Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 22067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
My arms automatically loosen, and while this obviously surprises Shayla—
She doesn't waste another second, doesn't even bother giving an excuse, doesn't even look back as she makes her escape.
Smart of her.
I should be glad that one of us still has a functioning brain and knows better than to let our professional relationship develop into something else.
But I'm not.
"Kontides, isn't it?"
The voice is slightly familiar, and I turn around warily.
Ah.
It's the man who was with Shayla that evening.
"Colin Soukoulis." He extends his hand for a shake. "My wife Hope is friends with Shayla."
My lips twist in a sardonic smile. "It's my first time to hear that. My secretary believes in keeping her work and personal life separate."
Colin looks at me thoughtfully. "But you don't?"
I only shrug, mostly because I'm feeling defensive all of a sudden, and it's a feeling I haven't had since...hell, I can't even remember the last time I felt like this. Even worse, I don't even know what I have to hide or feel defensive about.
"You know," the other man says conversationally, "I almost lost my wife once."
The words put me on edge for some reason. Why is it that everything this man says or does bothers the hell out of me?
"I thought I wanted one thing. And I was firmly convinced that I had no need for the other. I had a plan, and I was determined to stick to it."
"I don't see that as a problem."
Colin only nods. "That's true. But only up to a point. People who are used to being in control have a tendency to fear change. But because it wouldn't do for them to admit such...reservations, they end up using their plans—or routines even—to prevent such changes from taking places. Even if it's the best thing that can happen...to both of them."
What the hell is this guy saying?
Colin only smiles at my silence. "Perhaps we can have dinner sometime. I'll have Hope reach out to Shayla."
I've never had anyone have the last word so easily, dammit. But the thing is...I can't think of anything else to say either. And as painful as this is to admit, minutes have already passed since Soukoulis left that it finally hits me.
Both of them.
Those were the exact words he had used.
Because my secretary is as much as a control freak as I am, and since we have that in common...was Soukoulis suggesting that all the other factors were the same for both of us?
Which means...if I've started seeing Shayla as a woman—
Has she also started seeing me as a man?
SHAYLA
At first, I was ecstatic and relieved to see a familiar face in the crowd. I didn't expect Hope and Colin would be attending the same fundraiser, but come to think of it, I should have realized they'd get an invitation to this as well. Her husband was a billionaire, after all. That's all that's needed for everyone to want you in their party, even if they don't know you from Adam.
But when Hope tells me how she saw me in my boss's arms before looking at me meaningfully?
Ugh.
"Just because you and Colin are now happily married doesn't mean everyone wants the same happy-ever-after ending."
"Not everyone, yes...but remember when we were kids, and we used to have art classes? And remember how you'd always draw—"
"Nope."
Hope laughs. "It's all over your face. You totally remember—"
"You're, like, totally mistaken." And I'm, like, totally blaming those girls from earlier for suddenly making me sound like them when I'm flustered.
"This one time, please humor your once-orphaned, once-bullied friend whose pregnancy is quite sensitive—"
Childhood friends are the worst. They know exactly which sob story to use to get their way.
"Close your eyes..."
Fine.
"Recall all of those sketches you made about the wedding day you imagined."
Ugh.
"And then ask God in your heart—"
Oh no.
I find myself shifting on my feet as soon as I hear her say this.
"To show you the man He's chosen for you—"
What if I don't want to?
What if...I also don't want to believe in God?
Can I just keep pretending that He isn't real?
"—in case you already know this person."
No. No. No.
Because the moment she says this, I see it.
I see him.
And Him.
A presence of light that's terrifying in how comforting I find it...right behind my annoyingly gorgeous boss, who's also terrifying, but for entirely different reasons.
Hope suddenly snaps her fingers, and the sound makes me open my eyes.
Uh...
Why do I feel so disoriented? And so inexplicably overwhelmed?
My friend smiles.
I scowl back.
But this only makes her smile widen.
Grrrr.
She's just so different these days. It's as if she knows something that I don't. Something that her husband also knows. And it just makes them so content—but in a way that has nothing to do with her husband's fortune—and so genuinely kind (you can just feel they're not faking it) and...and so horribly wise, even when they're so swift to say that they don't have the answers to everything.