Running From Forever (8 page)

“We’ll have to get you shadowing Charlotte in
the near future. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind showing you the
ropes.”

Immediately my heart started thumping
ecstatically and my smile grew so big that it reached each side of
my face. Charlotte Manning was my idol—the one woman I looked up
to; the one person I aspired to be.

“I’m presuming you wouldn’t be opposed?”

“No. No, absolutely not!” I practically praised
him, elated.

His laugh echoed from his stomach, causing every
last emotion to come alive in me. I wasn’t so sure I would be
granted this opportunity if I weren’t in some sort of relationship
with Miles, but I wasn’t about to modestly decline. If having a
relationship with the CEO meant I inched my way to the top a little
quicker, I wouldn’t muster a complaint. We lived in a world of who
knows whom and I would use that knowledge to my advantage.

A few moments later, we pulled alongside a tiny
little bistro tucked away on a quiet street. I was amazed when we
stepped outside the vehicle and could only hear the horns beeping
from afar. I was unaware places so quiet existed in the city.

I wasn’t sure if he planned it or not, but he
met me on my side of the SUV, which was parked alongside the curb.
With his hand on my lower back, we entered the small restaurant,
which couldn’t seat any more than twenty people at one time. The
middle-aged woman behind the counter smiled immediately when she
noticed Miles.

“Miles! How’re ya, love?” she asked, coming
around the counter to greet Miles with a hug.

At first impression, she seemed sweet and
caring, not overcome with his appearance at all. I wondered how it
was possible, but didn’t complain. Not that I’m the jealous type,
but having other women ogle the person I was seeing definitely
wasn’t appealing.

“Doing well, Truly. How’s the business treating
you these days?” he asked, seeming genuinely interested.

“I’m still here, honoring my blessings,” she
smiled.

“Good to hear,” he grinned, but it wasn’t the
one I received repetitively and on a daily basis. It wasn’t
suggestive, but a genuine, happy, engaging smile.

I looked up at him, noticing a different man; a
different side to the Miles Blackwell I knew. A tender one. One not
so economically and dominantly driven. It warmed my heart to see,
but also left me intrigued.
Who was this woman?
It obviously
wasn’t a love interest or an ex, that was obvious enough, but she
was someone that knew Miles, that touched his life somehow, that
had broken through his tough-shelled façade. She was brilliance in
my eyes.

There was a second of silence until the focus
turned to me. Truly stared, smiling. She wanted to be
introduced.

“Oh yes,” Miles said, his hand sliding from my
lower back up to my neck, cupping the nape loosely with his
hand.

My body instantly melted under his touch. And as
his thumb slowly caressed my skin, I felt a rush of heat fill my
body. I was enamored by the sentiment I felt through his hand; the
interest, the protection. I tried hard not to shiver.

He looked down at me and smiled. “This beautiful
woman is Kayla.”

Lord, was I sinking. I was engulfed. Drowning
into the sea of this man.

“Kayla, this is Truly.”

“It’s truly a pleasure,” she told me, happiness
radiating from her smile and soul.

I loved her. She didn’t look like your typical
New Yorker and was far from business-attired like Miles and I. She
was short and slightly overweight, but had warm brown eyes that
sparkled and short curly hair that flowed crazily in every
direction. I had no clue who she was, but I loved her anyway. Her
heart was pure, and she had a connection to Miles that was both
warming and intriguing. She was unique…different.

She went back to business mode, ready to take
our orders. “What can I getcha both?”

Miles looked to me, letting me go first, but I
was so consumed with the situation that I hadn’t even glanced up at
the menu yet. “Go ahead, I haven’t decided,” I told him, gesturing
with my hand for him to order.

“Uh…I’ll have the tomato, basil, and mozzarella
pressed Panini with a cup of your beef barley soup, if you would,
Truly?”

Everything on the menu board sounded amazing,
but so did what Miles just ordered. “I’ll have the same,
please.”

As we waited for our food to be prepared, we
grabbed a seat at a table towards the front.

“I feel like we’re hiding out,” I told him once
we were seated.

He chuckled. “Why’s that?”

“Because I can almost forget that we’re sitting
just outside of Times Square. I feel like we’re sitting in a bistro
in Italy or somewhere.”

His smile matched the sparkle in his eyes,
stealing the beat in my heart. He was amused by my statement. “This
is my little slice of heaven in the world of crazy that I live
in.”

“Well, thank you for bringing me here. I’d have
never known it was here otherwise.”

He nodded his head. “It’s my pleasure.” He wet
his lips and leaned further back into his chair, bringing is right
foot up to rest on his left knee. “I enjoy spending time with you.
You’ve been a pleasant entry the last few days.”

A pleasant entry? Who says that? Miles. Only
Miles could say something so sophisticated and strange but still
have the same heart-throbbing effect. I blushed. Of course I
blushed. It seemed to be the norm around him. It was like he knew
all the right things to say to make me weak; to cave into his
intoxication.

Luckily, I didn’t have to respond. Truly
interrupted, delivering our meals. “Anything else I can get you
guys?” she asked after placing our dishes and silverware in front
of us.

Miles looked to me, but I shook my head. “I’m
good, thanks.”

“All set,” he followed up. “Thank you,
Truly.”

“Alright. Well, holler if you need anything
else.” She smiled. “Enjoy.”

Miles had me back to the office within the
hour lunch break that I was allotted. Like he knew where I stood
with making our relationship public, we walked into ETV like two
normal coworkers that just had lunch together would. No back
touching, hand holding, or sly gestures of any kind. It was a
different story in the elevator, though. Miles’ hand immediately
found the back of my neck just as it did in the restaurant and
gently caressed my skin until the elevator car stopped at his
floor.

His hand slid slowly down my back as the doors
opened and he leaned in, whispering, “I’ll see you later,” into my
hair before exiting and not looking back after he did.

I wasn’t frozen this time, like I expected to
be. I was relaxed; relaxed with happiness flowing within. I was
starting to become more comfortable in my skin around Miles. I
learned a new side of him this afternoon; a side that probably most
don’t see…he was calm. Genuine. I had only seen him in executive
mode, even at the bar. Out of the office today, around Truly, he
seemed more relaxed. Miles Blackwell was starting to become the
whole package—successful, incredibly attractive, professional,
charming, and now soft. I had a feeling as I rode the rest of the
way up to my floor that my original plan when moving here, the plan
to lead the single business life, was going to have to take a
detour that involved not being single; a detour that involved a man
and maybe a future with him.

I could see it all nicely served on a silver
platter. I could see a future with Miles Blackwell, and even though
it wasn’t the future that I had been thinking about when I put my
plan in motion not more than a week ago, it was a plan that I would
be more than okay with following. Leading the life of the wealthy,
in a relationship with one of the biggest executives in
Manhattan…yeah, I was okay with that, especially when he made me
feel like the person I had always yearned to be—alive, pure, and
important, as opposed to cheap, used up, and incompetent. Here, I
was someone new, the person I had always pictured myself being. So,
was I good with this detour? Fucking ecstatic, actually.

The rest of the day was pretty humdrum.
Connie had me doing random errands, I did my usual requirements,
chatted with Sami for only a second, and then was out the door,
dragging my feet to my apartment just after six.

I was chatting on the phone with Leah, bringing
her up to speed about Miles, when I walked into the apartment to an
unusual sight—my sister cooking dinner and my apartment filled with
loud music to boot. The dinner I was okay with, but the music, not
so much. Not too long ago, that would have matched my personality
to a T, so I didn’t fault my Maddy there (she was acting her age,
after all), but I had neighbors that paid good money to live here.
And I didn’t want to get kicked out after only being there a
week.

“Leah, let me call you back,” I said. I wasn’t
able to hear her over the music anyway.

“Yeah!” she shouted back, laughing before saying
goodbye and hanging up.

I put my phone in my purse and stalked over to
my stereo, turning the volume dial to a reasonable level. This got
my sister’s attention, making her turn quickly to face me.

“What are ya doing? I love that song!” she
pouted, looking at me like I was out of my mind for respecting the
noise level for all who lived in my building.

“Maddy! I have neighbors.”

“Yeah?” she looked at me, confused.

I found it ridiculous that I had to elaborate as
it should be the obvious, but I did. “You have to keep it down. I’d
like for them not to hate me, please.”

She scowled and it dawned on me: Maddy doesn’t
know any better. She was coming from the same shit scenario I grew
up in. Respect was the last thing on anyone’s mind in Mom’s house—I
wasn’t quite sure if my mom actually knew what that word meant. I
realized I was going to have to take a step back when dealing with
Maddy; I was going to have to rewind to four years ago and remember
the person I was entering my first year in college…fresh from the
fucked up world I was used to.

“It’s a quiet building,” I continued in a more
explanatory tone. “Blasting music isn’t something they encourage
here.”

She looked at me, confused for a moment longer,
before answering in the same ditzy manner I did so many times that
it actually made me chuckle when she did it. “Huh?” She even tilted
her head to the side when she said it.

“Oh, Maddy…” I said, coming up beside her and
wrapping my arm around her neck. “You’re entering a whole new
world, and it’s much,
much
different than you’re used to…” I
began to explain how differently people live here, in the real
world, than Mom does back home. The part I ended with pained me to
do because even though I’m not the person I used to be (and not
regretting getting that all out of my system), I couldn’t have that
behavior there—while she stayed with me, she was going to have to
respect that. I was on a different level now. I was a responsible
adult. If she wanted to stay with me, she was going to have to
catch up to where I was and where I was heading.

“Wow,” Maddy answered, looking genuinely
shocked. I wasn’t sure exactly how she was grasping it. She seemed
lost, still trying to understand what I just told her. “Well…” she
shrugged her shoulders. “Since I have nowhere else to go, I suppose
I should start seeing how
respectable
people live.”

There was attitude on her last statement, making
my stomach turn that I hurt her feelings. I knew I offended her,
but I had to be honest. The way we were brought up wasn’t the high
life
at all
. Or the regular life, for that matter. My mom
had wealthy assholes coming and going, yes, but they weren’t among
the riches that New York City had to offer. They were sleazy
gamblers, getting money all the wrong ways, but Tina, my mom,
didn’t care. All she saw was dollar signs. We grew up with money,
but it was handled much differently and we didn’t see much of it.
There were parties every night in our house, guys slumming around
that couldn’t care less how young the girls they were screwing
were, all in a neighborhood that welcomed such behavior. We had no
rules. We had no one looking out for us to explain how normal
people functioned in society. That was our normal. That was our
society. We hadn’t known any different until we were old enough to
see a comparison.