Page 110 of Salvaged Hearts

Loving…him?

Breath filling my ribs in a rapid pump, I glanced up at Greyson as he led me to the kitchen island. Did I…did I love him? Of all the humans on the planet, had I run off and fallen in love withmy boss?

Stunned stupid by that terrifying realization, I slunk into the bar stool when he prompted me to. I watched him walk around the corner to pull out pre-portioned meals to prepare for us. An unlikely warmth swelled in my chest, and I found myself melting into my chair back with a hand pressed to my lips as I watched him.

Certainly didn’t have this one on my bingo card.

T-Minus Two Weeks To The Kickoff of Emerald Bay Bomber Season

The next weekwent by in a blur of endless meetings and long hours at work, which, to my eternal gratitude, now included Grey and I sitting side-by-side in the corner office. If our hours were going to be astronomical, at least we could spend them lusting after each other while we both paced on our phone calls or muttered curses at our keyboards. The influx of end-of-summer projects provided a mind-numbing distraction, at the very least. Q-four was always packed to the gills for us, and this was no different. Theonlydifference was my title, and the fact that Tiffany, our COO, was basically treating me like a mentee after Greyson groomed me for the position without my knowing.

To my simultaneous elation and horror, the vast majority of the Rhodes dirty dozen would be arriving by the middle of next week so that we could all spend some time together before watching Paxton break in his new stadium. While I wanted nothing more than to wrap them all up and listen to the familiar cacophony of too many voices in one space, the idea of them being here ifObsidianwas operating inside our city made me nauseous.

Grey had—not at all helpfully—let me knowObsidianand the networks like them operate out of most major cities, along with some smaller ones. I guess he was trying to reassure me we’d just been oblivious and had all been fine, but it had the opposite effect. By Friday, at least the war room meetings had dwindled enough for my adrenaline not to spike every time I walked inthe front door, which is why I finally felt free enough to soak up some evening blue hour on the beach when I got home. Grey had a few calls left, but a moment of solitude sounded ideal. Well…solitude plus Chip, and our forever-shadow, Jax. Our little rescue was sweet as pie, and seemed to like the beach as much as I did, although not if the waves had the audacity to get him wet.

My phone buzzed and, muttering curses that I hadn’t silenced the damn thing, I fished it out of my denim short pockets.

Max

You know that episode of Friends where Monica gets to dump that douche from high school?

Alice

Yeah?

Max

Me=Monica. Luca=Douche from high school.

Alice

Nooooooo

Sitting up straighter,I stared down at the screen, shaking my head as his texts rolled in.

Max

Twelve years later, and he’s exactly the way I remember him.

Alice

I mean… didn’t you like him?

Max

He never bothered to grow up.

His parents still house the little shit, and he’s still working at the damn roller rink.

THE ROLLER RINK, ALICE.

All I could think is I wasted my high school years pining after this boy, only to get to know him at thirty and wonder what floor balcony his mother dropped him from.

I give up. Kaia is right; men are stupid.

Alice

Men are stupid, but there are occasionally the Greysons of the world.

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