The Billionaire's Intern - Part 2. Maisey Yates
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу The Billionaire's Intern - Part 2 - Maisey Yates страница 3

Название: The Billionaire's Intern - Part 2

Автор: Maisey Yates

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Современные любовные романы

Серия:

isbn: 9781474035279

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ white fabric and sending them rolling across the floor.

      Addison started to walk up the stage, her hand outstretched. “Logan… Logan, breathe.” She took another step toward him, her heart pounding, her mouth dry.

      There were no rules for this. There was no training that could have prepared her. For his desperation. For her. She couldn’t fall back on lessons learned. She simply had to do what felt right.

      Logan stumbled back, the look in his eyes that of a wounded animal. Not that she had any experience with wounded animals, but it was how she imagined they might look. Terrified, and ready to attack at the same time.

      “Stay back. Don’t touch me. Don’t you dare touch me,” he said, his words a low growl.

      Addison recoiled, her heart pounding. She wasn’t qualified for this. She wasn’t the kind of person who made waves, wasn’t the kind of person who faced down an angry man in a suit.

      Well, you are now. Because this is your job. Do it for you. Not for anyone else. For once in your stupid life.

      “Logan,” she tried again, keeping her voice smooth and even. “Look at me, and remember to breathe. You have problems when you don’t breathe.”

      He made a gasping sound, like a man who’d just come up through the surface of the water. He laughed, shaky. Humorless. “Most people do.”

      “Right, and just because you don’t need shoes doesn’t mean you don’t need to breathe, so just go ahead and breathe.”

      He inhaled deeply, his muscular chest pitching sharply.

      “Better?” she asked.

      “That depends on what you mean by better.” He turned and kicked against the podium that was at the center of the stage, knocking it onto its side, the loud sound echoing in the empty room. “There aren’t any damn people in here. And I still feel like I’m going crazy.”

      “Why?” she asked, desperate to help now, desperate to help him find the answer.

      “Because there will be people.”

      “And what then? Why is that bad?”

      “They’ll see me.”

      Addison was at a loss. She’d heard his words, but she knew there was a deeper meaning to them. One she couldn’t guess at.

      “Why is that bad?” she asked again, not knowing what else to say.

      “Because then they’ll know what I am.”

      Chapter Seven

      Five days after the incident at the hotel, and Logan hadn’t mentioned it once. He also didn’t mention the possibility of going out again. Things had gone back to business as usual, which, with Logan, was not usual at all.

      He continued to be erratic, showing up in the office when it suited him. Then—once they were in the office together—going hours without speaking to her while pacing around the room wearing no shoes.

      And honestly that would’ve been fine. Had she not decided she was going to fix this for him. It was his own fault, really.

      He was the one who had said she was only a socialite. And those were the words that had burrowed under her skin, rubbing at her, like a grain of sand buried inside a clam. She really hoped that her efforts produced a pearl, because otherwise all she had was the irritant and no reward.

      One thing all these crazy events had confirmed for her was that she wasn’t content to be passive anymore. She’d never felt passive, because putting on the Treffen facade had always felt like such an effort.

      But after losing her incentive for behaving that way, she was slowly being forced to face the reality that none of it had been for her. That she wasn’t sure she wanted to be the perfect socialite. That she wasn’t sure whether or not she cared about any of the things she’d pretended to care about for so long.

      Which was part of what spurred her on now. And was part of her inspiration for how she might be able to help Logan.

      Addison walked into the office, not quite certain what she would find there. Empty space, Logan huddled in a corner, Logan prowling around like a caged tiger… Really, there was such a wide variety of options. All of them slightly disturbing.

      She stopped in the doorway, surprised by the sight that greeted her. Logan was sitting at his desk, looking at his computer, appearing to be every inch the successful businessman that he was. No disheveled tie or torn dress shirt here.

      If she could say one thing for him, it was that he was predictable in his unpredictability.

      “Good morning, Logan,” she said, taking a step farther into the room.

      Logan looked up from his computer screen. “Good morning,” he said, inclining his head in her direction. “Why do you look so startled this morning, Addison? I’m sitting at my desk like a normal boss.”

      “Yes, that’s what unnerves me.”

      He laughed, the sound low and rich, bitter, like dark chocolate. A strange comparison, maybe, but it was the only comparison that helped her excuse why it was just so appealing to her. She’d always been a fan of dark chocolate. Ergo, if Logan’s laugh was like dark chocolate, it made sense for her stomach to turn over in excitement when she heard it.

      “You’ve grown accustomed to my eccentricities.”

      Addison took a deep breath. “Whether or not I’m used to them is neither here nor there. I’m supposed to help you work through them, at least as far as the public is concerned.”

      He tightened his hands into fists. “Still determined to try and fix the unfixable?”

      “It just so happens that I don’t think you’re unfixable.” She hadn’t been aware that she felt that way, or that she felt so strongly about it, until just then. Until she’d looked at him, really looked at him, in his cold, blue eyes, and seen just how deeply he believed there was no saving him.

      She didn’t accept that. And she was going to make use of her training. All she’d learned about helping in superficial situations? She could use it now. She could use it with him. And with him…it seemed that it would matter. It seemed like something deeper than the superficial, for the first time.

      “That’s where you might be wrong,” he said.

      Addison waved her hand, in her best imitation of a dismissive, snobby gesture, one best loved by Lenore Treffen. “Philosophical differences aside, fixable or unfixable, it does not change the fact that you’re expected to give a speech in… When are you expected to give the speech?”

      “Four weeks,” he said.

      “Well, that’s good. We have some time.”

      “And you honestly think time is going to make any difference? I was more able to deal with people when I stepped off that airplane when I first arrived back in New York.”

      “Because СКАЧАТЬ