Page 38 of Playing With Secrets
I gesture to the desk. “Your butt is in the same spot I set my computer up.”
Mel’s voice sings as she pushes herself off my desk. “Understood, but trust me. I’ll get it out of either Dori or you. You can count on it.”
“What exactly are you looking to get out of Dorothy or Jamison?” Hunter’s standing in my doorway, rubbing his chin as he looks at Melanie and me.
Great.
Now I get to deal with one more layer of hell. Torture chamber, here I come.
CHAPTER 10
DORI
There’s notone person in this conference room whose heart isn’t pounding out of their chest. It’s been two weeks of nothing but solid work leading up to this moment. We’re all white-knuckling anything in our grip.
“Are we ready?” Hunter asks Jonah.
“Let’s hope we are.” Jonah smiles at Hunter and then at Jami.
Hunter tips his chin toward Jamison. He turns to Jonah, and he nods. Jamison moves his mouse and clicks a button.
The beta launch starts on the big screen, projecting the app, which flashes with a colorful blip. The app goes live, and the room erupts in hollers and cheers, followed by smacks on the back in congratulations.
“Nicely done, team. Nicely done.” Hunter grabs Jonah and gives him a bear hug.
Jami stands and stares at the mock app in all its glory. His hands slide into his pockets as he soaks up his success.
I can’t help but notice everyone in the room hugging and congratulating each other while he takes it in alone. My heart surges with guilt and heartbreak, but I force a grin onto my face and hug anyone near me.
Jonah raises his hands above his head and claps to get everyone’s attention. The room falls to a hush and we all wait to see what he has to say.
Jonah stands at the front of the room. “This is a significant milestone. The board will be happy to hear we’re right on schedule and the app is beautiful. The next phase is taking it live to the public.”
Hunter joins him. “I’d like to thank you all for the overtime and the attention to the details, as we had to change things almost minute by minute. I’d like to especially thank our technology team for helping out with the gaps.”
He glances at Jami and skims over acknowledging his hard work. Instead, Hunter thanks the marketing and sales teams for getting everything together and providing such fantastic input.
When the speech is over, Melanie throws her arms around Jami’s neck and plants a kiss on his cheek. They share a brief exchange as I pretend not to watch.
“What do you say we celebrate tonight?” Hunter says it in my ear as he embraces me, pretending it’s just another congratulatory embrace.
I pull away and smile. “That would be nice. I’ll text you later.”
He nods and moves on to Niles. My eyes sweep the room to find Jami, but he’s already gone.
He doesn’t stick around long anymore. After the day I ripped his heart out and ran over it with an asphalt grinder, we’ve only spoken about work.
It’s been hell on earth being so distant with him, but I can’t give him what he wants. He deserves to be angry with me and move on with a woman who can give him a child.
Yet I want to fix things with him. He means too much to me not to apologize to him.
My therapist is focusing heavily on my healing from my loss appropriately, but it’s been challenging. I’ve walked downto Jami’s office to apologize more times than I can count, but I always chicken out. What would I say anyway?
Sorry that I basically told you our baby I was carrying never existed and don’t ever talk about it.
I don’t know how I can recover from that one. If he said it to me, I’d never speak to him again. But he deserves more from me than ignoring what I did to him, so I sneak out and go to his office.
He’s standing with his hands in his pockets, staring out the window. Even from the back, he’s the sexiest man alive. I take a second to take him in and enjoy the reclusive, raw, powerful man I see before me.
