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Rowena dropped back against her chair, letting go of my hands. “Well, that would explain it, I guess,” she remarked evenly.
“Explain what?”
“The shadow,” she answered. “I told you that it felt more like a foreshadowing of something, and now we know what.”
“Don’t hate me, but I have a confession to make.”
“By all means,” she replied, gesturing for me to get on with it.
Letting out a deep breath, I told her everything from the very beginning, including how I’d been a tad disappointed when he’d had to go out of town, putting Jim Tully in charge of finishing out the audit. While Jim Tully had seemed kind enough, he wasn’t the one that I had the hots for.
“He asked if you had a boyfriend, then told you that he wanted you, then warned you that he was coming after you?” Rowena asked, ignoring all the rest of my story. “Sweet Jesus, Landry.”
“It was rather hot, though totally inappropriate,” I agreed.
“Hot? That was more than hot,” she snorted. “That was hot like in those smutty romance novels.” She started fanning herself. “In fact, is it getting hot in here?”
“Are we both just going to pretend to notice how he’s way out of my league?” I asked her.
Rowena scowled at me. “He is not out of your league, Landry,” she scolded. “You are beautiful, smart, witty, independent, and the best friend that a girl could have. He’d be lucky if you looked his way.”
“He’sRush Crawford, Rowena,” I reminded her, in case she’d forgotten. “He’s worth billions and can probably impregnate a woman by just looking at her.”
“Do you feel pregnant?” she asked, and that was enough to kill the seriousness of our conversation. I started laughing and couldn’t stop.
When I finally managed to get myself under control, I asked, “Can we forget about Rush Crawford and get back to my reading? Those margaritas won’t wait forever.”
“I’ll let you run from your problems this time, but wearegoing to finish talking about this thing between you and Rush Crawford, Landry,” she replied sternly.
One hour and four margaritas later, I was still running from my problems.
Chapter 10
Rush~
Iwasn’t the fanciful type. I didn’t give much thought to serendipity, chance, signs, or anything of that nature. I was pragmatic, and work was my religion. Though I believed in God and prayed for the wellbeing of my family regularly, I wasn’t the type of person that spent time with my head in the clouds.
At least, I didn’tusedto be.
However, I was starting to question everything that I used to believe when I saw Landry Novak walking into the Silver Cup. The Silver Cup was an upscale restaurant/bar, and you could find a lot of business dinners happening in the place. I liked having my late-night meetings here because I often needed a damn drink when they were over.
Like right now, for instance.
I’d just finished having a meeting with Clive Bahl, another CEO wanting to do business before his company went bankrupt. While this wasn’t a normal thing for me, I was always willing to listen to the pitch. I wasn’t one to ever pass up the opportunity to make something happen, so I was always open to listening to someone’s business plan. Unfortunately for Clive Bahl, I wasn’t interested in a sinking ship with no chance of survival. It was one thing to have money troubles, but it was quite another to have run a company so deep in the red that it’d take years to see a profit. Yeah, I didn’t have that kind of time.
Nevertheless, I’d sit and listen to his bullshit all over again just to be in the right place at the right time tonight. Landry walked in just as I was finishing my glass of whiskey, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. It was like God was presenting her to me on a silver platter. While I’d been prepared to, I hadn’t had to break any laws to find her again.
She also wasn’t dressed like she was out for a night on the town. She looked like she was on a mission, not caring what anyone might think of her. Her blonde hair was thrown up in a bun, her face looked fresh clean of makeup, and her outfit looked…uh,verycomfortable.
I watched as she approached the hostess, and from their casual interaction, I’d say that Landry knew the woman. They were talking animatedly, and Landry really was fucking stunning when her smile reached her eyes.
A few seconds later, the hostess was holding up her finger, gesturing for Landry to hold on, then she quickly vanished back towards the kitchens. Two seconds later, I was throwing some cash on the bar, then making my way towards the hostess podium. Once Landry noticed me, those sweet blue eyes of hers widened before shifting nervously.
“Hey,” I said as soon as I was standing in front of her.
“Uh, hey,” she replied hesitantly.
“Here for dinner?”
