Chapter 13
Sutton
Knock, knock.
“Hang on a second.” I slipped out of bed, continuing to talk on the phone. “I think someone is at my door.”
“Are you expecting someone?” Miles asked.
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Then it’s probably Mia.”
My steps faltered. Ugh. I loved my mother, but she was the absolute last person I needed to see this morning.
It was bad enough that my head was pounding.
I didn’t need a lecture about getting drunk at a work event.
Lord knows I’d been berating myself all morning for the way I’d acted last night.
I held the cell up to my face so Miles could see me again.
“God, I hope not. She’ll take one look at my puffy eyes and know I did something stupid. ”
“Who else would it be? We’ve been on the phone for fifteen minutes, and the doorman didn’t call up to clear anyone.”
I sighed. He was right, so I stopped at the hallway mirror and attempted to fix myself. But smoothing out my messy hair wasn’t going to cure my puffy face and the dark circles under my eyes. Crap. This isn’t going to be fun.
To my surprise, when I peeked through the peephole, it wasn’t my mother standing on the other side. It was the building’s doorman.
I opened with a relieved smile. “Hi, Nestor.”
He tipped his hat with a nod. “Morning, Ms. Holland.”
“I told you, it’s Sutton, please.”
He nodded and held out a brown paper bag. “This came for you this morning.”
“What is it?”
“Not sure. A gentleman dropped it by and asked that I see that you got it.”
“A gentleman? You mean a messenger?”
He shrugged. “I was on the phone with the company that services the elevators when he came in, so I missed having him sign in like I usually would. But he didn’t look like the typical delivery guy.
If he was, I’m in the wrong line of work because the gentleman had a fancy Maybach waiting out front for him. ”
A Maybach. “Thank you.”
“Have a good day.”
I closed the door. Inside the brown paper bag, I found two items: a bottle of Tylenol and an envelope. The latter wasn’t sealed, so I slipped out the thick piece of stationery inside to read the slashy, bold handwriting.
Figured you might need what’s in the bottle before using the other.
Jagger
I unfolded a second piece of paper from inside the envelope—a free, one-month gym pass to Equinox.
The rush of excitement that pulsed through me because Jagger had stopped at my building was positively ridiculous. I sucked in my bottom lip, forgetting all about my pounding head. And apparently also forgetting that I was still on FaceTime with Miles.
“Well…” he called. “What was delivered?”
I held the phone back up to my face. “Tylenol and a gym pass.”
“From who?”
“Jagger.”
“Whoa. That’s above and beyond CEO duties to an intern. What the hell happened between you two last night?”
“Just what I told you.” I went into the kitchen and propped the phone up on the counter so I could make espresso. “He saved me from making a fool of myself, fed me, and sent me packing.”
“This guy is into you, Sutton.”
I didn’t have a ton of experience with men, and none with someone even remotely like Jagger Langston, but I felt in my bones that Miles was right. It was in the way he looked at me, the way he wanted to take care of me. Though none of that mattered.
I sighed. “Even if he is, he’s not going to cross the line. He’s the boss, and I’m an intern. Not to mention, he’s totally hung up on me being a virgin. And then there’s the Edmund situation.”
“Remember Hugh Kempner, the editor at the magazine where I interned?”
“Hugh Kempner? The guy you renamed Huge Member?”
Miles laughed. “That’s the one.”
“What about him? You’re not going to try to tell me my situation is the same, are you? You threw yourself at the guy. If I remember correctly, you walked into his office, locked the door, and gave him a blow job while he was on a conference call.”
“It’s exactly the same thing. Hugh was in a position of power. I knew he wanted me as bad as I wanted him, but he wasn’t going to make a move. So I had to take things into my own hands.” Miles smirked. “Or mouth.”
I chuckled and frothed milk to make my morning cappuccino. “I’m not you.”
“Says who? Reinvent yourself. Do things outside your comfort zone in New York. Become a siren.”
I took my much-needed caffeine to the couch and popped open the bottle of Tylenol from Jagger. Swallowing two pills, I set the phone on the coffee table. “I wish I had your courage.”
“You do, cookie. You just need to listen to your gut. Courage comes in all forms. Sometimes it’s just a subtle whisper that tells you to go for it, even when everything else around you is shouting stop.”
***
It took a full two days to feel like myself again.
Monday morning, I arrived at Equinox at five thirty sharp, determined to get my life organized. A young guy with hulking arms greeted me from behind the desk. He smiled. “You must be new here?”
“I am. But how did you know?”
“Because I offer every new member a free personal-training session, and I’d remember you.” He extended his hand over the counter. “I’m Troy. One of the trainers here. And you are?”
“Sutton.”
“Nice to meet you. Is today your first time here?”
I nodded. “I’m technically not even a member yet. I have a one-month guest pass.”
He looked at his watch. “I’m just covering the desk for someone for a few minutes while she grabs coffee. If you want, I can show you around when she gets back. It’ll give me a chance to pitch you for a complimentary personal-training session.”
“I’m more of a Peloton-and-treadmill person than weight training.”
He shrugged. “Your call. But I can still show you around.”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
“Let me have your guest pass, and I’ll get you set up in the computer while we wait.”
I took out the pass from Jagger and handed it over.
Troy looked down at the paper. “You’re a guest of Mr. Langston, huh?”
I nodded. “I work at Apex.”
“Well, if you’re half as dedicated as he is to showing up here every morning, you’re going to do great.”
I perked up. “Is he…here now?”
Troy shook his head. “You just missed him. Out the door by five fifteen every morning. I could set my watch to it.”
Disappointment set in. “Oh.”
“I’ll just need your license to put your information in the computer. We’ll give you a temporary ID card so you can swipe in like everyone else.”
I handed over my California license, and Troy got busy typing.
Meanwhile, I looked around, checking out the gym.
It was busy for so early in the morning, but there were still enough machines that I wouldn’t have to wait.
As I finished surveying the rowing machines near the door, it opened and a familiar face walked in.
Jack Gallo. Instinctively, I turned away, hoping to avoid him seeing me. But this hadn’t been my lucky month.
“Sutton?”
I did my best to feign surprise. “Oh, hey, Jack. How are you?”
He smiled. “Better now. Are you a member here?”
“I have a one-month guest pass, so I thought I’d check it out.”
“Awesome. I come here five days a week.” He paused. “Hey, I looked for you Friday night before I left, but you just disappeared. I didn’t have your number, or I would’ve checked in with you.”
“I…wasn’t feeling so well.” Was that ever the truth, and I wasn’t about to share more.
“Sorry about my buddies and their dumb shot game.”
“It wasn’t their fault. I should’ve known better. I’m sort of a lightweight.”
A woman walked behind the counter holding the biggest coffee Starbucks sold. “Thanks, Troy,” she said.
“Good timing.” He pointed to me. “Josie, this is Sutton. She has a one-month guest pass. I set her up in the computer. Maybe you can print out her ID card while I show her around? I don’t know how to do that.”
“Sure, no problem.” She tucked her purse into a drawer.
“I can show Sutton around,” Jack piped up. “We work together.”
I suddenly became interested in personal training. “Actually, Troy was going to tell me about personal-training sessions while he gave me a tour of the gym.”
“Oh. Okay.” Jack shrugged. “I’ll see you later then.”
Troy came around the counter. He waited until Jack was out of earshot. “Have a change of heart or trying to avoid that guy?”
“Thank you for not calling me out,” I said. “He’s a nice guy. I just… I don’t know.”
Troy smiled. “If it’s not there, it’s not there. Come on, I’ll give you that tour.”
I didn’t see Jack again until I was walking out an hour later. He jogged up behind me at the door and opened it. “How’d you like Equinox?”
“It’s great. They have everything. Though I’m pretty sure I’ll never use half the equipment.”
“I don’t use too much either. I alternate swimming laps with weight training. But the dry sauna and free shampoo in the showers are nice perks.” He smiled.
We walked side by side a few doors down to the office, waited for the elevator, and rode it up together.
I had no idea why I wanted to shake him off so badly.
Jack was a nice guy, a good catch even. He was handsome, had a great job, seemed to have good manners.
Yet when the doors opened at my floor, I had to work at not frowning as he followed me off.
“Going to make the good stuff with the fancy machine,” he told me. “Want me to make you one while you settle in?”
“That’s okay. I’ll do it in a bit. But thank you.”
Ten minutes later, he returned with two cups anyway. And then proceeded to stand around chatting for another ten minutes. When my phone rang, I was glad to have an excuse to bring our conversation to an end.
“Excuse me.” I smiled. “I need to answer that. But thank you again for the cappuccino.”
“No problem.”
I blew out a breath before picking up my phone. “Sutton Holland.”
“I thought he was never going to leave.” Jagger’s deep voice made all the little hairs on my arms stand at immediate attention.
I looked around. “How did you know someone was at my desk?”
“I came down earlier and saw him standing there. I managed to stop myself from telling him to go do some damn work and returned to my office instead. But I did need to speak to you, so I checked the camera to see if it was safe to call.”
My eyes darted to the ceiling. “What camera?”
“Turn to your right.”
Oh my God. He’s watching me right now. My eyes locked on a globe-type fixture on the ceiling. I opened my mouth to ask if that was it, but Jagger beat me to it.
“You got it. Pretty blouse, by the way. Blue looks good on you. It’s my favorite color.”
In a moment of temporary insanity, I briefly debated opening my legs for the camera. I was wearing a skirt and wondered what he would say.
“What are you thinking right now?” Jagger asked.
At least I thought the debate had gone on in my head, but apparently it wasn’t the only place. I looked up, speaking directly to the camera. “Why?”
“Because the devil just made an appearance on your face.”
“Jesus.” I laughed. “That’s some high-def equipment you have.”
He chuckled, and the smooth sound flowed over me, making me warmer than a blanket. “It is. How did you feel on Saturday morning?”
I’d almost forgotten about the delivery. “Good, thanks to you. It was very thoughtful of you to drop off the meds and gym pass.”
“You’re welcome. I was in the neighborhood.”
For some reason, I suspected that might not be the truth. And his watching me made me feel bold. I looked directly at the camera again. “Where?”
“Where what?”
“You said you were in the neighborhood. Where did you go?”
The line was quiet for so long, I was beginning to think he’d hung up. But then I heard his chair creak. “One of the analysts who was going to be part of the team that tests the new algorithm has the flu. So there’s an open spot if you want to spend a week at the whiteboard.”
My eyes flared. “Really? Not watch them do the testing, but be an actual part of it?”
“If you feel you’re up for it. I recommended you to Will Twible who heads up the algorithm-engineering division, so you have the spot, if you want to participate.”
I nodded my head fast. “Yes, yes. I definitely want to. I’m so excited.”
“I can see that.” I heard the smile in his voice.
“You’ll have to sign a mountain of legal papers that promise your first-born child if you violate our NDA since you’ll be working with proprietary information.
But they’re starting at eight, so you should get going.
Testing is being done in the quant lab, down on the seventh floor. ”
“Okay!”
“I’ll have legal meet you there with the paperwork so you can get started.”
“Perfect.”
“And I’ll make sure to send someone other than your new friend. He seems to know where you are at all times better than my eye in the sky.”
I smiled. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
“You’re welcome.”
I was about to hang up when I remembered he’d never answered my question. I lifted the phone back to my ear. “Jagger?”
“Yes?”
“Where were you going on Saturday when you stopped by my apartment?”
He was quiet for a few beats. “You’re winning, Ms. Holland. But don’t push your luck.”