fell on her ass. She let out a choked sound as she hurled the clump of soil and roots and bruised leaves across the patch of lawn, lily petals scattering. Then she wrapped her arms around her bent knees and sat there and cried, like she hadn’t since the day her mom had left.
Chapter Twenty-One
Levi hadn’t seen Sloane pretty much all day Tuesday, but that wasn’t unusual. He’d had meetings and he assumed she had too, but at six o’clock when she hadn’t come back to the office he frowned.
He saw Mason leaving and almost asked him if he knew where Sloane was, but stopped himself. Instead he sent her a text message.
Hey sexy girl. Want to get some dinner?
He didn’t get a reply immediately, so he did some work. An hour had passed before he realized he still hadn’t heard back from her.
He studied his phone. He made a face. Obviously, she was busy. Ah well. He texted his buddies using the group he’d created. Jacob was home from his honeymoon and he hadn’t seen him yet.
Hey Jacob, ball and chain too heavy for you to leave the house for brews?
Haha asshole. Where we going?
Cam and I are already at Don Pedro’s, Luke texted. Meet us here.
Sounds like a plan.
Levi shut down his computer and grabbed his sport jacket from the back of his chair. As he drove to Don Pedro’s, he again wondered what was up with Sloane.
Remembering last night with Scott and Carly and Phoebe, and the looks they’d all shared that morning, he became uneasy. Had Sloane heard that he’d been out with them last night? She wouldn’t be pissed about that, would she?
Nah. He was the one who’d insisted they were in a relationship. She knew he wouldn’t screw around.
Over drinks, they heard about Jacob’s honeymoon, the things they’d done in London, Tara’s jet lag that had made her fall asleep every afternoon and then be awake all night.
“The perfect honeymoon,” Luke joked.
“I did manage to keep her entertained during the night,” Jacob said modestly. “But she was pissed because she wanted to do more shopping and kept falling asleep over lunch.”
Levi went home early, took Chuck for another walk, screwed around on Twitter and Instagram for a while, then went to bed. Still no word from Sloane.
In the morning, they were both in the same meeting to review the status of the Cedar Springs and Cerone brands. She walked in, her usual put-together sexy self, wearing a fitted bright red dress and, of course, heels—today shiny nude-colored pumps. He caught her eye and winked as they took their seats at the long table in the meeting room. Then his forehead tightened. Even though she gave him a little uptick of the lips in response to his wink, her eyes drooped a bit at the corners and on closer inspection were pink and puffy. She’d done a great job with the blush and eye shadow, hiding pale cheeks and puffy eyes, but still…although he was probably the only one noticing.
Because he noticed everything about her. How she tossed back three cups of coffee during a one-hour meeting. How her mouth kept sliding into a sad curve. How she doodled endlessly on her pad of paper and actually missed a question Mason asked her, blinking at him in response.
Something was wrong.
Fuck this bullshit that they couldn’t be a couple in public. Right then and there he wanted to demand to know what was bothering her so he could punch whatever motherfucker had put that sad and worried look on her face.
Was it The Hux? Was he on her back again about their bad behavior? Had there been bad behavior?
Now he was the distracted one. Focus. This was business. He’d get her alone after the meeting.
Deadlines were zooming closer. Faster than a speeding love train. Ha. Scott was freaking out. Levi, on the other hand, was calm. He loved deadlines. Deadlines made him get shit done.
Scott wasn’t the only one who seemed tense in the room, so Levi tried to lighten the vibe with a little joke. “I meet all my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I expect to receive from missing them.” He looked around the table at blank stares. “Not funny, huh?”
Sloane’s lips twitched and everyone else groaned.
“I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself,” Scott said.
Levi showed him his middle finger behind his raised pad of paper.
“Enough, boys and girls,” Mason said. “We’ll meet again Monday