Mr. Big Shot: An Enemies To Lovers Romance (Kinda Cocky Book 1), стр. 15
He’s probably just a rich douchebag anyway.
I cranked my car and backed out of the driveway. I blinked and squinted, trying to find my wits long enough to get to the coffee shop up the road. I could have walked there, but certainly not in my robe. And without having looked in a mirror, I allowed myself to imagine what I might have looked like.
Which was certainly not good enough to walk down the sidewalk in broad daylight.
“Coffee. Food. Applications. That’s what you focus on.”
I pep-talked myself while I white-knuckled the steering wheel. My only hope was that, by the time I got back, Zane would be gone. Should I pick him up something just in case, though? In case I get back, and he’s downstairs waiting for me?
“What have you done?” I groaned.
“Welcome to Cafe Mama Jama! What can I get for you?”
I winced at the piercing voice as I rolled down my window. “Uh, yes. Hi. Can I get--.”
Get him something.
“A, uh, large iced caramel macchiato. With an extra shot.”
“Will that be all, ma’am?”
Get him something, Karina.
“Um, no. I’d also like a cinnamon roll and one of your hard-boiled egg breakfast boxes, please.”
“Anything else?”
Don’t be an asshole. Get him something!
I shook my head. “That’ll be it. Thank you.”
“All right! Your total is $15.23, and I’ll gladly take payment up at the next window.”
Sheesh. “Thanks.”
After paying for my food and pulling into a parking space, I started chugging my coffee. I forced it down my throat before unwrapping the cinnamon roll and practically cramming it into my mouth. I needed to sober up. I needed to prepare myself for the day. I needed to look ahead and not behind.
That’s when my cell phone beeping finally caught my ear. As the fog slowly lifted with caffeine rushing through my veins, I dug around for my phone. I blasted the air conditioning in the hopes that it would help me wake up, and I saw I had twelve pending emails I hadn’t checked. Anxiety filled my veins, causing my hand to shake as I tapped on the little icon.
Before, my heart sank.
Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, the position has already been filled.
Every single email started, and ended, with that same sentence.
And I wondered if Vegas would devour me whole the way Zane had last night.
8
Zane
I walked mindlessly into my home and closed the door behind me. Slowly looking around, I took in the decadent expanse before me. The white marble floor with gray and golden streaks. The staircase that lined the left wall with a blonde mahogany banister. I gazed up at the hallway on the second-floor balcony that led back to my bedroom. A room that lined the entire back expanse of the house on the upper floor with a bathroom I had remodeled three times to suit my pleasures. I drew in a deep breath and expected to smell the scent of the flowers in my backyard. Since I had bought my mansion, I had my yard painstakingly taken care of, both in front and outback. In the front? A nice, freshly-mowed lawn, with rose bushes that lined the perimeter of what some would call my estate.
But, out back was my favorite. I had my garden out there, brimming with beans and tomatoes and carrots and lettuce. I had blackberry bushes, gooseberry bushes, and strawberry bushes with cranberry vines. All of it, snaking around the perimeter in my backyard.
Around me was the desert. Around the ten acres of property I owned, there was an endless expanse of sand and cracked earth and clay mountains and cacti. My yard was an escape from all that, though. Ten acres of grass and shrubs and food that attracted everything from butterflies to bees to bunnies.
None of that mattered right then, though.
Not when the only scent to fill my nostrils was hers.
How the hell had I fallen asleep with her?
It still boggled my mind. I never stayed with a woman like that. And not only did I stay the night at her place, but I woke up with her in my arms. The feeling of peace that came over me first thing that morning left me breathless. I was so soothed at her presence against me that I fell right back asleep.
Before waking up all alone.
As if she had never been there in the first place.
In fact, the only proof I had that she had been with me was the fact that we were in her home. I waited around for a little while, wondering if maybe she had simply run out. I thought about making her breakfast. Or putting on some coffee. But, after half an hour of her not turning up, I just got dressed and left.
Nothing felt right about any of it.
Except waking up to her.
Katrina.
No. Not Katrina.
Caroline?
Definitely not.
Holy shit, what is her name?
I raked my hands down my face. How much of an asshole did I have to be not to remember the woman’s name? I felt like a shithead. I groaned as I walked through the open foyer, not bothering to turn on the crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling. I stalked off into my kitchen and put on a pot of coffee before walking over to my fridge. I ripped the damn thing open and pulled out a fruit and cheese plate that sat right in the middle of the shelf.
She deserves better anyway.
Shrugging, I closed the door. As much as I wanted to see her again, I couldn't. I mean, she was funny, kind. An absolute blast to be around. But, I didn’t know if I could lose someone again. I didn’t know if I could plunge headfirst into something with someone so amazing, only to risk them slipping from my grasp permanently.
The last time almost broke me.
And I knew I’d never live through something else like it.
Come on, man. Focus. It’s a