Page 54 of Caught in the Axe
We’d been working on the new GeneSphere Pharmaceuticals headquarters for more than three years. The project was an endless source of stress and angst, but by far one of the biggest things we’d taken on.
“You want a plane?” Enzo asked.
“So that’s how it is now? You start rolling with literal billionaires and we’ve got planes?”
I could give Enzo shit about his roommates all day long and never get tired of it. His girlfriend Delia lived with a couple of billionaires and pro athletes in the most bizarre commune-type situation.
“I’m just saying, if transport is an issue, we can take care of it. We need you here. And the Boston Cares event is that weekend. My mother is on the board, so…” he trailed off.
“Mom will castrate you if you don’t show and donate,” Amara finished.
Their mother, Elena DiLuca, was a force to be reckoned with. And she had adopted me as one of her own, even though she had four kids and both my parents werealive. She had been working with this organization for decades and would be personally offended if I didn’t show up.
“I’ll be there,” I said. “Can’t let Mama D down.”
“Good. She’ll torture me if you don’t show,” Amara said. “And we can hang while my siblings are all coupled up.”
That had the wheels turning in my head. “Can I bring someone?”
“Who?” Amara asked.
“A friend.”
Her responding laugh was so loud the line between us crackled. “She’s a lot more than a friend if you’re willing to risk exposing her to my crazy mother.”
I ignored her, too preoccupied with the plan taking shape in my mind. “Are the Revs at home that weekend?” I wondered out loud. “Enzo, you think you can score tickets from your boy Beckett.”
Enzo had recently moved in with his girlfriend and her kids—andher friends and their kids and their boyfriends, fiancés, and husbands. It was a whole thing. I didn’t give him too much shit, though, because he’d made some very powerful new friends, mainly Beckett Langfield, owner of Boston’s baseball team, the Revs. That meant we rarely had trouble scoring tickets to any games we wanted to see.
“Yeah, man,” Enzo said. “Let me—”
A shout from down the hall pulled me out of the conversation and had my hackles rising. “Guys, I gotta run,” I said, already on my feet and heading to my door.
“Fuck.” The words echoed in the cavernous hallway.
I picked up my pace, all but running to the conference room where Lila was working.
When I burst into the room, I found her standing near the windows, staring at her phone.
“Are you okay?” I put my hands on her shoulders, bracing for the worst.
“Oh my God.” Her chest was heaving and her eyes were wide with shock as she tipped her head back and looked at me. “It’s admission day. I got so busy I totally forgot.”
I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that she’d gotten in. She worked so damn hard, and she deserved this.
“I—” She gripped my arm and blinked, like she was coming back online. “I need my laptop.”
Still holding her shoulders, I led her over to the folding table she’d been using as a desk and pulled out the chair. Once she was seated, I leaned in, caging her in with my arms, and waited for her to log into the admission system.
This close, the citrusy scent of her shampoo enveloped me. Her hair was up in a ponytail today, highlighting her graceful neck. I had to fight back the instinct to place a small kiss right there.
With a deep breath in and a silent reprimand, I managed to get myself under control. This was neither the time nor the place, and honestly, I wasn’t sure there ever would be a time or a place. Getting involved with her was a bad idea for far too many reasons. The first of which was that she was about to move out of state for graduate school. And then there was Cole.
Nope, I’d muscle through it. No matter how impossible that felt. Because it had been less than two weeks, and I was already deeply infatuated with this woman. With her laugh, her smile, her mind. I had a deep respect and admiration forher and for the way she’d show up, lattes in hand, ready to take whatever life threw at her.
Sometimes, part of me wanted to throw all my concerns out the window. I was greedy. I wanted to stay here, locked in the sea of file boxes, cracking jokes with Lila. I wanted this to last forever.
Then I’d shake myself and remember that I needed to get back to my real life and my actual job instead of sorting through old paperwork in this dusty office building.
