I’m sorry, Fiona, but I had to find you. I paid a company to track your phone number. Your employee records gave me your address.
I swallow a big lump, my legs shifting frantically, my mind desperately searching for a way out of this. I feel like he’s pushing me against a wall, trapping me, locking me in.
Anger flares.
Is that why you’re here? To FIRE me?
“What did you say?” Rachel asks.
I turn, shuffling up next to her, so she can see the phone screen too.
“Strong,” she mutters.
“Let’s see what he says.”
“Whatever happens, I’ll support you,” Rachel tells me quietly.
I don’t reply, but that tells me she thinks I might be right. He’s here to fire me. It’s the most likely option. Why else would he have driven here?
But then, he could fire me at work. He wouldn’t have to come to my apartment.
I want to speak with you xx
“The kisses are back,” I say, my voice trembling. “I wonder what that means. Or if it means anything.”
We’re talking now
More dots. I exchange a glance with Rachel. To think that Felix Franklin is right outside, standing opposite my building, maybe in one of his tight-fitting suits or in his shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Pacing up and down past the graffiti-covered alleyway.
I want to talk in person
“What should I do?” I say.
Rachel shakes her head. “I don’t know. This is insane. Is it even legal to get your address like that?”
I laugh humorlessly. “Probably not.”
It’s the least of my concerns right now.
“I think you should go out there,” Rachel says. “Stay near the building. Don’t go anywhere with him. See what he has to say.”
“He’s not going to kidnap me, Rach. He’s going to fire me.”
“Better safe than sorry,” she says.
“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I should, shouldn’t I? I get the feeling he’s not going to leave.”
“Do you want him to leave?”
“It depends on why he’s here.”
“Who knows? It could be a good thing. You won’t know unless you go out there, though.”
I sigh, nodding. She’s right.
At least, she’s right about one part. I won’t know for sure until I go out there. I won’t have the confirmation of his expression, the curling of his upper lip, the rage flitting into his eyes.
But I already know what he’s going to do, how he’s going to react. Not the specifics, but I can envision him turning his back to me, shaking his head in disgust. Or maybe he’ll direct his anger toward my job, roaring at me that I’m fired. I violated his privacy.
“I can’t do this,” I whisper.
Rachel frowns. “You don’t have to do anything. But for what it’s worth, I think you’ll regret it if you don’t.”
I nod as her words settle inside of me, the truth of them expanding until I can’t ignore it. Rachel has a way of hitting the issue squarely in its most significant part.
She’s right. If I don’t do this, if I run from this chance, I’ll never be able to stop thinking about what could have happened.
“Better to pull the Band-Aid off quickly,” I murmur. “Get it over with. There’s no point dragging it out.”
She frowns again. I sense she wants to remind me it could be good news, but she must be able to read the darkness in my expression.
The last thing I want right now is to hear how this could go well.
It will only make it all the more painful when it doesn’t.
CHAPTER NINE
Felix
I didn’t plan on coming over here so quickly. I didn’t plan on driving through the city like a man possessed, a demon inside of me that just won’t quit.
I didn’t think I’d be standing opposite my mystery girl’s apartment building, my hands behind my back, squeezing onto my cell phone as I try to combat the tension gripping me.
But I couldn’t resist.
My breathing picks up its pace when I think about her employee photo.
Hiring a company to trace her cell phone number was easy, which led me to the fact she works at my company. As I opened her employee file, I braced myself, getting ready to face the cold fact that somebody was playing a trick on me.
I thought it’d be a man, perhaps, a frat-boy type who’d get a kick out of baiting the CEO.
Or maybe it still was a rival, and they’d hired somebody to infiltrate my company.
Or a gold-digger type covered in plastic surgery.
Nothing prepared me for the reality.
Sitting at my desk, I let out a shaky breath. My mouth fell open like I was in a cartoon.
She was the woman from my fantasy.
The photo showed her from the waist up. I remember how I couldn’t look away, panting like an unchained beast.
Her brown hair fell to her shoulders, messy in a sexy way, her round flushed cheeks framed by her dark locks. Her eyes were wide and innocent-looking, a startling tempting green color. Her lips nervously smiling in the photo, making me want to kiss her and show her how beautiful she is.