Page 92 of Crazy Thing
Holy fuck.
My legs are practically wobbling beneath me as Ziggy collapses against my chest with a devastated whimper. Pulse pounding and sweat pouring, I crumble to the ground, careful to keep my protective grip on her.
Limbs tangled up like roots, we press our foreheads together. Laughing. Sharing this experience that’s for just us two.
And in this moment, I know that she’s mine.
No matter what she says. No matter how she tries to fight it. No matter how much she tries to keep some sort of distance between us.
She’s mine.
In time, I’ll make sure she knows it.
The rest of the day, there’s a goofy smile on my face that can’t be wiped off. Even later, as Ziggy is driving back to my home.
She glances over at me from where she’s sitting behind the wheel. “I haven’t heard your phone ring once all day. Did you drop it somewhere in the woods? Is the battery dead?”
I shake my head. “I turned it off.”
Ziggy blinks, her eyebrows lifted high. “You turned it off?”
I got nothing done. There wasn’t a spreadsheet in sight. No meetings for the last two-and-a-half days. No deals. No closings.
Yet, I didn’t know I could ever feel this…fulfilled.
I grab her hand, sweeping my lips across her knuckles. “Best. Decision. Ever. I got to focus all my attention on you.”
After a few days of sunshine and bike rides in town and strolls through the forest, I still don’t want this weekend to come to an end.
I never thought I’d ever feel this way. But I find myself craving this kind of beautiful simplicity in my life, not just on the weekend, but every day.
36
ZIGGY
Darius’s fingers move like lightning across the keyboard of his laptop. “Did you call the contractor about his latest expense report from The North Node renovation?” he asks without looking up.
I slip the last file I worked on today back into its designated slot in the neatly organized filing cabinet. “Yup.”
His eyes remain on the screen.“And did you email Mr. Laurier my latest comments on those new real estate deals he’s proposing?”
“Uh-huh.”
He pauses, searching his mind. “What about my financial advisor? I wanted to increase my contributions to my niece’s trust fund.”
I prop a hip against the filing cabinet, trying to keep my smug grin under control. “Handled. It’s all been handled.” I’m gloating and I can’t hide it.
Darius leans back in his executive chair, a doubtful frown on his face as he looks around. Then his eyes rebound to mine. “So we’re…done?”
I nod. “We’re done.”
The office is quiet. The rest of the staff is already gone for the night. Darius checks his watch then he glances around the room again, like he can’t believe it.
“What?” I laugh, tickled by his expression.
“It’s just that, we took the entire weekend off. I was expecting that we’d be forced to work late today to make up for it.”
I strut over to his desk, gently closing his laptop and pushing it aside. “Well, you have a very efficient staff led by a very efficient office manager.” I plant my palms on the tabletop and grin in his face.
