Uncross My Heart by Austin; Andrews

Author:Austin; Andrews
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2008-12-31T23:00:00+00:00

cHaPter seventeen

I rang Viv’s home phone early Friday morning after a sleepless night, due in part to my palm and in part to my heart. I wanted to tell her that I needed to talk to her, I didn’t want her leaving angry.

We could still see each other, lunch, be friends. But a strange woman’s voice answered—a sleepy, sexy someone that I had awakened. I realized Vivienne must not be alone.

I quickly hung up. “Well, that’s just damned near perfect,” I shouted to Ketch, mimicking Vivienne’s pronunciation of the word.

Ketch stopped eating his breakfast long enough to assess my mental condition.

I showered and dressed and, just before leaving, turned on a local TV station to check the weather and there she was—Vivienne Wilde—

obviously pretaped and looking absolutely designer perfect, talking about her book and her upcoming signing at a local Borders. I sat down on the couch and stared at her, loving the camera angles that went in close, capturing her intelligence and beauty. Someone else is apparently enjoying that, and not me. And if she can land in bed with someone so quickly, then she’s either betraying an existing lover or has a roster of them waiting in line for the privilege. Either way, I made the right choice in not sleeping with her.

Depressed, I dressed and headed for an early morning meeting with Hightower and the board of directors.

As I charged down the corridor of the McGuire Building, I spotted an invitation-sized envelope stuck to my door with a pushpin.

I approached it slowly, as if it might contain plastic explosives, and Robbie Renthrow, whose academic path seemed to collide with my

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andrews & aUstin

corridor, whipped by, books in hand, then paused to watch me open the flowery piece of stationery.

“Wow, flowers, cards.” He whistled and winked at me before sliding on down the hallway. I made a mental note to check his denomination—Unitarian, I was betting.

I unlocked the door and this time bolted it behind me before examining the note. It read, Coming back to town this week and would love a private evening with you. Lyra.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” I said to no one as I tore the note into small pieces and tossed it in my trash can, embarrassed over the female attention. It had to be the vibrations I was emitting. The universe must know I’m lusting after a woman, and now it’s sending me dozens of them as if they’re simply a commodity.

Using a small mirror in the bookcase, I checked to see that I looked decent, then opened my desk drawer and took out the large cross made of black onyx and silver that my mother had worn years ago. I put it around my neck, letting it hang between my breasts. It always appeared official and pious and matched my black outfit. Feeling religiously buttressed, I slung a military-cut black jacket over my shoulders and marched out the door to brief the board of directors.

When I arrived at Hightower’s door, Eleonor redirected me to the opposite end of the hall where the board was already in session.

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