JULIAN
The alarm went off at five thirty AM, pulling me from restless sleep. I'd been dreaming about the opera, about Claire sitting beside me in the dim box, her hand warm in mine.
About the way she'd looked at me when I'd wiped away her tears, about how close I'd come to kissing her right there in front of hundreds of people.
I shut off the alarm and lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, this was getting complicated, more complicated than I'd planned when I first offered Claire this partnership.
I got out of bed and showered quickly, trying to push thoughts of last night away. I had a meeting across town at seven AM, one I couldn't reschedule or handle remotely.
An investor was threatening to pull out of a major deal, and I needed to fix it in person. I dressed in a suit a
