”

“Liesl’s coming in. It’s already covered.”

Of course Liesl would agree to work a shift for me. She was pretty much my one and only friend in the city. Half space cadet, half genius, she was everything I wasn’t—free and laid-back and flirtatious without having to worry about becoming attached. Even though we were complete opposites, she understood me like no one else and was much more generous to me than I often deserved. “She worked for me the whole time I was in the Hamptons. I can’t make her do that.”

“She volunteered. We hired that new waitress, and Liesl’s determined she be trained right—her words, not mine. And if you’re going to set up some meetings for tomorrow, you’ll need to adjust to being awake during the day. Right now you’re sort of a vampire.” He moved his eyes down my legs. “A tan vampire, but a vamp nonetheless.”

I laughed, hiding my unease at the obvious lust in his stare. I stood to put us on the same level. Otherwise it felt like he was looking down at nothing but tits. “Thank you, David. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m…” There weren’t words for how grateful I was for this opportunity. “Just thank you.”

“You deserve it.” He straightened from his leaning position and threw his arms out to his sides. “Hug it out?”

“That got me in trouble last time.” Hudson had walked in on that and been pretty pissed. He wasn’t a man who shared. I’d managed to talk him down, convinced him my hug with David had been innocent, which it had been, as far as I was concerned. Still, Hudson suspected there was something more between me and David. And, like a chicken-shit, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to admit he was right. David and I did have a history. But compared to what I felt for Hudson, it seemed like an insignificant detail.

I stuck my hand out toward David. “Settle for a handshake?”

He nodded as he took my hand. He held it much longer than he should have, his thumb caressing along my skin, sending unwanted goose bumps down my arms.

I pulled away, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Though I felt nothing for David, my body still reacted to his. He was plain but attractive—his eyes a dull blue, his hair dark blond and curly. He worked out but had a stocky frame. He’d never been my type, and my reaction was likely only out of habit. But it was enough to make me feel a weight of sudden guilt—I shouldn’t hide my past with David from Hudson. I’d been quick to accuse him of keeping secrets in our relationship, and here I was doing exactly that. It was wrong, and I knew it.

I also knew I wouldn’t tell him. I doubted he’d let me continue working with David if he knew we’d had a past, and if he found out on his own, my silence might help in my defense. I’d explain to Hudson that I didn’t say anything because there was nothing to say. He’d understand.

Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I’d eventually believe it.





Chapter Four


Hudson was already home, jacket discarded, when I got back to the penthouse that evening. He met me as I stepped out of the elevator, greeting me with a lush kiss that swept me off my feet.

“Well, hello to you, too.”

“You’re late,” he said against my lips.

“And?”

“I worried.” His mouth swept across my cheek and down toward my earlobe.

My eyes widened both in surprise and at the yummy thing he was doing to that sensitive spot below my ear. “That something had happened to me?”

“That you weren’t coming.”

I pushed him back to meet his eyes. “Why Hudson Alexander Pierce, did you worry I’d stand you up?” It was silly to even think about. “Don’t you realize I’m the kinda girl that sticks?”

He leaned back in to rub his nose against mine. “If you acted as smart as you are, you would have stood me up weeks ago.”