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Scarlet
I sat in the backseat of my Uber, thoughts of the past two days saturating my mind. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to believe the past days had actually been a part of my life.
Who would have thought my boring night out with the girls would result in a fun and exciting tryst with a rich and handsome stranger? Nothing so adventurous had ever happened to me before. I knew without a doubt that Tobias Gentry had permanently engraved himself in my memory. When I became old and gray, I would remember the handsome gentleman I’d met on accident, and the time we had shared together for two brief days. Those nights would likely bring a smile to my face for the rest of my life.
Except for when it came time to tell my friends about them.
I sighed, envisioning Mila waiting for me to call her. She would want to know every scandalous detail, and she would relish gossiping to the rest of our friends about it afterwards.
I frowned, knowing that I simply couldn’t allow it, which meant she couldn’t know. I couldn’t tell her. I knew I couldn’t tell her because I couldn’t even stomach the thought.
I couldn’t tell anyone.
Granted, I didn’t like lying to my friends, but this felt like something personal and it was perfectly permissible for me to keep some aspects of my life private. Tobias Gentry would be one of those aspects. For as long as I lived, he would remain my little secret.
I stared out the window, seeing my neighborhood coming closer.
Back to reality, I thought. The real world was awaiting me; I just hoped that I could readapt to it without much trouble. I knew it would be hard though. Even though our time together had been short, Tobias had changed something about me in ways I couldn’t even seem to fully comprehend yet.
Too bad it was all over. There was something special about that man. I could tell that he was one of the good ones, a hard find these days.
Why can’t I be lucky enough to have a man like that in my life? I thought bitterly. I sighed again as the Uber driver pulled up to my apartment.
CHAPTER 14
Tobias
4 months later
I looked up from my computer after hearing a knock at my office door. One of my employees, Libby, poked her head through the door.
“You got a minute?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said, watching her enter.
She came in, delivering a set of reports to my desk. “Already?” I said, stunned. She hadn’t had much time to pull this all together, yet, there she was.
“Been busting my butt to get that to you early,” she said. “But I know you’ve
been busting yours too lately, especially with Anderson and Joanna not being around as much. So I thought you’d appreciate having the reports early.” She winked.
“Goodness, Libby, I could kiss you for this,” I said, flipping through the pages.
“You sure could, but who says I’ll let you?” She laughed, trying to appear nonplussed, although a faint flush had formed over her cheeks.
“Touché,” I said, still glancing over her work. As far as I could tell, everything looked to be in perfect order. “You did a really great job with this, Libby. It may seem like overkill, but I really can’t thank you enough for how much you’ve stepped up to help me out over these past few months.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.
About a year ago, when my sister had moved into town to flee her abusive ex, I’d hired her to work at my firm, and Libby had become really good friends with her. When my sister got pregnant and had her baby with my best friend, Libby had started helping me out as much as possible, completing any additional tasks she could to ease the burden I felt in trying to take over both Anderson’s and Joanna’s roles in the office. While I was capable of doing their jobs, I couldn’t deny it was rough. I would have been spreading myself far too thin if I didn’t have Libby’s help.
Plus, I had been needing Libby’s help more than usual over the past four months because time and distance hadn’t aided in removing Scarlet Kale from my mind. I was almost ashamed to even admit to myself that I hadn’t stopped thinking about her from the moment we went our separate ways.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t had a few meaningless flings in my day. Yet, there was something about Scarlet that I just couldn’t shake. I had even deleted her number from my phone in an attempt to get her off my mind, not to mention eliminate the temptation I’d constantly felt to contact her again. But it had all been useless.
Not even the severely busy days at the office kept her off my mind for long. It was always just a matter of time before I found myself reliving the nights we’d spent together, thinking about the feel of her silky hair and soft lips…
And trying to figure out why she had such a God damn hold on me.
