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“My girlfriend.” I slip my phone back into the inner pocket of my suit jacket.
“Oh?”
Alicia turns back to the window when I don’t elaborate and watches as the Manhattan skyline comes into view.
The remainder of the drive is made in silence until we pull up in front of the office. She was supposed to be briefing me on our latest project, a refurb of the prestigiousSeasonsmembers only club in Manhattan. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve seen the design portfolio and read the client brief. If I have any questions, I can discuss them when I meet with the owner, Sterling Beaufort.
Alicia bristles in her seat as our driver stops the car and exits, holding the rear door open for her.
She clears her throat. “You don’t do girlfriends, Drew.”
“I didn’t,” I state flatly, stepping out of the car behind her and buttoning the top button of my jacket up with one hand. “Until her.”
I extend one arm, indicating for Alicia to go first. She looks up at me, and I hold her eyes, challenging her to say anything that’ll give me a good reason to fire her. She’s pushed the boundaries enough in the past for this to be her final chance. And I’m not justifying my relationship with Sophie to anyone.
I look at her pointedly, tired of her games.
She spins with a huff, walking into the building.
Chapter 9
Sophie
“I thought you approvedof him,” I say to Halliday as I gather up some files from my desk.
“I do. But you’ve never been in serious relationships, and now you’ve jumped straight from one and into another,” she says down the phone.
“It’s just another date when he’s back from New York tomorrow. Nothing serious.” I check my watch.Five minutes until my client arrives.
“Is that how Drew sees it?”
“You don’t need to worry. I like his company. He makes me forget about work. I feel like a part of myself that I thought was lost forever re-surfaces when I’m with him.”
“He told you he’d be your husband now if you’d dated him,” Halliday deadpans.
I shake my head with a smile. “He was joking.”
“Hmm,” Halliday hums.
I fight the urge to respond because I don’t believe myself either. Drew is intense. And something about the look in his eyes as he made the husband comment—the dark, primal way they bored into mine—tells me he wasn’t joking. At all.
“It’s just one more date. We didn’t even sleep together again.”
He kissed me goodbye on the doorstep and left after our date, even though I invited him in. I thought there’d be more and was disappointed when there wasn’t. I shake the thought away. isn’t the time to get distracted.
“I’ve gotta go; my client’s due any minute.”
“Me too. I have a call with a match-making daughter,” Halliday says.
“The one in New York?”
“Park Avenue Princess,” Halliday sings in confirmation.
“Exciting. Good luck. I’ll catch you later.”
I walk from my office to the door at the end of the hallway and knock. I wait for her timid voice to call out before I enter.
Large, scared eyes meet mine as I step inside and close the door.
