Page 133 of No Such Thing as Serendipity

Why did my thoughts keep drifting back to Robyn when I should be focused on my future?

That was easy. The last three weeks had been amazing, and Robyn was at the center. This past week, she’d entrusted her staff with the bookstore, so she could go on the villa adventures with us. And every evening, we returned to her apartment for the night. Of course, we’d spent our fair share of time in bed, exploring each other’s bodies, but there was so much more. We’d talked and laughed, and one evening, we’d taken turns reading poetry. I didn’t read poetry. At least I hadn’t in ages, but it was a moving experience.

When I needed an outfit for my interviews, she and Emma had gone shopping with me. Watching the two of them interact, even when they were teasing me, warmed my heart. While Emma had been respectful of my previous girlfriends, she never had the rapport she had with Robyn.

Shit.I couldn’t call Robyn my girlfriend, not when our time together was dwindling. These thoughts weren’t helpful when I had an interview to prepare for.

As I neared Robyn’s apartment, I stopped and put my foot on a bench near the bookstore and stretched out my hamstrings. I glanced at my watch. It was only an hour and a half before my first meeting.

Waking Robyn up for some morning fun was tempting, but it would make me late. I leaned into my stretch before dropping my foot from the bench.

I shut the front door as quietly as I could and tiptoed down the hall toward the bathroom.

Robyn called, “Blake, what are you doing?”

I stopped and peeked my head into the bedroom. “I just finished my run, so I’m going to take a shower.”

Robyn grinned. “Are you sure about that?” Her tone was seductive.

“Back, you vixen.” I jokingly held up my fingers in the sign of a cross. “I cannot be trusted to overcome the spell you’ll put over me, so I’m not allowed to touch you until after the meetings.”

“Then what do you have planned?” She ran her tongue over her lips.

“You did that on purpose.” I pointed at her.

“What, my lips were dry.”

“That’s it. You stay right there and don’t you dare come into the bathroom.”

She laughed and gave me a mischievous grin, which I was growing to love.No!Like. Appreciate. Yeah, that was it. I appreciated her grin.

“Fine. I’ll be good. But it’ll be hard.”

“I have faith in you. You can do hard things.” I shot her a smirk before I hurried from the room.

Robyn adjusted the collar of my blazer before she declared me ready to tackle my meetings. True to her word, she’d kept her hands off me, but now she pulled me in for a hug. We stood holding each other for some time before I stepped back.

“Are you ready for this?” Robyn asked.

I smiled. “I am. I just want Emma’s serendipity to take hold, so the right answer will fall into my lap.”

“Trust your gut.”

It had been a long time since I trusted my gut. I functioned on spreadsheets and logic, not some woo-woo idea of fate guiding me.

The meetings went well. As I finished my meeting with Ironclad, they held a slight edge since I preferred their business model. Now they would return to their offices and work up an offer. Both promised they’d have a proposal by Monday. Even though money wasn’t the driving force behind my decision, I didn’t tell them. I wanted them to sharpen their pencils, and I’d told them as much.

As I shook hands with Ironclad’s CFO, she said, “It’s such a shame about Terrence.”

I studied her. Strange she’d bring up his name after the ugly way my relationship with him and Fortitude ended. “What’s a shame?”

Her face fell. “You didn’t hear?”

Did the son of a bitch try to blackball me with Ironclad?

I was about to ask when the CFO said, “Cancer is such a horrible disease.”

Cancer?“Um, yeah, it is.”