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He caught up with her at the car, opening the door just as she reached it. “Thank you, Jordan, you make a wonderful assistant,” she said, climbing back inside. While he mumbled under his breath about being her personal managernot bloody assistant, Chloe spent a considered minute or two carefully arranging bags. She put her piping hot cup of coffee into the holder in the center console, humming to herself as she went about making sure everything was perfect.
Just before she reached for her seatbelt, she dragged the wig and cap off her head and tossed it over her shoulder. It landed on the passenger seat behind her. “Thank god for that, those wigs make my head sweat.”
“Is there anything you would like before we set off again?” asked Jordan, climbing into the driver’s side of the SUV. Chloe checked her snack collection—she had it all laid out on the dashboard tray in front of her. A veritable cornucopia of road trip foodie delights.
“So where do we start? Chips, jerky, gum, or candy?”
From out of nowhere Jordan magically produced a paper bag and handed it to her. “We start with these. Cinnamon rolls. They are pull-apart so if you are good to share one, we could save the second one for later.”
Chloe took the bag and after poking her nose inside, gushed. “I’m sure these are very bad for you. Think of all the sugar. The calories. The carbs.”
Jordan chuckled. “But the taste of enjoying your life to the fullest beats them all.” His words took her back to that first morning in Paris. To the buttery goodness of the freshly baked croissants. He’d given her a brief glimpse of a life where treats were not forbidden. Where comfort and friendship came before trying to impress the world.
She’d wanted that world, thought that with Jordan she’d really had a chance of finally having it. But then she remembered how he’d failed her. How he’d walked away without looking back. He had never called. Not once.
“Jordan, when we get to Vegas, would you do something for me?”
“Of course, that’s what I am here for, to cater to your every wish and desire.”
The words rolled so easily off his tongue. But instead of filling her with a sense of reassurance, they only served to remind Chloe that his family were in the people pleasing business. He’d likely been spouting that sort of customer-service line from the day he’d uttered his first words.
But Jordan wasn’t going to be able to find what she wished for in the in-house menu or have someone run out to a fancy store to buy it.
“When we get to Las Vegas, I want you to tell me the truth as to why you took on this management gig. I’m not buying the whole, ‘it’s good for business’ routine. You are an executive at Royal Resorts, and I might not know a lot about how big companies work but I do know that they don’t send their top people to do these sorts of jobs.”
She ripped open the cinnamon roll and handed half of it to Jordan. He took it and gave a nod of thanks. For the next hour as Jordan drove, they sat munching their way through the snacks, neither one saying a word.
CHAPTERFORTY-ONE
“Can we please stop for a bathroom break?” Chloe had downed three coffees and a gallon of water already this morning. Her bladder was in grave danger of springing a leak. And all those sugary treats were playing merry havoc with her gut. She wasn’t used to eating that much junk food in one sitting.
Jordan pointed to a rest stop a little way ahead. “Let’s pull in there and you can go find relief.”
Relief. It was sorely needed.
Chloe gripped onto the front rail of the SUV as Jordan turned off the highway and onto a dirt road. She could have sworn he made an effort to hit every bump and hole in the road. Her stomach was in knots and cramping badly by the time he stopped the car. He gave the brakes a little too hard a nudge and she glared at him.
Jordan didn’t meet her gaze. He just sat staring straight ahead, before lazily pointing to a nearby sign which saidWomen’s Bathroom. “You go on ahead and I will follow to make sure no super fans have tracked us from LA.”
She muttered a few choice words in his direction, the last one being, “Asshole,” and climbed out of the SUV. They were in the middle of nowhere and she wasn’t going to bother with the hat and the wig. When her stomach gave a dangerous rumble, she knew she didn’t have much time.
By the time she reached the washrooms, Chloe was sweating. Any moment now, and she feared the worst might happen. Her bowels threatened revenge.
No more junk food on this trip. I promise.
* * *
“What is wrong with me?” muttered Jordan, as he watched a clearly distressed Chloe make her way toward the ladies washrooms. He hadn’t made any effort to avoid the bumps as he left the highway. And he’d been too heavy footed on the brakes. He was punishing her for no good reason. The silence in the SUV over the past hour had been just as much his fault as hers.
Las Vegas was still a number of hours away. When they got there, she wanted to talk.No. She wants answers.He’d barely survived the end of their relationship and the disaster at the resort, so the last thing Jordan wanted was to drag all that up again. To relive the pain that he’d spent the best part of seven months stuffing down deep.
His therapist had warned him not to suppress his emotions, rather he should form a healthier relationship with them. She’d cautioned him on the possible damage it could cause in the long run if he didn’t embrace this way of thinking.
But he would choose short term sanity over the risk of future pain. Burying emotions was the only way he was going to get through this time with Chloe.
When her musical residency was over, and the board of Royal Resorts finally cut him loose, then he would go back into therapy and dig it all up. Right now, his pain was resting under a headstone which read.Here lies Jordan Royal’s biggest mistakes—the ones he never learned from.
After Chloe disappeared into the washrooms, Jordan sat watching the door for a few minutes. A mother and young daughter made their way in, and a middle aged woman came out. He glanced around the parking area. There were only a handful of cars. No paparazzi, or hordes of screaming Chloe fans were anywhere in sight.
