Page 206 of Time Stops With You

Totally befuddled and fighting back the urge to wrap my arms around her, I storm after the crazy woman. My hand flattens on the refrigerator door and I slam it shut.

She jumps back and shoots me with an annoyed look.

I ignore it. “Go home.”

“I can’t.” She slides a finger over the granite island counter top. “I ran away from home.”

My jaw drops.

“I know right.” She laughs softly. “I skipped my rebellious teenager phase, so it looks like I’m having one now. Is your bedroom upstairs?”

I step into her way and she stops just short of bumping into me. Glaring down at her with a stormy expression, I warn her, “You’re not staying over.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go. But you knew that already.”

I arch a brow.

She smiles indulgently. “Remember? You told Sunny to be my friend because all I do is work and take care of Josiah and I have no social life.”

I flinch. How did she find out about that?

“Ooh! That staircase is so pretty.” She skips to the wooden staircase and runs her hands over the grooves of the design.

The sight of her pretty smile melts my heart, but I steel myself against her charm.

There’s a reason I had my staff return to an online-only workplace. A reason I told Sara to clear out HQ and rent out the office space. A reason I decided to run away.

If I back out on it now, Nardi’s the one who gets hurt.

“Your bedroom’s probably not upstairs,” Nardi is saying, as she taps her mouth in thought. “After seeing you struggle up to my apartment, I don’t think you’d like to walk up and down these stairs every day.”

“Nardi—”

She interrupts me with a chirpy voice. “You must have a guest room down here. Is it this way?”

I grab her hand and spin her around. Pressing her into the staircase railing, I loom over her with a dark glower.

Her brown eyes widen and her plump lips part. The urge to kiss her is so overwhelming that I force my gaze on her forehead instead.

“Didn’t you see the moving sign on Cullen Tech?” I bark.

She nods slowly. “I did.”

“Don’t you understand what it means?”

“No, you’ll have to explain it to me,” she whispers.

“I was hoping I could do this quietly and without hurting your feelings, but you’re being stubborn, so I have no choice.” I stare down at her with as cold an expression as I can muster. “I don’t want to see you again.”

She tilts her head to the side.

“You called me a liar and a coward and you’re right.” I back away from her. “I asked you to hate me, Nardi, because I don’t want to bear the responsibility of your feelings. Now that it’s clear that you don’t hate me anymore, I’m no longer interested in seeing you.”

Each word tastes like poison that infects me instead of her. It takes every scrap of resolve in me to continue glaring at her when my heart screams for me to give her a hug and never let go.

I take another step back.

It’s still not enough space. I can smell the shampoo in her hair and the fragrance of something uniquely Nardi.

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