I drop my phone back onto the couch next to me and try to focus on the television. I’ve been so consumed with replaying the memories over and over again in my mind of two nights with Alec, my own Emmy award-winning production, that what’s playing on the TV right now holds no interest for me. Two nights! It’s been more like a TV show marathon than a two-hour-weeknight movie. There’s been lots of action, but I have no idea what the plot is.
The phone buzzes again, almost immediately.
Come on, Jess—it’s going to be fun!
Rick wasn’t exactly a hit.
I know, but this guy is nothing like Rick.
I’m tired, Chris.
One drink.
Whyyyyy
Aren’t we close friends? Don’t you want to see us?
You know I love you but my couch is my date for the night Christian isn’t very good at taking no for an answer, so it doesn’t surprise me when my phone rings signaling an incoming call within moments after I send the last text, his name flashing brightly on the screen.
“Chris. I am not coming out to the Purple Swan. It’s been a long—”
“Jess, you have to let me make it up to you for setting you up with Richard. He was a friend of a friend who wanted me to show him a good time while he was in town. I swear, this guy is nothing like him.”
“I’m not staying long.”
Christian’s voice perks up. “You don’t have to stay long. Just come out for an hour, have a good time. Take today off your mind. I know that office job of yours sucks.”
He has no idea how much it sucks. When I’m not fantasizing about Alec, I’m fantasizing about picking up and moving somewhere else—anywhere else—so I don’t have to spend another hour at the Colton-Hayes headquarters. I just don’t have a passion for organizing last-minute projects. Everyone else’s failure to plan becomes my emergency. I’m so over it.
I bite my lip, considering Christian’s offer.
At the very least, a night out with my friends—even if I am half considering leaving them behind in exchange for a fresh start—could help me focus on something other than Alec for a couple of hours. Maybe it’ll give me enough perspective that I can make a logical fucking decision about all of this.
That’s what I need. Perspective.
I’m also starving. I only picked at my lunch because I was so conflicted about the Alec situation, I could barely eat. If nothing else, the food at the Purple Swan will be worth it. It always is.
“Fine.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” Chris says, laughing at my grudging acceptance.
“This guy had better be hot,” I say, sighing. I’m going to need to ask Carolyn to borrow a dress and then spend time on my hair and makeup. It would be far easier to just stay planted on the couch, but who am I kidding? I’d end up pacing the room in an attempt to rid myself of this obnoxious nervous energy.
I hear Carolyn’s key in the lock—she must have been working a little late today—and when she appears at the door to the living room, I give her a smile and a wave that she returns before flopping down on the couch next to me.
“He’s going to blow your mind,” Chris says. “But I’m not going to tell you anything else. Just show up at 8:30 with your beautiful self. I promise, Jess, you won’t regret it.”
Chapter 10
Alec
By Thursday morning, thinking about Jessica—the way she laughs, the way she moves, the way her naked body feels when it’s pressed against mine, rocking together joined at the hip into the early hours of the morning—has very nearly driven me mad.
The second “date” did nothing to get her out of my system, nothing at all. Part of me knew all along that seeing her again would do nothing but stoke the flames, but like the idiot I am, I went anyway.
What does it say about her that she agreed to a second date without hesitation?
When I checked in with Nate yesterday—an act that seems more and more like a waste of both my time and his as this trip progresses since he tails me everywhere I go or has someone else do it—he gave me shit for not taking Jessica out on an actual date.
“If this woman is really that amazing,” he said, giving me a slap on the shoulder, “you should have taken her somewhere upscale, not to the goddamn bar.”
“What do you want from me?” I shot back at him, keeping my tone light. “This is going nowhere, and you know it, yet you egg me on, you asshole.”
He just shrugged, giving me a sly smile.
Bastard.
Fuck me. I have to do something.
When I roll out of bed, I can’t ignore all the energy zipping through my body, so I pull out my phone. It’s a new one, with a new number, that I bought at the airport in Saintland just for this trip so, on the off-chance the royal security corps decides to keep tabs on me through my regular phone, they’ll just find that it’s parked in my bedroom at the palace. I tap the screen to type in search terms to help me find a gym.