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When he lowers his hands, I squint, thinking I'm hallucinating for a second. I rub my eyes.
Delilah Sky, my favorite singer, is looking at me with a smile on her face. The plus-size artist's red hair is tied up, giving her a casual look... and she's holding a microphone.
"DelilahSky?" I gasp.
She approaches me. "Hey, Sera, right?"
"Uh, yeah." My head is spinning. "I didn't know you were in Vegas."
"I was in LA, but when Luke reached out and told me what a big fan you are, I knew I had to come."
This entire experience has felt unreal on some level, but this knocks it up several notches. It seems I'm living inside a dream. Luke wraps his arm around my waist and gives me a supportive squeeze.
"It's..." I lick my lips, feeling like a dork. Finally, I find my voice. "It's so nice to meet you. I've been a fan for years. This is honestly unbelievable."
"What's your all-time favorite song?" she asks.
First, this man makes my book dreams come true. Now, he's making my other dreams come true as well. He's a freaking miracle worker, reshaping my world, making me feel as if I'm sparkling... and not just in the bedroom.
"'Can't Get You Out of My Mind,'" I say, giving Luke a look.
He smiles, but he can't hide the glint of something else in his eyes. After this trip, I won't be able to get him out of my mind for sure.
Chapter Fourteen
Luke
It's only been two days since I left Vegas, but already, my world seems several shades darker than it was before. The glitz, the lights, and the intimacy of Vegas have drained away, leaving the cold corporate world behind... Except cold implies sterile, unchanging, and my life has been nothing but chaos.
Meetings, meetings, more meetings. PR strategies, social media campaigns, video recordings to demonstrate that our other products are unaffected, manic calls with shareholders to assuage their fears, eighteen-hour days that don't leave me any time to reach out to Sera.
I text her good morning... and good night, and that's all I can manage. I haven't worked this hard since the company first launched. Plus, there's a three hour time difference, which means she's normally asleep when she gets my good night text.
Toward the end of the second day, Andy buzzes through on the intercom. My assistant and go-to man has seemed depressed since leaving Vegas, too, or maybe that's just me projecting how I feel onto everyone else. "Steve is here to see you. And sir, he looks..."
"Speak your mind."
"Unhappy."
I stand. "Send him in."
Steve marches into my office, opening and closing his hands into fists. "I just got some news from the AI team," he says. "They finally found the rogue code. It was well hidden... but they found it. You're not going to like this."
"Lay it on me," I demand.
He grinds his teeth, suddenly reluctant.
"Steve, don't tiptoe around this."
"It was TechGuard," he says.
I drop into my seat, shaking my head. "TechGuard..." The company that Sera works for. "She..."She promised me they weren't involved, I almost say, but I don't want to show how vulnerable I feel in front of Steve.
After the surprise performance with Delilah Sky, we shared a bottle of champagne and then fell asleep together... well, she fell asleep. I held her for a long time, savoring the moments, knowing I'd never experience happiness like that again.
In the morning, saying goodbye was the hardest thing I've ever done. But I had to do it. For the company. And now Steve is telling me she was involved. Her department was, at least.
What if she knows nothing about it?