Page 105 of See You at the Finish Line

Paige is standing at the window, looking out into the backyard. Waves roll across the water, the white caps flickering in the night.

She turns around when she hears me.

“About time,” she huffs. “Where have you been?” She places her hands on her hips and all I can do is stare at her. She’s here. In my house.

She’s home.

“Well?” she insists when I don’t say anything.

“I was at the office working.”

She nods. “Mateo was right, you work too hard.”

“You’ve been talking to Mateo?”

“How do you think I got in? He told me where to find the spare key.”

“I’ll thank him for that later.” I’m not being sarcastic. I make a mental note to thank him.

She’s here.

Putting my bag down, I lean on the edge of the kitchen counter, still watching her. I cross my arms so I don’t do anything stupid, and her eyes track the movement. Here we go—my cock is already thickening. This damn woman.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I’m doing here?”

I don’t skip a beat. “What are you doing here, Paige?”

“Leah can get up and move around now.”

“That’s good.”

“She kicked me out of her house and told me I was bothering her. She has a system for packing and apparently it doesn’t involve me.”

My eyebrows raise at that. “Packing?”

Paige nods. “It’ll take her a while, but she blackmailed the university into covering her moving expenses and they’re taking more time than she’d like. Plus, there’s the work visa, and she has to wait until she’s completely healed before she can get here.”

She watches me process this.

“She’s moving here?” I say it slowly like if I don’t, the words will not mean what I hope they mean.

“Well, she wouldn’t hear of me moving back since I accepted the job I’ve always wanted. And she said she’s sick of the heat.”

“You accepted the job.”

“I did.”

“You’re staying.”

“I am.”

Neither of us move, caught in limbo.

“There’s just one problem,” I tell her, my hands clenching into fists as I uncross my arms.

“And what’s that?”

“We’re not allowed to date people from work.”

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