Page 24 of Love Fast

We’re waiting for an elevator by the entrance to the gym after finishing our tour of the facilities on this level, when the glass door of the gym opens. We all look around to see the shirtless guy with gray shorts coming toward us, a towel around his neck, his chiseled torso shimmering with sweat.

When my gaze finally lands on his face, I find myself looking straight at Byron.

Our eyes catch for a second, and then he looks to Hazel, nods, and takes the stairs by the side of the elevators.

“I’m pregnant,” Eden says. “Like, all-the-way pregnant.”

Hazel glares at her.

“When you said that was Mr. Miller,” I say, as the elevator doors open, “should we know who that is?”

Hazel looks at me as if she can’t believe I’m asking the question. She guides us all into the elevator, and when the doors close, she says, “Byron Miller. The owner of the Colorado Club, of course.”

My knees weaken and I step back, hitting the wall of the elevator car.

Byron? The guy in the cable-knit sweater with a hilarious aversion to cats? The hot chocolate lover in the cabin next door? He can’t be the owner of the Colorado Club. But Byron was definitely the guy running on the treadmill, shirtless, sweaty, and completely breathtaking.

“Told you he was hot,” Akira says, but I can’t answer her. I can’t form words, I’m in such shock.

Why didn’t he tell me? It makes no sense. Okay, so we barely know each other, but he knew I got a job here. I try to recall whether he told me why he was in Star Falls. Was he deliberately vague? And if he’s the owner, why the hell is he staying in the log cabin next to mine? Surely there’s a mansion somewhere on this mountain, ready for him to move in?

I have a thousand questions churning in my mind. I want to ditch this tour, run after Byron, and demand answers.

But I have no right to answers.

At least I didn’t kiss him. Or he didn’t kiss me. Something inside nudges at me. Maybe that’s why he hesitated last night.

Hazel has moved on and we’re led into a conference room. It’s time to role-play some customer service scenarios.

I need some air. I need some time and space to think.

I almost kissed the boss last night. Of all the things on my to-do list at the moment—and it’s a long list—almost kissing my boss is definitely not on there. In fact, it’s on my list of thingsnotto do.

Frank was the boss. I kissed him, and then he kinda became the boss of my personal life as well as my professional life. Kissing him—or rather, when Mom found out I kissed him—was the beginning of the end of me being in charge of my life. He was my boss at work, and if I had married him, probably my boss at home too. He was the one with money and power and status. I became an adjunct to him, someone who didn’t warrant her own opinions about anything that came with a bill. Where we ate, what movies we saw, what hand soap we bought for the kitchen sink—none of it was up to me.

And it all started with a kiss.

I don’t want to get involved with another man who has all the power. Frank owned a car dealership. How much worse will the dynamic be if the person I’m kissing owns a resort for billionaires? My lack of control would just be amplified being with a man like Byron.

The excitement I felt this morning about seeing Byron tonight and maybe actually kissing the man I almost kissed last night fades into a pool at my feet. I can’t let things between Byron and me go any further. I can’t go on repeating my mistakes. I have to create a life for myself, rather than living in the shadow of someone else’s.

ELEVEN

Byron

When the bus pulls up outside the cabins, I’m already on the front porch waiting for Rosey. The look of shock and confusion on her face today when I saw her at the elevators has been scorched onto my mind all day.

There’s no doubt that she will know by now that I’m the owner of the Colorado Club. Maybe I should have told her before. It’s just nice being the guy next door sometimes. Wherever I go in this town, I feel like I’m wearing a sandwich board.

The son of Mack Miller.

The kid from Star Falls who ran off to New York and never came back.

I guess I just wanted to be myself with Rosey.

She walks up to our cabins, avoiding my gaze.

“Hey,” I say when she gets near enough to hear me.

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