Page 13 of Savage Prince
“Trust your gut. If something seems off, tell Mount. Don’t hesitate. He’ll know what to do.”
A chill snakes down my spine like someone just walked over my grave. Maybe because Rafe has never told me to go to anyone else for help. Ever.
“Rafe ...”
“It’ll be okay. We’re always okay, aren’t we?” He yanks me in for a hard hug. “Don’t go reminiscing about your wild-child days either. You got an itch to scratch, go out on a date with a banker or a lawyer or something. Stay the fuck away from Haven.”
I squeeze him hard. “Don’t tell me what to do. Just come back safe.”
“Always do.”
He releases me and I watch him walk out of my office, my unease climbing with his every step.
Lord, keep him safe. He’s all I’ve got left.
Chapter 5
Temperance
“Knock, knock.” I rap on the wooden doorjamb of my boss’s office fifty-eight minutes later, injecting a cheerful note into my voice.
Keira, my blindingly gorgeous redhead of a boss, smiles when she sees me. “Hey, Temperance. I was just about to order breakfast. You want your usual?”
I don’t turn down food. Maybe it’s because I went to bed with my stomach growling too many times as a kid, or maybe because I’m perpetually hungry. Either way, my answer is a foregone conclusion.
“Absolutely.”
Keira’s lips, slicked red, curve into a smile, and for a second, I’m reminded of the masked woman Friday night.The woman I watched ...
I need to block that out and pretend it never happened, but the vivid memories make it nearly impossible.
Thankfully, Keira doesn’t notice my hesitation, because she’s already on the phone to place our typical breakfast order.
I settle into a guest chair in front of her desk with my notebook on my lap. It’s full of checklists and final details that we have to run through before the big fundraiser Seven Sinners is hosting on Thursday night for Mary’s House, a local women’s shelter.
After our successful Mardi Gras party for the Voodoo Kings football team, word spread that Seven Sinners is the perfect place to hold high-profile events that need extra panache. Now we’re up to our eyeballs in requests, and my job, which was already busy, has taken over my life completely, leaving no time for anything else.
That’s why it didn’t even occur to me to question meeting a potential customer on a Friday night. Even though I should dig to the bottom of how the hell the mix-up occurred, I’m far too embarrassed to admit what I did.
Over and done with.
Never to be thought of again.
Except in the dark of my room late at night.
This event-planning aspect of my job wasn’t exactly what I signed up for, but it’s not like I was going to say no to Keira. She’s a great boss, and being promoted to COO of Seven Sinners is more than I ever expected when I hired on as an office assistant.
When Keira hangs up, she smiles at me again. “So, what do we need to tackle first?”
“Donors will begin dropping off auction pieces today. If it’s okay with you, I’ll just keep them all in my office so there’s no chance of them getting misplaced or damaged.” To myself, I add,especially because my brother won’t be popping in for any more visits for a bit. The same feeling of unease creeps through me, but I push it away.
“Good idea. Keep a log of them as we receive them, and we’ll move everything upstairs once the final preparations for the room are in place.”
“Got it.” I move down to the next item on my list. “Odile has asked me to confirm for the third time that we have the correct estimated number of attendees.”
Keira winces. “I got an email over the weekend from the president that they have some heavy hitters who RSVP’d late, and they’re too big of potential donors to turn down.”
“Okay, so we need to increase by a few?”
