Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
I refuse to accept that as a final answer, so I’m about to do what any good lawyer would in this situation. With a beautiful bouquet of fresh blooms in hand, I’m about to step off an elevator and into the executive offices of Llura.
I suck in a deep breath and run a hand over the front of my dress. The skirt wrinkled on my subway ride here, but it’ll have to do. Kalina doesn’t strike me as the type of person who puts a lot of weight in wardrobe choices.
That assumption is confirmed as soon as the elevator doors slide open, and I’m greeted with a flashing neon purple Llura sign hanging above a steel desk.
A dark-haired man is seated behind it, and it takes me a second to realize that he looks familiar.
When he spots me, a broad smile skates over his full lips. “Hey! Sea bass and white wine to drink, right?”
It suddenly hits me that he’s the waiter who served Nyssa and me when we had dinner at Lise a few weeks ago. I mentally scramble to try and remember his name. “Hey! How are you?”
“I’m good.” His gaze shifts from my face to someone to the left of me. “Are you taking off for the day?”
The young woman he’s speaking to nods. “I’m heading to the one o’clock meeting. If you talk to Kalina, let her know I have it covered. Okay, Zay?”
Zay. Zayden.
I let out a sigh of relief at the reminder of his name.
“Sure thing!” he calls to the woman as she rushes toward the elevator before it leaves this floor.
I take a step closer to his desk.
Since the woman who just spoke to him was dressed in jeans and a white blouse, I’m not surprised to see him wearing a pair of faded, ripped jeans and a gray T-shirt.
The dress code in this office is enviable.
“I’m guessing you didn’t track me down to give me those?” Zayden chuckles. “Are they from the woman you had dinner with? That beauty had some pent-up frustration from what I heard.”
I feel a blush rush over my cheeks even though he’s talking about Nyssa. I smile because I intend to tell her that he overheard our conversation about her finding a man to make her come.
“If you want to give her my phone number, I have a card.” He opens a desk drawer to reveal a multitude of crumpled candy bar wrappers and a stack of elastic bands. “Kalina got me a bunch. They must be in here somewhere.”
“That’s fine.” I stop his quest to find a business card when I tap the top of his desk with my hand. “I’m actually hoping to talk to her today.”
His head pops up, sending a few strands of hair onto his forehead. “You know Kalina?”
I nod. “I sure do.”
He picks up a pencil to press the lead against his tongue. “Name, please. “
Struggling to keep a straight face, I sigh. “Abby Duvall. I’m the lawyer representing Declan Wells in the buyout of the condom division.”
Zayden’s eyes widen. “You’re a lawyer?”
“I am,” I say with pride. “I need to touch base with Kalina to find out who is representing her now that her counsel has retired.”
He jots my name down on a pad of paper. “She’s at home. Kalina is sick.”
Concern knits my brow. “Oh no. I hope it’s nothing serious.”
He shrugs a shoulder. “All I know is that she’s been a no-show here in the office since last Thursday.”
Frustrated that I won’t get a face-to-face meeting with her, I glance at the bouquet in my hands. “Would you be able to get these to her?”
His hand jumps up to point toward the elevator. “You can hand deliver them. She lives on the top floor. Apartment 16D.”
I glance at the phone on the desk in front of him. “Can you call her and see if it’s okay if I run the flowers up to her?”
“She won’t mind.” He smiles. “I happen to know she loves it whenever someone stops in to see her.”
I want to argue that she may not mind it when that someone is one of her employees or a personal friend, but I don’t fall into either category.
The ding of the elevator behind us lures Zayden’s gaze over my shoulder. “Look! Kalina ordered soup again from the deli down the block. Why don’t you ride up with the delivery guy?”
All of this screams unprofessional, but I need to get the Llura deal wrapped up, so I turn around. I’m greeted with the sight of a woman dressed in a cute pink dress exiting the elevator and a man holding a brown paper bag standing in the car.
“All aboard!” he calls out to me with a smile. “I’m heading up. Are you?”
“Go,” Zayden says from behind me before I hear him greet the woman in the pink dress. “You look like cotton candy today, Eira.”