Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 134706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
I put my head into my hands and let out a dejected sigh. This is hard. Harder than hard.
I don’t know what I’m doing. How the hell do I keep us above water for much longer? If only Wade were here. He would know what to do. He was the brains of our business. Give him a problem, and he could work out a way around it. He saw problems as challenges or learning curves. Nothing was too big an obstacle for him.
But he’s gone . . . and now it’s just me.
God, I feel so out of my depth. I sit and stare at the computer screen for a long time.
Maybe if I stare at it long enough, the answer will come to me like magic.
What do I do?
What direction should I move in? I know something has to change . . . but what?
Stop.
Stop being so negative. I can pull us out of this. I know I can.
Reconfigure a few processes, move a few accounts. Streamline the advertising again.
It will be okay . . . it has to be.
Giving up this company is not an option.
I won’t go down without a fight, and damn it, it will be okay.
I’ll make damn sure of it.
My office door opens in a rush. “Just this way,” Marley says to someone.
A man comes through the door with the biggest bunch of red roses I have ever seen.
“Delivery for Claire Anderson.”
“That’s me,” I reply.
The roses have huge heads with a deep perfume and are in the most beautiful crystal vase. He places them down on my desk. “Sign here, please.”
I sign in the allocated box. “Thank you.” I smile broadly.
“You’re welcome. Although I have an admission. I didn’t buy them.”
Marley and I laugh. The joke isn’t funny, but we are so excited that we would laugh at anything, it seems.
With a kind nod, he leaves us alone, and I open the card.
I’M A VERY HAPPY MAN TODAY.
#TOBELOVEDBYYOU
TRIS
xox
An over-the-top smile beams from my face, and Marley snatches the card from me.
She reads it, and her eyes rise to meet mine in confusion. “What does that mean?”
I roll my lips.
“To be loved by you.” She frowns.
I shrug.
Her eyes widen. “You love him?”
I give her a lopsided smile.
“You told him you love him?” She gasps.
I swing my chair back to my computer. “Yes, Marley. I admit it; I’m in love with Tristan Miles.”
She falls into a seated position on my desk and stares at me for a while in disbelief.
“Well . . . holy fucking shit,” she says as she puts her hands on her hips. “I was not expecting that.”
“Me neither.”
“So . . . what?” She stares at me for a moment as she tries to process the new information. “I mean, I knew you had that week of lunch fucks.”
I smile at her analogy. “Sounds so romantic when you put it like that.”
“You know what I mean.” She smirks. “But what happened then? And more importantly, why the fuck haven’t you told me about any of this?”
“I was just waiting to see what happened, and I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“Jinx it?”
“Well, sometimes when you put something out there, it doesn’t turn out how you expect it to.”
“So . . . this is turning out?” She frowns in surprise.
“Oh, Marley,” I gush as I look at my beautiful flowers. “Tristan is just so . . .” I search for the right words. “Funny and sweet and understanding, and he sleeps on the couch at my house out of respect for my kids.”
She screws up her face in disbelief. “Tristan Miles?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Tristan Miles, the arrogant, gorgeous playboy?” she repeats, as if not believing me.
I smile with a nod. “Yep, that’s him.”
She frowns at me. “I’m so confused. I thought he was a hot player who had excellent fucking capabilities.”
I laugh out loud. “He’s all of those things, but there’s more to him.” I read my card again.
I’M A VERY HAPPY MAN TODAY.
#TOBELOVEDBYYOU
TRIS
XOX
“To be loved by you.” I hold the card to my chest.
And he is.
Marley smiles as she watches me, and finally she says, “I love seeing you like this.”
“Like what, all dreamy and starry eyed like a schoolgirl?”
“Happy.”
I smile softly. “Thanks. I really am.” I put the card carefully back into its envelope. I’ll keep it in a safe place with the other card from the last lot of roses he gave me.
Everything from Tristan is special.
“I’m meeting his family on Saturday night at a black-tie dinner,” I say.
“Oh jeez.” Her eyes widen. “What are you wearing?”
“No idea. This is my worst nightmare.”
“What do you have in your wardrobe?”
“Nothing. I haven’t bought an evening dress in years. What the hell do you even wear to a black-tie dinner these days?”
“We’ll go shopping. Don’t worry; we’ll find you something. You have to look amazing.”
“I know.” Nerves flutter in my stomach as I imagine meeting his parents and older brother, Jameson. I know their opinions are important to Tris. “I want to look understated sexy, not like mutton dressed up as lamb. Something age appropriate but not motherly.”