Determined: To Love: (Part 2 of the Determined Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

front seat of the SUV. I knew he couldn’t hear us.
    “What are you up to right now? Do you want to grab a coffee?”
    I hesitated and glanced at my wrist, as if to check the time, even though I didn’t have a watch. Why was I nervous? I was allowed to get coffee with a neighbor. It just so happened that he was a very attractive neighbor. But so what? David had tons of attractive women working for him. Besides. It was just coffee. Elliot would be nearby. Nothing would happen.
    “Um, sure. What time is it though? I can’t stay long, but I could do a quick cup of coffee.”
    “Great, it’s four-thirty. Let’s go. My treat.”
    We wandered down to the main street and ducked inside the first coffee shop we came to. I glanced around as Greg ordered for us, trying to find Elliot. He had followed us discreetly and was outside, sitting on a bench. I relaxed a little, knowing that he was scanning the area, instead of watching me.
    Greg and I sat down on a sofa next to the main window.
    “So, how was Miami?” he started, his attention trained fully on me.
    I stopped. Miami? Why was he bringing up that up? What was supposed to have been the career building trip of a lifetime had resulted in me being attacked by a gallery owner in my hotel room. It was a trip I preferred to forget.
    “Sam?” He must have read the look on my face. I looked back at him. “A few weeks ago, you said you were headed to Miami. Did you go?”
    Right, he didn’t know. I didn’t feel like going into the details, so I used a sanitized version of the truth that had worked on my parents.
    “It was good. Really productive. I met a lot of people. The art was amazing. We’re actually bringing one of the artists to the gallery later this month.”
    Greg smiled. “That’s awesome! I still need to stop by the gallery sometime. You’ve made it sound so interesting.”
    “Oh, well, I hope I haven’t talked it up too much. It’s a modest space. But we do have some great art. You should definitely come check it out,” I said the words, but honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to come by. Sure, he was cute. Too old for me, but cute. But why confuse myself when I had David? David was more than enough.
    “Sure, sometime soon. I have to fly out to Arizona this weekend for work, but maybe once I’m back.”
    “What’s in Arizona?”
    “Just a bunch of hospitals and doctors’ offices.” I remembered, suddenly. Greg was in pharmaceutical sales. He had mentioned that during a dinner party at Clark and Leslie’s.
    “Do you like it? Travelling, I mean? Flying around?” It sounded kind of glamourous.
    “To be honest, it’s like any other job. At first it’s fun, but after a while, it becomes routine. You get really familiar with which airports have the best food courts.” He paused, “And I have my packing down to a science.”
    Packing. Shoot. His comment reminded me about my trip. The sooner I got back to the city, the closer I was to my trip with David. I wanted to get going. The rush hour traffic back to the city was always tough.
    “Oh, crap. I just remembered I have to go. I’ve got something I have something to do over in the city. But you’ll have to teach me your tricks sometime,” I said, standing up.
    “It’d be my pleasure, Sam,” he said, his eyes glimmering at my inadvertent double-entendre.
    I blushed and said goodbye, leaving him to finish his coffee alone.
    ~
    The ride back to the city took a while, as expected. It was only during these times that I missed the efficiency of public transportation. The rest of the time, I had no nostalgia for the sardine-like BART trains. Having a driver wasn’t my choice, but I had to admit it was nice most of the time.
    Once I got back to David’s building, Elliot let me off at the curb and went around the building to park. I wasn’t sure if it was the late afternoon caffeine or maybe the harmless flirting, but I had a lot of excess energy as I rode up the elevator shaft, toward the