Page 53 of Rebellious Hearts
I stared at her. “I’ve never asked for a takeaway in my life.”
She burst out laughing. “Because the gourmet food you eat is so small on the plate, you’re left hungry after the fantastic little bite you have! Tonight we’re going to eat until we’re so full they have to roll us out of here, but we’re taking some of this back with us, no arguments.”
I chuckled. “Okay, fine. We’ll take some home with us. We can’t finish this thing between the two of us.”
“But let it not be said that we won’t try,” Sofia said gravely and she took the first slice, putting it on a small plate for herself. I chuckled and did the same, and the pizza reallywasas good as advertised.
I glanced at her as she chewed. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about her that was so magical, but the way she looked at things, the way she said things… she made me think that maybe—just maybe—I’d been looking at the world all wrong.
I wasn’t sure what was the right way to look at it, but with her, maybe I could figure it out.
16
SOFIA
My phone rang early and I groped for it on the nightstand.
“Yeah?”
“Did I wake you?” Elena asked brightly. “I thought you were on a work trip, not on holiday.”
“We’re not busy until later,” I said sleepily, rolling over onto my back in the giant bed. “I never get to sleep in, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”
“Sorry,” Elena said.
“No, no. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to check in with you. How are things with the great and frustrating Blackwood?”
“Actually… it’s not so bad.”
“Oh?” Elena sounded intrigued and I could just imagine her raising an eyebrow at me. “That’s not something I expected to hear.”
“Well, he’s still a pain in the ass. But he’s also showing me a different side and, you know, it’s nice to see that under all that gruffness there’s something that resembles a heart.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that you like him,” Elena said.
I groaned and sat up in bed, rubbed my eye with one palm.
“He’s just not as bad as I thought, that’s all.”
The truth was I felt a whole lot more about Ben than justlikinghim. And what happened between us the other day… but it was better I didn’t talk about that. I was just doing what Elena had suggested—having fun with it. I wasn’t getting attached and I didn’t read anything into the fact that we’d slept together and then went out for a really nice dinner afterward, the way a couple would have done.
We’re not a couple. We don’t remotely resemble a couple.
But the truth was wedidresemble a couple, and it was supposed to be that way, at least for now. Ben had really put his foot in it, but it was now the only way we were going to get the project, and despite the way he’d opted to do it, I didn’t want so many people not to get the help they deserved just because he was a lying, deceiving, handsome…
“It sounds like you’re having a good time,” Elena said, pulling me back from the brink of thinking someone shouldn’t have. “That’s good. You deserve a break, a good time. You work so hard all the time.”
“My career is important to me,” I said.
“That’s actually the reason I’m calling. Not just to check in, but to let you know I put your name forward for a position that just opened up.”
I blinked. “What? What are you talking about? I have a good job at Blackwood Inc.”
“Yeah, one that won’t allow you any room for growth. Just more money, and we both know that’s not what drives you.”
I sighed. She was right.
