Page 48 of Unexpected

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “You’re not going to let me say no, are you?”

“I’ll never force you to do anything.” After everything she’d told me earlier, I felt it necessary to clarify that. “But you deserve to be properly celebrated.”

Slowly, she turned her head. I watched as her eyes first landed on my hand gripping my leg before she continued up my arm, pausing on the dark tattoos there until her eyes finally reached my face. The corners of her lips were upturned in a soft smile, and she leaned into my side before looking back to the TV once again.

“You’re such a fucking sweet talker. How the hell am I supposed to argue with that?”

I threw my head back laughing. When I looked back down, her eyebrows were raised in question.

“There’s the spitfire I was missing.” Her smile broadened and my chest tightened. “I do have to say something, though.” I couldn’t move on until I got it off my chest.

“The fight between the two of you on Halloween. . . I’m sorry I made it harder for you. I didn’t know what to do in that moment. I knew you were terrified, and. . .”

She tensed against my side and started fidgeting with her hands again as she seemed to do when she was nervous.

“He was already in a shitty mood.” I was thankful she spoke up, because I honestly had no idea what else to say. Nothing would have made it better, but I wanted her to know I was sorry. “He had been gone a while, and so when he saw you there, it definitely set him off a little more. But…” She peered up at me through her dark lashes. “I don’t want you to think it’s your fault. He would’ve found something to argue about and you were just an easy out.”

I nodded, and although she said it wasn’t my fault, I did feel guilty. I wanted to help her and find a way into her life to keep her safe, but instead, I made the situation worse for her. My plan royally backfired.

“I’m sorry I made it worse for you, that wasn’t my intention.”

“I know,” she said, the small smile back on her face. “Can we not talk about it anymore?”

“Of course.” I turned up the volume of the cooking show that was on the TV. As we settled back into the couch, fire roaring in the corner, Hazel draped the blanket over us both and let her head fall onto my chest.

Something had been shifting between us—as arguing turned into quick, stolen looks and cautious flirting. Kissing her, Hazel kissing me with a sincerity and passion I had never felt, had changed everything. This was our turning point, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had been so content or felt so at peace. I’d do whatever I needed to do to protect our peace. I’d protect her from her past and from my own.

TWENTY

Hazel

Even days later,the feeling of Luke’s lips on mine continued to linger. I found myself replaying our kiss over and over again as I attempted to figure out the rest of my life. It was a huge distraction. Especially since I knew he was right next door.

Until I logged into the account I used for work on Monday morning, I had forgotten that my coworker, Stephanie, was on vacation and had all her emails forwarded to me. I spent the week working on her projects as well as my own while trying to stay on top of both of our emails. It didn’t help that with the end of the year right around the corner, there were several projects that I needed to close out.

I could have worked faster and been more efficient, but for some reason, my creativity was in overdrive. I found it difficult to complete my actual work when writing my novel was coming so naturally.

Since I’d decided I wanted to write a book, my creativity was stagnant, and the tangible ideas were few and far between. But since Halloween, and what I deemed as the day my life restarted, I couldn’t stop writing. I found that I was negotiating with myself: if you send this email or finish this proof, you can write another five hundred words.

When I wasn’t near my computer—which wasn’t often—I jotted notes on my phone or any piece of paper available. Who knew that breaking off your several-year-long engagement was the key to begin writing your first romance novel?

In four days, I had an outline of the major plot points, a deep dive into each of my main characters and their relationships along with the first six chapters.

I felt unstoppable. That was until I received the first text from Michael in the middle of the week.

Three days with no communication after I’d watched him pack up and take my engagement ring. A few days after he almost broke my nose, gave me two black eyes and shoved my face in the bloody mess I made, and the first text I got was:I miss you.

Seeing his name on my home screen made me sick, and when I opened the text to see those three little words, I emptied the rest of my stomach contents.

I didn’t respond but that didn’t stop him. The back and forth of his emotions gave me whiplash. Eventually, he let me know that he’d be gone for two weeks total, giving me only that much time to get the hell out of the house.

After he gave me his time line, I blocked him. When I hit that red button, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Even more weight was lifted when I began searching for apartments nearby and had the dreaded conversation with my sister and mom.

“Wait, wait, wait, Hazel. Michael told his mother that you were just taking some time apart,” my mom said loudly over my sister, who hadn’t stopped talking since I told them that our engagement was off.

I sighed audibly into the phone and both my sister and mom stopped talking. “Okay, look, I know this is a surprise, but I don’t want to have a long-winded discussion about it. I’ve made my decision, and whether Michael knows it right now or not, this is the best thing for us both.”

“I say good riddance,” Delilah chirped.

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