Rose
I’M A HORRIBLE PERSON.
A cheater.
A liar.
I sit on the subway, my gut churning as I rub my forehead.
All I think about is my time with Spider.
About how we had sexy times all over my apartment today.
He is intoxicating.
Fascinating.
Enthralling.
Mesmerizing.
He is all I can think about.
It’s happening all over again, and I’m scared he’s going to ruin me.
The subway clangs to halt and I look up to realize it’s my stop. Trenton . . . God. My gut twists as I think about how to tell him.
I enter his company’s suite inside the huge office building and stop at the front desk that sits in the center of the room. The lobby has two windows, each decorated with custom upholstery. Along the wall sits a line of cushy, formal-looking chairs in a Queen Anne style, reeking of old money and family tradition. It reminds me of Highland Park.
The receptionist is turned around filing papers, so I clear my throat to get her attention. She turns around to face me and I do a double take.
“Aria?” My voice is surprised, and I’m fairly certain my mouth might be open.
The last I heard from Trenton, she was still in Texas and attending college. Yes, she’s his cousin, but he’s rarely seen her except for holidays when they were at the same family gatherings. I avoided any event where I knew she would be, but I did see her once at a wedding for another cousin. We barely spoke to each other, which was easy enough to do since it was crowded.
Why didn’t he tell me she moved here?
She’s still beautiful, of course, her brown hair shorter and cut in a blunt, straight style. Wearing a short red pencil skirt and a printed button-up shirt, she looks amazing. I glance down at my yoga pants and sweatshirt. I’m practically a hobo compared to her.
“Helloooo, Rose!” she says, dragging out the greeting in her soft southern drawl. “I started last week. Didn’t Trenton tell you?” She arches her brow.
I shake my head.
Her laugh tinkles across the darkly paneled office, grating on my nerves. “Well, here I am . . . the new office clerk.” She holds her arms out and does a full pirouette in her black stilettos.
I nod. “Trenton’s been so busy with that new case, I guess he forgot to tell me.”
She smiles tightly, not showing me her teeth, her eyes raking over my attire and landing squarely on my red Converse. “You’ve got something on your sweatshirt there,” she says, pointing at me and squinting with a look on her face like she smells something bad.
I look down and see a tiny spot of white, which I figure is either sugar from the muffin Spider brought me this morning or, more embarrassingly, my toothpaste.
It feels like Highland Park all over again, and I’m right back in my greasy Jo’s Diner polo.
The tension that has always been between us rears its head, and I exhale.
I return her tight smile. “So, Trenton’s dad got you this job? Couldn’t find anything else in the city?”
“We’re family and we do stick together.” She sighs, placing her hand on her heart, flashing a huge diamond engagement ring. “I’m just lucky to have my real family, ya know? So many people don’t these days.”
My teeth grind at the insinuation.
She leans in over the counter. “Of course, I hope we can work past our differences. Trenton is my cousin, and I want us to be friends.”
“I didn’t think I had the right pedigree to be your friend.”
She shrugs. “We just moved here, and I’m positive Trenton will want to hang out with us. This is a rather large city, and we are family.”
“We?” My eyes land on her diamond again, nearly blinded by its size.
She smiles broadly and holds out her hand. “Garrett, of course. It’s going to be a summer wedding after he finishes his first year of medical school here.”
My hands fist, but I play it cool, smiling. “Splendid. Now, I’m going to see Trenton.”
She calls out after me as I march down to his small office, but I ignore her, opening the door wide.
He stands behind his desk, his sandy blond hair rumpled as if he’s run his hands through it several times. Sitting on a chair next to his desk is his assistant Vivien, a stylish lady in her fifties who I met the first week he started. Papers and folders litter the room.
“Rose!” His face is lined with a frown as he spots me then Aria right behind me.
“I told her you were busy, but she ignored me,” Aria says.
He waves at her over my shoulder. “It’s fine. I can say hi to my girl.”
“Hey,” I say, coming into the room and getting a little thrill from shutting the door in Aria’s face.
He comes around the oak desk and meets me halfway, giving me a hug. “Now there’s a sight for sore eyes.” He kisses me soundly on the lips, and I reflexively kiss him back, feeling wrong—horribly, horribly wrong.
Vivien says hello, her gaze immediately back on her work.
“So, Aria? That’s new.”
He smirks. “Yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you. I hope we can work things out with them . . . if you’re comfortable with Garrett.”
Comfortable? He’s a douchebag. I frown. “I’m not.”
He caresses his hand down my arm. “They’re engaged, so he’s going to be part of my family. Maybe we should cut him some slack.”
I start to say something but clamp my mouth shut when I realize that at this point, Garrett is a moot point.
There’s a reason I’m here, and it doesn’t have jack to do with Aria or Garrett.
“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call first, I just . . . needed to talk to you. Maybe you can take a break and we can hit the coffee shop across the street?”
He checks his watch, a look of regret on his face. “Can it wait? This client is coming in tomorrow for a conference, and we just got some last-minute additions to the investment portfolio so we aren’t prepared.” He kisses me on the forehead. “I promise you, once the next few days are over, I’ll be all over you, but you have to let me get this done.”
I fiddle with my backpack, not meeting his eyes. “We need to talk.”
He tilts my chin up, blue eyes studying me, a frown knitting his brow. “Is anyone dying? Is everyone okay in Dallas?”
“This is about us, Trenton.”
Impatience flits across his chiseled features. “I’m at work, Rose. This job is new, and Vivien and I have a deadline.”
Vivien clears her throat, and he takes a step back in her direction. “I’ll text you later. Dinner maybe?”
I nod. “I’ll pop by your place and we can order in.”
He nods at me absently, already striding back to his desk.
I send them a final look, although neither of them notices. Hitching my backpack up on my shoulder, I head through his door and out into the main office.