Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
“Nice, right?” the man asks.
My eyes snap to his. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s even nicer at night.”
“I bet.”
“Are you new with the company?”
“No. I’m just. . .visiting.”
“You sound unsure,” he says with an amused smile.
I look at him again. He has kind dark eyes and a genuine smile. Both rare things to come across, these days.
“I’m visiting,” I say with more conviction.
“That was me last year, and look at me now.” He widens his arms.
“I’m guessing that means you love it here,” I say, taking a sip of my drink. “You work for Duke?”
“Yep. Just got promoted.”
“To what?”
“Head of Cyber Security.”
“Fancy.” I raise my eyebrows and look back at The Bean. “Does that mean you can hack into anyone’s computer?”
He laughs. “I can but I don’t.”
“Have you done it?” I turn to him.
“I was a nerdy teenager once.”
“And now?”
“A nerdy adult.” He chuckles.
My lips twitch. “Nerds always get the last laugh.”
“Cheers to that.” He lifts his small clear cup. “I’m Sean, by the way.”
“Lyla.” I tap mine against his.
“So, if you’re not with the company, and you don’t know whether or not you’re staying, I'm assuming you’re here with someone.”
“You’d be correct.”
“Who’s the lucky guy? Or lady?”
“Guy. And I’m not sure he’s considering himself very lucky, right now.”
“Oh, trust me, he is,” he says. He doesn’t check me out, though. He keeps his eyes on mine.
I look over my shoulder, my eyes immediately captured by Lachlan’s. I can see his tense jaw from here. I sigh heavily and turn back around. At the last event, he stuck by me, and when he didn’t and I small-talked with one of his teammates, he didn’t get upset. Now, he’s upset. Well, he was upset when we got here, and I don’t care. The longer I sit with my feelings and think about all of it, the angrier I become — the way he showed up, angry and demanding, the fact that he guilted me into signing a marriage contract, the way he plucked me out of my life. I’m to blame for it, as well.
Ultimately, I chose this. I know this because everything I said last night was true. I’d rather do this than have him get hurt again. Love sucks. That’s what this comes down to. I can’t make myself fall out of love with him. I could ignore him and try to stop wanting him, but what’s the point? What’s worse is that I can’t stop thinking that if he’d shown up and proposed for real, I would have probably said yes. Even after three years apart. As crazy as that sounds, I just want him to be my Lach again.
“It’s complicated,” I say after a moment.
“Relationships are hard.”
I glance at him. “Maybe you should hack into his brain for me and tell me what he’s thinking.”
He laughs loudly, throwing his head back. “If only I had that power.. It may have saved my marriage.”
I laugh. “Honestly, I think it’s best that we can’t read other people’s thoughts.”
“Really?” He raises an eyebrow. “Not even your boyfriend’s?”
“Especially not my boyfriend’s.” My lips twitch when he laughs again.
“Do I know him?” he asks, turning toward the party. I turn with him.
“I doubt it,” I say.
Lach is staring so hard, I’m surprised I don’t explode on the spot. I move the position of my fingers on my cup so that my middle finger subtly sticks out to him. His jaw ticks again. This time, he doesn’t stay where he is. I watch as he starts excusing himself from the group he’s speaking to. Oh shit. I hold my breath and turn my attention back to Sean, hoping he suddenly needs to use the restroom and leaves before Lach closes the distance between us. I know Lach won’t do anything stupid, but the thought of him giving this man hard looks bothers me.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Sean,” I say, hoping he gets a clue.
He smiles. “Nice to meet you, Lyla.”
“Good luck with trying not to hack into people’s computers,” I say as he starts walking away.
He laughs. “Good luck hacking your boyfriend’s brain.”
I laugh lightly. When I look up again, Lachlan is walking over with a fire burning so intensely, he looks like a charging bull. A very hot one, but a bull nonetheless. I throw out my empty cup and raise an eyebrow.
“Are we leaving?” I ask.
“Yes.” He grabs my hand and watches Sean walk away before leading me to the elevator. “Did you enjoy speaking to Sean?” he asks, his voice low and controlled. I want to strangle him.
“I did, actually. He’s a very nice guy.” I look up at him, watching the way his sharp jaw tenses.
“I guess it’s a good thing you don’t like nice guys,” he says.
We’re not alone, so we’re silent the rest of the way down. In the car, I think he’s going to ask more questions, but he takes a phone call and speaks to someone that I assume is his agent. I try to listen to their conversation to find out if he’s coming out of retirement, but he makes it hard with the way he’s almost whispering. It’s maddening. It’s worse that I care to know. This situation is driving me insane.