Burn This! (A 300 Moons Book)(Bad Boy Alphas) Read Free Page A

Neve’s heart and she turned on her heel and marched to the doors.
    Her feet hurt. Hell, even her cheeks hurt from smiling at her rehab patients all day, trying to help them feel understood and accepted for who they were.
    You are lovable. You are enough.
    The small Italian restaurant was dimly lit and smelled like heaven with a side of marinara. She and Michael had been here on their first date.
    Could that have been a year ago now?
    She realized suddenly that it must have been almost exactly a year, because it was right after McGrath had bought out the Lattimers and they’d stopped taking new patients at Sanctuaries for a few weeks to re-organize.
    It figured the only time she’d had to meet a decent guy was when they literally sold the business. She was lucky it had happened before she was an old woman.
    She scanned the tables, but didn’t see Michael.
    He had probably left an hour ago.
    Familiar fingers of panic stretched across her chest.
    Neve Whittaker, the consummate professional, “The Angel of Malibu” as she was referred to anonymously in People Magazine , was a failure in her personal life.
    She’d missed her own best friend’s wedding for work. Kitty had said it was okay, but Neve knew that it wasn’t. And in the years that passed, Neve was too caught up in work to make things right anyway.
    She slid her hands together, clicking her stackable rings, as she always found herself doing when she was nervous.
    She was turning to leave when she spotted him.
    Michael sat at the bar, his white shirt crisp, his large frame slumped a little.
    She took a deep breath, smoothed down her skirt, and strode up to him.
    “Michael,” she used the voice she reserved for new patients. The one she hoped summoned up grandmothers and gingerbread cookies, and all things peaceful and sweet.
    He turned and she saw the half-finished martini in his hand.
    “Look who decided to stop by,” Michael said.
    His words had a slight softness around the edges. The martini was obviously not his first drink.
    He glanced at his watch, a perfect match to hers, but he didn’t really focus on it.
    Was he joking, or was he being sarcastic with her?
    “I’m so sorry I'm late,” she said, trying to keep her voice light enough to adapt to either possibility. “I got hung up at work.”
    “There's a shocker,” he said, staring right into her eyes.
    At work she would call this behavior confrontational.
    She took a breath and pretended to herself that he had oppositional defiance disorder. The parents and loved ones of her ODD patients tended to think they were just jerks, and to a certain extent they were not wrong. But there was some nuance to handling this kind of thing.
    Deflect, redirect.
    “Did you eat?” she asked him kindly.
    “No. I was waiting for you.” He still sounded angry but his voice was pitched up an eighth from before.
    To anyone else it would sound like the beginning of whining. But Neve saw it as progress and knew that she was on the right track.
    “That was nice of you,” she told him quietly. “I’m sorry you had to wait.”
    He squinted and pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously coming back to himself and feeling bad for what he’d said.
    She almost felt guilty for working him over. He should be mad at her. She was an awful girlfriend.
    She waited and let him speak. It was important for the hurt party to have their say.
    “I’m sorry, babe. I'm really glad to see you. I don't mean to be a jerk. It's just…”
    And he was back, thank God.
    “I know. I was supposed to be here and I wasn’t. You know how my job gets. Sometimes I can’t just walk away. But it has nothing to do with how I feel about you—” she tried to explain.
    “—I know,” he cut her off. “Let’s see if they still have our table.”
    Neve knew she should be relieved that she could just eat dinner and enjoy his company. But something in her wanted to say her piece too. Maybe only because it was a luxury she never got at work.
    He