Page 62 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

“Interesting,” Mason says.

Mason is eyeing me suspiciously while rubbing his chin.

I lift my hands, showing my palms. “Seriously, I’m not a stalker.”

“Of course not,” Hercules says. “Well, welcome aboard.”

At least he’s smiling a little.

“Yes, welcome,” the woman he’s with says. Lake told me her name, but I’ve forgotten it already. “I’m Lilith Cope, CFO. Call me if there’s ever anything I can help you with.”

“I was just about to introduce you, Lilith,” Mason says. “Lilith’s the one who holds the purse strings.”

She and I shake hands. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Cope,” I say. Her palm is just as clammy as mine. We’re both nervous. I wonder if Hercules has the same effect on her that he has on me.

“Call me Lilith,” she quickly says. There’s something friendly and trustworthy in her eyes. She definitely doesn't see me as competition. I'm not competition. If she and Hercules are an item, then great—I can finally move on.

“Sure,” I say, holding my smile in place.

Hercules checks his expensive-looking watch. I stop myself from gasping in surprise.He had on the same watch the night of Darby’s party.

“Again, nice to meet you, Lark.” He gives me a sharp nod. “We’ll sit down together in the near future.”

“Sure. I would love you.”Damn it.“I mean, I’d like that.”

I can imagine what I look like. The blood has risen to my skin, and my eyes must be wild with worry. I’m sure I sound like a stalker, pretending I didn’t recognize him at the Golden Grande Luxe Hotel. I mean, he’s Hercules Valentine. As someone who’s in the tech field, how can I not recognize him? And he probably thinks I’m an idiot too. I certainly feel like one, especially when his eyebrows shoot up. Now all I can think of is leaving him with a more favorable impression of me.

“I mean, I have a number of good ideas about future products that I think you might like.” I’m watching him for a response, trying to get a feel for whether I should say more to save myself.

But when he puts his hand on Lilith’s back, my heart sinks to my feet. “Can’t wait to hear them, Miss Davenport.”

He’s touching her. What does that mean?

“Something tells me she’s going to knock your goddamn socks off,” Mason says.

“We’d better get our meeting started,” Hercules says. It’s as if I no longer exist to him.

His hand on Lilith’s back is all I can pay attention to as they walk away. She says something to him about product reports. He inclines his ear toward her.

“See you later, Lake,” Mason says in a very appealing voice.

“Yeah, see you,” she chirps.

Lake and I watch the three of them walk out of the dining facility. After they're out of sight, we raise our eyebrows at each other. Lake presses her hands against the sides of her face. “Did that just happen?”

“He remembers me from the hotel,” I mutter in shock and delight. Even though he doesn't remember me as Paisley Grove, at least he remembers that.

“Right. Yeah. But Mason said he’d seemelater—and only me. I mean, no disrespect to you, but he said it to me.” She slaps a hand over her mouth as doubt fills her eyes. “Unless he was just trying not to make me feel left out. He does that—tries to make everybody feel included. That’s why he’s so hard to read.” She flops back into her seat. “I’m at the end of my rope with him, Lark. He’s the only reason…”

Relieved that no one seems to be onto me, I sit back down in front of my salad. “I don’t think he’s hard to read at all. It’s evident that he likes you.” I’m so glad to be talking about her and not my mucked-up interaction with Hercules.

“I thought that, too, but then I see him treat other women the same way, and I'm back to square one.”

“What way is that?” I ask even though I’m still distracted by the image of Hercules’s hand on Lilith Cope.

“He’s nice and looks at us all as if we’re special to him. I mean, really, you would think he'd be banging every woman in the building, but he's not. He's just—the best.”

I’m thankful to Lake for giving me different images to focus on. I’m trying to imagine Mason being overattentive. I can’t because he’s not.