Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Um…his private jet is fueling up at Lunken now. He’s flying over to Paris for a week or so to meet with the distribution team there.”
“Shit,” I hissed. My hands were so tight on the steering wheel, my knuckles ached. “He’s there. Do you know for how much longer?”
“Well, he popped down to talk to the CFO, but after that he has to come back up to collect the information I’m compiling for him and a couple of other things.”
“I need you to stall him.”
“What?” He sounded as though he thought I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had, but I didn’t care anymore.
“I just passed the BMW Store and Red Bank Road. That puts me about ten, maybe fifteen minutes from downtown. Call security and arrange for them to allow me up. If Sebastian tries to leave before I get there, stall him.”
“How? Should I tell him you’re coming to see him?”
“No! Don’t do that!” For a second, I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest. “What if he doesn’t want to see me? Telling him I’m coming there could make him leave even faster.”
“And this is the guy you want to make up with?”
“Kaylan! You’re killing me!” I whined. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“Okay! Okay! I still think he needs to suffer, but if you think he’s going to make you happy, who am I to stand in your way?”
Fucking exactly.
“I’ll go break the printer and call up IT to mess with it. That’ll definitely buy you at least twenty minutes.”
“Oh sweet God, thank you,” I moaned, no longer wishing I could pound my head on the steering wheel. Kaylan wasn’t normally this difficult. I couldn’t only imagine that managing Sebastian was driving him a little crazy.
“Don’t forget that you’ve got to park under Fountain Square when you get here. That other lot close to the office is full at this hour. Come up using the south staircase.”
“Got it! Thanks for your help!”
Kaylan ended the call, and at last I could breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he’d reminded me about the parking. There was one lot near the office that was exclusive to Courtland employees, and I would have gone straight there out of habit. The only problems were that I wasn’t an employee, and it would be completely full at midday.
But now that I had Kaylan working to keep Sebastian in place for the next fifteen to twenty minutes, I could focus on the next problem—what in the world was I going to say to Sebastian that would convince him to give me another chance? How was I going to prove that I was worthy of it? That I would not abandon him the next time things became difficult for us?
I mean, the first test was a hard one. I’d lost my job and had no way of supporting my family. My reputation had been ruined, or so I’d thought.
Sebastian had only wanted to help me through the rough patch. To give me a little breathing room so I wasn’t killing myself to support my mom and brother. And what had I done? Let my ego get in the way. My pride had stopped me from leaning on him when I’d really needed to. Sebastian wouldn’t have thought less of me.
Even if I hadn’t been willing to take his money, I could have gone to him for emotional support. He would have kept me from feeling so alone and helpless during those dark days.
I should just be honest. Admit where I went wrong, state that I’ve learned from it, and try very hard to never make the mistake again.
Booooooorrrrriiiiinnnnngggggg…
That would never work.
He was going to laugh in my face, hop on his private jet, and run off to the open arms of some hot French guy who would never abandon him.
Fuck. No. I needed some grand gesture. Some big thing that would steal Sebastian’s breath away and make him not hurt any longer. Something—
A coughing, choking sound erupted from the car engine. I clenched my teeth and silently prayed for it to not stall as we cruised past Rookwood and Hyde Park. I was less than five minutes from my exit. So fucking close.
“Come on, baby,” I coaxed. “If you can make it downtown, I swear I’ll give you a nice break. We’ll go for a proper oil change and even take you in for all kinds of service. All the parts will be replaced. I promise. You just gotta get me to Sebastian.”
My poor car sputtered and coughed, her complaining growing louder for every mile that we crossed. She was steadily slowing, but she continued to move as if she were willing to crawl those last few miles to get me to my destination.
Each time we approached an exit, I debated whether to get off, park, and call a rideshare to pick me up, but that would take up even more time that I didn’t have. In the end, I kept going, praying my car would make it.