Page 90 of The Fallback

‘Well, that’s what surprised me,’ Rosie confessed. ‘So I thought it must be serious if you were posting photos of Jenny. And I guess…even more serious to block me.’

Mitch pulled away from her and reached for his phone in his pocket. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘I haven’t posted anything, or blocked you!’ He scrolled through his phone, colour draining from his face.

‘She must have done this,’ he stammered, ‘her or one of her friends.’ He was silent for a moment and then he groaned. ‘Oh, god, I remember now. It was the last time I saw her, I told her the truth, that I couldn’t be with her anymore and that I had to sort out my feelings for you.’ Despite Mitch’s obvious distress, Rosie allowed herself a small self-satisfied smile at his confession. ‘We were out with her friends, it was awful, I felt so old when I was with them.’ Rosie didn’t even try to hide her smile now. ‘Yes, yes you were right,’ he said, seeing the look on her face. ‘Anyway, we had had this conversation and she was pretty upset, I lent her my phone to book a cab home and I guess instead of using it to book a cab she must have decided to sabotage my social media accounts.

Rosie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She remembered the cold hard feeling that had settled in her stomach when she believed it was Mitch who had updated his profiles and him that had blocked her. But Mitch looked so pitiful and she could just imagine him trying to do the right thing.

‘You’re an idiot,’ she said, swatting him with her hand.

‘What was I supposed to do?’ he said, holding his hands up. ‘She was upset and I wanted to make sure she got home safely. I’m not a monster, you know.’

‘You shouldn’t be so trusting,’ Rosie said, knowing that this was one of the reasons she loved him so much. ‘Maybe next time you should book the cab yourself, or not leave apps open on your phone?’ she suggested.

‘I’m hoping there won’t be a next time,’ he replied, taking her hands in his and pressing them between his two. He leaned forward and kissed her, but she was now smiling so much that he ended up kissing her teeth. ‘Mmm, sexy,’ he murmured in an amused tone, slipping one hand to the back of her head and kissing her harder this time.

‘Hold on,’ she said, stopping him in his tracks.

He groaned. ‘Now what?’

‘You haven’t told me what you are doing in Nadia’s office? If you were coming to see me why didn’t you just wait for me in mine? She said you had some things to discuss.’

‘We did,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘Work things.’

Rosie cocked her eyebrow at this, ‘Explain.’

Mitch sighed. ‘I’d much rather be kissing you,’ he said and then seeing the look on her face he added quickly, ‘OK, I’ll explain. You told me she was worried about funding after the latest cuts?’ Rosie nodded. ‘So, I spoke to a few contacts and I’ve put her in touch with someone who runs a fund operating in this area, it looks like they will sponsor her research with funding for at least the next two years. And then after that, who knows? If she gets good results, I expect they’ll want to continue.’

Rosie’s chin dropped. ‘You did that?’

Mitch shrugged as if it was nothing. ‘I wanted to help, I knew how worried you were about her.’

Rosie pushed him back into the chair behind him, straddled him and kissed him firmly on the lips as she did so. It was amazing how natural it felt, how easily she could slip from friend zone to straddle zone.

‘Wow!’ he said. ‘I’m extra glad I helped now.’

Rosie pretended to look nonchalant. ‘Just thanking you on behalf of Nadia.’

‘Thanks, I’m glad it’s you thanking me and not Nadia. But…’ He ran his fingers down her spine giving her a delicious thrill. ‘I’m extra keen to find out what you’ll do when I tell you that I helped Nico find a new job.’

‘What?’ shrieked Rosie, she struck his chest with one of her hands. ‘You didn’t?’

Mitch looked smug as he held her hand tightly. ‘I did.’

‘Mitch, you’re amazing.’ She reached her head up and kissed him on his jaw line which seemed to make him shudder underneath her.

‘I confess that I may have had an ulterior motive,’ he said, looking her straight in the eye. Rosie looked back at him. ‘I hoped that it would make you like me again,’ he said shyly.

‘Do you mean like you, like you orlikeyou like you?’ Rosie said, biting her lip and smiling.

‘Like me enough to let me do this,’ he said and kissed her neck, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

‘It definitely worked,’ she murmured into his hair. ‘But hang on…’

Mitch growled, ‘Seriously, Rosie? What could possibly be more important than this?’ He bit her lower lip.

Just managing not to lose her mind with desire, Rosie stuttered, ‘Where did you go?’

‘Go?’

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