She shuddered. “What day is your rest day?”

“Saturday now. I purposely try to at least lift or just only run on the treadmill before I have to sit on a plane or at the stadium. Food choices aren’t always that great and I’m not moving much.”

“And you feel better or more in control if you get some kind of workout in. I get it.”

Or what she understood the most was being in control. Something she always had to have with a man and it could be why she was still single.

“I do,” he said. “What about you? You’ve got a smoking body on you. Do you work out or just never sit still?”

“A combination of both,” she said. “I’m not a gym person. I don’t like sweating in front of other people. I do Pilates and yoga in the spare room at my place for thirty to forty minutes five days a week. It’s an easy thing to do on the road too.”

“Smart,” he said.

“That’s me. Smart.”

He laughed. “I like you, Laken.”

“I like you too, Jamie.”

They’d been eating while they talked and her sandwich was almost gone. She was a fast eater and she was on the clock in her mind too.

“Does this mean we can do this again without you looking at your watch?”

She laughed. “Sorry. It’s annoying, but I’ve got some meetings this afternoon.”

“I was selfish having you come out here and didn’t think much of it.”

“Not selfish once I heard your reason. How about I text you later with an idea for another one?”

“We can do that,” he said.

He lifted his hand and the check was brought over.

By the time he paid, they were both finished and he left cash on the table.

When they were walking out, he was right, his picture was taken a few times and before he got in his car, he’d taken four selfies with people. Two she’d seen as she moved over to her car and two more she watched as she pulled out.

She didn’t even get to say bye to him and most looking on wouldn’t have even known they were together with how they parted ways, least of all think it was a date.

She had mixed feelings about that and didn’t want it to be that way every time they were together. But there was only one other option if she wasn’t going to his house and she didn’t want her brothers to find out. Because with the attention Jamie got, West would find out easily enough in some headline.

15

THE WORLD IS MOVING FAST

Jamie didn’t need to knock on the door to Laken’s Manhattan condo the next night. She was opening it before he got there and standing in the hallway with a massive grin on her face.

“You were told I was on the way up?” he asked.

“I was,” she said. “I told them I was expecting company, but it’s a pretty secure building. Private too.”

He’d only given his first name and had a hat on his head and a winter jacket covering most of his neck and some of his chin.

Not that he was trying to disguise himself as much as it was colder than a bitch out tonight.

“It doesn’t bother me as much as I think it does you,” he said. He pulled his hat off and unzipped his jacket and hung them up. “Despite the fact I look like an Eskimo.”

“It is cold today,” she said.