Chapter 19

CHAPTER19

“Were you always this pathetic?” came the question that had Andi releasing a heartfelt sigh.

She missed Devyn.

It had only been three days since the last time that she saw him and she was lost without him, Andi thought with a grumble as she sat there, staring down at the file in her lap. She had plenty to keep her busy between searching through Carta Hotels for Devyn, finishing the project that she’d started for Roman Palms, and the project that she was working on for Hillshire Hotels, simply because she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t have time to miss anyone, never mind her boss, and-

“God, I’m pathetic,” Andi said, knowing that the first step was admitting that she had a problem.

“I’ve known that for years,” Drew said with a satisfied sigh as he helped himself to the sandwich with extra bacon that she’d barely touched.

“Then why did you ask if I was pathetic?” Andi asked, unable to help but frown as she looked up from the file on her lap to once again find herself staring at her cellphone.

“I just like hearing you say it,” Drew said, following her gaze with a heavy sigh.

“You’re a horrible brother,” Andi mumbled, reaching for her phone only to have Drew pluck the phone off the coffee table and toss it across the room onto her bed before she could grab it. For a minute, Andi debated going to get it, but she preferred to sit there and pout instead.

“I have a question,” Drew said, pausing long enough to finish off the last bite of her sandwich. “What are you doing?”

“You mean besides pouting?” Andi asked, blinking at her brother.

He waved that off as he said, “Besides that.”

“I’m working on a secret project,” she said, only to amend that with, “Make that two.”

“And is there a reason why we’re keeping them a secret?” Drew asked as he finished off her chocolate milk.

“Because Devyn has enough on his mind right now,” Andi said, repeating what she’d been telling herself since she woke up alone to find the note on the coffee table telling her that he was going to visit the next hotel on their list and that he’d be back next week before reminding her that she was supposed to take it easy.

That was fine, more than fine because she didn’t want to go with him anyway. She was happy, more than happy, in fact, enjoying a week off in the comfort of her own home. She could relax in her favorite pajamas, work in bed if the mood struck her, and she could work on the Hillshire Hotels project without worrying about Devyn finding out what she was doing.

It was perfect.

Absolutely perfect, Andi thought, wishing that she didn’t miss Devyn so much. Over the past three days…nothing. Well, that wasn’t entirely true because Ben had been more than happy to make sure that she didn’t have any reason to come back to the office, call, text, or even send an email. He dropped off the files that Devyn needed her to go over first thing in the morning and picked them up at night.

“And what are these secret projects that you don’t want Devyn to find out about?” Drew asked, reaching over and picked up her notebook only to put it back down when she narrowed her eyes on the move.

“After what happened with Hillshire Hotels-”

“You mean besides the fact that someone used it as a cover to embezzle from Carta Hotels for two years?” he asked dryly.

“There is that,” Andi murmured in agreement before continuing, “I got curious about what it would take to save Hillshire Hotels, but I didn’t have access to the files when I was at the hotel-”

“Where you almost drowned,” Drew said, only to clear his throat and gestured for her to continue when she threw a pillow at his head.

“So, I decided to take a closer look at Carta Hotels in the meantime and see if there was anything that I could do with the files. I took a closer look at their quarterly reports, events, and occupancy rates and compared them to the hotels within a twenty-five-mile radius, seeing what they were doing, what was working for them, as well as the events going on within their communities and came up with a plan to help improve their bottom line,” Andi explained, unable to help but smile as she explained her project, excited to have someone to talk to about this.

“And is there a reason why you haven’t told your boss about any of this?”

“You mean besides the fact that he left town three days ago and I haven’t heard from him since?” Andi asked before shrugging it off. “I want to make sure it’s perfect first.”

“And Hillshire Hotels?” Drew asked, getting up to help himself to a fresh bag of chips from her kitchen.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring it up,” she said, not sure that he’d be interested with everything going on. She’d never done anything like this before and if she was wrong…

She didn’t want to take that risk.

“Fair enough,” Drew murmured as he leaned back against the kitchen counter, popping a chip in his mouth as he considered her. “And the pouting?”

“Helps me focus,” Andi said, nodding solemnly.

“So, it has nothing to do with Devyn?” he asked with a knowing look that she did not appreciate.

Not. At. All.

“Nope,” she said with a careless shrug as she focused her attention back on the file on her lap, hoping that he let it go.

“And if he was here right now?”

“I wouldn’t care,” Andi said with another shrug to emphasize just how much she didn’t miss the man that she couldn’t stop thinking about and she didn’t. She was fine. More than fine in fact since it meant that she could-

“Then I guess I should give this to someone else,” came the softly murmured words that had her swallowing hard as she looked up and found Devyn standing in her doorway.

* * *

He missed her,Devyn thought as he stood there, unable to take his eyes off the small woman sitting on the couch wearing an oversized Eeyore tee-shirt and plaid pajama pants and-

She’d never looked more beautiful.

“You’re not supposed to be back until next week,” Andi said, her lips pulling up into a shy smile as she tossed the file on her lap aside and climbed off the couch.

“I finished early,” he murmured, watching as she made her way across the small room as he thought about everything that he did to get here.

He’d moved up meetings, tore through files, worked through the night, and nearly lost his fucking mind. The moment that he’d walked away from her, he’d wanted to turn right back around and pull her into his arms, but he’d told himself that he needed to put some space between them and get his fucking head back in the game, only to realize that he couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

God, he fucking wanted her, Devyn thought as she quickly made her way over to him and-

Gasped when she saw the stack of files that he was holding in his right hand. “My pretties,” she mumbled in a reverent whisper, already forgetting about him as she grabbed the files, turned around and made her way back to the couch, leaving him to glare at her every fucking step of the way.

“You poor bastard,” Drew said, chuckling as he tossed a chip into his mouth and headed for the door, leaving Devyn standing there, watching as the woman that was driving him crazy dropped down on the couch with a satisfied sigh.

For a moment, Devyn stood there watching her, making one last attempt to convince himself that this was a bad idea, but…

He didn’t fucking care anymore.

Closing the door behind him, Devyn made his way to the couch and sat down next to her as he placed the large gift bag that he’d brought for her on the floor. When she began softly humming to herself, he couldn’t help but smile as he grabbed the teddy bear out of the bag and placed it on her lap.

He watched as her focus turned to confusion as she stared down at the light brown teddy bear that had taken him two days to find before her lips pulled up into a beautiful smile. “He’s adorable,” she said, picking up the bear only to go still when she felt it.

“Here,” Devyn said, reaching over to take her hand and placed it on the teddy bear’s chest.

“His heart’s beating,” she said as the lips that he would give absolutely anything to feel against his again pulled up into a warm smile.

“It’s my heartbeat,” Devyn said, turning his hand over so that she could see the new smartwatch that he’d purchased to link his heartbeat to the bear’s so that no matter where he was, she would never have to sleep alone again.

Nodding absently, Andi returned her attention to the bear and-

“I scare you,” she said, taking him by surprise.

“You think so?” Devyn asked, knowing that she was wrong.

She didn’t scare him.

She terrified him.

“Yes,” Andi murmured softly.

“What makes you say that?” Devyn asked, wondering if she had any idea what she was doing to him.

For so long, he’d stayed focused on his end game, doing whatever it took to be the best to get where he was, forcing himself to forget everything else because nothing else mattered, but now…

He couldn’t pretend that he didn’t think about her, want her, and-

“Because you scare me, too,” Andi said softly as she looked up and met his gaze.

Swallowing hard, Devyn asked, “What if I can’t give you more than this?” Because no matter how much he wanted her, and God, did he fucking want her, he didn’t know if he could make her happy. He’d never been able to handle more than a few forgettable nights, never wanted anything more than that, but with Andi, he wanted so much more.

“What if all I want is this?” Andi asked as Devyn reached over and took her hand in his.

“The question is, will it be enough?” he asked, gently caressing the back of her hand with his thumb as he waited for an answer, hoping like hell that it didn’t destroy him.