AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I should get back to the party.”
“Okay, baby.”
Pushing off the wall, she grabbed the door handle, but the door didn’t budge. “Oh, uh, well, I would get back to the party if I hadn’t just locked myself out.”
He laughed. “The Ruby Room?”
“Yeah, oh God, do you have Roxie’s number? She probably won’t hear her phone over the music.”
“She won’t even have her phone, Button. If she does, it won’t be charged. One sec, I can do it.”
“Do what?” she asked, drawing a fingertip around the glowing panel on the handle.
“Press your thumbprint to the reader.”
Is that what it was? Okay. She knew that. Totally knew that. She did and it scanned. Then there was a pause. It flashed and the door popped open an inch.
“How did you do that?”
“Magic,” he said. “You’re in the system, you won’t get stuck anywhere again. Go back to the party, Button. I want you to have the time of your life.”
31
The time of her life was right. New York was an incredible city, made even more incredible with Roxie as a tour guide.
But it couldn’t last forever. She and Roxie flew back to Chicago in time for her to get to work on Monday. It didn’t feel like she’d been dragging, though that might’ve been the adrenaline still pumping. By the end of the day, it was wearing off, and she needed a nap.
Like Stacey just knew she could do without the hassle, she’d tossed her another couple of assignments later in the day. It was almost eight p.m. when she finally shut down her computer.
She stood up, stretching her shoulder as she put her purse on the desk. Customer Relations worked in their own group office, although there was no one around. Not that she wanted to see anyone.
No, she wanted to get home, take off her shoes, and maybe see if Xander was free. She didn’t like interrupting his rhythm at work, but sharing lunch over a video call just wasn’t the same as having him there with her. They might see each other for the same amount of time, but the potency wasn’t equal when her skin couldn’t touch his.
He’d joked about jonesing for her. Or she’d thought it was a joke. Now she wasn’t so sure.
Going into the corridor, she tossed the strap of her purse over her head, eyes on the elevator. It was a clean shot out.
At least until Stacey leaped out of her office into her path.
“I’m going home,” she said. “No more last-minute assignments, please. I had a long weekend, a fun weekend but—”
“I just need to talk to you,” Stacey said. “This will only take a second.”
Did “talk to her” ever end well? Doubtful. Shit. Had they somehow found out about her and Xander? She hadn’t called him from any company phones or emailed him from her business account.
Rounding into the office to find Stacey wasn’t alone was chilling.
“Mr. Donal? Both of you need to talk to me?”
Stacey went behind her back to close the office door.
“Sit down,” Eric Donal said.
They’d arranged three chairs in front of the desk, all facing each other. Two were clearly closer than the other. Donal sat in one and Stacey scurried around to sit in the other, leaving her in the hot seat.
“What’s this about?” she asked, lowering herself slowly. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” Donal said, but glanced at Stacey, becoming more somber. “But it’s not good news, I’m afraid.”
