The Mogul And The Muscle

“I’m sorry, Mr. Calloway, I’ve already offered her the position. And she accepted.”

The moment of silence that followed made me feel terrible for the guy.

“Of course,” Shepherd said. “As she should have.”

Cameron picked up her purse. “I just remembered, I have another meeting to get to. Everly, thank you so much for coming. We’ll connect later and work out the details. Mr. Calloway, it was nice meeting you. I hope you both enjoy your visit to Miami.”

She met my eyes and I gestured for her to go ahead of me.

“Nice one,” I whispered as she walked by, then followed her into the restaurant.

“Give them some privacy,” she said quietly to the hostess. “They’re my guests and if they need anything, I’ll take care of it.”

“Of course, Ms. Whitbury,” the hostess said.

We left and turned up the sidewalk toward her building. I shifted so I was on the street side of the sidewalk.

“Was that what it looked like?” Cameron asked. “Because I think we just witnessed something in there.”

“Everly and her boss? Oh yeah. That was something.”

“I bet he chased her here because he’s in love with her,” she said, a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Definitely.”

“Oh my god, it’s like something out of a book. Do you think he deserves her?”

“I couldn’t say.”

“I wish I knew what was happening. I’m glad I trusted my instinct to offer her an office in Seattle. She’s perfect for this job. I really want her.”

“Looks like Shepherd Calloway does too.”

She took a deep breath. “Exactly. Well, maybe she’ll have her happy ending. A new job and the man she loves.”

The hint of longing in Cameron’s voice surprised me. No sarcasm. No snarky remark. That little glimpse of vulnerability did something weird to my insides.

“Aldrich would never have chased me like that,” she said.

I wasn’t sure what to say. “No?”

“After I ended things, I didn’t want him to try to convince me to stay. And it still hurt when he didn’t. What’s that about?”

“You wanted to know you’d mattered.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see her glance at me as we walked. “That’s exactly it. And I don’t think I ever did. Not really.”

I squashed down the urge to reach over and clasp her hand. “At least you know you made the right choice.”

“Yes, I did.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have said all that. I guess now that you’ve witnessed sex in my kitchen, been interrogated by my gardener, and I’ve made things weird by oversharing, all we have left is for one of us to accidentally see the other one naked and we’ll have our awkwardness bases covered.”

I chuckled.

“Oh my god, did I make Jude Ellis laugh?” she asked. “I didn’t know you did that.”

“I can laugh.”

“You should do it more often,” she said.

“If it makes you feel any better, the last woman I dated long-term tried to kill me.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

I tried not to wince. Damn it, I shouldn’t have said that. Normal people didn’t have ex-girlfriends who’d held a knife to their throat. But I had said it, so… “Yeah. She did.”

“Wow. How’d you stop her?”

“Talked her out of it.”

“I’m impressed,” she said.

“Thanks. It was a long time ago.”

We’d arrived at her building, so I held the door open while she walked into the lobby. She didn’t say anything else until we got into the elevator.

“Derek told me that you used to be in the CIA,” she said as the elevator carried us up.

I wasn’t surprised he’d told her, and my previous employment wasn’t confidential. But I didn’t like talking about it. People made assumptions, or asked too many questions.

“Yeah.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see her looking at me. “I guess that’s what makes you so mysterious.”

“Mysterious was never my angle.”