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“I’m busy right now.” My mind is miles away.
Adam leans forward, his grin widening. “So, I was thinking… Since I played matchmaker and set you up with Ginni, maybe I deserve a little something in return. You know, like a raise and maybe a tropical vacation.”
I don’t have time for this. “We’ll discuss your raise in three months at your annual review,” I tell him as I head for the door.
Adam sighs and shakes his head, mumbling to himself, “It was worth a try.” Then he calls behind me, “I’ll make sure to remind you of my stellar matchmaking before my review.”
“I have no doubt you will.”
As I rush through the front hall headed to the garage, Sullivan comes strolling down the stairs. His hair is still wet from his recent shower, and he’s wearing his typical work-from-home grey sweats and black t-shirt. “I thought you didn’t have time to meet.” He glares at me.
“I don’t. I’m on my way out now,” I call over my shoulder. “If you started your workday before noon, we could’ve knocked this shit out earlier.”
“If you didn’t have a stick up your ass about me handling my own job, we wouldn’t need to discuss every little thing I do.” I don’t have time to hash out his long-standing argument.
“Just order the shit.” My frustration colors my voice. Whatever Ginni needs to talk about is taking precedence in my mind right now. The anxiety swirling in my stomach tells me this conversation could be crucial to my future happiness.
I hurry to my truck, my thoughts racing as unease settles in the pit of my stomach. The seventeen-minute drive to Silver Spoon Falls seems to take a goddamn eternity.
I push through the revolving doors of the newspaper office, my heart racing and my mind a swirl of plans to kidnap my little love if this doesn’t work out the way I want it to. The lobby is pretty quiet, with only a few people chatting off to one side. It takes me a second to get my bearings, but then I spot the reception desk at the far end of the room.
A raven-haired receptionist looks up from her computer and gives me a polite smile as I approach. "Good evening, may I help you…" she starts, but then her eyes widen almost comically as recognition sets in. "Mr. Halloween?”
I give her a curt nod, needing to find my girl. "Yes, that's right. I'm here to see Ginni."
Her mouth opens and closes silently before she quickly regains her composure. "Of course, just a moment," she says, picking up the phone on her desk.
Before she can complete the call, I see Ginni rounding the corner, talking animatedly with another woman who I recognize as the wife of a Silver Spoon Falcons’ player. Sinclair, my other brother, fucking loves hockey and has season tickets. He subjects me to at least three or four games each season.
When Ginni's eyes catch mine, she immediately freezes, her expression a mix of surprise and concern.
She quickly excuses herself and rushes over to me. "Sterling? What are you doing here?" she asks, her voice low but urgent.
"I got your message. I needed to see you, Fate. I couldn’t wait," I reply, trying to keep my voice steady despite the anxiety gnawing at my insides.
Her colleague hangs back, looking between us with a mix of curiosity and confusion. Ginni glances back at her and then gestures for me to follow her to a quieter corner of the lobby.
Once we’re out of earshot, she crosses her arms, looking slightly uneasy. "You didn't have to come all the way down here. We could have talked after work," she says, nervousness flashing through her gorgeous sea moss eyes.
"I didn’t want to give you time to come up with reasons to break up with me," I admit, searching her eyes for any hint of what might be wrong. "Your text sounded urgent, and after your attempt at escaping, I just didn't want to waste any time."
She bites her lip, looking momentarily overwhelmed. "What if you hear what I have to say and decide to break up with me?” she wails, and my heart drops to my goddamn toes as the possibilities of what’s causing her distress run through my mind. If it’s another man, I’ll kill the motherfucker and make sure they never find his goddamn body.
“There isn’t anything that would make me let you go.” She’s goddamn necessary to my survival, more important than air.
“Wait until you hear what I have to say before you decide." My fucking heart nearly cracks in half at the look of guilt written across her face.
“Is there somewhere private we can talk?" We need to get whatever this shit is out of the way so I can get back to wooing my little love.
She nods, glancing around. "We can use one of the conference rooms. Follow me."
As we walk through the quiet office, I notice curious glances and whispered conversations trailing behind us. It’s clear that my presence has caught more than a few people off guard.
Ginni leads me into a small, glass-walled conference room off the main corridor and closes the door behind us. The space is quieter, and there’s no one around to overhear our conversation.
She takes a deep breath, appearing ready to bolt at any second. "Okay, where do I start..." she begins, looking up at me with those expressive green eyes that drew me in from the start.
"Just tell me what's on your mind," I encourage, leaning against the table, trying to make this as easy as possible for her.
