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Without letting me reply, she climbed into the Escalade, leaving me speechless on the sidewalk.
CHAPTER8
Paxton
I’d never admit it aloud, but I was looking forward to my business outing with Mylee. Kai, who never had much to say about anything, couldn’t stop talking about his Chicago Tech Society luncheon, a fact which intrigued me to no end.
“She blended right in,” he told us over breakfast, dawn barely peeking over the horizon the following morning. “And she made Paul Kaur look like the asshole he is.”
“Paul Kaurisan asshole,” Lincoln agreed with a grin. “I told you Mylee would work out.”
“She’s good,” Kai confirmed. “She’s going to give all of Chicago something to talk about.”
By the time breakfast was done, he had pumped her up so much, I wanted to see what the fuss was about for myself.
Lincoln pulled me aside before we headed to the office that morning, a warning in his eyes.
“Mylee might impress Kai, but he’s not that hard to win over in the grand scheme of things. He just needs a bit of kindness, and the girl is nice. This meeting tonight is going to need more than a sweet talker…”
“I’ll handle her,” I reassured him, and Lincoln grimaced.
“I’m more concerned with you handling yourself,” he warned, his eyes darting up toward the glass partition on the second floor. “She’s new to this, no matter how well she conducts herself. I’m sure her nerves are shot, even if she carries it well.”
I chortled and clapped him on the back, a gesture that I knew Lincoln despised.
“I’m not the VP for nothing. I’ve got this.”
I ignored Lincoln’s side-eye and headed into my bedroom to get ready for work, taking in the breaking of the sunshine over the Chicago landscape beyond the hot tub on the balcony. This city was one of my favorites in which to work, even though we tried not to get too attached from one to the next. We did so much traveling, overseas, from continent to country, it was cruel to invest too much in one place. But Chicago did have my heart.
I couldn’t say what it was specifically about the city that captured me from the first time I’d seen it. Perhaps it was the rough-around-the-edges allure it held that I’d never seen growing up in Texas. My parents had done a good job of keeping me and my siblings sheltered from the grimier aspects of reality, a fact that I’d never really forgiven them for in adulthood. The truth had been a stunning blow to me.
By the time I’d showered and dressed for the day, I heard movement on the second floor, and on a whim, I started up the steps, calling out to Mylee when I was halfway up.
“Hey… you awake?”
Her ebony mane appeared, spilling over the side of the glass wall, a wide, charming smile on her face. “Hey, you.”
“You ready for your big debut tonight?” I teased.
“I thought my big debut was with Kai the other day,” she jabbed back lightly.
“Nah. That was a dress rehearsal,” I joked. “Tonight is the real deal. It’s going to be a bit more unnerving.”
Her smile faded slightly, but she held it, shrugging her slender shoulders, and I found myself sneaking a glance at her cleavage through the opening of her velvet robe.
“I’ll manage,” she offered nonchalantly. “Are you worried about me?”
“Should I be?”
She held my gaze challengingly. “I guess you’ll find out tonight.”
“What are you going to wear?”
Her nose turned upward, annoyance clouding her dark eyes. “Do you want to come and handpick my outfit for me?”
Tempted, I started to move up the steps, clothes the last thing on my mind—except maybe getting Mylee’s robe off of her.
“Pax!”
