AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not shy around you.”
“You are.” I twirl a strand of her hair around my finger, tugging on it lightly. “You’ve barely looked at me since we went to dinner Friday night, and I can’t figure out why.”
She shrugs, pulling away from me. “I just have a lot going on between my own businesses and this place. There isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done.”
I study her for a moment, noticing the way she rubs her thumb on her ring finger like she’s twisting a ring.
It’s the one tell she has.
“You’re lying to me.”
Her eyes widen. “No. I’m not.”
Still twisting an imaginary ring.
“You are. But if you don’t want to tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, you don’t have to.”
“We agreed that this was just going to be casual between us. No strings attached, right?”
“We did.”
“Then take me home and let’s have a good time tonight. No more worrying about what’s going on in my head.”
Even though I want to stand there and keep pushing her until she tells me what’s wrong, I know it’s a battle I’m not going to win.
She’s going to have her secrets, and right now, it’s not on me to figure them out.
Jade sits down on my couch, sinking into the plush cushions with a sigh before she tilts the bottle of beer to her lips.
No sooner does she make herself comfortable than there’s a knock at the door. I head over and pull it open, taking our pizza from the teenager on the other side and handing him a generous tip.
“Now,” I say as I take the pizza to the balcony, “I know this is nothing special compared to your apartment, but I like it well enough.”
She follows me out onto the balcony, our drinks in her hands. “Honestly, I think I might like your place better. My apartment feels so cold and impersonal at times, probably because I spend so much time traveling. My mom’s always saying that she barely sees me, even though we live in the same city.”
“I didn’t know that you grew up in New York.” I put the pizza on the table between the loungers and take my beer from her. “You didn’t mention that when you were talking about your mom the other night.”
Jade opens the box, reaching for the slice with the most cheese, the same way she used to back during our college days.
It was good to see that some things about her never changed.
She takes a large bite, the cheese stretching from the slice to her mouth. She chews for a couple seconds before nodding. “Queens, born and bred.”
“Odd that it never came up in college.” I reach for one of the slices with the least amount of cheese.
“We didn’t do a lot of talking in those days,” she says, an impish smile on her face. “You and I were far more into the physical side of things and competing with each other.”
“Maybe that was our mistake all those years ago.”
“It might have been.” She nibbles away at the crust before eating the rest of the slice. “All right, then. If you think we should spend more time talking, tell me about your plans for the company once you finally become CEO.”
“I don’t know.” It hurts to say the words out loud, but after the last few weeks of watching Jade take control and reimagine the company, I don’t know what else there is to do.
She hugs her knees to her chest as she reaches for another slice of pizza. “I don’t believe that. You always used to know where you were going. Now, you’re telling me that you don’t know?”
“I thought I was going to be the one who swept in and fixed the business. I had all these ideas of how I was going to do it, and I had been trying to get Dad on the same page for years.”
“I’m sorry I took that chance away from you.” She bites her bottom lip before taking another bite of her pizza.
