Page 304 of Vegas Heat

“Our little Sunny,” I say with a wide grin.

She gasps a little, and her eyes widen.

“Sunny,” we say at the same time.

“Oh my God, I love it,” she murmurs as tears sparkle in her eyes, and she pushes to a full stand and moves toward me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I hold her tightly for a beat. I never want to let go, but I know I have to. She has a meeting to get to. I have guests to attend to. I have a season to get ready for.

And now we’ll do all those things knowing that the other one is waiting just on the other side.

CHAPTER 22: GABBY

“I’m so excited to announce that effective immediately, given that the season opener is tomorrow, we have made our selection for the social media manager position.” Joanie has the interns gathered in her office, and now that Dylan has been fired and Chase and Brian aren’t interning anymore, it’s just the four of us—Justin, Chloe, Mackenzie, and me.

Justin and Chloe have both been offered their positions, too, but as far as I know, they don’t know anything aside from their own roles.

“Congratulations to our new social media manager, Gabby Grant!” Joanie says, and she smiles widely at me.

Justin lights up. “Shut up!” he yells with glee.

I can’t help a small smile. “Oh, we have a lot to talk about, my friend.”

Mackenzie’s face is absolutely sour. “Wait a minute. I thought she pulled her name from the running. I thought the interviewing thing was just for practice.”

“She was the unanimous top candidate from the entire team of interviewers,” Joanie says, not really bothering to answer Mackenzie’s question. “Mr. Perry also agreed to add two additional positions to the social media marketing team. I’d like to introduce our new social media manager assistant, Justin Larson.” She smiles at Justin. “Congratulations.”

Chloe claps her hands together.

“Two positions?” Mackenzie asks.

“The other position is a content creator, and a big congratulations goes to Chloe Carter.” Joanie’s smile is warm.

“Congratulations, Chloe,” both Justin and I say to her, and she smiles.

“I can’t wait to work with both of you!” she gushes.

I can’t wait, either. We’ve had a blast as interns together, but I do realize my life is about to change. I’m not going to have the time to head to the bar after work a few nights a week. Instead I’ll be home changing diapers, or I’ll be on the road with the team. But Justin and Chloe have both become good friends over the course of the past few months, and I can’t wait to have a permanent position where we get to work together and pool our talents and creativity…without someone like Mackenzie there to bring us all down.

And speaking of Mackenzie, she isnothappy with Joanie’s announcement. “Wait a minute. So there are four interns left, and three got full time jobs?”

Joanie presses her lips together and nods. “That sounds about right. And those three will be transitioning into their new positions today. We’ll meet every morning and do an hour of internship, and the rest of the day will be getting to know your new job role. Except for you, Mackenzie. You’ll be our lone intern left.” Joanie smiles sweetly at her, but I sure don’t miss the punch she packed with her words.

Mackenzie crosses her arms over her chest and huffs petulantly.

“Is there something you’d like to say, dear?” Joanie asks her.

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Must be nice to just get everything handed to you.”

“Not a single person in this room was handed anything,” Joanie says firmly. “These decisions were based on talent, results, and attitude, and unfortunately, yours isn’t in line with what the marketing team is looking for in a full-time employee. And let’s not forget your professors need me to sign off on your internship, so I expect you to continue your work at a high levelthrough the end of next month. Now let’s get down to business.” Joanie runs the rest of the meeting, and as soon as she excuses us, Justin follows me to my new office.

“Maybe I can get the office next door,” he suggests. It’s vacant and ready for him, and I laugh.

“We should cut a hole in the wall so we can just walk back and forth whenever we want.”

“Adjoining offices,” he chuckles. “I love it. You said there was a lot to tell me, so spill it, baby girl.”

“Cooper and I are back together,” I begin.

“I figured as much. You’ve got the back together glow, but I also knew you wouldn’t have taken the position if things were up in the air with him.”

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