With a shaky breath, I forced myself to turn away from her, to think about something else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her straighten, watching me as I sat back and stared out my own window, fiddling with the whiskers on my jaw. I’d finally gotten it looking how I wanted only to have to go back to a clean-shaven look come tomorrow. Those bankers were conservative, and I’d taken out my earring and let the hole close up last year before entering their conventional world. I wondered again why I’d wanted to be a part of this world so badly, this world that wasn’t really me.

What was I trying to prove and to whom?

As always, it came back to that shadowy figure—my old man—staring over my shoulder. I huffed and blew off that thought.

When we stopped at April’s, I’d already decided that I wouldn’t get out and walk her to her door. I’d allowed this to go too far already. But I couldn’t resist reassuring her again. “April…” I said before she got out of the car.

She turned back to me, grasping the door handle. Our eyes locked.

“I’ll take care of things, all right? Trust me.”

The corners of her mouth turned up and her eyes closed, and the expression hurt because I could see that she was torn, reluctant to put that trust in me. She leaned forward and kissed me, an affectionate, innocent kiss.

“I know you’ll do your best.” She didn’t look at me again as she turned to leave.

I watched as the driver helped her with her luggage, taking it to her door. I kind of hated myself for letting her go like that, but I didn’t trust myself to go near her place. If I did, I knew I wouldn’t want to leave.

Strangely, after spending those days with her, I suddenly felt at a loss and lonelier than ever. I closed my eyes, rubbing them with the palms of my hands. I’d told her not to care. That she wasn’t allowed to care. I should have sent the same memo to myself.

I’d only been gone four days, but when I got home the place felt empty. I had to fight the inclination to pick up the phone and send Weiss some teasing text. To get my mind off her once and for all—yeah right—I grabbed my board to catch a few good waves before the sun set for the day. But my heart wasn’t in it.

***

The next morning, I was at the office an hour early, ready to take on the day and get to work planning our IPO roadshow. We’d be making a series of presentations in an appeal to large-fund managers across the country. We had a two-week window to put the shiniest, most impressive face on our company to get them interested in taking on our stock. The IPO roadshow had to be perfect, and to that end I’d hired a professional director and camera crew who would interview Adam, me and the other officers.

Today was also the scheduled photo shoot for Entrepreneur Weekly magazine, all a part of our big press push for the IPO. I arrived in my second favorite suit with a spare slung over my shoulder in a garment bag, just in case my assistant got a little crazy with the coffee. I smiled a little at that thought.

There was hardly a soul hereabouts. The interns and assistants were filing in slowly, and I noticed that Adam’s door was ajar. I knocked and then pushed the door open.

The boss had a woman attached to him at the lips. When they heard me enter, they pulled apart and stared at me, wide-eyed, looking like teenagers caught making out in their parents’ bedroom. I almost laughed. Almost.

“Hey, Mia,” I said. “A little early for a booty call, isn’t it?”

“I was just…swinging by for a little moral support,” she said, a blush staining her cheeks.

Adam slipped an arm around his fiancée’s waist. They were so cute together it was almost sickening. Scratch that, it was sickening. And Adam’s obvious bliss didn’t help matters.

“It’s Mia’s first day of school today,” he explained. He sounded like he was talking about a kindergartner. I guess Adam liked them really young…

“Oh, right. Medical school. You get your own cadaver to work on and all that gruesome stuff. Dr. Frankenstein, why didn’t you make your beau carry your books to class for you, then?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t give him any ideas. He wanted to drive me there, but we compromised and came here first. I’m taking the car to school and then coming back to get him tonight.”

I resisted the urge to smirk. They were commuting together, probably because she was still annoyed with Adam’s recent transportation purchase—a sweet, vintage Indian motorcycle. Even I was envious of it.

She turned to me. “That was a great presentation, by the way. I was impressed, even though I didn’t understand half the stuff you said.”