Page 63 of Breaking Point

I've yet to figure out whether or not I'll attend.

Another problem for later, I remind myself.

The box I don't recognize however. I rack my brain trying to remember what I ordered, I flush when I realize it’s avibrator. A vibrator I ordered when I realized how useless it is to get off alone when the man in front of me is all I can think about.

“Thanks,” I squeak, maneuvering my binders so I can take the box without touching him. “G’night!”

I bar myself in my room, my back against the door and my skin hot with embarrassment. I don’t bother trying to work for the rest of the night.

Chapter Thirty

Olivia

It’s been years since I’ve dated someone. It’s been months since I’ve gone on a proper date, and at this rate, I’ll be dating until I’m dead.

Chase is nice… and interested, I remind myself as I swirl my water around my glass.

He’s had two drinks himself, and in the middle of his story about a recent crisis at work, he flags down the waiter for another.

“Can I get you anything else?” Chase asks again, and I force a smile.

“I’m tapped out. Thank you.”

He flashes an all-white smile, and I find myself looking at him again. He looks handsome. His dark hair is swept back but a few curls fall into his face. He’s clean-shaven and dressed in a suit that probably costs more than the thousand-dollar bottle of wine he’s steadily nursing. But when I look at him, I just feel… Tired.

He’s attractive and available-for god’s sake- and yet no matter how much I force it, I feel nothing. I focus on the cool glass in my palm, on the condensation dripping down the walls of it. The cold is grounding.

Real.

“Do you think you’d ever quit and sell your business if you found the right person?” Chase asks abruptly..

I jolt back to reality. “Sell my business?”

“Yeah.” He takes a deliberate sip of wine. “Once you find someone worth settling down for, of course.”

I try not to frown at the question. “I don’t plan on selling my business. I plan on expanding, actually.”

“That’s incredible,” he tells me, and for a moment, I think we might drop the conversation.

The last thing I want to talk about is work.

“I’ve never met a woman quite as dedicated as you are. I like that about you.”

My smile is tight at the compliment because it’s as backhanded as they come. I’ve dated his type before. The kind that expects to come home to a clean house and a warm meal and a smiling wife at the end of the day.

It’s not something I ever envisioned for myself. With a man or a woman.

My eyes wander over his shoulder to Taylor silently. We make eye contact, and I know he can read my face:

I’m ready to wrap this up.

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong but you planned the Benenati wedding, right? What was that like?”

The question is like a slap to the face, and I nearly recoil. “The Benenatis?”

He smiles. “They’re only the most powerful people in Westos. I assume you’d have a lot to talk about.”

My stomach sinks, and I don’t like that I get the feeling that he’s fishing for information.

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