AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is your requested suit.”
“Not my suit from the dry cleaners.” I don’t phrase it like a question because it’s not one.
She grins and taps my chest once—sensation zipping right through to my spine. “Astute. You’re not going to be needing that one—or any of your old suits anymore either,” she says in a little too chipper a tone before carrying it into my house toward the stairs. The stairs that go up to my room. Why is she going up to my room?
And why am I now following her like a lamb to the slaughter?
“Nora…please tell me that you did not take the endorsement deal with the suit designer?”
“I could tell you that, but since I subscribe to the idea that honesty is the best policy, I better just tell you that I did agree to it, and you are now the front man for one of the most popular American suit makers in the biz. I only need you to sign on the dotted line tonight.”
I stop in the middle of the stairs and watch as her sassy bubble butt sways up ahead of me, and against all reason, I’m not thinking about the suit deal. My thoughts dive to wondering if Nora still wears days-of-the-week underwear. At first, I thought it was just a cute fluke in college. But then I started noticing that every day she wore the correct day. I asked her about it once and she said she liked the habit of it. Her beautiful ass became my calendar, and—yeah, that’s not something I should be thinking about anymore.
“You did that without my consent. I could fire you on the spot,” I say, jogging the last few stairs to catch her.
She turns into my bedroom. “You could. But you’re really going to need an agent in a few days while you’re on set. And I doubt you’d be able to find someone to fill the position before your flight out on Friday morning.”
I’m sorry, mywhat? And what set? “I don’t have a flight on Fridaymorning,” I say with a measured calm that should alert her to how frustrated I am in this moment.
She lays the garment bag across my bed, and I try very hard not to stare as she leans over to unzip it. Those overall shorts she’s wearing should be unattractive. They’re not. Nora pulls my suit from the bag and holds it up, assessing it for any damages, and then carries it primly into my closet like she owns it.
I stand in the middle of my bedroom, arms crossed, feet firmly planted because there’s something going on here and I have a feeling I’m going to need all my willpower to withstand it. There’s a new energy humming around Nora.Don’t let her smile fool you, she’s covered in yellow daisies but she’s dangerous as hell.
The woman emerges from my closet, still not making eye contact, arms loaded down with clothes. I watch with narrowed eyes as she dumps them on my bed mumbling something about socks and how many pairs I’ll need. Next, she drags out my suitcase. The big one. She heaves it up on the bed, making a squeak of effort before it lands.
“Do you have any packing preferences? I like to do socks and underwear in a neat little corner and then build a fortress of rolled shirts around them. But I’m open to suggestions…to a certain degree.” She starts loading my clothes in.
“Stop,” I command, but she doesn’t. “Nora, stop packing.”
“Sorry, can’t do that! We’re on a tight schedule here. I need to startyourpacking tonight so I can domylaundry and packing tomorrow. Because as of now, my favorite leggings are dirty and there’s no way I’m sitting in a plane all day in jeans.”
I cross the floor in two strides, and once her fingers are clear, I close the lid of the suitcase. “Explain what is going on.”
She squares her shoulders at me like she’s been hoping it would come to this. The blaze in her eyes swarms through my veins. She’sso close to me I could take one step forward and we’d be pressed together. The no-touching rule hums between us. Taunting me. “We have a flight Friday morning. Bright and early. First flight out in fact, so we’re going to get to the airport around five-thirtya.m.”
“Like hell we are.”
I don’t mean to, but my eyes drop to her mouth. This is the first time she’s really fought back against me at all since we started working together, and it reminds me so much of how we used to play-fight just for the fun of it back when we were together. And when my gaze drops to her arms, I find chillbumps lining her skin. She’s not unaffected by this moment either.
She clears her throat and turns away, rushing off to the closet again while I’m back here losing my mind. I shove my hands into my hair and tug just to relieve some frustration. But it’s not about this damn job. I’m angry that I want her. And frustrated that I can’t have her.
And I really can’t.
Even if Nora wanted me back, I won’t ever let myself trust her again. Not after loving her so thoroughly and then having her back out on us with zero warning or hints. Not even a week of fading us out. One day she loved me and dreamed of a future with me while ditching her public speaking class so we could go on a hike to a waterfall, and the next, she sent our relationship to the guillotine.
“Where is this flight going that I won’t be on?” I ask, meeting her at the closet and leaning my hands on either side of the doorjamb, blocking her in there until she gives me a straight answer.
She grins. “Las Vegas.” And then she and her arms full of socks and underwear easily dart under my blockade.
A boulder drops into the pit of my stomach. She’s serious. She really booked us plane tickets to Vegas.
“I am not going to Vegas. And I’m not participating in this endorsement deal. End of story.”
She’s a little bee buzzing around my room, still gathering everything she needs for a trip I am not taking. “Oh, I think you are. Because number one, I already booked the flights and confirmed with Dapper that you’ll be on set Friday, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to star in their main commercial spot of the year.”
My nostrils flare. “You didn’t.”
“And number two, I’ve been instructed to tell you by the guys that if you resist, they will tell me about the thing they found in your bedside table a few months ago.”
