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She pushed her finger against my lips to silence me and I let out a deep breath through my nose. “You’re letting the control freak gremlin inside of you come out, Nova. Just breathe.” She moved her finger away from my lips and stuffed her straw into my mouth. “Suck.”
I took a sip of the smoothie, the liquid cold as it went down my throat.
“You have been so busy with this fake fiancée stuff, you haven’t been around much.” She handed me the cup to hold and walked around to the back of her desk.
“Well, Iamtrying to save our company here, Juliet.” I sat down in front of her and placed my feet on the edge of her desk, crossing my ankles.
She leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the other side of her desk, mirroring me. “And I love you for it. Just remember that decisions need to be made, and if you aren’t here to make them with me, I’ll have to do it without you. Otherwise, we won’t have a company to save, gremlin.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. She knew I didn’t like it when she called me that. It was her way of saying that I was trying to control things too much and that I should stop. But she was right. I replayed the events of the last week in my head and dropped my chin to my chest. It was not fun to admit you were in the wrong. “I’m sorry.” My voice cracked, and I sighed. “You are one hundred percent right. I just—I don’t know, felt left out. I’m sorry. I’ll keep the gremlin locked away.”
She chuckled and stood up, gripping me in a bear hug. “It’s OK, Nova. The gremlin can come out to play sometimes, just not all the time.” She squeezed tight and I let out the breath I had been holding in.
This was why I loved her. She was the yin to my yang. The peanut butter to my jelly. We crossed our fingers in our secret code and bumped hands.
“Do you have anything else you want to tell me?” My eyes darted to the smoothie and back to her face, which was now turning a slight shade of pink. She shook her head no and shrugged her shoulders.
“Hmm.” She placed a finger on her lip and hummed. “Nope.”
I raised my eyebrow at her and tried to fight back the smile. “Really? Because we both know you only drink chocolate banana crunch smoothies from Stan’s after you’ve had sex.” That was something I had learned about her in college, where we had met our freshman year. Something about replenishing her inner goddess. She always had that smoothie after sex. It never failed.
Her eyes glistened, and she clicked her tongue. “Well…” She glanced up at the ceiling and bit her bottom lip. “I met someone.” She held her hands up at my squeal of excitement. “But it’s too soon to give details. I don’t want to jinx it.”
“You dirty bird.” I swatted her playfully on the arm and laughed. “He better be treating you right.”
Her smile stretched from ear to ear. “He is.”
We spent the next hour pulling dress after dress out of the shopping bags while I told her everything that had happened the past few days, from lunch in the park to running into Grace. I even called Thora back to come look at the outfits. She was just as giddy as Juliet as I tried the dresses on for them. Juliet had known what she was doing when she hired Thora. She was enthusiastic, had a cheerful demeanor, and, when I asked her about the crystal necklace she was wearing, proceeded to pull crystals and rocks out of every spot you could imagine—her pockets, her shoes, even her bra. She spent a good half an hour explaining why we should always carry amethyst and rose quartz with us and even gave us bracelets made of the same.
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur with Thora showing not only was she fun to be around, but she was dead serious about getting us organized. She had a stack of inventory sheets organized, stamped, sealed and packed away in just a few short hours, something that would have taken Juliet and I days to do. It had been a great day, the only downside being another black box tied with lace showed up at the front door. A single black rose inside. No name, and still no note. Out to the dumpster it went.
I stopped short in the alley when I saw one of Ryzen’s security guards leaning against a sedan. He nodded at me, and I waved, scurrying back inside right after. OK, I was going to have to talk to Ryzen about that. I didn’t need any protection, and I definitely did not want to be followed around all the time.
I waited all night for Ryzen to text, but he never did. Nor did he the next day. Or the third day, I contemplated calling or texting him to make sure he was OK, but decided against it. It wasn’t like we were in an actual relationship, where we had to let each other know our comings and goings. Besides, a quick search on theWeekly Wetshowed a picture of him out to dinner with Riddick the night before, so I knew he was alive and well.
I brushed it off. I mean, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised he hadn’t reached out to me, especially since we had spent almost every day together the week prior. But I was determined not to let it get to me. It was a business relationship, not an actual relationship. I had been the one to insist on keeping it platonic, and I needed to remember that.
After four long days, and me constantly searching for new pictures of Ryzen on theWeekly Wet, he finally reached out.
Ryzen: My apologies on the radio silence, honey. Had a few fire drills at work. Listen, there’s an impromptu dinner with Covington tonight and we need to be there. I’ll pick you up at six. Wear one of the new dresses. It’s showtime.
Chapter Seven
Ryzen picked me up at six on the dot, looking sexier than French toast on a Sunday morning. Why had I ever thought men in suits weren’t attractive? Oh, yeah, because most of them were money-grabbing horndogs. But Ryzen? He looked good enough to eat.
We zoomed down Lake Shore Drive to one of Covington’s homes just outside the city limits, Ryzen’s security guards trailing right behind us. I found it odd that they were constantly around, but I guessed when you were filthy rich, it was a necessity. I had asked Ryzen why one of his guards was at my office, and he’d told me to ignore it. Act like they weren’t there.
I couldn’t shake the fluttering sensation in my stomach, and I stabbed my palm with my nails to try to calm my nerves. Ryzen reached over and squeezed my knee, and I stopped bouncing my leg up and down.
“No need to worry.” His hand was warm against my exposed skin, and I didn’t object when he traced little circles on my knee. “You got this. Just remember what we talked about.”
Ah, yes, the good ol’ “don’t bring up work at the table” talk we had earlier. Ryzen was under the impression that my profession might make some people uncomfortable. And by “some people,” he meant the rich, uptight men we would meet tonight. If you asked me, I would say to hell with them. Let them feel uncomfortable. But I had to remember that we had a goal here, and that was to win over Covington so Ryzen got the hotel deal and I got my lease. So, no matter how much I might want to talk about the benefits of anal beads, this was not the group to do it with.
We pulled into a circular driveway lined with privacy trees, where there was already a fleet of cars parked. The estate was enormous, and I had to keep reminding myself that these people were not just rich, but billionaire rich. Like, they could decorate their entire house in gold and it wouldn’t even put a dent in their budget. The gravel crunched underneath my heels, and I held onto Ryzen’s arm as we walked up the stairs to the front door. I tried not to roll my eyes when Ryzen placed a shawl around my shoulders and rang the doorbell. Yet another “no” on my part. He had not looked too pleased when he saw me in the dress I’d chosen, even though I’d stressed to him on the ride down the elevator that he was the one who’d picked that dress out. Apparently it was too revealing. Too many tattoos were showing. But there was no time to change, nor would I have. He needed to know that he couldn’t control everything all the time.
A petite woman with fluffed-up hair twice the size of her head opened the door and greeted us. “Welcome, welcome!”
“Mrs. Covington, so nice to see you again.” Ryzen held out his hand to her, and she swatted it away and tugged him in for a hug.
