Page 115 of Forbidden You

“Yeah, that’s clear.” Charlotte smiles and I let out a desperate moan.

“Right. But he doesn’t want anything else.”

“Are you sure about that?”

I lock my eyes with Rae. Her brown eyes are filled with sympathy.

“He’s been adamant about it from the beginning. It took me a while for him to even give in to thisthingwe seem to have.” I pause to suck in a breath before pushing it back out. “We’re close. And it feels like we’re getting closer every day, but we both seem to be avoiding the question hanging above our heads.”

“What question is that?” Julie asks.

“If we’ll ever be serious? It’s kinda hard to not grow closer when you’re living together, but I’m scared to bring it up because he has a long list of why we shouldn’t be.”

“And why is that?” Rae questions.

“The short list? I’m too young or he’s too old, whatever way you want to put it, and he’s my boss.”

“Age is just a fucking number,” Julie chimes in. “And the boss thing can be fixed. Just get another job.”

“Right.” I thought about it. But the truth is, I’m scared that by leaving KPI, I’m also leaving Bodi. That he won’t be part of my daily life anymore and the thought alone suffocates me with fear. He’s completely intertwined himself in my life, and I’m loving that too much to let that go. It’ll be a void I won’t be able to handle. I know because I can feel the cracking of my heart just thinking about it.

“What’s the long list?” Rae asks curiously.

“He doesn’t like takeout. His closet is bigger than mine. He hates the carnival,” I tell them, before Julie interrupts.

“He hates the carnival?”

“Oh, yeah. Freaked out about it when I wanted to organize a carnival themed office party.”

“So what did you go for?”

“A carnival themed office party.” I shrug with a cocky grin, resulting in a full laugh from all three of them.

“And he let you?” Julie screeches.

I nod. “He actually fucked me in his office after.”

They all shriek, and I laugh, then quickly glance at him with a guilty look.

“Don’t tell him,” I hiss. “He’ll kill me.”

It takes them a moment to settle down, but when they do, Charlotte gives me a serious expression.

“This says it all. He likes you too, Kayla.Reallylike you.”

“I don’t know.”

“I know. If he lets you do all the things he hates, he likes you more than just a fuck buddy, girl,” Julie adds.

I move my gaze between all three girls, who are staring at me with the same knowing look. I want to believe them, take their words, and use it as a jolt of confidence to ask Bodi the questions I really want to ask. But I finally feel like I belong with someone. Like he’s my ride or die. What if I’m wrong?

“You know,” Rae finally adds, “when you first arrived, he called me, freaking out. Telling me you couldn’t live with him and I needed to find a different place for you to stay.”

Excuse me?

“He did?” My brows scrunch up, a little hurt. I know I caught him off guard, but I didn’t think he’d want to get rid of me as soon as possible.

“Mhmm,” she muses. “But when Jensen called him a couple weeks later, telling him he found a friend of Finn’s you could stay with, he declined.”

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