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His lip goes up again. His smile is so sexy it hurts. “Okay.”
“I really do have to get back to work.”
“What are you doing after?”
My stomach plunges. “Why?”
“George messed up our meeting. He says I can’t take photos of the east wing now, even though I have his permission in writing.”
A little piece of me falls at that. It’s his work.
“Classic.” I don’t report directly to George, but my boss does. “Louise—my boss—says he forgets everything they talk about in meetings. Important things like notes about hiring, or complaints from guests that need to be sorted out. She says if she weren’t about to retire, she’d have quit the minute things transferred to George. Louise says he somehow hid his shadiest side from Shannon when she was still alive, but got this God complex the minute he took over.”
Tristan’s studying me with his lips quirked. He shoves his hands in his back pockets, and I can’t help notice the way the button-down he’s wearing strains over his shoulders. I remember seeing those last night, uncovered. How he had this tattoo on his right one I couldn’t quite read. “Then maybe you have some ideas for the best way to get access to the east wing? Seeing as you have the inside scoop.”
“You want me to help you sneak into the shut-down side of the hotel? The one that has all the doors sealed and hazard warnings posted by the exits?”
“I just want to know if there’s an entry that might be more discreet than the doors down in the lobby; or the outside stoop. Where I’ve already been booted out of.”
“I know where the keys are. I also know George cut off the security cameras on that side of the building after he had the alarm installed, because he says we don’t have to pay for both.”
“Alarm?”
“The one that’s not actually attached to a security system. It chirps but doesn’t alert anyone. Oh, and security doesn’t patrol the east wing when the shifts change.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Louise oversees security too, since the head of that department quit after George took over. She’s ‘up to here with George.’ Her words. And I’m a good listener, so I know more about George and the running of this hotel than I ever thought I would.”
He smiles again, but this time, there’s something like admiration in it. My insides do a little flutter, erasing the last shadow of doubt that this was a stupid thing to suggest.
“But I can’t, tonight,” I say.
Tristan’s smile drops. “Oh, okay.”
“My mother will kill me if I miss another dinner at home.” Especially since it was the one I was going to bring Glen to. The one he probably dumped me over, I realize now. Yet today it doesn’t sting quite in the same way as it did yesterday.
Tristan fully grins this time, and it makes my stomach flutter.
“How about tomorrow? Is seven too late? For the light?”
“Seven’s perfect this time of year.”
“Meet you at the east door at seven then.” Then I abruptly walk past him. “Bye Tristan,” I say, fast enough that neither of us can think better of this.
Because my new plan is even better than the first. I don’t need a kiss to prove to myself I can be with someone casually.
I need to be casual with the boy who ruined all men for me.
If I can survive being with Tristan Galloway and then letting him go again, I can survive anything.
CHAPTER6
Tristan
The next evening, Cora’s waiting for me on the far edge of the parking lot like we planned.
My whole body feels tight, like wire wound up in a ball.
