I blew a sigh out my nose and resisted the urge to pound at the keyboard until all my frustration had finally dissipated. After all my work, all my hours of negotiations, compromises, and number crunching, the investors I’d lined up wanted to back out of the merger.

It didn’t make any goddamned sense, and that alone was enough to make me want to rip my hair from my scalp. Worse, I had to deal with every inane, bullet-pointed excuse on my own since Piper had taken the day off for a doctor’s visit.

Briefly, I considered calling her and asking her to reschedule her appointment to a more convenient time. Like, say, when the world wasn’t coming down around our ears. But I knew that wasn’t an option.

I was going to have to ride this wave alone, no matter how choppy—and stupid—the waters.

Slowly, I rolled my tongue over my teeth and opened a new document, typing quickly and carefully, though I was sure to retain a civil and respectful tone.

Maybe Piper could at least look this over before I sent it. Make sure we were heading in the right direction. After all, anyone who’d met me knew I wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who knew how to handle people with more delicate sensibilities than my own.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I shot her a quick text asking if there was any way she might be able to come in just for an hour or two, and in a matter of seconds the phone buzzed in my hand.

Good. That was something at least. With Piper by my side, I’d be able to talk the investors into just about anything. And, knowing her, she’d be sure to color-code their responses.

In spite of everything, I smiled to myself, glanced at the board she’d made for me, and then settled back into my work. In such a short span of time, work had become more than just the struggle to maintain my success. Now, every day that I checked a new item off the list or followed her carefully laid plans, I felt like I was doing something to make her proud.

Like we were a team. And the more time went on, the more I felt like I didn’t want to do any of this without her. In fact, I was beginning to wonder how anything had ever gotten done before she’d come along.

Twenty minutes into my attempt at drafting the perfect memo, there was a gentle knock at my office door. I blew out a sigh of relief.

“Come in,” I called, not bothering to look up from my work. “Piper, come here and read this.”

The door clicked closed, and the smell of her lavender perfume along with her soft footfalls made me aware of her approach. I breathed deep, letting her general presence flood me for a moment before pointing at the screen.

“These bastards want to cancel the merger. After everything we’ve done.”

“Oh.” Her voice sounded hollow, and I glanced up at her. “That’s awful,” she added.

I frowned as I took in her appearance. Was she normally so pale, or was it just the soft glow of the computer screen that made her skin look chalkier than I’d ever seen it before?

“What happened at the doctor’s?” I asked, my stomach clenching suddenly. What a shit. I hadn’t even asked her why she was going or if she was all right. Jesus, don’t let it be something serious. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I’m feeling fine. Just a checkup,” she murmured and then glanced at me, meeting my eyes for only a second before her pupils darted back to my computer screen again.

“There’s no way you can send this email,” she sighed, a little of the color seeming to return to her cheeks as she focused on the job at hand.

“Why not?” I demanded.

“Because you sound like you’re negotiating with a supervillain rather than the people who you are hoping to partner with.” Her mouth thinned into a line, and she rolled my chair back, pushing me away so she could get closer to the keyboard. “We just need to soften up some of this language,” she added.

“The language is plenty soft,” I mumbled, but it was all bluster. I was just glad she was here and that everything was all right. If she needed to fix my email, so be it.

“Maybe for a hostage negotiator,” she shot back.

I watched as she studied my words, clicking here and there as she nipped and tucked my sentences. Still, as she went, she didn’t seem to have that same laser-focused determination she always had when she set to a task. She hadn’t made a single complaint about my grammar or anything.

Weird.

“Piper, there’s something wrong,” I said.

She glanced in my direction but still didn’t quite meet my gaze.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“You tell me. Your forehead is wrinkled like you’re trying to diffuse a bomb.”

She sighed. “I thought you wanted me to fix this for you.”

“Was it something at the doctor that you’re not telling me?”

“Jackson…” she started, but I couldn’t let her go on. I couldn’t let her push me away.

“Just answer the question.”

“Did it ever occur to you that some things are personal?” she shot back. “Stop pushing me.”

“You’re the one making me push,” I countered. “If there’s something wrong…”

“Nobody makes you push. You just…do. And there is nothing wrong, all right? Just a regular female checkup, and sometimes you feel a little off afterward. Jeez.” She shook her head and then clicked the mouse button. “Now read the email.”

I moved closer to the screen, reading her words with only half my attention. The rest of it was focused solely on the tension that now crackled in the air between us and the way she crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her shoe against the floor as I read.

“This is exactly what I needed. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a forced smile. “Now, if that’s all, I’m going to get back to my day off and relax a little.”

“No, you’re not,” I said, laying a hand on her arm as she stood. “Something is different, I can tell. And you’re not leaving until we talk about it.”

I knew it was unreasonable, but I was past giving a shit. The merger falling apart was bad enough, and now I couldn’t help but wonder if the doctor’s appointment was just an excuse for her to take the day off because something had changed between us.

Was she over me?

The thought sliced through me like a blade, and when she shook my hand off her, I didn’t try to stop her.

“I’m done discussing this,” she said. “I’ve gone through the proper channels to take a day off, and that’s what I’m going to do, Jackson.”

Without another word, she stalked toward the door and opened it, disappearing behind the frosted glass.

I couldn’t seem to shake the strange and awful sense that it might be for the last time, which was ridiculous. I was overtired and stressed with work, that was all. When Piper was ready to tell me what was bothering her, she would. In the meantime, I needed to focus on getting this merger back on track, or we could both be out of a job.

I turned back to my computer, but the dull sense of dread stayed with me long after that door closed.