Page 41 of The Blind Date

“I don’t promise miracles, but I’ll try my best.” Cedric shot me a smirk over his shoulder.

“I can’t ask for anything more. Thank you.” I moved to take a seat on the sofa. There was no point standing over his shoulder when I didn’t know anything about boilers or plumbing in general.

“That’s a first,” he chuckled.

“What’s a first?”

“You thanking me for something.”

“This is the first time you’ve done something worthy of being thanked for.”

“What about all the stimulating conversation I’ve been providing you with?” He laughed. “Aren’t you going to thank me for that?”

“Please,” I snorted. “Speaking of stimulating conversation, where was it today?”

“What do you mean? I didn’t see you today," he denied, but the lack of the usual confidence in his tone told me he was lying. That, and he sounded defensive.

"No, I’m certain you saw me.” I frowned, wondering how stupid I would look if he decided to deny it again. “At that restaurant near work? Around ten?” I reminded him, trying to jog his memory. “You were with a bunch of guys in suits. I’m assuming they’re your work colleagues.”

“Ah, so that was you!” He exclaimed, clearly trying to sound like he had just remembered even though we both knew that wasn’t the case. “I wasn’t sure if that was you or not.”

“If you weren’t sure if it was me or not, why did you leave so quickly?” I quirked a disbelieving brow at him. “Why didn’t you stick around to see if it was really me or not? Or, I don’t know, come over and ask?”

“I was with my colleagues, and they decided they wanted to try somewhere else. I didn’t have time.”

“Sure.” For obvious reasons, I didn’t believe him.

“I’m not lying.”

“I never said you were.”

“Your voice sounds like you think I’m lying.”

“It does?” I murmured sarcastically. “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Other than the sound of clinking and clattering as he attempted to fix my boiler, the apartment was plunged into silence. It wasn't awkward, but it was also far from comfortable.

“You want the truth?” Cedric asked after a few moments.

“I never said you weren’t speaking the truth before,” I pointed out the technicality.

“You’re so annoying.” He didn’t sound the least bit irked despite his choice of words. “I was surprised to see you. For two strangers, we’ve been running into each other an awful lot these past few days. I didn’t think you’d want to see me again. Especially after Sunday, so I thought it would be better for us both if I left.”

My lips tugged down into a frown as I mulled over his words.

“So, you left because you thought I didn’t want to speak to you? Not because of anything else?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “Why? Was there something else?”

Yes, there was our kiss! Except, it wasn’t really a kiss. Barely even a brush of our lips.

That didn’t count, right?

“No,” I denied and got up from the sofa, moving to see what he was up to now. “Fix many boilers before?”

“More than the average person,” Cedric chuckled and turned his head to shoot me a grin over his shoulder.

I watched as the grin slowly slid off his face, visibly gulping as his eyes lingered on my bare legs and my scantily clad form in the tiny little robe that I was wearing. I really should have changed before opening the door, but in my defence, I had no intention of actually opening it and getting killed like every blonde woman in every single horror movie to ever exist.

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