Page 55 of Ink & Desire

“Really?” she asks, shock evident in that single word.

I nod. “Yeah. I know she’s important to you. Go make sure she’s okay.”

She looks as if she wants to question my decision some more, but she doesn’t. Instead, she just says, “Thanks. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

I nod again. “See you Tuesday.”

As Avery walks to the back of the shop to grab her purse, I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe we didn’t make it through an entire day without last night’s incidentcoming up, but with her out of the shop for the rest of the day, I’m in the clear for a little while longer. I know I need to talk to her about it and make sure we’re both on the same page. I’m a coward and a jackass for not doing it last night before I ran out on her. But it can wait another day or two. It’s not like talking about it today will change what happened. I may as well take some time to compose my thoughts so that when I do talk to her about it, I won’t sound like a total asshole. As I watch Avery walk out of the shop and to her car, I ignore the urge to follow her into the parking lot. Now isn’t the time for this. Tuesday is soon enough. I’ll talk to her on Tuesday.

I order cheesesteaks for Jessie and Noah, along with a dozen snickerdoodles to be delivered from Jensen’s. The delivery fee is insane, but it’s worth it when Jessie smiles at me around a mouthful of the trash cookie.

“Sorry about last night,” I say. “I was a dick.”

“Mmhmm,” she says, nodding as she chews. “You were.”

“Forgive me?”

She shrugs. “I guess so.”

She offers me a cookie. It’s not a turtle brownie, but I accept the peace offering. As I take a bite, I’ve got to admit that snickerdoodles aren’t as bad as I thought. Maybe it’s just that Jensen’s makes superior baked goods.I may need to reevaluate my stance on snickerdoodles after all. Sugar cookies are still shit, though.

Chapter 23

Avery

I can’t believe Cass took a train to see me again so soon after her last trip down. She hadn’t sounded quite like herself on the phone. She’d said everything was fine and she just missed me, but I’m not so sure that’s the truth. Whatever is bothering her, I’ll find a way to get her to tell me before she goes back to New York.

I’m also more than a little shocked that Corbin didn’t have a problem with me leaving after only 3 hours at the shop today. I know he has another client this afternoon. There’s plenty for me to work on and to learn. But he hadn’t seemed annoyed by my request. In fact, he’d seemed almost relieved. Which would bother me if I didn’t know the reason for him wanting to avoid me. Hell, I want to avoid him too if I’m being honest with myself. At least, I thought I did before I saw him this morning at work. Why does he have to be so damned sexy? It’s not fair. Because when I’d seen him this morning, I’d forgotten all about my resolve to avoid him. All I’d been able to think about is how he’d pinned me against the wall last night and made me come. And how much I wanted him to do it again.

But I know exactly how big of a mistake that would be. So, when Cass had called to tell me about her surprise visit, I’d been confused but grateful for the excuse to leave for the afternoon. Since tomorrow is my usual day off, it’ll give me more time to compose myself so I can do a better job of ignoring Corbin’s sexiness when I go back on Tuesday. If that’s even possible now that I know how good he can make me feel. Why couldn’t he have been a shitty kisser? Or a bad fuck? Why did he have to go and blow my mind? And why didn’t I stop him before it got that far? All these questions and more run on a loop in my head as I drive until I finally let out a groan of frustration and shove them all aside. I can’t think about Corbin right now. I need to figure out what’s going on with Cass.

I spot her wild, red curls as I approach the ride share pickup area outside the station. She waves maniacally when she sees my car and jogs over, a large bag thrownover each shoulder. She’s smiling and doesn’t look like anything is wrong with her. But the fact that she came here on a Sunday afternoon when she has work tomorrow isn’t like her. She hasn’t missed a day of work since she started her dream job at one of her favorite museums in the city.

She tosses her bags into the back seat and climbs into the passenger seat. She’s a whirlwind of red hair and words spoken almost too fast for me to make them out. She leans over and plants a noisy kiss on my cheek, making me laugh.

“Holy shit, I’m so happy to see you, A. It’s been too long. You look great. I hope I didn’t screw up your plans for the day, but I just needed to see you today. You understand, right?”

I don’t have a chance to respond to any of Cass’s questions or comments since she doesn’t pause between any of them. She finally leans back into her seat and fastens her seatbelt. The police officer is already waving at me to tell me I can’t park here.

“Geez,” I mutter, rolling my eyes and raising a hand in a quick wave of acknowledgement. “I’ve been here for all of 32 seconds, guy. I’m going.”

As I leave the station and begin to drive toward my apartment, I give her a quick glance.

“It’s good to see you too, Cass,” I say. “Is everything okay?”

I see her shrug from the corner of my eye as I focus on the traffic around me.

“It’s fine,” she says dismissively. “I just missed my best friend. That’s all.”

I can tell that she’s not going to give me a straight answer. Whatever is bothering her isn’t something she wants to talk about right now. Fair enough. I can be patient.

“I missed you, too,” I say. “I’m happy you’re here.”

I glance over at her as I pull to a stop at a red light. She looks like her normal, happy self. But I know her better than that. Something is bothering her. I can see a hint of it in her green eyes, but now isn’t the time. I’ll get it out of her before she goes back home.

“Where do you want to have lunch?” I ask.

She thinks about it for a second. “What about that place with the good pasta we had last time I was here?”

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