Vacation (22 page)

"Brilliant, as always. I enjoyed
myself, and the other resorts were classy, clean, and delightful as well."
I coughed into my hand, trying to think through how I was going to bring up
Kevin yet again. Jon knew how I felt about the guy, but he seemed to believe
that I had a bias toward the wayward food critic, which I did. He was an ass,
though he played it off well in front of Jon and everyone else in the company.

"Perfect. I'll make time. Just call
Sherry and set something up."

"Alright. I'll talk to you
then." I dropped the call and texted his secretary, Sherry, setting up a
thirty minute meeting. Talking in person would go over much better than over
the phone. With the idea of a pending lawsuit over Kevin's actions, I had just
the right amount of ammo to get him fired.

And lucky for us, I knew the perfect girl
for his position.
 

Chapter
23

Vivian

The flight home was delayed by seven
hours, which put us back in New York in time to change into our pajamas and get
to bed. I was so beat from being up the night before that I had to have Case
drive us back to the dorm room. I slept like a rock until she finally pushed at
my shoulder just before lunch on Sunday.

"Hey. My mom wants me to come spend
the night with them. I'm going to drive up there if you're
gonna
be okay here by yourself." She sat down on the edge of my bed, speaking
far too fast for what I was capable of comprehending.

"What? Where are you going?" I
pressed my palms to my eyes and stretched out.

"My mom's. I'll be back tomorrow
sometime."

"What about class?" I drug my
fingers down my face and grunted as I turned onto my side.

"I'll just make something up. A delay
or something from the trip. I'll be back tomorrow night. You want to go with
me?" She tugged at the covers playfully.

"No, but thanks." I rolled over
to the other side of the bed and stood up. "What time is it? I feel like
I'm coming out of a coma."

"It's twelve-forty." She got up
and moved back to her bed, zipping up a small duffel bag before tugging the
strap over her shoulder. "You sure you don't want to come?"

"No. I want to start working on my
post-college plan." I yawned loudly and moved to give her a quick hug.
"I'm going to jump in the shower. Be safe on your trip and text me when
you get there."

"Okay." She caught my wrist as I
turned to go. "No hanging out with Jackson, right?"

"No. Never. I'm done with him, no
matter what." I gave her a weak smile and walked into the small bathroom,
closing the door behind me. A week ago, I would definitely have hung out with
Jackson in hopes of figuring out how we could work through all the shit we'd
been through. But now, after meeting someone like Easton, there was no way.

The thought of the handsome, dark-haired
businessman caused a longing to rise up inside of me that I couldn't ever
remember feeling so strongly. He would be headed home
some time
in the next few days, and while I shouldn't have, I expected a call from him.
After leaving him without as much as a goodbye, I didn't deserve a call from
him, but something told me that our love affair wasn't over just yet.

I washed up quickly and braided my wet
hair before pulling on a pair of jeans and tugging a bulky sweater over my
t-shirt. After lacing up my boots, I grabbed my scarf, gloves, keys, and
library card. I wanted to do some research, and the library would be open on
campus by then.

There was a serenity to the place that I
adored. There was nothing else like it in all of New York. I needed to keep my
mind busy, but my emotions at rest. The college library would help me do just
that.

I picked up my favorite coffee at the
corner vendor just down from the shade trees on campus and walked languidly
toward the large, ornate structure. I wanted Easton to call and tell me he was
home, but I would have to bide my time seeing that I didn't get the specifics
on when he was flying back into town.

"This is assuming of course that he even
wants to see you." I moved back as a group of guys walked out of the
library, the last one holding the door for me and smiling brightly.

"Morning." He winked, and I
smiled, trying to play nice as best I could.

"Morning," I mumbled and walked
in as I breathed in deeply. The smell of old books was one of my favorites.
That and a good strong cup of coffee was my idea of heaven. I couldn't help but
wonder what Easton's favorite scents were. Our twenty-question game was cut off
far too early, but it was my fault. I hoped to have the chance to reconcile
that.

Taking the stairs to the third floor, I
found an open cubbyhole desk with a computer that was working a few minutes
later. Setting my stuff on the desk beside the computer, I turned and scanned
my surroundings. It was quiet, and the place seemed empty.

"Perfect." I sat down and shook
the mouse as I tried to think through what I wanted to search exactly. I'd
looked up various websites on being a food critic, as well as degrees held by
the world-renowned critics until I was blue in the face.

"Hmmm..." I tapped my hand on
the desk as my thoughts shifted back to Easton. "That's it. Maybe I could
apply at his company, and even if he never called, we could run into each other
down the road when I was healed and he was...taken?"

I grumbled and typed in his name, not at
all surprised when the first full page on Google was all about him and his
critiques. The picture they had for his profile was stunning, his beautiful
green eyes accenting the deliciously tanned coloring of his skin. Reaching out,
I brushed my fingers over the screen and let out a shaky sigh.

"I miss you," I whispered,
feeling like a creeper and not caring at all. I did miss him – horribly.

Getting a hold of myself, I worked through
the pages to find the name of his company and dug down until I landed on their
website. They were all over the world, and Easton was quite high up for his
division. He was lead resort reviewer. He had a zillion accolades and awards
next to his name; the last one was more intimidating than the one before it.

"No wonder his career's so important.
Must make him feel like a million bucks to be so popular." I clicked a few
more times to find his boss and the rest of the executive committee. The food
critic Easton kept mentioning was on several pages too, but something about him
didn't sit right with me.

"You doing okay, miss?" A thin
older woman stopped beside me and glanced down at the computer screen. "Oh
Wilmington and Branch. I love their reviews. We usually travel based on their
ratings."

"Really?" I turned my attention
to her. "I just met one of their reviewers over break. Seems like a hard
job having to travel all the time, but I'm hoping to one day be a food critic
for them, or for myself."

"Oh really? That sounds like fun,
unless you had to try something you didn't like. That would be painful."
She stuck out her tongue and grimaced.

I chuckled and nodded. "I thought
about that too, but I'm pretty open to trying anything once."

"That's a good attitude for that line
of work." She pointed to the top of the screen. "Check their open
positions. If you can get in with them, you'll be set. They're on the top five
companies for reviewers, writers and critics. Good, solid company."

"Very cool. Thanks." I smiled at
her and clicked on the jobs length, finding open applications for all
positions. I took my time and filled out an application for food critic, only
pausing to type up a critique of La Mage's famous steakhouse to attach as part
of my submission. I wasn't sure what the protocol was on submitting the review
to the papers too, but I figured waiting a little while wouldn't hurt anything.

I clicked back to the bio on Easton and
pressed my face to my hands, leaning toward the screen to get a better look at
him.

"God, you're beautiful. Why would you
even bother with a silly girl like me?"

My phone buzzed, and I almost jumped out
of my skin. I glanced down to see his name on my caller I.D., and my heart
almost stopped as I fumbled with the phone and tried to still my racing pulse.

"This is Vivian."

"Hey, Viv. It's Easton. I just wanted
to hear your voice. You made it home safely, I assume?" His tone was
neutral, but the sweet timbre that belonged only to him left me closing my eyes
to savor it fully.

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't text. We had a seven-hour
delay and changed gates several times last night. By the time we made it home,
I was out of it. I just woke up an hour ago." I let out a short laugh,
trying hard to keep things light between us.

"No worries. I took a red-eye last
night and got in about two this morning. I didn't think you'd appreciate a call
then."

"I was still up then, but I hear
you." I took a quick breath. "I'm really sorry about not saying
goodbye.”

"No need to apologize, but how about
you make it up to me?"

"Okay. What did you have in
mind?" I sat back in the small plastic chair and let my eyes move back up
to the screen so I could look at his picture as we spoke.

"I'm heading out for Los Angeles at
lunch tomorrow, but my night's just come open. I'd love to have dinner together
and at least put some closure on our week, if that's what you were trying to do
by slipping out in the night." He chuckled, but the sound fell flat.

I'd hurt him. I could hear it in his
voice. It wasn't something I'd ever want to do to anyone, least of all him.
Foreign emotions welled up in my stomach and pushed their way up into the
cavity of my chest, threatening to choke me.

"Okay. Just tell me what time and
where. I'll be there." I forced back tears as the possibility of a future
with him in it danced around my thoughts.

"Let's see...
it's
two now, and I want a long night with you. Nothing more than dinner and a
conversation, just in case you're worried." The sweetness in his voice
left me wanting to apologize again.

"I'm not worried at all." I
pressed my fingers to my lips and held back the need to confess a million
things to the handsome man on the other end of the phone. I didn't know him
well enough to offer up my heart, my bed, my tomorrows, but I wanted to. Maybe
dinner would open the door a little wider and help me see if it was truly light
that was working to peek through from the other side.

"Good. Let's meet at six on the
dot." He coughed softly. "My favorite restaurant is Jaspers. Could we
meet there, or I can pick you up, if you like?"

"We can meet there. I've not been
there in years. My dad used to love to go for his birthday." I smiled as
memories assaulted me. "Do they still have their passion fruit crème
brûlée
?"

"Absolutely. They'd be insane to
remove it from the menu." He chuckled, and my smile widened at the sound
of it.

"Good. It's a nice place if I
remember correctly, so a dress would work?" I got up from the terminal and
clicked a few buttons, closing everything out. I wanted to get home and make
sure my hair, makeup and clothes were perfectly on point for seeing him.

"Yeah, a dress would work well. I'll
see you then. Bye, Viv." He hung up, and I let the phone slide down the
side of my face as my heart fluttered wildly in my chest.

I packed up quickly and jogged down the
stairs toward the ground level. I collected a few dirty looks, but I didn't
care. My entire body was buzzing with anticipation of seeing Easton in New
York. I figured that he had lots of great promises to give while we were on
vacation, but that it would be highly unlikely that we'd see each other once we
got home.

I called Casey and didn't wait for her to
get out much more than hello.

"He called. He got in last night, or
really this morning around two. He didn't think I was up, but he just
called." I was breathless and overly excited.

"Viv. Hold up. Who called and where
are you? You sound like you're in the middle of a wind tunnel."

"Sorry. I'm in front of the library.
Easton called. He wants to have dinner tonight." I ran my fingers through
my hair as the wind picked up and tugged strands of it from the braid I'd
forced it into.

"Oh nice! I knew you guys weren't
done just because vacation was over." She laughed joyfully. "Are you
going to stay with him tonight?"

"No. I'm not ready for that." I
jogged to the car, trying to avoid the groups of students that stood around
talking or skateboarding down various ramps.

"Not ready for that? You guys fucked
at the hotel, right?" Casey always was one to shoot straight regardless of
the shock factor.

"Made love. We didn't fuck." I
growled into the phone. "You're so vulgar sometimes."

"You love it. Making love is
good." She huffed. "Why wouldn't you spend the night with him? A
great dinner, bottle of wine, good conversation, and then sex. Hello."

"Sex complicates things, Case.
Shit." I got in the car and wrapped my arms around myself. "It's
freezing here."

"Yeah, a late winter cold-front just
blew in yesterday from what my mom said. Stop changing the subject. Sex doesn't
complicate things, it softens them. He deserves a chance. He's not Jackson, and
you're not the same girl that fell in love with a thirteen-year-old boy who
lived down the street. Things change, Viv. People change."

"I applied for a job at his company.
I probably shouldn't have, and I don't believe in fate, but just in case it is
real, I didn't want to chance it." I started the car and flipped the
heater on high.

"That's a great idea, but I'm not
thinking you're going to need to help fate out at all. The guy just called you
after you not only left him alone in a hot tub the night before, but didn't
even have the balls to say goodbye."