She glanced at her phone, frowning at the lit-up screen. It wasn’t him. She picked up her phone, swiped right, and held it to her ear. “Yes, Mother, I’m fine.”
Izzy sighed. “You can’t blame me for checking.”
“I know.” She smiled, playing with a pen on her desk. The pen reminded her of Taylor’s persistent theft from his secretary, which stole the smile right off her face. She dropped it, rotating her desk chair so she faced the other way. “And I love you for it.”
“Of course, you do.” Izzy sniffed. “Are we on for dinner and dancing tonight?”
“Dinner, yes. Dancing, no.” She rubbed her forehead. “Nice try, though.”
“Come on, I’ve been trying to get you to go out with me for years. We’re both single and hot, so we should be out there having fun. This could be the night where we get drunk, get stupid, flirt with some guys, and dance our asses off until the last song plays.”
She frowned. “I don’t want to flirt.”
“Then don’t.” Izzy groaned. “But at least dance and drink with me.”
She hesitated, thinking of her bleak night at home, alone and likely curled up in bed, crying over Taylor. It wasn’t until she lost him that she admitted to herself that she loved him, but that didn’t make the pain any less real. That pain, that crippling loss, was taking over her life.
Taylor, meanwhile, was busily hitting up the social scene.
Not only had the papers shown him at the gala with Julie, but they’d gone to another event for the fight against childhood cancer. He was burying himself in parties and having a social life, while she was hiding at home in a bathrobe with a box of chocolates.
No more.
“Fine,” she gritted.
Izzy gasped. “Seriously? Like, seriously?”
“Don’t make me change my mind,” Sam warned.
Laughing, Izzy let out a little squeal. “I won’t give you a chance to, because we won’t be talking again until I pick you up. See you at seven, wear a sexy dress, love you, bye.”
Smiling, she said into the dead line, “Love you, too.”
There. Take that, Page Six.
She spun her chair back around, frowning at the webpage on her computer that showed Taylor walking out of the museum event with his jacket undone and his hair mussed. Had someone touched his hair, run their fingers through it? Had he moved on to a meaningless one-night stand already? Had she been the only idiot to go and fall in love after promising not to?
It certainly seemed that way.
“Ms. Matthews?” a deep voice said from behind her.
She tore her eyes from her computer and stood in surprise. “Mr. Harper, hi. I’m sorry, I must’ve forgotten that we had an appointment—”
“We don’t,” he said, grinning and sitting down. “I just stopped by to thank you.”
She sat back down, her gut twisting because if he was thanking her, he’d probably accepted the offer Taylor had given him. She’d lost. Again.
“I spoke to the buyer for my company, as I’d decided to take him up on his generous offer, and before I could accept my terms as-is, he asked if I had your plans on me.”
Sam stiffened. “What? Why?”
“He said he wanted to use them when he backed my company and brought it into the next century. He’s generously agreed to front the money to get me where I need to be so I have a fighting chance at saving Harper Enterprises. He told me he’d be there to help me every step of the way, and that if I stuck to your plan, I might succeed. If I don’t, he’ll write off the loan as a failed experiment.”
Her heart pounded hard, echoing in her ears. What was Taylor up to now…? “But why would he do that? What’s the catch?”
“There isn’t any. He told me he wanted to expand his services and that I was the first company he was going to try this new partnership technique on.”
Confusion muddled her brain. “Partnership…?”