Free Determined: To Love: (Part 2 of the Determined Trilogy) by Elizabeth Brown Page A

to fix Carrie her drink.
    “So, how is our favorite billionaire?” she said, grinning at me as I sipped my drink. That girl knew how to get right to the meat of things.
    I swallowed and paused for a beat. “He’s… good.”
    “Come on Sam, don’t hold out on me. You are nuts for this guy. You’ve barely been dating two months, and you’ve been completely M.I.A. for most of it.”
    “I know, I’m sorry. We’re just having fun.” I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. We weren’t just having fun, and I felt terrible downplaying our relationship. We were much more than that, we loved each other. David was everything to me.
    “Yeah, right. I don’t believe you.” She looked me right in the eye. Carrie always knew when I was lying, and this time I was grateful.
    I exhaled. “You’re right. He’s amazing. We love each other.”
    Carrie’s jaw dropped as the bartender deposited her drink on the counter. “Since when?”
    “Since, uh, a week ago,” I lied. David and I had said the words in early December, and I had been too nervous to tell her until now. I knew she’d give me a hard time about saying it even after a month.
    “Ah! David- fucking- Keith loves you? Sammie, that is so crazy!” she exclaimed.
    I leaned back against the back of the stool. She wasn’t mad. What a relief.
    We spent a couple of hours catching up. I told her about our trip to Hawaii, carefully omitting the parts about the person impersonating David. She told me about her trip to L.A. over the holidays and her subsequent break up with Derek, the guy she had been seeing before she left.
    “So then he was like, well, I think we should stop seeing each other. Can you believe that? Just because I was going to be gone for two weeks! He couldn’t wait.”
    “I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Oh well. Good riddance,” I said, sliding my empty glass forward on the bar.
    “That’s what I say. Onward and upward. Besides, there’s this cute new guy at work…”
    I laughed. Carrie has always been a little boy crazy.
    “Oh, hey Carrie. Before I forget—I wanted to ask for your advice on something.”
    She put her drink down and swallowed. “What’s up?”
    “I sort of got this job offer,” I said, looking over my shoulder.
    “Job offer? Does Curtis know?” She looked shocked. She knew how close Curtis and I were.
    “No. And you can not tell him,” I said emphatically.
    She made a little locking motion with her fingers and mouth and looked at me solemnly.
    “This woman came into the gallery yesterday and bought some art. Turns out she just moved to the area and needs someone to act as an art buyer for her house.”
    “So, you can do that part time on your days off, right?”
    “That’s just it, she sent over the contract today, and it requires tons of travel. There’s no way I could work both jobs.”
    “How much does it pay?” Leave it to Carrie to cut to the chase.
    “Three times what I make now.”
    Carrie let out a low whistle. “Dang, Sam. That’s not bad. What did David say?”
    I played with the coaster on the bar.
    “You haven’t told David yet?”
    “I wanted to find out more first. The contract just came in this afternoon.” I looked up at Carrie, who was sitting at attention. “What do you think?”
    “It sounds like an amazing opportunity. I think pre-David Sam would jump at it.”
    “I know.”
    “I think you should talk about it with him. I mean, you would want him to do the same if he was thinking about signing something like that, right?”
    “Yeah, you’re right. Good point. I’ll ask him about it later tonight.”
    “You know, all this talk about a contract reminds me of this episode of Truth and Lies …” She launched into a story from her favorite true crime show. I tried to listen as she spoke animatedly about a serial killer in Seattle, but my thoughts were still obsessing over the job. I knew I’d feel better once I got this all settled.
    ~
    After several