Sure, this penthouse would fit between the pages of any upscale interior design magazine, but I couldn’t imagine living in a place like this. I’d be too afraid to put my coffee mug down in case I stained something.
Biting the inside of my cheek to keep myself from laughing at my silly thoughts, my gaze flicked to the clock on thewall.
Fifteen minutes left. There was still time… Maybe.
“Somewhere you need to be?” Tristan appeared in front of me, the manila pressed to his chest.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. “Yes, there is. I have dinner plans, and I’m running late.”
His lips twitched, and I knew he was holding back another chuckle. “Oh, so it’s food you’re after, and here I thought it was that time of the month.”
“Ugh.” I shot my hand out to grab the contract from him. Just as I had the envelope in my grasp, he curled his long fingers around my wrist.
“You should have said something. I’m more than happy to feed a hangry Kitty Kat.”
The words “no thank you” were right there on the tip of my tongue, but before a single sound could escape me, another voice filtered down the hall.
“Tristaaan.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a breath. This was exactly what I’d wanted to avoid.
“Seriously?” Yanking my arm back, I tried to free myself from his hold, but his damn fingers were locked tight.
Shelby called out to him a second time, and despite myself, I craned my neck to look at her. She was model-beautiful: blond hair, long legs, flawless skin. And the only thing she had on was Tristan’s dress shirt from earlier.
Good heavens, I did not need to be here. Didn’twantto be here.
“For shit’s sake, Tristan, let me go.”
His fingers flexed, digging deeper into my skin. I faced him again, fully intending on giving him a piece of my mind, but when my gaze met his, something very, very strange happened behind my breastbone.
A fluttering somewhat similar to tiny butterfly wings brushing over my skin. Or maybe it was indigestion.
Whatever it was freaked me out so much I wrenched hard enough to free myself from his grasp. Then I hurried out of his apartment as fast as I could. It wasn’t fast enough. As I poked the button for the ground floor, the sound of my name followed me.
Through the elevator’s closing doors, I didn’t miss Tristan’s big body stuck inside his doorframe.
What the hell was that?
Much like earlier, I slumped against the wall. It’d been a long day. Hell, it’d been a long, few months with all the partner talk happening at the firm. It was the only explanation I had for whatever was going on with my boss.
The only one that made sense.
Shoving a few strands behind my ear, I blew out a breath and checked my watch. There was no way I was going to make it to the restaurant on time. I reached into my dress’s hidden pocket—whoever thought of hiding these neat pockets in a dress deserved a freaking award—to grab my phone and scroll to Steve’s number.
It didn’t take long for his gravelly “Hello” to filter through the line.
“Steve. Hi, it’s Kate.”
There was a long, loaded pause. “You’re late.” Not yet I wasn’t, but I thought it best to keep that to myself.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling.” The elevator dinged its permission for the doors to slide apart. Phone still pressed to my ear; I strode across the lobby. Sensing Ezekiel’s watchful gaze on me, I used the envelope to wave my goodbye. He tipped his head, and his wide toothy smile was exactly what I needed when I greeted the busy New York sidewalk.
“I had a work emergency. I’m done now and should be at the restaurant in less than an hour.”
“What’s the point?”
“Excuse me?” I stood with my back to the glass doors, doing my best to avoid the hustling pedestrians.
