Page 41 of Love In Hiding

“You could if you wanted to. I think you don’t.”

“That can be our little secret.”

He didn’t know if she was joking or not. The grin on her face said yes, but he was positive there was more truth to it than she was letting on.

“I got called into his office a few months ago. No meeting set. Nothing. Not even a whisper of what might be coming.”

“Did you get fired?” she asked, her eyes huge. “That would be scandalous.”

He squinted at her. “I was being promoted to partner.”

Her smile vanished, replaced by a frown. “Sounds like good news to me.”

“In California,” he said.

“And you didn’t want to go there?”

“No. I’d been doing a lot of work on projects there. A few years ago I worried the company would move and I’d have to decide. I already knew what my decision would be. This came out of left field.”

“Was it one of those take it or lose your job things?”

“Not sure. Ryker made it sound that way. But he spun things the way he wanted all the time. I told them I wanted to think about it. I took the steps to take the bar in July there, just in case.”

“Because you’re the type with a plan B, C and probably D.”

“I never thought so. Or not that much. After a few days I contacted a headhunter to see what was available. I knew I could be a little fussy. If I really didn’t want the promotion, they weren’t firing me, but I’d be stuck in that position forever.”

“You already decided to leave so why not just do it, right?”

“Exactly. And that brings us to being stuck in plastic chairs sticking to my thighs, drinking beer out of water glasses, and watching the sunset while inhaling the sea air. How about you? Something brought you to New York. Going to share with me like I am with you?”

12

REJECTION SUCKS

“You know,” Spencer said the next night, leaning against the arm of the chair in their hotel room like he had all the time in the world, “you never answered my question about what brought you to New York.”

She hadn’t. Because right when he’d asked, her phone had rung. Her twin was conveniently rescuing her from drowning in Spencer Jensen’s ridiculously piercing blue eyes as if she’d sent out their wonder power signals that were received hours away.

The man could be dangerously charming when he decided to be.

And when he got snarky with her? Even better. She hated that she liked it…but she did.

She pulled the leftover wine from the fridge, poured herself a full glass, emptying the bottle, then grabbed a beer for him. She held it up and wiggled it at him. Slow and teasing like bait on a hook.

Maybe she wanted to coax out that version of him again. Because this morning he’d reverted to his boring,uptight self giving her that lawyerlytone-it-downglare at the plant.

She understood why. She really did.

She’d only raised her voice once. Not intentionally. It had just slipped out because the place was a mess and people were making decisions so stupid it was a miracle the building hadn’t spontaneously combusted.

And Chad? That idiot was still ignoring her calls. Still ignoring her emails. The coward probably knew his job was dangling by a thread. Belinda had said she’d talked to him earlier that morning, so it wasn’t like he’d disappeared off the grid.

No. He was hiding.

And she was in no mood to tolerate cowards tonight.

Which meant she had to open her mouth and answer the questions that Spencer had asked because he’d done that to her last night.