Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
“Lunch then? It’s less formal.”
I shake my head. “I really am busy and Noelle’s off today,” I tell him.
The bell chimes at the front door. I glance at the security camera quickly and stand. “I’ll be right back.”
Do you think Zane listens?
No, he doesn’t.
He stands and follows me. “Just in time,” he says. Zane steps in front of me and meets the delivery person at Noelle’s desk.
“What’s going on?”
“Thanks, have a good day,” the delivery person says as he hands over a couple of bags. Zane follows him out and locks the door behind him. While he’s at the door, he turns the OPEN sign to CLOSED.
“What are you doing?” I stomp my foot in frustration and ball my hands into fists.
“We’re having lunch,” he says as he takes the bags of food toward my conference room. “People need to eat, especially lawyers. Besides, I need to talk to you about taking my case.”
“What case?” I ask, hot on his heels. He’s right, I do need to eat and whatever is in the bags smells delicious. My stomach thinks so as well. It’s gurgling and making obscene noises. As much as I don’t want to bend to his will, he knows the way to my heart.
We get to the conference room and Zane waits for me to enter, then shuts the door behind me. “You locked the front door.” I remind him.
“Yes, but if anyone needs you, they can look through the window and see you’re having a meeting in the conference room. I want us to enjoy our lunch together.”
“How do you know they can see me?”
Zane shrugs. “Because I’ve done it.”
“Creeper.”
He laughs as he sets the bags of food onto the table. Slowly, he pulls out two cartons and sets one in front of me. “I call it surveillance.”
“Are you a PI now?” I open the carton and my mouth waters. “Is this from Burger Island?”
“It is,” he says as he rips open the bag of fries for us to share. Zane sits and hands me a chocolate milkshake.
Damn, he knows how to get me to soften up.
“I haven’t had a burger from them in years.” I take the lid off my shake and dip my fry, closing my eyes when the sweet and salty combo hits my taste buds.
“I didn’t even know they were still open until the other day when I had to make a delivery for your mom.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes at his mention of my mom. It annoys me how short my parents’ memory is. Ever since he showed up, at the right time I might add, my parents have been all over Zane being here for the winter. It could be because they thought of Zane as a son, especially after my brother passed away. He stepped up big time for my family.
“Honestly, the only time I leave town is during December when I make deliveries.”
“Are you really that busy?”
I nod and take a bite, waiting until I swallow to answer. “I represent the town in all their legal matters, especially the landowners, and I serve on some committees. My work keeps me busy, which is good. I like being busy. It gives me less time to think about mundane crap.”
“Like life?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Zane dips some fries into his shake and sticks them in his mouth. “Do you want to know the last time I’ve eaten fries like this?”
“No.”
He laughs. “Is everything I did in New York off limits to talk about?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Fair enough,” he says, taking a bite of his burger.
I do the same and figure I owe him some credit. “You remembered how I like my burger.”
“There isn’t a single thing I’ve forgotten about you, Eve.” He winks.
He freaking winks at me!
I eye him warily as I reach for my shake. The concoction is thick, and it takes me a couple pulls to get the ice cream into the straw. “I wish I could tell you I’ve forgotten everything, that you’re like a stranger to me, but I’d be lying.” I admit. “And if you remember everything, then you’d know I’m lying about lying, and we’d continue to run circles around each other.”
“I’m actually not doing any running,” he says. “I’m just standing here, watching you spin.”
I throw my fry down and sigh. “You don’t get to be like this, Zane. You left and started a whole new life. Up until a few days ago, you were engaged to someone else. Someone you lived with and brought home to meet your dad.”
“Everything about my relationship was wrong,” he says. “The night I showed up at your place, Caryn had said some things to me that made me wonder if meeting her was a setup.”
“Isn’t that how most people meet?”
“Yes, or casually. But it didn’t matter where I was, because Caryn was always there. Even non-work functions.” Zane sighs heavily. “This one time, I was at the train station, and she was there. She suggested we get drinks before I caught my train. I agreed because she was the boss’s daughter. We sat there, I watched the clock, listening for the announcement. When it was time to go, she insisted I held her stuff while she used the restroom. Next thing I knew, the train had left. You know, she was super apologetic and paid for my ticket because I couldn’t get a refund. But I’d missed my train, and all she said was, ‘don’t worry there’s another one tomorrow.’”