Page 52 of Born to Make You Smile

“Really?” Her brows rose. “Likesexually?”

“Yes,” I muttered. “But…” I took a deep breath. “We can’t happen. Between his age and our work relationship, we don’t make sense.”

She put her empty plate next to mine. “Have you always had a little something for him? In the past?”

“Never. It’s so strange. We’ve known each other forever, worked together for years. There was nothing going on. We were good. Just friends. Then he started seeing Michelle, and I saw him in a different light, and before I knew it—Bam! Feelings.” I released a hopeless sigh.

“Do you think he feels something too? He did kiss you.”

“I don’t know. The kiss was probably just a spur-of-the-moment thing on his end. A mistake. Something he completely regrets. I just want to move on. Put it far, far behind us.”

“Do you really think you can?” she asked, pursing her lips.

“We have no choice. Especially since we have this convention next weekend in Ottawa.”

“Right. It’s just you two?”

I nodded. “It’s only one night. Separate rooms, obviously.”

“That’s going to be tough,” she said with a wince. “You think you two will be okay? That’s a lot of timealone.”

I groaned. “I know. But I have to help him find a radiography system for the office. And I can’t show him that this affects me. I need to keep this job. My life depends on it.”

SEVENTEEN

On Monday morning, mygut was so twisted in knots I couldn’t eat breakfast. How was I going to face Gavin after what happened?

That kiss.

I let out a groan and glanced at the time, realizing it was after seven thirty in the morning. Gavin was never this late to pick me up for work. Suddenly, I worried that he wouldn’t pick me up at all. That the kiss ruined everything. Our friendship. Our work relationship. All tarnished now.

Then my phone beeped.

Gavin:Here.

His cold text lacked emotion and his signature flair. I imagined it was a taste of things to come.

When I slipped into the car, instead of his usual upbeat disco music, I was met with the low-droning murmurs of talk radio.

“Morning.” I pushed out a smile as I sat down in the car, trying to act natural.

His glorious scent initiated a wave of goose bumps over my skin, and I shifted my body as far away from him as possible.

I quickly looked him over. His complexion appeared pale, and his hair was messy as if he’d just rolled out of bed. The glasses on his face barely hid his sunken eyes.

“Terribly sorry I'm late,” he said hurriedly without even a glance at me. “We'd better mosey along.”

He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the drive. Not one word. The silence had become so thick and painful, I almost wished I’d driven myself. Even worse, for the first time in over two years, we’d skipped our G-Force gesture. Something I took for granted and thought silly was actually immeasurably precious to me. The special friendship we shared slipped through our fingertips like falling sand.

One stupid kiss had changed everything between us. The kiss was a mistake, and we had to find a way to move on. I desperately needed things to return to how they used to be. If only I could forget how incredible his lips felt on mine.

The day at work was tense, both of us appearing to put on an act to maintain a sense of normalcy. He’d smile at me, but I could spot a forced smile from him a mile away.

On the drive home, things were a bit better. We shared pleasantries about the timing of the flight and the convention. But to be honest, our interactions felt robotic.

We pulled into my driveway, and Gavin turned off the radio.

“I can’t take this, Grace,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Today has been absolute torture.”

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