Faking Ms. Right (Dirty Martini Running Club #1) - Claire Kingsley Page 0,97
and before I could fathom who I was seeing, he blocked the door.
“Sir, that’s a private dining area,” the hostess said from inside. “You don’t have a reservation.”
“Everly.”
That voice. Oh my god, it really was him. I stood. “Shepherd?”
“Jude,” Cameron said, her tone annoyed. “Let him by.”
Jude shot Cameron an irritated glance but stood aside.
I gaped at the man who walked out onto the terrace. It was Shepherd. Sort of. The only time I’d seen him like this was at the bar when he was playing bass.
Plain t-shirt, although white this time. Jeans. No suit. No tie. Messy hair. Even his facial hair had grown in thicker than usual.
He looked a little bit forlorn, and utterly and completely delicious.
“Sorry to interrupt, Ms. Whitbury.” He came to the table and held out a hand to Cameron. “Shepherd Calloway.”
“Cameron,” she said, shaking his hand. She seemed both awed and slightly amused.
“I need to ask you not to offer Everly the job,” Shepherd said. “Not yet, at least. Don’t get me wrong, you should absolutely hire her. You’ll never meet someone who’s as smart, kind, hard-working, diligent, and passionate about everything she does. As her boss—or former boss, I suppose—I give her my wholehearted, unequivocal recommendation. But as a man, I’m asking you to do me an enormous favor and give me a few minutes to talk to her first.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Calloway, I’ve already offered Everly the position. And she accepted.”
The stricken look on his face as he slowly closed his eyes took the breath right out of my lungs.
He nodded once, then looked at me. “Of course. As she should have.”
Cameron picked up her purse. “I just remembered, I have another meeting to get to. Everly, thank you so much for coming. We’ll connect later and work out the details. Mr. Calloway, it was nice meeting you. I hope you both enjoy your visit to Miami.”
She glanced at Jude, who gestured for her to walk ahead of him. She smiled at me, then left, her giant hulking bodyguard moving with surprising grace behind her.
“Oh my god, Shepherd, what are you doing here?” I hissed at him when they were gone.
“Everly, I’m so sorry.” He covered his mouth, then ran his hand down his chin. “I never did figure out what I was going to say when I got here.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“Nora and Hazel.”
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
“They came to my office yesterday and said you’d gone to Miami for a job interview.”
“Those meddling little vixens. But how did you know I was at this restaurant? They didn’t know where I was meeting Cameron.”
He winced. “That was them, too. Nora, to be specific. She guessed your email password.”
“Damn, I knew I should have changed it.”
“I’m sorry. This is the craziest, most unprofessional thing I’ve ever done. Also, you might want to let Cameron know she can ignore all the messages I left at her office.”
“You called her office too?”
“I was desperate,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve lost my mind, and I’ve never felt this way before.”
“How did you get here so fast?”
“I called Tom Nguyen at Blue Streak Charters. He says hello, by the way.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Tom was the nicest man. “Aw, I love Tom.”
“Luckily for me, he feels the same about you.”
I glanced into the restaurant, but no one seemed to care that we were out here. “You might as well sit down.”
He took Cameron’s seat and I sat in my chair.
“So, you took the position,” he said.
“I did.”
His eyes were on the table. “That’s… great. I’m glad for you. You’ll be amazing.”
“Shepherd, why are you here?”
He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling against that crisp white shirt, and his disheveled hair fell across his forehead. “I hoped I’d get the chance to talk to you before you made your decision.”
“Why didn’t you just call me?”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I didn’t call because I needed to do this in person.”
“Do what?”
He looked up, meeting my eyes. “Tell you that it wasn’t fake. Not for me.”
“What?”
“I love you. I think I’ve loved you since the moment you stepped out of that car in that goddamn red dress. And I’ve fallen a little bit more in love with you every day. I should have told you a hundred times, but I’m an emotionally stunted robot.”
I laughed softly. “No, you’re not.”
“I really am,” he said. “From the very beginning, I was fighting my attraction to you.