Page 28 of Miss Trust

Chance

Iglanced over, wondering if Tory would take issue with my sarcasm about her being hungry, and saw she’d fallen sound asleep. Despite her slumber, she didn’t look peaceful. Instead, she had a worry line across her forehead, as if she couldn’t even rest in her dreams.

Yet she was beautiful. Beautifully stubborn.

My exhale filled the truck. With her passed out, I felt as though I could step back from the edge I seemed to teeter on whenever I was around her. I shouldn’t care what made her tick. What made her so distrustful.

Why the hell couldn’t I seem to get a handle on my attraction to her?

After pulling into the driveway, I cut the engine and the headlights and took a moment to watch her awaken under the glow of the house lights. “We’re here.”

Her big blue eyes focused on mine for a moment as if she was trying to absorb the words. “Oh. Okay.”

She moved to open the door but forgot to unbuckle.

Chuckling, I reached over to undo the seat belt. What could I say? Seeing her off her game was amusing, even charming, and definitely unexpected.

“Thanks,” she slurred.

I came around to her side and took her arm as she slowly emerged from the car. “Do me a favor, for the sake of my sanity, don’t argue about me helping you inside.”

“’Kay. Thanks for driving.”

It was the nicest thing she’d ever said to me. I assisted her inside and realized I was hard pressed to let go of her. And when she peered up at me without any hostility or anger, my breath caught.

Luckily, she broke the contact first. “Good night.”

“’Night.” I watched her walk away, wondering how the hell I could get her out of my system.

* * *

The next morningI took my private jet to Las Vegas. Two hours later, I’d fired the club manager and met with three of the floor managers to apprise them of the situation.

I’d need to interview or perhaps I’d promote someone internally. I had to get a list together, and meet with the staff. Then, I’d need to stay for the weekend as it would be busy. Yet my eyes were glued to the clock as I thought about Tory and her daughter at Children’s Hospital. The appointment should be over by now.

Malik’s voice snapped me out of my errant thoughts. “Boss, you want me to gather the staff?”

“Yeah. Give me twenty minutes.”

He gave a curt nod before leaving the office.

I dialed the phone before I could second-guess my intentions.

“Hello,” came Tory’s breathless voice.

“How was the appointment? Any problems?”

“No, it went well. But she starts chemo tomorrow.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah. They want to be aggressive, so she’ll be in the hospital for the next month.”

“A month?”

“Yes. The plan is to redo the induction phase, but this time use stronger drugs. They recommend she stay in the hospital the entire time, so she can be monitored because of the risk of infection. I can still work nights, though.”

“Stop. You’re not working nights. You need to be there with her.”