Page 30 (1/2)

She groaned and allowed herself a er to luxuriate in self-pity and e herself up from the commode

Pull up those big girl panties, Victoria And tell theto it

Easy for Nan to say She wasn’t the one who had to face him

Vicki had been in the bathroo from the other side of the door and surmised that she was probably on a call That, or coive her the benefit of the doubt

The coffee was percolating—Vicki had one of those old, drip coffeelike the state-of-the-art silver h had in their penthouse kitchen The ancient coffee round, he had expected her to have nothing but the best But Ty had quickly learned that most of the expensive bells and whistles in the aparture income at the family company to spare no expense when it came to his own comfort

Vicki was al and neither of her brothers had any financial stake in her business Everything in the shop had been earned through hard work and determination Ty admired that about her She worked her ass off to make ends meet and keep her shop afloat

He heard the toilet flush and the faucet run, and took that as a signal to get her coffee poured Black, two sugars

The door opened and her head popped out, her eyes searching, as if she were looking for him She spotted him immediately, of course—there weren’t many places to hide in the small space—and blushed

Huh, odd Why the blush?

“Get it while it’s hot,” he invited, holding up her favoritea cartoon ry woman The words “keep calm and buy her flowers” were painted in bold, colorful print above the coures

She stepped out of the bathroo with both hands She mumbled thank you Her eyes were downcast, and she was clearly disco

Ty backed away, giving her some space, and returned to the coffee maker to pour himself a cup as well

He busied hiar and the atrocious creamer she stocked—he usually took his coffee black—but sensed that she needed time He kept his back to her, and waited for her to speak

He are of her every move and knew the exact moment she sat down behind her desk Her movements betrayed by the squeak of the wheel as shecreak of a spring when she settled her light weight into the seat

He waited for the soft thu on the wooden surface of the desk, before turning to face her again

He took a sip of coffee—shit, he shouldn’t have added that disgusting creas at the ankles and observed her silently