Page 24 of Sapphire Sunset

“Can we focus, please?” Connor asked.

“On what you’d like to talk about, I take it. Yes, of coursewe can. You’re my only child. So it’s not like I have a choice.”

“I have a serious question about emoji,” Connor said.

“I support their right to get married. Next?”

“The thumbs-up one.”

“Yes?” his mother asked.

“How do you interpret that when someone sends it to you?”

His mother chewed for a while. “I heard you, and I sort ofagree, but stop bothering me.”

Connor’s face fell before he could hold it in place. Hismother stopped eating and studied him in a way that told him despite theirsnarky rapport, her maternal instincts had been triggered by the flash of hurtin her child’s eyes.

Brow furrowed, lips pursed so tightly they stung a little,Connor stared off at the distant, sparkling expanse of the blue Pacific beyondthe sea of rooftops.

“I take it this is about a boy?” she asked.

“It is.” Connor’s sigh was heavy.

Connor shared most everything with his mother except fordessert. But no way in hell could he tell her about what had happened withLogan Murdoch the night before. She’d completely overreact, start stressingabout some imaginary sexual harassment claim Logan might bring against him ifthey saw each other again and things went south. Connor was only twenty-three.He didn’t even work at Sapphire Cove yet. He took up far too littleprofessional space there to be the target of anything of the sort, he was sure.

But his mother had spent less time being wealthy than she’dspent struggling to get by on a teacher’s salary. As such, she tended to focusas much on the liabilities and exposures brought by her husband’s wealth as shedid the benefits. But honestly, even if he was the owner’s grandson, hewouldn’t be supervising anyone when he started there in a week—including Logan.Connor would be an entry-level employee, for Christ’s sake.

Answering to Gloria Alvarez, who I’ve known most of mylife and who loves me like a son.Oh, and you’re the owner’s grandson,so it’s not like you’re going to wake up each day afraid of being fired. Oh,also, everyone will be afraid of you.

His mother was watching him closely, waiting, it seemed, forhim to give some voice to his dark thoughts. But he didn’t. Because they weretwisting back on him in new and unexpected ways.

Maybe there were more risks to seeing Logan again than hewanted to accept.

Or maybe it was the reverse.

Maybe Logan’s thumbs-up was a different version of the lastwords he’d said before they kissed.

I could get in a lot of trouble for this, you know.

Well, if that was the case, Connor could fix that problemeasily. He’d prove to Logan he wasn’t that kind of guy. He didn’t hurt people.Didn’t punish them. He’d never used his family connections against anyone atthe hotel for any reason whatsoever. When it came to Connor, Logan Murdoch hadnothing to be afraid of.

I’m a good person,and if he agrees to see meagain, I’ll be as good as I can be. For him.

He was trying to think of some way to phrase all that as aflirty text when his mother said, “And you’re not going to tell me anythingabout this boy?”

“That’s correct. It’s too new, and sometimes you kill thingsbefore they bloom by breathing on them.”

“What a lovely way to describe your mother.”

“I wasn’t talking about you specifically. I was usingyouin a general sense.”

“I believe you’re referring to the generic, impersonal, orindefinite you.”

“Yes, Mrs. Harcourt. May I have a hall pass?”

“When do you head to New York to see Jaycee?” she asked.

“Eager to get rid of me, I see.”

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