Surrendering Series Box Set

Lilia laughed and finished the last bite of cake.

“Haven’t you heard the expression, ‘Life is what happens when you’re making other plans’?” Of course I had. That didn’t mean I had to like it, or follow it.

“Have you talked to Lucah about it?”

“Sort of. I try to avoid talking about Ryder with him. It’s kind of a touchy subject, and then there’s the fact that Ryder is always around and we sort of agreed to stop talking about him behind his back.”

She gave me a face of sympathy as the waiter brought the check and I pulled out my company card to pay.

“So tell me about your problems. Boys? Girls? Friends?” I was always trying to repay the favor, but she always closed right up.

“Things are fine.” Her eyes immediately went to staring at the empty dessert plate.

“That was almost convincing,” I said, sipping the last of my water.

“Good, that means I’m improving. It’s nothing. I just had a breakup not that long ago and it kind of wrecked me for a little while. I’m mostly over it, but every now and then things remind me, and I’m thrown back into misery again.” She gave me a sad smile.

“How long had you been together?”

“Since high school. We were sweethearts and then we grew apart, and then we were these different people, still trying to have the old relationship, but we couldn’t remember why we were even trying anymore. It was . . . it was hard. Really hard.”

“I’m so sorry.” I proceeded to tell her about Royce (otherwise known as King Douchebag) and all of his escapades, some of which I could finally laugh about, and that seemed to bring Lilia out of her sad moment.

“Why were you even with him in the first place?” she asked as we walked back to the office.

I shrugged. “I have no idea anymore. Our parents were friends and he had money. He was one of those people who had everything on paper, but didn’t deliver when it came to real life. He was also an asshole. That was the biggest problem. I ignored a lot of things because I was trying to give him a chance, but he definitely used up all his chances and then some.”

I was glad to be rid of him, because now I had Lucah, and I understood what having the right man in your life was like.

“Well, if you ever want me to set you up . . . ” I said, and waited for the reaction from Lilia.

“Oh, no. That’s okay. I’m good.” Her panicked expression made me burst out laughing.

“I’m only kidding. I know how much I hate being set up, so I never do it to someone else. It’s cruel and unusual punishment.” I had sort of set up Fin and Marisol. Or I had let Sloane set them up and that had worked out. So far.

“Agreed.”

I was still laughing about my ex as I sat down at my desk, but I cut off abruptly when there was a knock at the door.

“Oh, hi Violet.” I hadn’t seen her much lately, and I’d almost forgotten she was working here. It had been nice, actually, but now here she was.

I had to get over my jealousy issues. I really did. A few more sessions with Lilia should nip it in the bud.

“Hi, Rory. How are you?” We exchanged the normal office small talk, but there was obviously something she wanted to speak to me about. Again.

I was getting really tired of her using me as a Lucah Information Source, but maybe that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. I hoped not. Anything would be better than that.

“Do you need to talk?” I said in a lowered voice.

“Oh, no. I just wanted to see how things were going. We should another lunch again soon.” I tried to see what her ulterior motive could be and came up with nothing. Unless she wanted to take me out to lunch to pump me for information. You know, keep it out of the workplace.

“Yes, we definitely should. Next week? I’ll check my calendar and get back to you.”

“Great.” She smiled and then marched right back to her office. Wait and see. I was going to wait and see . . .

Fuck that. She was up to something. I could smell it. Now I just needed to figure out what it was.

~*~*~