Janie (The Casanova Club #15) - Ali Parker Page 0,3

you.”

Piper and I chatted for another ten or so minutes about how her family was doing and pregnancy. She got off the phone when Wyatt interrupted with lunch, and her giggles filled the line until I ended the call and stared numbly at my phone.

I wanted that.

For a brief period of time after the wedding, I thought I had it, too. Max and I had hit it off. Sure, we’d had a bit of a rocky start seeing as how he was Piper’s ex and all, but we quickly put all that to rest and she gave us the stamp of approval to see each other.

And see each other we had.

Max courted me with lavish dates and quality time. He made me laugh harder than anyone I’d ever known, second only to maybe Piper herself, and he made me feel safe and cherished.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

His life was in Silicon Valley and mine was in New York. After my promotion, we saw less and less of each other until it became impossible to maintain any real kind of relationship because we were always bickering about not seeing each other enough and making sacrifices. In the end, it fizzled out. We fell apart like we’d never been anything that mattered, but in my heart, I knew Max meant more to me than that.

I couldn’t count how many times I’d called or texted him while I was drunk only to receive detached messages in response. He was doing his part in a clean break where I couldn’t. After four or so months passed, I finally stopped doing that but I didn’t feel any better, especially not in my empty apartment or this glamorous office that I thought would make me happy.

I was beginning to question who I was. How could I be so out of touch with what I thought I wanted? How could I dedicate so many years of my life to a career that, now that I was right where I always imagined I’d be, left me feeling empty and unfulfilled?

Where had I started making mistakes? Where had it all fallen to pieces?

Chapter 2

Max

The shrill ring of my phone jerked me awake. I shot upward, my cheek peeling off the top of my desk and my knees hitting the underside as I tried to stand.

“Son of a bitch,” I cursed, massaging my knees before pressing a palm to my stinging cheek. An imprint of half of my face remained on the desk and I used my shirt sleeve to wipe away the oil. My jaw itched, so I scratched at the stubble forming there and on my cheek and neck as I looked blurrily around my office at Apple headquarters.

What time was it?

My phone continued to ring. The time on the screen read seven forty-five. Who the hell was calling me so early?

With a groan and a crack of my neck, I answered the call. “This is Max Fisher.”

There was a long stretch of quiet on the other end.

“Hello?” I stood and indulged in a stretch. Cracks echoed up and down my spine. I was getting too old to be falling asleep at my desk and spending the night hunched over in a chair. This would leave kinks in my back and neck for days.

“Max?” A feminine voice filled the line.

I hadn’t recognized the number on the call display. “Who is this?”

“Are you serious?”

“If I wasn’t serious, I wouldn’t have asked. Who is this?”

“It’s me, baby,” the woman said, her voice a husky purr. “It’s Sienna.”

Of course.

I held the phone away from my ear and spoke directly into the speaker. “Stop calling me.”

With that, I hung up and blocked the number. At that very moment, someone poked their head through my half-open office door. I glanced up and squinted at Shawn Bowen, my assistant, who narrowed his eyes as I tossed my phone down on the desk.

“Was that who I think it was?” Shawn’s blond curls were tight and still damp. He must have just arrived at the office because he usually showed up earlier than everyone else and let his hair air dry over the first half hour of the day. His eyes were bright and blue and there were no purple bags beneath them like I was sure there were beneath mine. Shawn was a young, energetic, somewhat frantic young man who had no off-button and relentless energy that I had to admit I was mildly envious of.

I sighed and paced around my office to the