Page 50 of Enthrall Ecstasy
He set off toward the front porch with Carrie. They shook hands like they were agreeing on a deal. He towered over her, looking every bit like that dashing Navy officer who could handle the most sinister enemy. From his body language she didn’t intimidate him at all.
That’s all I was to him. An agreement followed through on.
Acting like I was fine with having others dictate my life, I stepped out of the car and headed toward them, hiding my desperation for fulfillment.
Ironically, the only person who could deliver it had turned his back on me—quite literally, as they continued their conversation.
Neither of them had any right to dictate anything I did in my life.
I raised my chin and joined them with a stony face to hide my misery, trying not to appear insulted that I was too old for this crap.
For God’s sake, I was a nurse and had performed more lifesaving activities than either of these two. I’d worked too many nightshifts in the ICU when we’d been short staffed and I’d had to juggle an impossible amount of tasks.
Yet these two were acting like I was too naive to make my own decisions. All because my going to Pendulum seemed like a mistake.
If Kaison would have me back, I’d resume my training with him. Maybe get another shot at Pendulum. Only I’d make sure Carrie was out of town.
Shay Gardner had wasted his time.
And mine.
The man who’d turned my life inside out was heading back toward his car, not even acknowledging me. That tall swagger of confidence a reminder I wasn’t appealing to a man like him.
Watching Shay drive off down the pathway, I doubted he even looked in his rearview mirror.
I was already forgotten.
“That photographer’s back. He’s parked outsideagain.” Richard turned his computer screen to show me the security camera angle.
There he was…our stalker, sitting in his car, seemingly waiting to snap a money shot with a long angle lens.
Fucker.
“I’m on it,” I said.
“Can’t you just go down there and tell him to piss off?”
“Having something on him first is more effective in the long run.”
He leaned back, frustrated.
“We’re running his plate number,” I said. “Getting something we can use.”
“That’s why you’re paid the big bucks, I suppose.”
“I suppose.”
Funny he should mention the big bucks. He was now the Director of Enthrall and Chrysalis, so he was being paid a near fortune. The promotion from Assistant Director had been good for him. He mirrored Cole’s fashion sense. Richard looked sophisticated in that Prada suit.
Not too much of a stretch for a Harvard grad who’d once come from money—then lost it all when his father had wrecked the family both financially and personally.
You’d never know that, though. Richard was always upbeat.
He stared at me. “You look…different. Wanna talk?”
“Nothing to talk about.”
He was referring to my beard, which was neatly groomed but he still wasn’t used to it.
