Even though I'd taken extra time this morning to put on more make-up than I usually wore, I still arrived early at work. The bags under my eyes I'd needed to cover had been earned through a sleepless weekend that I feared would lead into a sleepless week. One more night like that and I doubted any amount of concealer would disguise how exhausted I was.

I was already trying to figure out how to stay under Abel's radar through the day when I dropped my purse on my desk. No one else was in yet, but I could hear voices coming from the back. Since the only office back there was Abel's, I figured avoidance was the best policy...until I recognized the second voice.

Jace.

My heart skipped a beat. He was here.

No.

I shook my head. It didn't matter that he was here. He'd been a total ass to me. I didn't think I was blameless, but I definitely didn't deserve to be accused of using him for a story. Certainly not after I'd told him how much his art had meant to me.

Bastard.

But that didn't stop me from taking a step toward the back, toward him. Despite everything he said to me, I still craved his touch. But that was just my body. My brain knew better.

"I mean it," Jace's voice was hard. "Don't make me call my lawyer."

And before I could do bolt or hide, he was coming out of Abel's office, straight toward me. I knew he saw me because I was only a couple feet away, but he didn't even look my way. Only walked by without even acknowledging that I existed.

It shouldn't have hurt to see him go like that. We weren't together. Never had been. We'd had two nights of incredible sex, and that had been one night too many. I always learned from my mistakes, so from here on out, it'd be nothing but professional between the two of us. After his show, I'd never have to see or think of Jace Randall again.

"Savannah!" Abel barked as he stuck his head out of his office. "Get your ass in here!"

What the hell? My boss had always been a jerk, but that seemed to go above and beyond.

Still, I went. I liked having a job that was at least in the ballpark of what I wanted to do. More to the point, I liked it until I found something better.

Abel was sitting behind his desk, hands folded on top of his ample belly, face red. He jerked his chin toward the chair on the other side of his desk, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. The scowl on his face deepened as I sat down.

"You're off the Randall story."

My jaw dropped for a few seconds before I snapped it shut. I waited for him to explain, and I knew he would. Not because he'd feel like I deserved to know, but because he'd want to make sure I knew exactly what I'd done wrong.

"I never should have given you the story to begin with, but I figured no one can screw up an art show for a locally established artist. A little online research, then go critique some pretentious 'new' art that any idiot with a bachelor's degree could write about."

My nails dug into my palms, and I reminded myself that it wouldn't be prudent to insult my boss. Especially not when he wasn't quite finished.

"But somehow, you managed to be unprofessional enough that Mr. Randall felt he had to come down and tell me that he wanted you to stay away from him."

"Unprofessional?" I practically sputtered the word. Jace had the gall to call me unprofessional? What the fuck?!

"He didn't go into any details, but you need to know that you won't be going on any assignments for a hell of a long time. You're going to be staying here. Getting coffee. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll let you do some fact checking." Abel pointed toward the door. "Get back to your desk and send me everything you have so far. I'll take the story from here."

Like hell he would.

But I wasn't going to argue that now. I needed to get my shit together first. Calm down so that I didn't go off on Abel or Jace. I needed to think, figure things out logically. Cooler heads prevailed in the end, and right now, I wasn't certain that I could say anything without losing the tenuous grip I had on my self-control. Inhaling deeply, I simply stood and walked out of the office. My hands were shaking, my stomach churning. Emotions flashed through me, one right after the other, too fast for me to process. All I knew for certain was that as quickly as I'd thought my career was finally taking off, I was now just as certain that it was over.