Page 38 of Fire

That got her his attention. His head flew back up. “She was upset?”

Allie rolled her eyes. “Yes, you big dope. You diddled her in your office then took off like a bat out of hell. What did you think? She’d be happy?”

“She’s not answering my text.” And now he was worried she was ignoring him on purpose.

“She can’t answer if she’s driving. Give her a few minutes.”

They waited in silence for what felt like fucking forever until his phone dinged. It was a one-word reply.Errands.

Grinding his teeth, he typed,Where?

It was another minute before he got,At the market.

He got in his car and went to the market.

Chapter 10

Gwen rushed down the last two aisles of the grocery store, grabbing shit they didn’t even need in her rush to get to the check-out line andpaybefore Blake showed up.

Mission accomplished, she didn’t run into him until she was exiting through the automatic sliding doors. “Hey. Perfect timing. You can help me load this into my car.”

After thinking about it all morning, she’d come to the conclusion that she could either make a big fuss about Blake’s previous night’s actions, or she could play it cool, bring up the topic at some point and calmly and rationally let him know why she thought what he’d done wasn’t okay.

She’d chosen the latter for a couple of reasons. First, as he’d said, he was new to the relationship game and has more than likely never had to answer to anyone. She honestly didn’t think he’d done it to be a dick, she just didn’t think he knew any better. Something she would explain when they had their talk. And second, she still had a mother of a headache and didn’t have the energy to fight.

Her pain was his gain.

He grabbed the back of the cart, pulling it and her—as she still had hold of the handle—to the side out of the flow of inbound and outbound shoppers.

He walked around the cart, stopping beside her. “You’re not upset?”

“About?”

“Allie said you were upset I disappeared last night without explanation.”

Perfect,hewas bringing it up. She took a deep breath, reminding herself to stay calm. “I was disappointed you never came back and didn’t call to tell me why, but I got over it.”

“Got over it?” His look was skeptical. Even if he didn’t know much about relationships that look made it clear he at least knew something of women.

She shrugged. “I’m hungover. You drew the get-out-of-jail-free card.”

He still didn’t buy it, the frown on his face letting her know he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She laughed. “I’m serious. Yeah, what you did was shitty and hurt my feelings, but it’s pointless to argue about something you probably didn’t even think was wrong.”

He stepped in closer, cradling her jaw and sweeping his thumb along her cheek. “I hurt your feelings?”

She swallowed back a lump of emotion at the look of remorse on his face. Guess not duking it out turned out to be the better option after all. She gave him a small smile. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

“You take aspirin for that headache?” Yes, he was still caressing her cheek with his thumb.

“Yeah.”

“Come on. Let’s get this shit put away, then I’ll take you for something to eat. Knock that headache right out.”

He put his hands over hers on the cart’s handle and started pushing while she led them to where she was parked.

She beeped the car remote, popping the trunk, and Blake transferred the grocery bags. When he was done, he slammed the trunk and looked at her. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I’ll try not to let it happen again.” Sincerity and regret lined his features.

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