At Any Price

Page 107

“You okay to walk back there?”

I shrugged. “It’s not that far away and it’s just one of his assistants. He’s still out of the country. I’ll just dump it and be right back. ”

Heath wasn’t looking at me. A certain display had caught his eye.

I cleared my throat. “Wow, is that an alien coming up behind you to assault you with an anal probe?”

No reaction.

I laughed and he walked off with a wave of his hand. With my box in hand, I followed the security officer’s directions through a big set of double doors, past glassed-in offices that consisted of open desk configurations—no cubicles, it seemed, at Draco Multimedia. People were working on sleek desktop computers, collaborating over tablets and generally focused on work. It was a hive of organized chaos. Down the central hallway, I continued past a glassed-in atrium and patio with grass and planters and artfully arranged tables, now empty because it was just after lunchtime.

I finally made it into Adam’s neck of the woods. The security officer had made it seem much closer in his directions than it actually was. Adam’s office—and that of the other company officers, for their names were all on the doors—was preceded by a large atrium complete with receptionist and several busy-looking assistants.

I moved to the nearest one. “I’m leaving a package for Mr. Drake. Security said to bring it here?”

The receptionist pointed to an assistant at a desk a little further back. The assistant, a bespectacled college-age looking kid in dress shirt and tie, glanced our way, standing up as I approached. “Ms. Strong?”

“Yes. They told you about this package I was bringing up?”

He shot a curious glance at me and then to the box. “Yes. I’ll need to inspect the contents before I can take it off your hands. ”

“Yes, of course. There are just some…personal effects. ”

He nodded. “He asked me to tell you he’ll be out in just a moment. ”

I frowned, looking up from his work. “Who?”

The assistant looked puzzled. “Mr. Drake. ”

“What? But—but he’s still out of town. ”

The assistant shot me a concerned look. “No, he came back yesterday. He’s here. ”

My eyes rose from his inspection to a set of heavy double doors that led toward the inner sanctum—likely the offices—all lined in glitzy chrome. At that moment, they swung open.

I jumped back from the assistant. “I have to go,” I choked. But I was nailed to my spot when I saw a man and a woman emerge. The man was dressed in an impeccable suit, deadly handsome. My chest tightened as if caught in a constricting band. Adam.

If there had been any chance of my seeing him here, I would never, ever have come. He bent to speak to a woman at the desk nearest to the doors—giving her some instructions, it looked like. The woman said something to Adam and then, horrifyingly, glanced in my direction.

Before I could step back, before I could turn and bolt like a coward, my eyes flew to his companion. I knew her too. Her platinum blond hair was artfully arranged around a gorgeous, glamorous face. Lindsay. They stood so close together, they looked like a couple.

I was so dumbstruck that I couldn’t move, even when Adam straightened and his eyes immediately flew straight to mine. Every muscle in my body turned to jelly and I could hardly breathe. The assistant continued digging around in the box, oblivious to my distress. He extracted the laptop and laid it on the table in front of him. Adam saw it and his features hardened.

He looked away then, and, to my increased astonishment (was that even possible?), he slipped an arm around Lindsay’s waist, bent and whispered something in her ear. Something that made her laugh and sway against him.

I didn’t stay to watch any more. I ran. The assistant called after me but I didn’t stop. I ran as fast and as far as I could. Because now the tears were coming at last. They blinded me. And I could hear his voice in my head. It was all I could hear. I’ve decided I wanted a woman in my life. You’re just a sad, scared little girl.

A sad. Scared. Little. Girl. And compared to me Lindsay was all woman…successful, mature, sexually experienced, and very much into Adam.

I dashed through hallways and out into parking lot, gasping for breath. And then I ran some more. I ran until I couldn’t breathe any more. Then I leaned up against the nearest car, doubled over.

Five minutes later, someone stood beside me. I almost jumped out of my skin until he spoke. “Mia, what the—?” Heath said. “You shot out of that door like a bat out of hell. What the fuck? Are you crying?”