Mr. Big Shot: An Enemies To Lovers Romance (Kinda Cocky Book 1), стр. 42

She giggled. “Have to shake your hand out now?”

“Not for nothing, but my palm tingled a bit.”

“Only a bit?”

I looked down at her, and she winked up at me.

“Okay, maybe more than a bit,” I said.

“My father would say that means you don’t work enough with your hands.”

“Well, my rebuttal to that would be ‘why use my hands when I can use my brain?’.”

“I don’t know if you just called my father stupid, or everyone that works with their hands stupid.”

I paused. “In hindsight, I’m not sure what I did there, either.”

She barked with laughter. “Hey, at least you can admit it.”

“And now that the meeting’s over, we have the rest of the day to ourselves.”

“Yeah, it’s only been a week in the making. Though, thanks for the heads up that you’re not going to kill me with work today. I might actually be able to take a decent shower now.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Do I hear my employee complaining about her job?”

“Nope. You hear your employee complaining about you.”

“Noted,” I said with a smirk.

“So. When are we heading back again?”

I drew in a deep breath. “Well, normally we’d head back tomorrow. But, as you can tell, we didn’t quite get through everything we needed to with that meeting. So, we’ll be here for another few days.”

“That’s code for ‘book us out another week,’ right?”

I winked at her. “Now you’re catching on.”

“In that case, got any plans for dinner?”

“Karina Rosehill. Are you asking your boss out on a date? Because I’m pretty sure that’s frowned upon.”

“Says the boss who has woken me up with his tongue every night.”

I wrapped my arm around her. “And I don’t hear you complaining about it one bit.”

She giggled. “So, what are your plans for dinner?”

“Well, I was going to ask this very luscious woman if she wanted to try out a new place for dinner that was suggested to me.”

“What? Who is she? I’ll beat her ass.”

I laughed. “Meet me at our bar around seven? And we can go from there?”

She kissed my cheek. “Sounds like a plan, handsome.”

We got back to our bungalows and parted ways for the day, and I couldn't help how I felt. If that was what cloud nine felt like, then I surely never wanted to come down. I slipped into my room. Drawing in a deep breath, I walked over to the minibar and treated myself to a beer before I sat down at the table by the sliding glass door. Then I unbuttoned my suit coat and loosened my tie, sliding my shoes off before I crossed my leg over my knee as I gazed out over the water. The place was heavenly, and I was thankful we’d be able to stay here another week.

Maybe we should just have one room, though.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and I pulled it out. I set my beer down as I ran through all the emails that could wait and asinine picture messages from Brenden. But, there was one thing that stood out. One thing that stopped me in my tracks and ripped me back to reality.

Oh, no.

“Zane? It’s--it’s me. I’m--I’m so sorry for calling. I-I-I--I just--.”

Hearing her sobs made my heart ache and filled me with guilt I couldn't explain.

“I just miss her so much, you know? I miss my sister. And it still hurts. And my parents won’t pick up the phone to talk, and I didn’t know who else to call, and I’m sorry. I’m just--I’m so sorry.”

My lip quivered as the message continued.

“You remember how much she loved her place in Hawaii? Oh, she’d always go on and on about it. Do you still go there? I hope you do. I know she’d want you to.”

I set the phone down and put the voice message on speaker as I pulled out my laptop.

“I’m sitting here having her favorite, you know. Orange juice with a spritz of champagne and a cherry at the bottom. I still don’t know how she drank this sugar-laced thing. But I have one every Saturday morning for her.”

I started scrolling through pictures of her. My ex. Stacy.

And the memories of that night came crashing back.

“Anyway. If, uh, if you want to call back, you can. I don’t blame you if you don’t, though. So, don’t feel like you have to. Just… promise me something?”

Tears rushed my eyes as I finally stumbled upon it.

Stacy’s eulogy.

“Promise me that, whatever you do, you’re happy. Because that’s all she ever wanted for you. All she wanted was to see you smile, Zane.”

I heard the screeching of the tires. I smelled the burnt rubber in the air. The sounds of crunching metal and Stacy’s screaming filled my mind and held my heart hostage. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I heard the voicemail asking me to press buttons, but I couldn't move. As my eyes scanned the eulogy I had prepared for my late fiancee’s funeral, I felt my heart bottom out into my toes.

I can’t keep doing this with Karina. It’s not fair.

As a tear leaked down my cheek, I started clicking through pictures of us again. Pictures of Stacy and I from six years before. I played back the videos I had taken while at my place in Hawaii. I played back the footage her sister recorded of me proposing. I lost myself down the rabbit hole of memories that enslaved me and held me to my past. A past I wasn’t sure I wanted to let go.

I failed to realize just how much time had passed before I came up for air.