Page 28

PIPER

The door slammed shut behind me, feeling all too much like a chapter of my life had just closed.

I leaned back against it and closed my eyes, remembering the kiss he left me with, how it surged through my body and lit me on fire.

Kisses like that were hard to come by, but just because he had a way with his tongue didn’t mean he would make a good boyfriend.

There were plenty of men I’d kissed in my life who all turned out to be frogs.

Not that I thought Patrick would be. There was a lightness to him that intrigued me.

Most men weren’t like him—tough, but sweet.

Would I ever see Patrick again? I shouldn’t care.

It wasn’t like I was going to date him and fall in love, but everything was so easy with him.

I mean, when we weren’t jumping out of planes or running from bears.

“Uh-oh,” Jeanie groaned. “I know that look. Fuck, who is he? And do I have to kill him?”

I pushed off the door and walked over to the counter, pretending I was fine with the way things ended. I got one last time with him and a hilarious story to go along with it.

“You don’t have to kill anyone. I’m just tired. I’ve had a trying few days.”

“Right,” she said, quirking her eyebrow at me. “So have my shoes.”

I winced at the reminder and held out my hands in apology. “Look, I’m really sorry, but when I jumped out of the plane, one fell off. It could be literally anywhere in the Catskill Mountains. And I tried to hold onto the other shoe, but then the bear attacked us and I lost it.”

She rolled her eyes and walked away from me, forcing me to give chase. “Seriously, Piper, just say you lost the shoes.”

“I did! Jumping out of the plane!”

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” she snapped as she headed into her bedroom where she grabbed linens for me while I stayed on her couch.

“It’s the truth! I swear to God! If you met the guys, you would totally believe me.”

“Piper, let’s say that you really did steal a plane and jump out of it. Don’t you think that would have ended up on the news?”

I opened my mouth to argue, but realized she was right.

There would be a massive story online, at the very least, about two planes nearly colliding mid-air and one going down.

There would be news coverage about the survivors, yet there were no reporters when we reached the hospital.

I just assumed that Chase had pulled some strings to keep it quiet while we were there, but for it to not be on the news at all seemed really strange.

“Okay, I don’t know why it wasn’t covered, but this really did happen. I swear!”

She sighed heavily and walked over to me, plopping down the sheets in my hands. “Look, I don’t want to argue about this. Whatever happened with that guy, I hope you had a good time. But I expect you to find me another pair of shoes. Those were my favorites.”

My chest tightened at the tone of her voice. She was really pissed at me, but I couldn’t make her believe me. However, I could replace her shoes as soon as I got to the bank.

“I’m really sorry,” I said, swallowing down the hurt. “And I won’t stay long. I just need to replace my ID.”

“I’m not kicking you out.” She sighed when tears pricked my eyes.

I hated to cry, but I really didn’t want to cry right now when she didn’t believe me and it would look like I was trying to gain sympathy.

It had been a rough few days, and even with the good times sprinkled in between, having to rough it in the wild and fight off a bear had not been fun.

Not to mention traipsing around the woods with a bulky man hanging off my shoulder.

“So, what ended up happening with James?” I asked, changing the subject as I headed into the living room and started making up the couch.

“He tried to fire me, but his lawyers advised against it. Since they couldn’t pin anything on me, he let it go. But he’s pissed as hell still. Everyone at work is gossiping like crazy about him.”

“I’m sure they don’t think too highly of me,” I retorted. “They always said I was the office slut. I just never listened to it before because I knew so much better.” I huffed out a laugh at that. “The thing is, I’m not sure if she was the other woman or I was.”

“She was,” Jeanie insisted. “She wasn’t there all the time. She has to be the other woman.”

“Right, but if my husband works out of town every week and only visits on the weekends, and he’s shacking up with someone else during that week he’s gone, she’s still the other woman.

So, technically speaking, he could have still been in a relationship with the London whore and just not told me about it. ”

“I guess so, but wouldn’t she have been pissed then?”

She had a point. “She didn’t look very broken up when I walked in there, or when she saw my engagement ring.”

“What are you going to do with that?”

I plopped down on the couch and stared at the shiner on my left hand. “I don’t know. It’s weird, but I haven’t really had a chance to think about James all that much over the past few days. Surprisingly, I don’t miss him that much.”

The shock on her face was priceless. “Really?”

After the way things were with Patrick, it was hard to believe I had even loved James. “I think I made up how great he was in my head. I mean, even you told me you didn’t like him that much.”

“Yeah, but that’s just because he’s my boss. I have no idea what it’s like in the bedroom, and it’s not my place to judge.”

I remembered how heated it was with Patrick every single time I slept with him. There was no denying that the chemistry between us was hot, and nothing I ever had with James came close to that.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. It’s over with him. Now I have to start over.”

“Do you know what you want to do?”

“I highly doubt I should go back into the secretarial pool. Somehow, I think James already spread the word, and if he hasn’t, he wouldn’t give me a glowing reference.”

“You may be right. You were always too good for that job, anyway. Maybe you should go into a different industry. Maybe try your luck at a dentist’s office or something.”

I hated the idea of working at the dentist. I didn’t like going to get my teeth cleaned, so being at one every day sounded dreadful. “I guess I could apply. But I need to work out my ID and everything else first. I doubt anyone will hire me if I can’t even prove who I am.”

“Well, I’ll help you in any way you need. I may be pissed about my shoes, but we’re still friends.”

“Thank you. And I really am sorry about the shoes. I really did try to save them.”

She rolled her eyes at me as she walked away. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make her believe me, but I’d have to find a way. Otherwise, this could really tear our friendship apart.

I went on several interviews, trying to find something that I qualified for, but also liked.

It was slim pickings to start, but each day, I trudged out in search of a job.

It didn’t help that I had no ID yet. I’d yet to find any of my important documents, and I knew the fastest way around that was to confront the man I despised more than anything in the world.

The last thing I wanted was to walk back into his building and see the happy look on his face when I crawled back to him for my things. Or worse, the pitying looks on the faces of everyone in the office. Then again, they might think this was exactly what I deserved.

Steeling my spine, I smiled at the man behind the desk in the lobby. “I need to see James Johnson.”

“Just one moment.” He picked up the phone and called upstairs. His eyes flashed to mine as someone spoke. I heard him give my name, though I hadn’t said a word. Obviously, they knew me. I’d worked here long enough, and it was no shock to anyone that I had been dating the boss. Everyone knew.

“You can go on up,” the man said, handing over a guest pass. “He’ll see you right away.”

My mouth dropped open in shock and I took the pass, hanging the lanyard around my neck as I headed to the elevator. Why had he let me up? Did he have the police waiting for me? After my last run-in with the police, I wasn’t exactly thrilled at seeing the inside of a jail cell again.

Butterflies took flight in my stomach as the elevator climbed to his floor.

Instead of the excitement that I had always felt when I entered the building, now, I was only filled with dread.

I was going to need a stiff drink by the time this was over.

All too soon, the elevator opened and I stepped out onto his floor.

The secretary pursed her lips at me, jerking her head for me to go back as she finished up a phone call.

Dread filled the pit of my stomach with each step I took. I wasn’t ready to see him again, nor did I want to find out why he was so willing to see me. But I was here and I had a mission to complete.

My mind instantly went to Patrick, wondering what he was doing and if he was okay. A flash of him kissing me in the back of the limo came to the forefront of my mind, but I instantly pushed it back. Now was not the time to think about him or his sexy body.

I was just about to knock on James’s door when it opened and the man himself stood there, shooting me a charming smile that I had not expected.

“Piper,” he crooned, stepping into my space and planting a kiss on my cheek, lingering just a tad too long.

I was so shocked that I just stood there, wondering what the hell was going on, but he must have taken it as a good sign because he wrapped his arm around my back and guided me into his office as if we were still together.

“I was so glad when I heard you were downstairs.”

He turned and slipped his hand in mine, giving me a little squeeze as he stared at me adoringly.

“You…were?” I asked, confused as hell. What was going on?

He sighed heavily, and then his knuckles brushed against my cheek in a loving gesture that had my eyes widening in confusion. What was happening? Was I in an alternate universe?

“Darling, I missed you so much.”