She knew—had hoped, actually, that her business would take off like a rocket. But she had no idea they’d be this incredibly busy. They’d signed cornerback Clyde Motts at the beginning of the week, and he’d recommended one of his friends, a defensive back from Philadelphia, so they’d made a presentation to him on Wednesday. He’d accepted, and he’d made a recommendation for one of his basketball friends from Los Angeles, who they met with this morning. At the same time they signed a deal with a Texas shortstop and also made a presentation to one of the San Francisco Sabers running backs.

Mia was exhilarated—and exhausted—as she walked into her staff meeting.

“Wow,” she said as she stepped to the front of the conference room. “Busy week, huh?”

“Stellar week, Mia,” John, her finance guy, said, bringing up numbers on the screen. “Better than we anticipated. I don’t know how you managed to get this many people on board so quickly.”

She stared at the numbers and blinked. Holy crap. They had budgeted for a heavy push the first six months, allowing for small or no gains in the first three considering start-up time.

They’d already surpassed their first six months’ projections.

“These numbers are amazing. I wish I had a magic answer, but I can’t take credit for it. Much of the success has to do with client word of mouth.”

“Which means they like what they’re seeing during the presentations,” Monique said.

Mia nodded. “So kudos to our presentation team. What you’re all doing is working, and I thank you for that. Now we need to make sure to deliver on our promises to these athletes. Let’s wrap up early today and talk it all out on Monday morning. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this has been a whirlwind week and I’m wiped. I need a drink.”

They all laughed, but, as she suspected, no one was going to argue with her about getting out early. They’d all put in late hours the past week hustling to get presentations put together at the last minute. Her team deserved to hightail it out of there early on a Friday.

“Got a hot date tonight?” Monique asked.

“Not a hot date. Nathan’s friend Jamal is seeing someone, so he wanted Nathan to double-date with him for this wine trip to Napa. Since he isn’t dating anyone at the moment, I’m going with him.”

“Oooh. That sounds so fun. And relaxing. Maybe while you’re there you’ll get a second chance to ease some of this week’s tension.” Monique waggled her brows.

Mia rolled her eyes. “No, there will be none of that.”

“Shame. You’re very tense.”

Mia frowned. “Who said I’m tense?”

Monique grasped Mia’s hand and leaned in close. “Your best friend. Me. You’re working very hard. You’re tense. Go have a great weekend—and some sex.”

Monique made it sound so simple when it was anything but. Fortunately, she’d been so slammed with work this week she’d had no time to think about her lack-of-sex dilemma, which had suited her just fine.

She went into her office, packed up a few contracts and PR items she wanted to review over the weekend, then headed out the door. She answered some e-mails on the train, and by the time she got home she realized she was hungry. Since it was going to be a while before Nathan picked her up, she grabbed a snack from the fridge and sat at the counter to eat it while she finished answering her e-mails.

While she worked, a text popped up from her mom. She smiled at that and called her.

“Hi, Mia,” her mother said. “I didn’t expect you to call. I figured you were busy.”

“Actually, I let everyone go early today.”

“Really? Was it a slow day?”

Mia laughed. “No, we just had a very intense week and I wanted to give everyone the rest of the day off to enjoy a kick start to their weekend.”

“You’re such a good boss, Mia.”

“I try to be.”

“Tell me how it’s going. You said you had a busy week. Does that mean it’s going well?”

She grabbed her glass of iced tea and moved to the living room so she could sit on the sofa and put her feet up. “It’s going shockingly well.”

She filled her in on the week’s events since she knew her mom would want details.

“I don’t know why you’re so surprised, Mia. You showed your business plan to your father and me. We were very impressed with how detailed it was. I’m not at all surprised that you’re growing already.”

“We’re still in the initial few months. I had budgeted for almost nothing in the way of growth this fast.”

“That just means you’re doing it all right. You should be proud of yourself.”

Panicked was more like it, but she wouldn’t tell her mother that. “Yes, it’s great. So how’s Dad doing?”

Her mother launched into a discussion about her dad and the ranch, and Mia was happy to have the topic off herself and the new business. They talked for about twenty minutes, then hung up.

Mia breathed deep, deciding she needed a good workout to ease some of the stress from this week. She changed clothes and walked to the gym. She saw there was a yoga class starting in about an hour, so she warmed up on the elliptical for twenty minutes, then went to work on the equipment for a while. When she was done, she took some time to get a drink in the lounge before heading upstairs where the classes were located.

She was glad to see Cheyenne was leading the class. She’d taken a few yoga classes from her since she’d moved out here and liked her style of teaching. She’d also found a yoga studio nearby that she enjoyed as well.

It was always good to have options.

This class was great. After an hour she was a hot sweaty mess, but she was also calm and relaxed and totally de-stressed. She’d worked all the tension and kinks out of her body and she was ready for the weekend. She thanked Cheyenne for the great workout and walked back home.

She brewed some green tea, checked her phone, saw she’d missed a few key e-mails, so she answered those, then stripped out of her clothes and decided to soak in the tub for a while and read a book. She took her tea upstairs with her, ran the tub and climbed in.

It was steamy hot and perfect. She grabbed her book, read and relaxed, needing this so much after this week. Her phone buzzed so she picked it up. It was a text from Monique.

What are U doing?

She typed back: Did some yoga. Taking a hot bath now. U?

Watching Netflix. Have a fantastic date set up for tonight.

Mia laughed and typed: Lucky you.

Monique typed back shortly after with: Super smart guy and he’s gorgeous. Should be fun. What are you packing for the weekend?

She hadn’t even thought about it. No clue.

Monique replied. Be sure to pack that short dress you bought last week. It’s sexy.

Mia rolled her eyes. I’ll think about it.

Monique typed back: Pack the damn dress and have some fun!

Mia laughed and tossed her phone on the bathroom counter, then picked up her book and continued to read. When the water in the tub went lukewarm, she got out and dried off, then went into her bedroom. She had time yet, so she climbed onto her bed with her book. She was still warm from her bath so she slid under the sheets and started flipping pages. She was at a really good point in the book. It was a suspense novel from one of her favorite authors and it was right at the good part.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she woke with a start. The nap had felt great.

She went into the bathroom to grab her phone to check the time. She had about an hour until Nathan was coming to pick her up.

Plenty of time to get ready and pack. She pulled out her overnight bag and looked in her closet.

Despite Monique’s suggestion, she was most definitely not packing the short black dress. This wasn’t a hot getaway weekend, it was something fun to do together. Nathan explained Jamal and his date had invited him and he didn’t want to third wheel it, so he wanted her to come along to balance things out.

Perfectly understandable since she’d been put in that kind of situation before and it tended to be uncomfortable as hell. She was happy to go along. Plus, there’d be a wine tour, which sounded so fun.