Bad Boy Benefits: A Standalone Little Sister's Best Friend Romance by JD Hawkins

Author:JD Hawkins [Hawkins, JD]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781953520722
Publisher: Paige Press, LLC
Published: 2021-06-20T16:00:00+00:00

15

Toby

“…Boss!”

“Huh?”

Sharon rarely raises her voice, so when I hear her shouting from the doorway of my office it snaps me back to reality violently, and I immediately realize she’s probably been calling me for a while with no response if she’s had to resort to that tone.

I had no idea that she was even here, that the shop was even open. Last thing I knew I was coming to the shop at three in the morning to be alone. I sat down at my desk in the backroom, cluttered with tools and gems and old paperwork.

In my hand is a giant Imperial topaz that I’ve been turning in the lamplight for hours. My favorite stone. I bought it in the first year I owned the shop, and it cost me enough that I could have built an entirely new one. That was even with the client selling it to me for a great price because she thought it was cursed. She’d said that since she’d acquired the stone it had brought too much excitement to her life—too much danger and adventure, too much romantic restlessness. I’d told her that sounded like a blessing rather than a curse to me.

I ended up removing it from the tacky necklace it had been set in, but never had the heart or the inspiration to set it into something else—maybe I just never really wanted to sell it—and instead would sometimes take the stone and stare into its fiery pink-red light, cut so well and with such color it seemed to be alive.

“The interviewees you sent away yesterday are here again,” Sharon says, walking over to the blinds and opening them to reveal a daylight that shocks me.

“What time is it?”

“Just after nine. Are you all right? Should I get you an aspirin or a coffee?”

“Yeah, no… I’m fine.”

“Heavy night?”

“Something like that. Listen, give me ten minutes, then send one of them in.”

She nods as she makes for the door and leaves me alone with the piercing daylight and the dancing gem.

Sharon’s not too worried about me, and knows better than to ask any more. This isn’t the first time she’s seen me moping—it’s practically routine at this point. I’m just pining for another woman who’s just out of reach again. Ignoring what is possible in order to feel bad about the impossible again. Wanting what I can’t have again…

Except this is different. This is Maeve.

All those married actresses and models I used to enjoy feeling bad over, they seem ridiculous now. Like phony trial runs for the real thing. Momentary whims that you can’t even understand—even feel a little embarrassed by—once the moment passes. Maybe all that chasing and self-pity was just a game I used to play, a comfortable role, my typecast in a city of actors. I used to throw the word love around all the time, trying to convince people, myself, that there was something melodramatic and glamorous about what I was doing. In reality, I was just terrified of the real thing, so I instead convinced myself I was really chasing it.

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