Ready for You (Ready #3)(10)

The elevator dinged, and I exited on the fifth floor. I took a right toward my office, and I walked past the sea of cubicles, now dark and full of lengthy gray shadows. Offices were always a bit creepy in the off-hours. During business hours, there would be so much noise that the air was thick with it—phones rang, keyboards clicked, people chatted and shuffled around. But in the late hours, when it was just me, it would be dead silent and eerie, like the building recognized an intruder and silently watched me as I swiftly made my way through.

I unlocked the door to my office and immediately went to the coffeemaker in the corner. Coffee was an overworked man’s best friend. I was selfish, and I had bought my own coffeemaker a few years ago. It was one of those single-cup fancy things that could make tea, cappuccino, probably hot-wax my car, and build a spaceship. All I knew was that it was easy, and it made the shit fast. The girls in the office were always telling me I should get the fancy shit, like some caramel-and-hazelnut-drizzled-coconut crap. Did I look like I wanted coconut in my coffee? If I could put an IV into my vein and pump this stuff directly to my heart, I’d go for it—as long as it was black.

While I waited for my wake-up juice to brew, I booted up my computer, and I looked out the window into the city, tapping my foot. This view always used to calm me. I loved this city. I’d gone to college about two hours away, but I’d immediately moved back after I graduated. My parents lived just outside the city limits in a quiet, beautiful neighborhood with aged trees and white fences. When I had moved back, I’d wanted to be in the midst of everything, so I’d picked an apartment within walking distance of tons of great restaurants, bars, and anything else I might need. I could take the bus to work if I wanted, and I could walk or ride my bike to practically anywhere. The city that usually relaxed me was now setting me on edge. Suddenly, my favorite place to be was making me feel uneasy and nervous.

She was out there somewhere.

I never expected her to come back.

I never expected her to come back and not want to find me.

The gurgling sound of the coffeemaker caught my attention, and I turned to find my computer was ready as well. With my freshly brewed cup in hand, I sat down and got to work, pulling up my email, reports, and various other things.

Five minutes later, I was staring at the same report, and I hadn’t made any progress.

Mia was back. My mind couldn’t get past that, and I was having a hard time processing what I would do now that she was back in my life.

Was she back in my life?

Did I want her to be?

I looked at the clock. Thirty minutes had passed.

Fuck.

Leah had seemed to think it was simple. Mia was back, and I was here. We were both single—although Mia had never confirmed that fact—and we had history.

Leah had said, See? Easy, Goober!

No, not easy.

Mia wasn’t some teenage crush. She was the one, and I’d spent my entire adult life trying to convince my heart otherwise—without any luck. Losing her once had left me a shell of what I had once been. Losing her again would utterly destroy me.

Would I be willing to take the risk if I were offered it? If Mia could be mine again, would I take it?

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” I asked, my voice sounding hoarse from the shock.

“She’s gone, Mr. Finnegan,” Mia’s mother said coldly.

“Where did she go? I need to find her. I’ll go after her.”

“I’m sorry. She made her intentions clear when she left. She does not want you to know her whereabouts, and she said to give you this.”

She handed me a folded note. I opened it to see Mia’s handwriting, and I read through it quickly.

My eyes flew up to Mrs. Emerson. “She can’t mean this. She would never do this.”

“I don’t think you know our daughter very well, Mr. Finnegan. Good night.”

No, I couldn’t do it. She’d betrayed me, betrayed us. No matter how much my heart and body still wanted her, I could never forget that.

A knock pulled me out of my thoughts, and I saw Kara, another sales executive, standing in my door. She was dressed down today since it was a Saturday, but she still looked put together in a flowery summer dress and sandals.

“I see you’re burning the figurative midnight oil as well?” she said.

“Funny thing, when you start working sixty-plus hours a week, they start regularly giving you that much more work.”

“I know, right? I’m fairly certain I didn’t have this much to start with, and I was working fifty hours then.”

Kara had been stopping by my office, casually flirting, for a couple of months now. She’d just gotten out of a serious relationship, and I bet she was thinking I’d be the perfect follow-up.

I’m not.

But then, I remembered seeing Mia and how she had moved back into town and had purposely tried to avoid me. As I remembered the night when I’d sat on that street corner in the rain, clutching that god-awful letter, while screaming in agony with no one to cling to for support as my entire world was crumbling down, I decided I needed a clean break.

Maybe Kara could be my break—or maybe not, but I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try.

Looking up at her as she was talking to me about her upcoming trip to Charlotte, I noticed she was incredibly pretty. It wasn’t something I’d ever bothered taking note of before. I didn’t know why, but everyone who worked here was good-looking. It wasn’t written in our job requirements, but pharmaceutical reps tended to be on the hot side. It certainly never hurt our sales. With golden brown hair and chocolate eyes, she had a sweet and trusting look to her.