Page 102 of Accidentally Amy

I got out of the car, grabbed the mountain of shit from the passenger seat, and walked up to the stoop. It couldn’t hurt to try the buzzer, right? Technically I had the building code, but there was no way I’d be that creep who just let himself into someone else’s apartment.

I shifted the stack of stuff and hit the buzzer, but after three times, gave up. I lowered myself to the ground and sat, knowing that if I went back to work I’d just think about Izzy and accomplish nothing. I might as well wait for her.

She couldn’t be gone for that long, right? I stretched my legs out in front of me and settled in to wait her out.

•••

“What the hell happened to you, Mr. Phillips?” Bob, the doorman, grinned and looked directly at my loosened tie, rolled-up shirtsleeves, and soaking wet dress shirt.

I just shook my head and kept walking.

Because I’d sat on Izzy’s stoop for two hours, like a chump, hoping that if I could just see her, just talk to her face-to-face, I could convince her.

But she never came home.

And I might’ve deluded myself into thinking maybe she wasn’t getting my messages, but right about the time it’d started raining, I’d seen conversation bubbles.

Finally, she was texting me back.

I’d stood there in the rain, my heart pounding out of my chest as I stared at my phone and waited for her words.

Only the words never came. The bubbles disappeared and she doubled down on her radio silence, which made me finally chuck everything into the dumpster and head home.

I was cold and fucking sad as I stepped into the elevator and rode up to my floor. It was barely five o’clock, but all I wanted to do was take a long, hot shower and fall into bed. I untucked my wet shirt and pulled off my tie, jamming it into my pocket as the doors opened and I stepped out.

I was on autopilot as I walked down the hallway, lost in my own head. A million miles away in my own pathetic thoughts.

I was so gone that I very nearly stepped on Izzy.

“Holyshit,” I muttered, coming close to trudging right over her.

She was sitting in front of my apartment with her back against the door, her legs stretched out in front of her. Her head was leaned all the way back and her eyes were closed.

She was asleep.

I was scared it was a mirage as I lowered to my haunches.How was she there? Moments before, I’d been filled with disappointment and exhaustion, but now adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I was wide fucking awake.

Hyper-focused.

On her.

Her breathing was soft, and her vanilla scent made me breathe deeply as I looked at her face. I reached out a hand and traced the curve of her cheek with my fingertips. “Izzy.”

Her eyes fluttered open, bright and blue with butterfly-wing lashes, and she looked…introspective. Her eyes were everywhere on my face—my nose, my chin, my lips, my forehead—before she said, “Where the hell have you been?”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Izzy

Blake’s expression was dark and unreadable as his brown eyes seemed to be looking for something in my face. His gaze stayed on mine when he said, “I was at your apartment.”

“You were?” I couldn’t look away from his intense eye contact, which was exactly at my level because he was crouching beside me. “Why?”

His forehead got a little crinkle, just between his eyebrows. “Didn’t you get my messages?”

He’d been sending messages? I said, “Josh has had my phone since last night.”

“Ah.” He did that flex-unflex thing with his jaw, looking terribly serious. His voice was low and a little gruff when he said, “I thought you were ignoring me.”

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