Page 96 of The Promises We Break

He has one hand on the stem of his glass and one hand in his pocket. Seductively taking a sip while staring at me through the mask that makes him look like a king.

“Ember!” My name floats through the air from behind me, ripping my gaze from his.

I turn to see Elena. Even with her mask, you can’t miss her luscious blonde hair and bright blue eyes, especially with her arms interlaced in the arms of two incredibly handsome men beside her.

“Hi!” I say with genuine happiness. She throws her arm out for a hug and I lean in for it. “You did this. Youcreatedthis,” she whispers in my ear before she pulls back and looks at me, holding my hands in hers. “I hope you are proud of yourself, Ember. This is truly amazing.”

I can’t help but smile at her praise.

“It really is,” Jake replies. Leaning in, he kisses me on the cheek. Christian does the same on the other side, and I can’t say that it didn’t send some shockwaves everywhere. I wonder, for a brief moment, what it would be like to be shared between two men, but when I glance back at Hudson and see his Grim Reaper death stare, I quickly extinguish that thought. And what the hell am I thinking? I can hardly handle Hudson alone.

“Thank you.” I say sincerely. “Thank you for believing in me.”

“Easiest decision I’ve ever made,” Christian replies with a smile behind his mask that covers a majority of his face, but the kindness behind his eyes say more than enough.

“Do you remember Corbin?” He holds his hand out next to me. I turn enough to open a space for Corbin to step up next to me.

“Yes, good evening, Mr. Maren.” I smile, because you can’t not smile at Corbin Maren. He places his hand at the small of my back and grants me a kiss on each cheek.

“Ember, this is very impressive. I was congratulating Christian, but he confessed he had nothing to do with this and you were the mastermind here.” Corbin’s compliment has me blushing a deep shade of red, and I’m more than thankful for the mask that covers my cheeks.

“This was the perfect marriage of teamwork, sir.” I idle on the description of perfect marriage, and my eyes focus on Hudson, who stands in my periphery behind Corbin. I swallow thickly as he studies us. I continue, “Christian and Elena took a chance on this idea, and if it weren’t for Cruz, none of this would have happened.”

“I love your modesty. It’s a great leadership quality,” he compliments again, then turns to Christian. “Christian could learn a lot from you,” he quips.

“You’re fired,” Christian replies sternly, then chuckles, and that loosens the mood a bit.

Christian and Jake open up a bit and banter back and forth. Elena and Corbin chime in, sharing a few stories, and it’s a few minutes of easy going conversation.

“So, Ember,” Corbin takes advantage of a brief pause in our conversation, “I have a director position available in our Manhattan office, and although I had to do some major groveling, Christian gave me permission to extend an offer to you to come visit the teams and see if that is something you would be interested in.”

I lose my footing, even though I’m literally standing still, and my heel falls from underneath me. Corbin reaches out, catching my forearm and helps balance me.

God, how embarrassing.

“Oh, wow,” is all that I can come up with.

He glances over at Christian as I turn to Elena. Jake stares ather as she stares at me. They know my situation with Hudson, and I can tell it’s as awkward as it should be.

“Corbin informed us one of his directors is retiring, and when he brought up his interest in you, I wanted to pay you the same respect I would want from my boss.” Elena looks over at Christian. “I would always want to be given the opportunity to make the choice.” She smiles at me, knowing what all this means.

She continues, “For the record, we don’t want you to go, and I know you might not want to move. But I didn’t think it was fair to not afford you the option to make that decision for yourself.”

Jake shifts uncomfortably, clenching his jaw, as he looks in another direction, avoiding my gaze all together. He clearly doesn’t agree with Elena on this.

Corbin isn’t privy to my entire relationship dilemma, so I’m not sure what he’s thinking, but I know he is very interested in having me join his team.

“Have you been to New York?” Corbin asks.

“No. I’ve been wanting to plan a vacation there, and it’s been a bucket list dream to work in Manhattan one day,” I confess, which feeds Corbin’s sales pitch.

“Come visit for a week, get to know the teams, the area, and you’ll have a better feeling about everything after you spend some time in the city. If anything, you get the vacation you’ve wanted, and then you can make a truly authentic decision.” This is why Corbin runs the entire east coast. He can sell you on just about anything.

“You know, I can’t pass that opportunity up,” I reply to Corbin as he smiles at my resolve.

“I know it’s a big decision, but ultimately, I would like you to mock what you did here. Creating a club like this one, but in Manhattan—” I glance around, knowing how much energy and effort I put into this, and wonder first if I can do it again.Second, do I want to? This feels like my baby, and Seattle feels like… home. “That would be the first of many projects in your new role as Director.”

I glance between the four of them, their eyes studying me behind their masks, and it feels so surreal. There are multiple goals being checked off here, and I’ve only ever dreamed of coming together like the perfect storm, which is creating a tsunami of emotions.

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