My phone rings, startling me from the daze I’ve been in since I started sifting through the mounds of documents.
“Hey.” Hearing Vinny’s voice melts my heart.
“Hi.”
“Did I wake you?”
“No, I was just doing some work.”
“Anything interesting?”
“No.” My response is so quick, I wonder if my guilt travels through the phone, smacking Vinny in the face on the other end of the line.
“Well I had an interesting day.”
I freeze, convinced he knows what I’m doing, maybe even able to see the pictures that lay on the bed in front of me. I know it makes no sense, but that doesn’t stop my paranoia from kicking in.
“Liv?” There’s concern in his voice from my lack of response.
“Sorry. I dropped the phone for a second,” I lie.
“Oh.”
“What made your afternoon interesting?” Hesitantly, I ask the question and hold my breath waiting for his response.
“Elle went into labor.”
“Oh.” Exhale. “Wow.”
Paranoia and guilt mix for a potent cocktail, leaving me feeling hungover, even though I’ve just been given a reprieve.
“Yeah,” he laughs. “I’m not sure who was more nervous. Me, Nico, or Elle.”
“Did she have the baby yet?”
“No. Turned out to be false labor.”
“Oh. They must be disappointed.”
“Think Nico looked more relieved than anything.” I can tell he’s smiling, enjoying his trainer showing fear. “Big guy was looking pretty scared.”
“Maybe he’s nervous about seeing his wife in labor. Watching her in pain.”
“More like he’s afraid of what comes after the labor.”
“You like the thought of him being afraid of a little baby, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
I can’t help but laugh at his honesty. We talk for another half an hour. He tells me stories about Elle and her little brother Max. Clearly, he adores them, the excitement about the baby coming through in his voice.
After I hang up, I lie back in my bed, my head spinning from the day. The feeling of being on a runaway train with no means to lessen the impact of the crash that would inevitably come overwhelms me. The job I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl is dangling from a fragile thread right in front of my face. So easy to reach out and grab it. But if I don’t, if I let the chance of a lifetime slip through my fingers, there’d be no bracing for the impact of the fall. The job would be Summer’s.
My phone ringing again, not ten minutes after I hung up with Vinny, makes me debate ignoring the call. But I don’t, I answer it, although without the enthusiasm I usually greet people with.
“I’m still thinking about you. The look on your face after I kissed you outside your building today. I’m lying in bed with a hard-on remembering the way your body reacts to me.” Vinny’s voice trails off. “Even in public. It’s uncontrollable and so god damn sexy, I just needed to hear the sound of your voice again.”
Swallowing hard, my voice is throaty when I respond, “It was a good kiss…”
“Tomorrow night. I’m going to do things to you that’ll make you scream my name over and over.”
Ummm…how do you respond to that? Other than having your nipples harden and feeling the flesh between your legs swell in anticipation. “Okay,” I say softly.
“Night, Liv.”
“Night, Vinny.”
I hang up, tossing my phone into a pile of papers, and eventually drift off to sleep with visions of Vinny making me scream, rather than thoughts of the story I had to come to terms with writing.
Chapter 24
Liv
I woke today with a new outlook on life. I’ve decided the story just isn’t true. God just couldn’t be that cruel to bring this man back to me and then make me crush his only honorable family memory. One that he utterly cherishes. Lots of people have pale blue eyes and rugged square jaws. Hell, there’s a whole community of beautiful people out there that could pass for a relative of Senator Knight or Vinny.
Arriving at my office bright and early, I’m ready to dive in head first. I just need to clarify a few things with Sleezeball before I get on my merry way.
“Good morning, James. Do you have a minute for me?”
“I’ve got whatever you need. Come on in.” His dirty smile tells me his choice of words is not coincidence. I feel the need to shower at his gross double entendre. Yet I smile all the same as I take my place in the seat he motions for me to sit in.
“I spent a lot of time thinking about the Senator Knight story last night.”