Page 5 of Tears of Revenge

“Avalon,” Varos hummed, stretching out her name in a deep, beautiful song. “Are you going up?”

“Oh, y-yes…” she stammered, entering the elevator.

There was another taller man with dirty blond hair in the corner, but she couldn’t quite tell if he belonged with the other two.

“You look well,” Marcus chirped as she pressed the button for the twenty-sixth floor.

“Thank you; you too.”

Varos leaned closer and she wasn’t sure if it was his intimate proximity and soft voice or the elevator’s jerk to life that made her stomach lurch. “I didn’t know you worked here too.”

“I just started,” she mumbled, her eyes glued to her gorgeous angels.

“Maybe we’ll see each other more often then.”

“I would like that,” she confessed.

“Us too,” Marcus agreed.

The elevator stopped on her floor, but before she stepped out she made a mental note of the button they’d pressed. She stayed until the doors closed again, her heart racing and her breathing ragged. The interaction was so quick and out of this world that it almost felt as if it hadn’t happened at all—as if she’d imagined it.

She shook off the thought, making her way to her desk. She didn’t have a proper office, and the desk was a bit small and hidden away in the corner, but it was hers. With the encounter behind her, she started up her computer and fell into her daily routine.

At lunchtime, she couldn’t help but look at the papers in front of her as she ate. Because she didn’t want to be too close to anyone, she spent her lunch breaks at her desk.

“I’m looking for Miss Ava Williams.”

Hearing her name made her turn her head and peak around the corner. There stood Marcus, in his sleek, charcoal suit that was perfectly tailored to his broad body.

“Right over there, sir.”

She snapped back to her hiding spot, heart racing so fast she couldn’t breathe. Her head was down, but she heard his footsteps approach and pause next to her desk.

“I see I’m too late. I was hoping to have lunch with you.”

She slowly lifted her head, taking in every inch of his expensive suit—from his shoes to the seams of his trousers and the buttons on his shirt. She wanted to soak in every moment, afraid that it was just another dream.

“I, um… I just started.”

“So, you still have a little time on your hands?”

She finally met his gaze, butterflies swirling in her stomach. “Yes.”

“Fantastic. I was hoping we could sit outside. The autumn weather has been quite refreshing the past few days.”

“Sure.” She packed up her lunch and stood from her seat.

He patiently waited until she had all her belongings and held out his arm. At first, she hesitated, Troy had always made her hold his arm when out in public. But Marcus wasn’t Troy. A lot of men offered a woman their arm. With her lunch bag in one hand and the other holding him, she allowed him to lead her through the office, earning herself a few curious stares.

“I see you have settled into your new life,” Marcus admonished, smiling as he led her to the elevator. “May I ask why you chose Houston?”

“I was on the bus to New Orleans but then I remembered that I’d told Troy about my dream to go there. I wasn’t sure if he would remember so when we stopped in Houston, I stayed.”

“Clever woman.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks, her stomach doing a flip.

“We thought we’d never see you again. Imagine how pleasantly surprised we were this morning.”