20. Paige
PAIGE
“ I need the world’s biggest favor,” Eva says the second I answer the phone.
“Name it,” I respond with a laugh.
“Ava had a family emergency and left early yesterday, and in her understandable rush, she forgot to send Ivy Rose her completed manuscript back. Ivy just called me kind of panicking about falling behind.”
“I can pop downstairs and send it over.” I throw the blanket off my lap, cover the microphone, and whisper to Garrett that I need to run down to the office real fast. “Is it in the shared drive?”
“Thank you. Yeah, it’s in her file. I’d come back and do it myself, but Zoe has had a fever all day and?—”
“It’s fine. I’m already in the building. It’ll take me five minutes to get her the file.”
“You’re a lifesaver.”
We hang up and I head down the hall toward Garrett’s room. Most of my work clothes are still hanging in the guest room closest, but all my comfy clothes have migrated to his room since that’s where we end up every night. However, it’s not my clothes I’m after. There’s one particular zip-up that I found buried in the back of Garrett’s closet that is so comfortable, I’ve claimed it as my own.
I toss that on over my tank top, switching out my tiny sleep shorts for a more acceptable length gym short in the off chance that someone is at the office. As I zip up the sweater, I skip back into the living room and step over my mess of blankets and pillows left over from last night to get to Garrett.
“I’ll be back in five minutes.” I lean forward to give him a kiss. When his hand finds my hip and he tries to pull me in for more, I break away and twist from his grasp. “Nope, no distractions. Save that for when I get back.”
“Fine.” Garrett pouts but doesn’t try to stop me again. “I’ll just suffer in your absence.”
“Distance makes the heart grow fonder,” I taunt.
He snorts. “Whoever came up with that statement clearly never met someone like you. Distance sucks.”
I playfully roll my eyes. “How did you ever survive before I worked with you and slept beside you?”
“Miserably, Sweetheart.”
Shaking my head, I leave him on that note and head to the office. The entire ride down, I’m humming and grinning like a fool. All the lights are off on our floor, save for the emergency lights, but I move through the space with ease. Flipping the switch in my office, I round my desk and wake my computer.
Even though I haven’t done any publishing work in two months, it’s second nature to open the correct files and forward Ivy’s manuscript to her. I wait a couple minutes, answering a couple quick emails until I get Ivy’s confirmation email back and I laugh at her response.
Author Ivy Rose: Thank you!! Perfect timing because I just finished researching some things for the bonus epilogue. Hopefully my assigned FBI agent knows it was all for a book…
The sound of a door closing down the hall pulls my attention from the computer. Considering it’s almost seven o’clock on a Saturday night, there shouldn’t be anyone else here. I strain to listen for another sound, blood roaring in my ears as I sit stock-still. After a few more minutes pass with nothing but silence, I try to shake it off and start exiting out of everything.
The hairs at the back of my neck rise, a sense of dread churning in my stomach while I try to convince myself I’m being paranoid. That is until movement catches my eye from the shadows outside my door.
“Garrett?” I croak and stand, slowly reaching for the phone on top of my desk. The shadow scoffs, stepping into the room. His hood is drawn low, shielding his face from me, but familiarity picks at the back of my mind. Swallowing thickly, I lift the phone and hover my finger over the button to dial security. “I don’t know how you got in here, but you need to leave.”
“Drop the phone,” he grumbles, his voice coming out muffled and distorted as he pulls his hand from his pocket. Dread washes through me at the sight of the gun in his hand. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”