SWNOVELS : Chapter 127
Fiona
“You are looking extra lovely this morning.” Emmie smiled, giving me a quick once-over.
“Thank you, that’s sweet.” I offered my colleague a polite smile. “Better rested than you’ve seen me in a while, I suppose.”
“Mm-hmm. I think cutting down on that overtime is doing you some good, Fiona.”
I finished preparing my tea and moved aside. Emmie started pouring herself a cup of coffee while I walked over to the breakroom table and sat down.
I was flattered by her compliment, sure. But it also told me she thought I’d been looking ragged recently, which was not so flattering.
“I really can’t thank you enough for taking some of that off my plate, Emmie. You and the guys are life savers. And you’ve been doing an amazing job of it, too.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” she said, coming over to join me at the table. She took a sip of her coffee and narrowed her eyes, studying my face a little more intently than I liked.
“Well either way, I really appreciate it.”
Emmie was a senior project manager, but she was newer to the firm than lots of our other colleagues. I’d always liked her. She was loud, sometimes ungracefully so, but that served her well in this environment. I would place her in her late twenties, maybe early thirties; she was pretty in a stern way, with auburn hair and bright green eyes I had to assume were the reason why her parents had named her “Emerald.”
“You’ve got that glow,” she said, her lips creeping up into a borderline mischievous smile. “Mm-hmm.”
I had to get out of there before I started blushing, before I could betray that I knew where my coworker was going with this. Emmie had the same look in her eye that Nina had had when she’d asked me, on
another occasion, “You get laid last night?”
This was not my best friend, and we were not alone in a diner at four a.m. This was a person I worked with, and I was not about to gossip about my love life with her or anyone here in the executive breakroom at Crescent Ventures. A company my fiancé also happened to own, making both me and Emmie his employees, to boot.
“Well, I’m going to get back to work.” I got up and went to the sink to strain and throw away my tea bag.
“Thanks again, Emmie. I’ll see you later.”
“See you.”
She did look a little hurt, perhaps feeling rejected, as I left her sitting there alone. I didn’t enjoy doing it.
I guess since we’d been spending lots of time working
together lately, Emmie might’ve started thinking she and I could chit-chat like girlfriends. I would have been on board if she had selected any other topic. But I was too much of a professional to talk about sex with a coworker, and too responsible of a Luna to be indiscreet about my relationship with my high-profile Alpha, as well.
It also made me feel a bit prickly to think about Emmie possibly being… curious… about my fiancée.
I knew objectively that she meant no harm. I just could not go there with her.
When I got back to my office, I closed my door and pulled the shades closed over the hallway windows.
That was my signal to let my colleagues know I needed to be left alone. I got comfortable at my desk with my tea and gave myself permission to take a five minute break before I had to go get set up for the
My phone vibrated in my hand right as I picked it up to text Alexander.
Alexander
I didn’t expect a quick reply when I texted Fiona on my way to meet Kayden for our morning run. I just sent a message figuring she’d see it later. Letting her know I really hoped to see her in the evening for dinner together.
Dinner didn’t just mean dinner, of course. I was asking for her time, really. Time to let me take care of her. I think she knew what I meant.
She promised she’d do her best to make it back by to the palace by six. I knew she’d confirm with me again in the afternoon. She respected my busy schedule
and always kept me updated about her own limited availability, which I appreciated.
She had some other planning to discuss, too. Some requests for our time together over the upcoming weekend.
It was a cold morning, and already lightly raining by the time I stepped out from under a covered veranda and into the open field of the West Courtyard.
I could smell a big storm coming on.
Kayden appeared at my side thirty seconds later, sniffing the air as he walked up. He was thinking the same thing.
We were jogging toward the forest when I decided to jump right into it. I needed to give him a heads up about something.
“Nina’s going to be here this weekend,” I told him.
“Fiona invited her over to have breakfast with me and her on Saturday morning. Just wanted to let you know.”
“Hm.” Kayden kept his eyes forward, his form in order.
I got the feeling he was waiting for an invitation. But I let a few telling beats pass us by, and he picked up the hint.
I wasn’t about to say outright: “She’s got a new guy, by the way, and you’re not invited to hang out.”
Kayden did not really need to know that first thing. It wasn’t my place to clue him in about it, anyway. The second thing he understood quickly.
We reached the tree line and started jogging into the forest just as the rain began to pour down in earnest.
It got heavier and heavier with each passing minute.
The muddy forest floor kept us on our toes; the slick ground demanded better balance and made for a great workout for the small muscles around the ankles. And the icy rain on my skin felt great, stinging pleasurably with every cold drop that hit and bit at my sweat-slicked skin.
I had given Kayden some shit for the way he’d let Nina jerk him around.
She’d played him pretty thoroughly, when you looked at their affair with the advantage of hindsight.
Nina rode Kayden hard for a couple weeks. He probably tried not to, but he fell for her. And then she ghosted him.
He seemed to take that first fallout in stride. He didn’t
bring her up in conversation afterward, and I thought that he was over it.
But a few weeks later she called him up out of nowhere (if I recall correctly, when she needed a ride to the palace for a visit with Fiona). And my boy had gone running right back to her like a puppy dog.
Then he’d lapsed back into devoting every second of his free time to Nina for another couple weeks that go-round. Until she blew him off again, ghosting him without a word just the same as she’d done the first time.
That second rejection hit Kayden harder. It had been difficult to watch.
“I’ll lead a.m. training Saturday,” he said, “while you entertain the ladies.”
This was expected of my Beta and didn’t really need verbal confirmation. He was saying it out loud to communicate that he got the picture about Nina.
“Would be good if you could drop in at some point,”
he suggested. “Surprise the guys when they think you won’t be there.”
“Good idea. Maybe you can hit me up if they start looking tired. That’d be a good time to make an appearance.”
We talked about training plans for the week for a few more minutes. Until thunder started clapping in the distance and we sprinted the rest of the way back in, getting ourselves out of the trees as fast as we could before lightning could strike anywhere nearby.