LITMIR.BIZ

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is deeply, deeply romantic—and deeply, deeply flawed. You’re going to wind up failing and having your heart broken into a thousand little pieces, and then ground up into dust after that.”

      “I don’t want to hear about it, Schuyler,” he told his sister with finality. “I don’t need you to tell me how I can fail. I need you to tell me that I’ll get her back. I need to get her back,” he emphasized.

      He heard Schuyler sigh, as if she was surrendering. “Okay. Just please, please don’t do anything stupid,” his sister warned.

      “I already did,” Everett told her. “I let Lila go in the first place.”

      “Everett—”

      “I’ll be in touch, Schuy,” he told her before he terminated the call.

      Everett gave it to the count of ten, then opened his phone again. He had a call to make and then he had to get back on the road if he wanted to reach Houston before nightfall.

      * * *

      Lila didn’t need to get back to the office that quickly. She’d just told Everett that she did so she had a way to end their lunch. She’d estimated that half an hour in his company was about all she could take.

      She had a feeling that if she came back early, the people she worked with, the ones who seemed to take such an inordinate interest in her life, would be all over her with questions.

      Especially Lucie.

      But if she timed it just right, she could slip into the office just as they were coming back from their own lunches. That way she stood a better chance of avoiding any questions.

      She thought it was a good plan and it might have actually worked—if it hadn’t been for the flowers. Two dozen long stemmed red roses in a glass vase to be precise. They were right there, in the middle of her desk, waiting for her when she walked into the office an hour after she’d left.

      And there, right next to the vase, was Lucie. With a broad smile on her face.

      “You just missed the delivery guy,” she told Lila. “I signed for them for you.”

      “Um, thank you,” Lila murmured, although what she was really thinking was that Lucie shouldn’t have bothered doing that.

      “No problem,” Lucie answered cheerfully. Her eyes were practically sparkling as she looked from the flowers to her friend. It was obvious that she had barely been able to curtail her curiosity and keep from reading the card that had come with the roses. “Who are they from?”

      “I have no idea,” Lila murmured, eyeing the roses uneasily, as if she expected them to come to life and start taunting her.

      “You know a really good way to find out?” Lucie asked her innocently. When Lila glanced in her direction, Lucie told her with great clarity: “Read the card.”

      Lila nearly bit off that she knew that. Instead, resigned, she said, “I guess I’ll have to.”

      “Boy, if someone sent me roses, I’d sound a lot happier than that,” Lucie commented.

      “Want them?” Lila offered, ready to pick up the vase and hand it over to her friend.

      “I’d love them,” Lucie said with feeling. “But I can’t take them. They’re yours. Now who sent them?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked directly into Lila’s.

      Steeling herself, Lila reached over and plucked the small envelope stuck inside the roses. Slowly opening it, she took out the off-white rectangular card.

      Till next time. Everett.

      Her hand closed around the card. She was tempted to crush the small missive, but something held her back.

      Damn it, why couldn’t the man take a hint? Why was he determined to haunt her life this way? Why couldn’t he just stay away the way he had done for the last thirteen years?

      “Well?” Lucie asked, waiting. She tried to look over her friend’s shoulder to read the card. “Who sent the flowers?”

      “Nobody,” Lila answered evasively.

      “Well ‘nobody’ must have some pretty deep pockets,” Lucie commented, eyeing the roses. “Do you know what roses are going for these days?”

      “I don’t know and I don’t care,” Lila answered defiantly. She was debating throwing the card into the trash.

      “Well, ‘nobody’ certainly does. Care, I mean,” Lucie clarified. “By any chance, are these flowers from the guy you went out to lunch with?”

      Lila closed her eyes. She really did wish she could convincingly carry off a lie, but she couldn’t. Absolutely no answer came to her, so she found herself having to admit the truth.

      “Maybe.”

      Lucie gave a low whistle as she regarded the roses. “All I can say is that you must have made one hell of an impression at lunch.”

      “No, I didn’t,” Lila replied. “He asked if he could call me again and I told him I didn’t think that was such a good idea.”

      Taking in the information, Lucie nodded. “Playing hard to get. That really turns some guys on,” she confided. “They see it as a challenge.”

      “I’m not playing hard to get,” Lila stressed between gritted teeth. “I’m playing impossible to get.”

      “Same thing for some guys,” Lucie responded knowingly. “What you did was just upped the ante without realizing it. Play out the line a little bit, then tell him that you’ve had a change of heart because he’s so persistent. Then reel him in.”

      She felt like her back was up against the wall and Lucie was giving her fishing analogies. She looked at the other woman in disbelief. “You’re telling me I should go out with him?”

      “What I’m telling you is that you should give him another chance,” Lucie told her.

      Another chance. She knew that was what Everett wanted as well, even though he’d started out by acting as if he didn’t, Lila thought. But there was no other reason why he would want to call her the next time he was in Austin unless he wanted another chance. It certainly wasn’t because they’d had such a spectacular time today at lunch and he wanted to continue that.

      They hadn’t been spectacular together in a long, long time, Lila thought.

      She tried to close her mind off from the memories, but they insisted on pushing their way through, punching through the fabric of the years.

      Echoes from the past both softened her and squeezed her heart, reminding her of the pain she’d gone through at the end.

      How could she willingly open herself up to that again? She’d barely recovered the last time.

      Lila blinked. Lucie was standing in front of her, waving her hand in front of her eyes.

      “Hey, Earth to Lila. Earth to Lila,” Lucie called out.

      “What?” Lila responded, stopping short of biting off an angry cry.

      “I was talking to you and you seemed like you were a million miles away. Where were you just now?”

      Lila blew out a quick breath and pulled herself together.

      “You called it,” she told the other woman. “I was a million miles away. And now it’s time to come back and get to work,” she announced. “I’ve got a stack of reports to review so I can make the rounds tomorrow.”

      Lucie inclined her head. “I can take a hint.”

      “I certainly hope so,” Lila murmured under her breath.

      Hearing her, Lucie added, “For now,” as she left the room.

      Lila suppressed a groan. Glaring at the roses, she moved the vase to the windowsill.

      It

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