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“No, I’m fine. I have my car. I just needed a few minutes. I’m okay now.”
She stared at me, and I held myself together, keeping my breathing even. Luckily, whatever she saw convinced her. “Okay, then. You call me if you need me.”
“I will.” I gave her a weak smile but knew I would be fine. My chest muscles were even relaxing now. The new kid would be okay. The paramedic said as much.
I nodded and exhaled deeply.
It only took me ten minutes to drive home. I pulled up into my single-lane driveway and parked the car inside the garage. The house was quiet. My father was most likely asleep.
Soft tapping against our gray laminate floors turned my attention toward the living room. I smiled. Mavis, our long-hair white cat, came to greet me.
I dropped to my haunches, putting my arms around her long, furry neck, and squeezed her tight. “Ah, thanks for waiting up, girl. I missed you.”
Mavis licked my wrist and forearm. When I let her go, she circled my legs and lifted her paws onto my shin, stretching herself like a ballerina. I giggled and let her do her thing. She had always been the most affectionate one in the family.
After receiving a thorough greeting, I assessed the mess in the kitchen. My dad’s work uniform hung across the back of a kitchen chair and he had left a few dirty dishes on the counter. Not too bad, overall. I’d clean it up in the morning. Tomorrow was Sunday and I could sleep in.
Walking down the hallway, I removed my earrings. Once inside my room, I stripped off my clothes and slipped into bed. But when I closed my eyes, my mind drifted back to the bar. Except, instead of the cold tiled floor of the back room, I was kneeling on my kitchen’s gray laminate.
I gasped and my eyes flew open.
Think of something else. Anything.
A pair of green eyes and short black hair floated into my thoughts. I held onto them like driftwood in the middle of the ocean. I focused on his face, the way his lips curved up on one side. The way his cheekbones seemed carved out of stone like some Roman sculpture, but then led to a pair of soft, warm eyes. I could feel his gaze straight to my core, as though he could see right through my walls.
It was ridiculous, of course. Ryan Crawford didn’t see me. He only saw a bartender and an easy conquest. While my mind happily conjured up different ways he could use those lips on me, I knew I’d never take him up on it.
Someone like Ryan would never be truly interested in someone like me. It didn’t bother me because I was focused entirely on the future. I was a full-time student and nearly finished my bachelor’s degree. I worked part-time at the bar and had no time for billionaires messing with my focus.
Maybe, if he's still single next year, I’ll see if he’s still interested in my number. But right now, I’ve got one thing on my mind.
I was going to change my life. And never look back.
Those green eyes kept me company throughout the night whenever my mind tried to wander back to the past. They held me and told me everything would be all right. Even if it was my own voice that said the words. I drifted off to sleep, content to let my imagination go wild.
2
Ryan
I’d always enjoyed the view from the top. Even as a little boy, I’d wanted to sit on my father’s shoulders so I could see further than anyone else. When he died, I learned to climb the corporate ladder instead.
Today, however, as I stood in my office at Crawford Corporation staring at the buildings below, I could only focus on a pudgy, overindulged, balding man, and annoyance gnawed at the back of my mind.
A voice boomed across the room. “Have you heard a word I said?”
My brother Colton sat in my office, his ankle resting on the opposite knee, his hands folded over his stomach. He leaned back in one of my leather office chairs. “Ryan?”
“No, sorry. I heard nothing after you mentioned the mayor’s name. Can you believe I saw him at the club Saturday night?”
Colton blinked and scrunched up his face as though to ask, And?
“He had his hands all over some woman.” I crossed my arms. “One that isn’t his wife.”
Colton shook his head. “Why do you care? You went on at least three dates last week, with three different women.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s not the same thing. I’m not married to any of them. Or anyone else.”
“And the singles of the world thank you for that.”
