Sophia
The following day, after another night when I couldn't bring myself to say no to Lucas, I was in the middle of a meeting with Suzanne when Danny stepped into the open doorway. Suzanne waved him in, and he slipped into the chair beside me across from Suzanne's desk.
“So, we're all going to London for five days,” Danny announced with a gleam in his eyes.
“We are?” Suzanne asked.
“We sure are.”
“Does we include me?” I asked.
Danny glanced my way and grinned. “It sure does.”
“Oh. Well then,” was all I could manage.
Suzanne laughed. “Lucas travels plenty, but he rarely takes any of us with him. That's actually one of the nice things about working for him. Chandler International has its staff for all of its offices, but for the most part, Lucas doesn’t require us to travel with him.”
Her gaze sobered. “Will it be okay for you to be gone for five days?” she asked Danny.
As I'd gotten to know Danny over the last few weeks, I’d learned his mother was ill and he took care of her. He nodded. “It's one trip. My sister’s going to stay at my place. Oh, and he said I can bring Roberto, which means you can bring John. Think John will want to go?” he asked, referring to her husband.
“I have no idea I'll ask him tonight. What about Roberto?” she asked in reference to Danny's boyfriend.
“He’ll be there. It’s only five days, so we can swing it,” he replied.
“Any reason why we’re going?” I asked.
Danny shrugged. “He said something about the approvals he needs for the new project in London, but who knows? Will it be okay for you to travel?” he asked. “Lucas wants you there, something to do with PR for the London project.”
I willed my body not to heat and my pulse not to go crazy, but just thinking about Lucas had that effect. “I can make it work,” I said, wondering about this abrupt change in plans. Lucas hadn’t mentioned anything about this trip.
We chatted for a few more minutes and then Danny left. Suzanne and I finished up what we'd been working on before I returned to my office. I wasn't so sure it was a good idea for me to go to London, not with Lucas. Last night had been a mistake, as well as the night before and the first night. I seemed helpless in the face of my desire when it came to Lucas.
Later that evening, Lucas was tied up in an emergency meeting on a project with his team in Silicon Valley. I took the opportunity to leave and called Megan, accepting her invitation to spend the weekend with her at her family's vacation home on Cape Cod. I was supposed to fly to London tomorrow afternoon according to Danny. I hadn’t received my official travel itinerary yet, and I planned to come up a plausible reason why I couldn't go. As unsettled as I was over Lucas, the deeper and faster I sensed myself falling for him, I needed to take quick action to create distance between us. Skipping the London trip would buy me six days away from him.
In the meantime, I would figure out whether or not to keep the contract I’d signed with Chandler International. I primarily handled all of my consultations, but I occasionally outsourced smaller contracts to a former colleague, Andie Denton, who ran her own small PR consultation company. In flashes of sanity, I knew that was the best decision.
***
Over dinner that evening with Megan, I finally fessed up about my intense fling with Lucas.
“So…that’s it. Now I just have to find a way to gracefully get myself out of this contract,” I finished before taking a healthy swallow of my margarita.
Megan’s gray eyes widened, and she stared at me for a long moment before leaning back in her chair with a sigh. “Why are you hell bent on ending this? It doesn't make any sense. It's obvious he's seriously into you. That night he joined us for dinner, I thought he was going to eat you up right there in front of me,” she said with a little laugh.
I felt so foolish about the whole thing. I considered myself an intelligent woman, focused on my career and certainly not focused on roping in a rich guy. Yet, the way I was feeling was ridiculous. I could hardly stop thinking about Lucas, and I knew I needed to latch onto some sense. After hearing why Lucas broke it off with Kayla, I understood why he wasn't interested in something serious again. I needed to get sensible and stay sensible.
“Look, here's what happened with his ex-fiancé. For starters, he found out she was screwing around with some other exec here in New York, and then she pitched a fit over the prenup. From what I've gathered from Danny and Suzanne, Danny’s known Lucas since the third grade. Suzanne’s worked for him for ten years. They know him well, and it sounds like he doesn't make much room for romance at all. He got burned. I don't know that he was heartbroken over it, but he’s plenty cynical about relationships now. According to them, he says he doesn’t intend to consider marriage again. You know me! When I fall for someone, I fall hard. I can’t be stupid over him.”
Megan took a gulp of her margarita. “I know,” she said with a soft sigh.
Megan and I had gone to college together, and she had nursed me through my first big break up. I had fallen what I considered to be head over here heels in love with a guy who couldn't really be bothered. I’d felt truly devastated when he broke up with me. I got over it and moved on, but first I’d been a wreck, crying, sobbing, and generally feeling like I’d never meet anyone else I loved. It was ridiculous.
Megan took another sip of her margarita and wagged her finger at me. “You got over that. Just like you did the next guy.”
“Well, I know,” I added with a roll of my eyes. “But, it's like I have a radar for guys that don't want commitment. I'm fine being independent, but I don't do the casual dating thing well. I can't work for Lucas and be his…I don't know…his employee with benefits.”
“Do you really think that's all he wants with you?”