The Right Swipe (Modern Love, #1)(20)

Katrina rose from her chair, walked around the desk, and sat in the seat next to Rhiannon’s. “I misspoke. You’re right, no one is entitled to your time and energy and forgiveness.” She grasped Rhiannon’s hands and pressed them tight, well aware of how much Rhiannon liked pressure against her skin. “You’d never believe someone blindly, and I’m not telling you to. But you can believe with evidence.”

Rhiannon lifted one shoulder. “Okay. Fine. I do feel relieved I didn’t totally misjudge him. And I feel . . . kinda bad for him. So what? What does any of this mean or change? Do I go see him now and let him explain himself?” As soon as she uttered the words, a terrifying sense of rightness settled over her.

“Would that make you feel better? If he wants to apologize, if there’s an excuse he can give you that would lessen your hurt, you can let him. You don’t need to take him back or date him—”

“I don’t date anyway,” Rhiannon reminded Katrina hastily.

“Right.” But there was still a hopeful light in her friend’s eyes that made Rhiannon nervous. “I’m just saying, do whatever will make you feel better. And if that’s never talking to this dude again, fine, I will not say another word. I only want you to be happy and healthy.”

Rhiannon swallowed. She momentarily shoved aside her defenses and let her vulnerability peek through. “I think I want to see him again, but not for an apology, necessarily.”

“Then why?”

She whispered the words, like she was confessing a deep dark secret. “I ran away from him.”

“What?”

Rhiannon exhaled. “I ran away from him. I freaked out when I saw him at the conference and I ran away. Twice.”

“That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. That’s his final sight of me, me running away. So maybe . . .” She sighed, working through it in her head. “I should see him. I can redeem myself.”

“There’s nothing to redeem.”

Rhiannon shrugged. “My brain doesn’t understand that. Okay. Fine. Closure, I guess?”

“I am a big fan of closure.”

Decision made, Rhiannon raised her voice. “Sienna, call Lakshmi.”

A pleasant woman’s mildly robotic voice spilled from the speakers in the room. “Calling Lakshmi.”

Lakshmi answered immediately. “Hey, boss.”

“Hi. Katrina’s here.” Not everyone at Crush knew Katrina. Katrina had created a Fortress of Solitude up here, and she had her reasons for wanting to keep her identity as quiet as possible.

Katrina spoke. “Hello, Lakshmi.”

“Hello, bosses.”

“Can you get me info on Samson Lima?”

“Sure. He gave me his card after your interview. He wrote his personal cell on it.”

Genuinely startled, Rhiannon exchanged a glance with Katrina. “You didn’t tell me that.” She and Lakshmi had been almost joined at the hip yesterday.

Lakshmi’s voice turned dry. “You’ve told me, and I quote, If a guy gives you his card to give to me, shred it.”

Oh right. She had told Lakshmi that, but only because it was weird when people tried to pick her up or get at her through her assistant.

“I actually don’t shred them, by the way. Or at least, I take a photo of them before I toss them. Want his cell?”

Rhiannon wrinkled her nose. Did she? Not really. She didn’t like talking to people on the phone for non-awkward conversations. Awkward ones really should be in person. “Can you find out his social calendar? If he’s going to any parties, events, engagements in L.A. anytime soon?”

“No problem. He’s their face, his schedule will be easy enough to get. What are you gonna do, ask him to talk to Annabelle for you?”

Rhiannon opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Wait a minute.

Wait. A. Damn. Minute.

Had her brain turned to jelly? Why hadn’t she thought of that? All this agonizing over whether she should ever see Samson again, and she’d forgotten the number one practical reason to get back in front of him.

The night she’d slept with Samson, he’d said he’d grown up in Cayucos and moved back as an adult. Annabelle had a fucking beach house there. She’d introduced his parents! They were tighter than tight.

Lakshmi continued speaking when Rhiannon was silent. “Is tomorrow soon enough? I have to get the rest of our stuff squared away here in Austin.”

“Take a few days,” Katrina interjected and gave Rhiannon a warning look that shut her mouth. “Rhiannon needs to relax from her trip.”

Rhiannon didn’t know what relaxation was, but she couldn’t admit that. It would prove Katrina and her mom right. “Yeah, what she said,” she confirmed grudgingly.

“On it. Peace.” Lakshmi hung up.

Katrina crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t like that look on your face one bit.”

Rhiannon opened her eyes very wide, giving her best impression of what innocence might look like. “What? You wanted me to talk to him.”

“Not to use him, Rhi,” Katrina snapped. “Why are you so obsessed with buying Matchmaker anyway? I mean, I know buying your competitor and shutting them down is a time-honored technique to grab market share, but is it really necessary?”