CARMEN
Whoever was in control of her life, or sewn together a voodoo doll of herself, Carmen Mills sincerely wished they'd leave it alone for at least a minute. She'd greatly appreciate it if the puppeteer would stop making her run into Hannah Nelson so often. It just wasn't good for her mental health or her productivity.
Even as she sat at her desk Monday morning, Carmen couldn't shake the image of Hannah, post-run, glistening with sweat and pushed to her physical limit. It was practically seared into her brain now.
What had started as a brilliant idea to get fresh air while catching up on work emails, had taken a drastic turn. She'd been too eager to begin the preliminary stages of the festival. She had been too eager, too determined to take the lead on the project. But Carmen couldn't fathom anyone else working on it and get it the justice it required. Of course, logistics would need to be adjusted upon approval, but she'd handle that later.
With a final click, she sent off her email and looked out to the distance. The weather was too perfect to stay holed up in a hotel room all day. As she soaked up the view, movement in the park caught her eye.
A woman came barreling across the path, long, muscular legs pumping hard, cutoff shirt clinging to her torso. Carmen's gaze followed, unbidden, down to the hint of a navy-blue sports bra peeking through. The woman lifted her shirt to wipe her face clean of sweat, and Carmen stared.
No one should be allowed to look that good. It should be a sin.
Although, really, the sin was her own gawking.
Beads of sweat rolled down the woman's abs, then she dropped her shirt and Carmen saw her face.
Hannah.
Of course, it's you, she thought.
Carmen's breath caught. What kind of sick cosmic joke was this town playing?
She cleared her throat. It didn't help.
A knock on the door pulled Carmen out of her thoughts and back to the present. Thank God. Maybe whatever this intrusion was, would be enough to yank her brain off Hannah's abs.
But the relief didn't last long. A quick glance at her calendar reminded her that she had a meeting scheduled at noon... with Hannah.
Just reading her name sent her thoughts back to that damned cutoff shirt.
She groaned.
Right on cue, Hannah popped her head in through the doorway, hair falling off her shoulder. "Hey!" she said brightly.
Carmen blinked. She looked far too chipper and radiant for someone who had completely derailed her entire train of thought all week. But surprisingly, the meeting went smoothly. Productive, even. Until Carmen's stomach growled so loudly she slapped a hand over it like it was trying to escape.
"Let's go get some food." Hannah suggested almost immediately.
"I can't." Carmen said. At Hannah's look of disbelief, she added, "I have back-to-back meetings. There's no time."
"That's not a good enough excuse." Hannah said, standing. "You can't just skip lunch."
Carmen lifted a shoulder. "Most days I'm so busy I guess I kind of... forget?"
"Forget?" Hannah balked. "Your stomach is literally yelling at you. You can't go into a meeting sounding like that."
A calendar alert pinged, signifying she had 15 minutes until her next meeting.
YOU ARE READING
Of Course, It's You
Romance[Book 1 in the Of Course series] The only reason Hannah made it to this wedding, was because her friends asked for her daughter to be the flower girl. After the death of her wife, Hannah resigned herself to a life devoid of love and she's determined...
