Page 109 of Lessons in Heartbreak

“What the fuck?” I breathed.

Carol coughed, patting her chest as she recovered quickly.

I pinched my eyes shut. “Sorry.”

“Quite all right, dear. That’s why I’m showing you now.”

Suspicion took root, coiling up through the dirt and pushing up into the sun, but there was an almost violent urge to rip it out and not let it grow any further.

He wouldn’t. Would he?

Even thinking it made me feel insane. Like my ego had grown ten sizes in the last month. I was still staring at the render long after Carol left and when Lauren wandered into my office. Numbly, I handed her the paper and chewed my bottom lip as I watched her eyes widen until they seemed to take up half her face.

“Ruby,” she said slowly. “Did Griffin King spend millions of dollars to buy a chunk of land because he knew you wanted it?”

I covered my face with both hands. “I don’t know. It feels crazy to even think it.”

“Holy shit, you have a magic hoo-hah, don’t you?”

Face flaming, I smacked her on the arm as she cackled. Kenny walked past my office, his cheeks suspiciously red, and I knew he’d heard her.

“I don’t have a magic hoo-hah,” I hissed. “Stop talking so loud.”

“You did something right,” she said, eyeing me with interest. “You told me it was really good, but I’m getting the distinct feeling that you’re withholding some pertinent information.”

Sitting was no good, not with all the energy crackling through my veins, so I paced my office restlessly while I thought. “There’s no information on the deed about the sale itself, and I could probably do some digging at the city office, but I don’t know if the closing documents are even filed yet.”

She closed the folder and slid it across the surface of my desk. “Epic, Ruby. This is completely epic. I could call Marcus and see if he knows anything.”

“No,” I said instantly. “I don’t want anyone else involved in this. And I didn’t think you were talking to him anymore.”

Lauren sighed airily. “Who was I kidding? I might even be willing to go on a real date with this one. He called me last night and gave methe best phone sex of my life; then he talked to me until I was almost asleep.” Her cheeks were flushed pink, and I found myself smiling at how flustered she seemed. “He’s still a total caveman, but ... he’s all right.”

“I’m happy for you,” I told her. She tried to wave it off, but I gripped her hand and wouldn’t let her look away. “I really am.”

Lauren cleared her throat primly. “Thank you. Not that anything is going to come from it, but ... thank you.” She arched an eyebrow. “I think you should just call Griffin and ask.”

“No way. Because if it’s not him, I look like a code-red-level stalker for assuming that it was.”

“How many other people do you know who could afford this?”

I set my jaw, patently refusing to respond because we both knew what my answer would be.

“He won’t think you’re a stalker,” she replied gently.

“Yes, he will. Think about all the crazy he has to deal with on a regular basis. I saw an article the other day about these twin girls—they’re not even girls, I think they were twenty-two.Hottwenty-two-year-olds. They make like, six figures every month on that website, you know, the fan one.” Lauren bit down on her smile but didn’t interrupt. “They each got a tattoo of Griffin and his brother on their asses because they’re so convinced that they’re destined to marry them.” I shook my head. “There’s no way I’m entering into that particular competition.”

“Okay, fine. Then you figure out if it’s him before you call.”

“How am I going to do that? What if the buyer showed up with a briefcase full of cash and there’s no paper trail for who bought it?”

Lauren stood with a sigh and tapped the folder. “Then it’s a good thing you’re a librarian, huh? If we excel at anything, it’s research.” She paused before disappearing through the door. “And mind-blowing sex, apparently.”

I dropped my head in my hands and sighed, my eyes still locked on the image of that sign. I’d done enough work on my mental health in the last five years to recognize exactly what held me back.

Fear. Absolute mind-numbing, action-paralyzing fear.

If it wasn’t him, I would be disappointed.

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