“Perfect,” she said happily.
“And I suppose it’s time for a makeover,” I added. “And a whole new wardrobe.”
“Don’t change who you are for him, Jade,” she cautioned.
“I’m not a student anymore, Brooke. I have a PhD. If I’m eventually going to get into any kind of management or professional career, I’m going to have to learn how to dress the part.”
“If you want that, then do it. You’re right. I had to dress up to work in the bank every day. I didn’t love it at first, but I kind of miss it now.”
“Maybe because you have a lot more funds to buy new clothes these days,” I teased. “Did you decide what you’re going to do in Amesport?”
I knew damn well my sister would never be happy not working.
“I can’t go back to a bank,” she shared. “The memories are too painful. But I’m starting to look at my other options.”
“You’ll be outstanding no matter what you decide to do,” I told her. “And you’re not exactly hard up for funds. You can take your time.”
Brooke had been through enough emotional trauma.
“Liam keeps me busy,” she joked. “And it’s kind of fun to do analysis on possible investments. That might be where I end up someday.”
Brooke was happy whenever she was knee-deep in numbers. “Then maybe you can manage my money, too,” I said hopefully.
“I’m entirely certain you can do that yourself,” she answered confidently. “Especially when you’ll be learning from Eli. He really has an uncanny ability to see the big picture on his investments. He’s taken over some corporations that should have been impossible to recover. But he manages to turn them into profit monsters after he changes the direction of the company.”
“Showing up at his office won’t be easy,” I mumbled.
“You’re the gutsiest person I know,” Brooke replied. “And you’re brilliant. But you’ve spent most of your adult life in school and studying. You just haven’t really had a chance to function in the business world yet. But I have no doubt you’ll do fantastic.”
“I’m still applying for a lot of positions,” I told her. “But I still have no idea where I’ll end up.”
“I know you want to do long-term research. And you’re plenty qualified.”
“I’m more than willing to start in an entry position,” I explained. “But I really want to be a permanent part of a team. There’s so much happening in genetic conservation now, and most of the groundbreaking stuff is going to take decades to build on.”
“Are you applying for anything on the East Coast?” she asked hopefully.
“I’m pretty much applying for positions without consideration to geography. I can live anywhere.”
“Fingers crossed for something closer to me,” Brooke teased.
“I’ll keep you posted,” I replied.
“First things first,” she said. “Go find a dynamite business wardrobe that has a little bit of sexy. I can’t wait to see you turn Eli inside out.”
I was fairly certain that Eli Stone was already tormented, and it had nothing to do with me, but I didn’t mention it.
We chatted for a few more minutes about the family, and then we hung up.
I was on the computer moments later trying to figure out who I could hire to make a science geek into a professional.
Turns out, it wasn’t all that hard.
CHAPTER 26
ELI
Don’t want to see you.
Don’t want you here with me.
Better off being alone.
I stared at my text messages for the hundredth time in the last hour, and wondered what in the fuck I’d been thinking.
Granted, my brain had been fried from my illness at the time, but could I have done anything more stupid than send Jade asinine messages like the ones I was staring at?
Nope. Probably not.
What I’d thought I’d said, and what I’d really typed couldn’t have been more different. Yeah, I hadn’t wanted her to come to San Diego because I was afraid she’d end up sick, too. Actually, I’d desperately wanted to see her, and I’d wanted her to be with me. But I’d preferred to be alone because of the contagious nature of my initial illness.
I’d been so fucked up that I’d felt like I’d poured my heart out to her. But in reality, I’d pretty much dumped her via text message.
Shit!
I tossed my phone on my desk with more force than was really necessary because I was disgusted with myself.
I should have looked at what I’d texted to her earlier, but it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d sent something that idiotic to the woman I couldn’t live without. Besides, I hadn’t wanted to look at the unanswered messages. It would have made me even more miserable than I’d already been when I was really sick.
I was going to do what I absolutely had to do in my office, and then I was driving my Bugatti to Citrus Beach to see Jade in person as fast as I could haul ass to get there.
No more text messages.
No phone calls that she could easily ignore like she had in the past when she’d been angry.
Now that I was finally lucid, I planned on getting it right. And that might involve groveling until I could get Jade to let me explain the jumbled messages I’d just discovered an hour ago.
“And I wondered why she wasn’t calling me?” I said aloud in my empty office.
Hell, she had to think I was even a bigger prick than she’d first thought.
We’d slept together.
And then I’d sent her a rambling message that sounded more like I didn’t want her than its true intention—to tell her how I actually felt.
I would have been better off to leave my phone alone while my mind had been messed up when I was sick. But I was so damn obsessed with Jade that even when I was barely coherent, all I’d thought about was trying to explain everything to her.
I looked at the files and papers that had piled up in my absence.
The only things I planned on taking care of before I left for Citrus Beach were anything urgent or time sensitive. Then I was getting the hell out of the office so I could take all the time I needed to convince Jade that we needed to be together.
Not for ten days.
Not until our passion faded—which was never going to happen.
Not as friends—because I’d never survive just a friendship.
I was getting forever. And I’d camp out in Citrus Beach until she agreed.
“Jade Sinclair to see you, Mr. Stone.” Alice’s voice rang out from the intercom, her tone professional.
Jade?
Damned if my heart didn’t start to accelerate just from knowing she was standing outside my office.
I looked up from the papers I was signing, my mind suddenly on alert. Unfortunately, my dick was suddenly at attention, too. All it took was to hear her name.
Not that I could exactly do anything about that right now. But it was good to know that everything was still functioning after over two weeks of misery.
It had been seventeen days, five hours, and a handful of minutes since I’d seen Jade. I felt every single second of not hearing her voice or seeing her beautiful face.