Page 53 of Savage Promises

“I go in at four.”

“There’s a place around the corner that makes great breakfast sandwiches. I’ll order you one on my way home and have it sent up here. Get food in your stomach. The villa comes with grocery service,” he says. “There’s an order form in the kitchen. Get whatever you want.”

“Thank you.” I nod.

“I have to go. We’ll...talk soon.” He turns and leaves me in the bedroom.

Alone.

Without another word. The sound of the villa door clicking shut feels like the end of something we’d built over many years.

Something that I destroyed in one night.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Lennox - February

The next three weeks drag by, and I feel every excruciating minute, like a hot poker against my skin. Shane doesn’t call, doesn’t text, no surprise visits. No lunches. Just one single message confirming the date for the proposal event this weekend.

One week before the wedding.

I’ve reserved the entire VIP balcony. That’s when all of this becomes real.

Neve hasn’t held up her end of the bargain to make their courtship very public, so Shane is compensating with a public proposal.

I tell myself it’s for the best. This space between Shane and me is necessary. For both our sanity. And my heart. But it doesn’t feel good. It feels lonely. And after the way we connected that night, it feels wrong.

This villa is beautiful, but I can’t look at that sofa where I got naked for Shane and not drown in regret. I did this. I made things uncomfortable between us.

I try to focus on new financing proposals to snag that damn club. With the hope of Rafael investing down the drain and in his new girlfriend’s pussy, I’ve had to get creative and rethink everything. The sixty-day contract deadline is right around the corner, and I’m stressed I won’t be able to meet it. Even so, my mind keeps drifting to Shane. I know what happened was a big mistake. But him saying so out loud poured salt in a very fresh open wound.

Sipping my morning coffee, I open the villa’s front door to grab the newspaper that gets delivered every day as part of the concierge service. Hawk, my sneaky boy, slithers past me and struts down the hall like a littleNordic explorer. His vet bill was pricey when I picked him up. Then I smuggled him into the villa against hotel policy. He’s been my anchor through all of this. Hearing his heartbeat against my chest when I sleep and his little breath on my face are the only things that put a smile on my lips.

Unfortunately, he’s also a little escape artist.

“Damn it, Hawk!” I hiss, chasing him down the hallway for the third time this week. His gray tail disappears around the corner just as the elevator dings open.

Oh no!

“Looking for this?” Luke Hart, the hotel CEO, and Shane’s brother-in-law through marriage, holds a very annoyed-looking Hawk in his hands like he’s a ticking bomb.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I know pets aren’t allowed. But I couldn’t just get rid of him.”

Luke hands over Hawk and waves me off. “Relax, Lennox. The cat can stay. Just keep him from taking a nap inside the lobby piano again.”

Horrified, I say, “He made it downstairs?”

“Twice.” Luke leans against the wall outside my villa and crosses one leg over an ankle. “When the grocery delivery people dropped off your food.”

My cheeks heat. “God. I’m so sorry.”

“He hardly looks threatening.” Luke gets closer. “And the revolving entry doors lead right to Fifth Avenue.”

I gasp, thinking Hawk will see the trees in Central Park and dart across the busy road to climb and chase the birds. He’d get flattened.

“Thank you. I owe you,” I say, snuggling Hawk.

Luke smiles knowingly. “You and your whole family.”

---