Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(6)

“Oh, right. What I’m working on next.”

I chewed on my bottom lip and glanced back to Lewis. His eyebrows were raised as he waited for my response. He actually looked…interested. Was that legitimate or fake enthusiasm about my book? Was he mocking me? Surely, he hadn’t read my novel.

“We’re all dying to know what’s next,” my publicist, Kathy, said.

“It’s still in the beginning stages.” I flicked my eyes back to Gillian. “I’m not sure it’s ready for anyone to see. Might disrupt the flow.”

“Oh, come on. Not even a morsel?” she encouraged.

I fidgeted in my seat. How the hell did I get out of this?

“We can’t rush brilliance,” Lewis interjected. “If she’s not ready to share, then it’s clearly not ready for the public eye. I’m sure, once the book is in working condition, she’ll wow us all.”

I shot a relieved look in his direction for saving me from continuing. He likely didn’t know that it was because I had no idea what to write next and no muse. But he had kept me from having to say that, and for that, I was grateful.

“You’re right, of course, Lewis,” Gillian said.

“We’re just enthusiastic,” Kathy piped up. “If it’s anything like Bet on It, then I know we’re going to have a best seller on our hands.”

I paled and managed to push a smile through. “Let’s hope.”

“All right, well, that’s all we have for today,” Gillian said. “Do you have any questions for us, Olivia? We know tomorrow is a magical day for a debut. We want to make everything as seamless as possible.”

“I don’t think so. I’m just excited to go into a store and be able to actually hold a copy of my book,” I told them.

“You’ll have to take a picture and send it to us. We’ll put it up on our social,” Kathy said hungrily.

“Sure,” I told her. Though I had no intention of showing my face for the camera, I’d send them something to use.

“Okay. Well then, we’re through here. See you tonight at Twig for dinner,” Gillian said.

I stood and shook hands with the rest of the team. I’d been working with them off and on all year, so it was nice to have faces to go with the names. They probably felt the same way about me, if I had to guess.

But, by the end of the meeting, it was just me, Gillian, and…Lewis.

“I can show her out,” Lewis said with a broad smile to Gillian.

“Oh. Of course. I need to get back to work anyway,” Gillian said. She raised her eyebrows once at me as if to say, Have a good time, and then disappeared through the conference room door.

Once we were finally alone, I whirled on him. “What are you doing here?”

“Last I checked, I’m a Warren,” he said with a grin.

“You don’t work in the publishing arm,” I accused.

“No, I don’t.”

“So, what are you doing here?”

“I thought that was obvious, Olivia.”

“Don’t,” I snapped.

“I came to see you.”

“Well, I don’t want to see you.”

He shrugged as if that fact didn’t matter to him. “Yet here we are.”

“How did you even know I was going to be here? My identity was tightly guarded. Only Gillian knows.”

“Are you sure?” he teased.

“Clearly, I was wrong.”

“Go to lunch with me, Natalie.”

I scoffed in disbelief. “No.”

“Come on. It’ll be like old times.”

I shouldered my purse and headed for the door. “Might have escaped your notice, but I have no interest in old times.” I turned back to look at him with anger in my blue eyes. “And no interest in seeing you.”

I yanked open the conference room door and headed for the elevator. My hands were shaking, and I clasped them together to make them stop. My heart was hammering in my chest. It was a reminder of what I was running away from. That stupid smirk and confident air. The way he seemed to own the room. I’d always found Lewis handsome. He and Penn were two sides of the same coin. They both took up too much space, and worse, they knew it. I would not be caught in that web again.

Fool me once, shame on you. I’d been eighteen and in Paris and fallen instantly for Penn. I’d given him my virginity, and he’d repaid it by ghosting on me. Granted…it was because his father had died. Though I’d only learned it years later.

Fool me twice, shame on me. The bet. Penn, Lewis, Katherine, Rowe, and Lark had bet on me. And I’d fallen in love with Penn and made an utter fool of myself anyway.

Fool me thrice—well, I didn’t even know who I could blame for that. So, I was getting as far away from the Upper East Side and all the many charming men in it.

“Wait!” Lewis slid his hand in the elevator before it could close, and then he walked smoothly inside.

I pressed my body against the opposite wall. “Leave me alone, Lewis.”

“Go to lunch with me.”

“Go to hell,” I quipped.

“I guess I deserve that.”

I glared. “Deserve? That’s the least of what you deserve.”

“That’s probably fair.”