Page 17 of Save Me the Trouble
Darcy groaned and stalked back to the kitchen, working off her frustration on the dishes in the sink. “I just want it on the record that I don’t think it’s smart.”
“It is heretofore noted in the record of Grace Johnson’s unfortunate life that Darcy has warned her about making the same mistake twice,” I said with mock formality.
My friend sighed and soaped up the sponge. “I’m just worried about you, Gracie, that’s all.”
“I know.” I glanced at her. “But I’m really fine.”
When I turned back to my screen, the footage was paused on me unbuttoning the top of Killian’s shirt, our eyes locked in a hold that felt electric through the screen.Crap.I quickly clicked farther into the footage, landing on Killian and me standing in front of the window, our backs to the camera. My arms were bent in the “M” and Killian’s were still stretched up in a “Y.”
Double crap.
I clicked much farther through the recording, and where it stopped—the look on Killian’s face where it stopped made me catch my breath.
“Hey, Darce…” I began slowly, my focus knotted up in the heartbreak on Killian’s face.There was no way he’d been speaking generally.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I’m going back through the information provided to Embers, but I just wanted to confirm…Kill—Mr. Crown was never engaged before, was he?”
“Not that I’ve ever heard.” She shut off the sink. “If he did, it would’ve been before he was a billionaire, otherwise, the media would’ve had their pound of flesh from that news. Why?”
I shook my head and stared at the footage. “No reason.”Except that he had looked so wounded, it had taken my breath away.
“Grace…”
“I’m good, Darce. Promise.”
I tapped to start the footage again and slid my headphones back over my ears, but I still heard the look she gave me loud and clear.Be careful.
I knew I shouldn’t give her a hard time. She’d been there…helped me pick up the million and one shattered pieces after Joseph—Professor Married Douchebag.
The thought of him sent a blast of icy determination through my veins. If Killian Crown was secretly broken and wounded on the inside…well, it wasn’t part of my job description to fix him.Nor was it part of my job description to feel.
Darcy gave me crap for working on Killian’s profile from home, but the sooner I muddled through this assignment and proved how valuable I could be, the better. And if that meant working from home until the early morning hours, then so be it. I certainly wasn’t editing the clips because I wanted to hear his voice again or revisit the way he’d looked at me in those unguarded moments, making me feel like I was the first person to really see him in a long time.
This is a very bad idea.
Darcy’s words of warning echoed in my brain as I stared up at the seemingly endless façade of the Olympic, a luxury apartment building in downtown Seattle that felt like it housed gods rather than a handful of business titans.
The morning air was crisp, the clouds overhead seeming ready to release a fresh shower of rain on the city. I tried to figure out what made me agree so easily to meeting him here this morning; Darcy was right, it wasn’t appropriate or necessary for the profile. Yet, here I was. Playing by his rules.Because I wanted to prove I could be the one to do this.
It was the challenge to beat him that made me agree.
And the temptation to know more about him.
I smiled at the security guard like I belonged here, in my red-and-white striped dress and tennis sneakers, and then used the code Killian gave me to take the elevator up to the penthouse.
The doors opened to a generous foyer and a double-doored entry to the apartment that must take up the entire top floor because there were no other doors that I could see.
“Get your answers and get out,” I muttered to myself, lifting my hand and knocking.
Killian opened the door, greeting me with the fresh torture of seeing him in gym shorts and shirtless.
My jaw dropped and then snapped shut. “Hi. Hello.”
Yup, bad idea. Very bad idea.
His slow smile was annoying. “Good morning, Grace.”
