My eyes drift to Nevaeh’s forced smile, sending more panic through me.
Fuck, shit!
“Nevaeh—” I start, but she cuts me off.
“I’m going to head back to my hotel. Congratulations again on the win,” she says. I step around Melanie to get to the woman I want to be around as much as I can.
My hands reach for her, but she makes her way to the exit before I have a chance to tell her that I really didn’t want Melanie to touch me. That I only want her. There is no way she heard how I turned down Melanie’s offer. It’s too loud in here, so all she saw was another woman touching me and me smiling politely. Goddammit. I have to tell her she’s the only person allowed to put her hands on me. Something I can’t fucking do because it’s not fair of me to tell her all of these things when we can’t be together. In any capacity. Because of her job and my lack of faith in relationships.
“Nevaeh, please,” I beg as I chase after her. I sprint in front of her, almost making her run into me.
“Thank you for this weekend and for tonight. I’m happy for you. You drove amazing, and I can’t wait to write this article. I’ll send it to you once I’m finished so you can approve it,” she adds, so I raise an eyebrow in response.
“Don’t be nice to me, not when you want to kick me.” My words bring a real smile to her face.
“I don’t want to kick you, Adrian. You deserve to celebrate, so go, celebrate with her. It looks like she desperately wants you to,” she says.
I take a step toward her, making her pull her lips into a thin line.
“Better not make her wait,” Nevaeh adds and steps around me, leaving me to sputter nonsense after her, all of my reasons for why I’m not going to go celebrate with Melanie, but she saw what she wanted to see, and I don’t think there’s a way to convince her to stay without saying all of the things I’m not supposed to.
Kiss me.
Celebrate with me.
Stay with me.
Let’s fuck away all of our frustration.
So, instead, I lean down to press the swiftest kiss on her cheek.
“Call me.”
I stare after her as she leaves without making any promises of calling me. My eyes drift back to Melanie, and I hate that I resent her a little for making Nevaeh think something that isn’t true.
All I can hope is that Nevaeh doesn’t care who I do or do not sleep with, but I have a feeling she does, and that I just really fucked things up by saying nothing.
Chapter 29
Nevaeh
Myhandsaresweatingas Mrs. Lu’s secretary opens the door to my boss’s office, the usual frown on his face as he does so. I’ve barely slept since I got back home yesterday, which is why a yawn slips past my lips before I can stop it. It doesn’t go past Mrs. Lu, nor does it go past Ms. Martin, who raises an amused brow.
“I heard you went out with the drivers. Overdid it?” she jokes, and I wish that was the reason for me being sleep-deprived.
“No, I was working on my article for this weekend,” I lie to hide what the hell I was actually doing. Thinking about Adrian and the woman I saw him with. Picturing them together all sweaty and naked. Wondering for the millionth time why Adrian Romana has to be the one to stay in my head when he shouldn’t even be there in the first place.
“Come, sit. I understand from your email that you’d like to talk about the events of the race weekend,” Mrs. Lu says, and I obey, crossing my legs but leaning toward her before speaking.
“Yes, I hope that’s alright.” Mrs. Lu sits back in her chair and extends her hand, gesturing for me to go ahead while Ms. Martin keeps working on whatever it is that a COO does.
The smile on Mrs. Lu’s face makes me feel better about what I have to do.
“I really appreciate the job you have given me, and Gillian is a great boss, but I don’t think I’m a good addition to his team,” I start, hating myself for having to look like the ass here.
“Yes, Gillian has informed me about something similar. Lucky for you, I have eyes and ears everywhere. You will no longer be working for him, I won’t have it. You gave your all last weekend and ended up unwell because of poor leadership.”
My boss stands up, patting down her pencil skirt as she takes a few strides to get to her printer. Her fingers grab hold of a document which she hands me as she leans against her desk beside me. My eyes scan the paper, realizing this is the article I wrote on the plane yesterday and sent to her.
