Page 13 of Catching Fire

Because he was. He’d been sorry about how he’d handled it from the moment she’d pushed him away.

His only excuse was just how startled he’d been by the whole thing. He’d been two breaths from taking advantage of her on the front porch, and on the first date. That was somethingThinking Kalanwould never have done. But he was so attracted to her that he’d somehow becomeCaveman Kalan. He’d never done that before, so he had no clue how to stop himself.

He'd completely overstepped and didn’t know how to deal with it.

His insides swirled around in ways they weren't meant to. As soon as he’d tapped his apology into the window, he erased it.

He could apologize in the morning. Right now—if she was sleeping—the last thing he wanted to do was wake her.

He'd been a Class A idiot all the way around, being more of one wouldn’t help. If he was going to get another chance, he had work to do.

There was no question that one date was not going to be enough. Seline was worth it. It was only a question of whether or not he could convince her of that.

Just then, his chair swayed slightly, and he jolted alert, flipping his phone over. As he cranked his neck around to see who was standing behind him.

Of course it was Sebastian. And of course he'd seen the message to Seline.

His friend nodded. “So you haven't contacted her since the date?”

He sat down on the arm of the adjacent recliner, a mug of hot coffee already cradled in his hands. He’d really not been paying attention if Sebastian had come in, poured coffee, andstillsurprised him.

“I screwed up,” Kalan admitted as his friend chuckled.

“I thought you were so smooth.”

“I usually am.” Kalan frowned. He was,wasn’t he?Regardless of what he usually was, this time, he’d fucked up.

He was opening his mouth to explain, when Sebastian told him, “Well, I got an earful from Maggie. And Seline is not pleased.”

“Really?” Kalan asked sarcastically, but Sebastian missed it.

“Of course, she's not.”

Heaving a bone-weary sigh, Kalan voiced his fear. “Maybe it would be better if I just leave her alone.”

“No,” Sebastian said, with a tone sharper than Kalan would have expected. Leaning forward, he slowly took a sip from his coffee and made Kalan wait. “She's royally pissed that you haven't called. So I don't know what you're doing dicking around, but you need to contact her.”

Well, shit. Maybe she had found a way to forgive him.

He picked up the phone and tapped out the same message again. Only this time, it was Sebastian who put a hand up and pushed the phone downward.

“In the morning, dipshit.” At least he said it with a wry grin. “Don't wake her up for this.”

Kalan nodded and forced himself to put the phone in his pocket where he couldn’t waste time staring at it. Just when he was ready to ask another question, Sebastian interrupted his thoughts again. “Maggie got more information yesterday, and now the FBI is watching Seline.”

“Seriously?” Kalan’s gut tightened at the thought. Hadn’t he just told himself she was safe?

His friend just shrugged at him. “You and I are like little crows, gossiping on the sidelines of this thing.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means,” Sebastian said, as he rolled his eyes at his own words. “The FBI isn’t talking to me directly, so I only know what I hear from Maggie. But apparently Seline told Maggie that … Jesus, I sound like the old men at the hardware store!” But that didn’t stop him from sharing the news. “Seline told Maggie that the FBI agents visited her—”

“For what?”

At least Sebastian didn’t take offense at the interruption. “Another body. It appears, the BRK got into her office at the university—”

“Seline’s office?”Kalan was on the edge of his seat. His heart rate kicked hard. The last he’d heard officially, the agents and the Redemption PD were confident that Sanders was in the wind, long gone from the area. Then they’d found the body. This was getting far too close.

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