“I need you to find someone else to do this with.” I waved at the computer, surrendering some of the work I was most proud of because I wasn’t willing to risk the person I’d become. I could stand on my own, be happy on my own, and operate well enough on my own. I didn’t need anyone.
It had been that way with Gerald. I’d engaged with him, but I’d never really let him in. Maybe that was why he’d hooked up with someone else, why it didn’t hurt me as badly as it should have.
“I’m only working with you.” He grabbed my rose gold laptop and opened it back up. “You might miss a few things, but you’re capable enough and more tolerable than most.”
“Do you even hear yourself? I’m ‘tolerable’? ‘Capable enough’?”
It was Cade’s turn to squirm under my assessment. “Can we just work rather than pass around compliments we don’t mean?”
I decided he wasn’t worth it and plopped back down in my seat to work in silence.
Making amends wasn’t something he was good at either. Or maybe Cade simply didn’t care to make amends with me, because he sat at the opposite end of the table and got to work, tapping away at his computer, sending me tasks digitally.
The very last one saidEat some food.
I left it unchecked, got up, and called Lucas. “Are we going in the lake today?”
He whooped and said yes.
I left Cade to his devices. We weren’t friends, he wasn’t social, and I didn’t want to engage with him anymore that day anyway. Instead, Lucas and I looked over the itinerary and mingled beside the lake.
“We get three days of no work and all play,” Lucas practically sang into the blue sky like he was in heaven.
“I’m already working. Cade wants me revamping JUNIPER for testing.”
“Damn. Did you show him the itinerary? Tell him Rodney and I need some alone time with you.” Lucas smirked.
“Ha-ha. Not happening. I just want to prove I can do this and that I’m good at—”
“You’re good at your job, Izzy. Don’t let him make you feel like you aren’t. That’s a slippery slope.”
I nodded, but doubts crept in, like the ones I used to have about not fitting in when my brothers went off to college, like the ones that pushed me into bad habits rather than healthy ones. “I just need to stay occupied and enjoy—”
“The world that this retreat is offering.” Lucas pointed to some more very sweaty, very muscular men. “I think they dropped us at aTemptation Islandexperiment or something. How did everyone on our team get so hot? I even stared at Cassie a little too long in her swimsuit today.”
“You did?” I turned to study him in disbelief.
Lucas’s smile was as bright as the sun setting on his blond hair. He’d put on swim trunks and abandoned his shirt to showcase his abs of steel and biceps that were strong enough to carry anyone into the lake. “Well, that’s a lie, but I stared at her flirting with Rodney.”
“NowthatI believe.”
He chuckled. “Anyway, tomorrow night there’s a mandatory campfire where we should know everyone’s name, as there will be a quiz.”
“Sounds like we’d better go learn some damn names.” I shrugged and Lucas pulled me along like this was his grand adventure.
We met a few at the grill. Rodney, our buff crush, made hamburgers while Melanie, a redhead who was as small as a mouse, flirted with him. Theo was quiet and scared of the lake but nice enough.
Later that night, after enjoying a few drinks and laughing with my new friends, I meandered back to my cabin with Lucas. “You don’t have to walk me back to the cabin, Lucas. It’s like two hundred yards from yours.”
Cade, still in his navy suit and his freaking hot eyeglasses, swung open the door as we stood there, arm in arm.
He laser-focused on where our bodies linked. “Thanks for bringing her back, Lucas.”
Lucas didn’t say anything for a whole second as he gaped at Cade in glasses. He practically drooled before I elbowed him and he came back from being feral for our boss. He cleared his throat and pointed out, “See, I did need to bring you back. Mr. Armanelli is even thankful for it.”
“I’m not going to be mauled on the few steps from one cabin to the other.”
“There are bears out here.” Cade shrugged and then winked at Lucas, who was smiling like they had some inside joke.