Page 110 of No More Secrets
Summer shook her head.
He glared at her.
“I’m not being stubborn.” She was. “I just want to do this on my own.” For better or worse, she wanted to see this through. If she could get through this, that meant she could conquer anything. Including a senior editor position.
If that’s what she still wanted.
“Do you really believe it’s back?” Niko asked, crossing his arms.
“I want to say no,” she said, tracing a finger on the glossy tabletop. “I want to say I know that I kicked its ass. I feel good. Strong. But I just don’t know. I don’t want to get my hopes up and then have them crushed.”
“Hope doesn’t have to be a scary thing.”
“When did the Wolf get to be so warm and fuzzy?”
“I think they put something in the water upstate.”
“Yeah, I think so, too.”
––––––––
Niko headed off to meet a smokey Italian at a jazz club, and Summer wrapped things up at her desk. Darkness had fallen, but the city still lived. And so did she. If her one-year tests were clean, then there was cause for some actual, tangible hope. Then she could start to entertain what a future could look like for her. And whether or not she could make room for Carter Pierce.
But until she had her test results, she wouldn’t drag him into it.
She was shutting down her laptop when a lean, young blonde called her name.
Shauna was Quincy’s personal assistant. She was holding a garment bag draped over her arm. “Quincy sent this up for you to wear tonight.” Her perfect beach waves would have made a mermaid jealous.
“Thanks, Shauna.” She had almost forgotten about the benefit tonight. Trust Quincy to remember for her. She took the bag from Shauna and hung it from the hook on the cubicle wall. She unzipped it a bit.
“It’s the fuchsia Elie Saab you liked from the shoot last week. Quincy stashed it away for you.”
It was beautiful and would look perfect with a carefully mussed chignon. But her pulse had yet to stir. When had she lost her lust of high fashion? Was this just a side effect of the sadness that plagued her?
“Thank you, Shauna. I don’t suppose —”
“Shoes are in the bag. He took pity on you and went with gold gladiators that wrap up to the knee so you won’t have to spend the entire evening sitting.”
“He thinks of everything.”
“So, how’s that gorgeous farmer of yours?” Shauna asked. Summer could hear it, that sharp edge. The need for a tasty morsel. Well, she’d just have to dine somewhere else.
Summer gritted her teeth and zipped the bag. “He’s looking forward to seeing the story this month,” she snapped. “I guess I’d better go get ready. Thanks for bringing this down.”
She brushed past the hungry assistant and made her way to the ladies room.
After the fashion show in June, the office had been abuzz about Carter. A few staffers had dropped some not-so-subtle hints about whether he and Summer were an item or he was just an evening’s eye candy.
She had yet to tell anyone what had happened in Blue Moon and why she had returned so suddenly.
But the hive still gossiped.
––––––––
That night, she crawled into her apartment just shy of one in the morning. She hadn’t wanted to stay so long. But the music and the conversations were more of a comfort than the silence of her apartment, the emptiness of her bed.
She slipped out of the gown and pulled on a cozy robe. She’d just check her email one more time before bed.
