she turned and rested her bony butt against the front of my desk. She went right on with her conversation as if I wasn’t sitting behind her trying to work. I knew right away from the tone of the conversation that it was her equally rotten sister. Ms. Bridger had gotten her younger sister a cushy position as receptionist for the building. Ms. Bridger Junior sat behind the big round counter on the ground floor answering questions people might have about offices in the building.
“Really?” Ms. Bridger asked enthusiastically. “Is he coming up to the sixth floor?”
She paused. I could hear her sister’s excited voice on the other side of the conversation, but I had no idea what she was saying.
“Ooh, sneak a picture and send it over.”
I continued with my work, even with her sitting against my desk. She was like an annoying fly, and I wanted badly to swat her away. Or, at the very least, stab her ass with my letter opener.
Even her cell phone made annoying sounds. She remained sitting on my desk and called her sister back. “Whoa, he is something. A little wild but I’m sure with a little effort, he could be tamed. He looks worth it. So is he heading this way?”
My desk wiggled as she spoke animatedly about the poor, unsuspecting man who was heading for her giant web. I cleared my throat loudly and almost missed the sound of my own phone ringing in my drawer. It seemed like a good time for a break. I pulled out the phone and headed toward the break room. I answered it without even looking to see who it was.
“Hello.”
“You left without saying good-bye.”
My feet froze in the spot, but my heart raced on ahead of me. I moved my feet again to catch up to it and discovered that my knees had liquefied to jelly. I swallowed and took a breath. “You went back to the beach, back to your bathing suit model.”
“What? No, I didn’t. I mean, yeah, I went back to the beach, but I had to let Mindy know that the place had been rented. I’d asked the owner if he could rent it to someone else, so I could get some money back.”
“But you didn’t come back to Mayfair. I just figured you were—we were—” I couldn’t keep the waver from my voice. It had been such an awful day and I was tired. Hearing him made me instantly homesick.
“I was brokenhearted, Kenna, and being around Mayfair made it worse. I slept on Tanner’s couch for a couple nights, to give you some space. I’d hoped that when I got back, we could talk things over. But you’d gone back to New York.”
“I’m sorry, Cade. I’m sorry about everything.”
“What’s wrong, Trinket? You don’t sound like yourself.”
“I’m not.” A short sob burst from my mouth. There were too many people in the break room, so I rounded the nearest corner and took shelter near the water cooler. I’d been keeping it all inside, feeling sufficiently sorry for myself, but I wanted badly just to melt in his arms and tell him everything. Another sob.
“Kenna?”
I sucked in a shuddering breath. “My apartment is like Grand Central Station all night, and I can’t sleep. This morning, on the subway, a woman elbowed me so hard in the ribs, I nearly puked. And I’m working for a woman who I’m certain is secretly a member of some horrid alien society, who was sent here for the sole purpose of being cruel and demeaning to us little people. And she eats cardboard sandwiches, when she is actually eating. Which is never.”
“Is she the stick figure in the bright green blouse?”
“Yes, can you believe that col—” My gaze shot over toward the offices. Ms. Bridger was standing at the front desk with her attention firmly riveted toward the elevators. “Wait, how the heck did you—” My feet were moving before my mind had a chance to figure things out. I headed in the direction of the elevators.
“I miss you, Kenna. I needed to tell you that . . .” Caden lowered his phone. “In person.” He looked completely out of place in the austere setting of the law offices, which only made him that much more breathtaking.
Ms. Bridger, who had desperately tried to get him to notice her, twisted back to see what had his attention. Her harsh gaze landed like a sledgehammer on me. I was sure I saw a