Page 57 of All I've Waited For

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Ashley chewed her bottom lip, and he had to look away, to remember that whatever he felt for her, it was a chemical reaction. It didn’t mean what he’d thought it meant.

It couldn’t, or he’d be pulverized. Again.

“Okay, I admit it. Maybe I was scared.”

At that, his gaze snapped back to her.

She folded her arms around her middle. “Maybe I allowed this thing with the invitations to be an excuse. To put off talking with you.”

“Since when do I frighten you?”

“Youdon’t, but all the questions, the unknowns—those do.” Her shirt bunched beneath her fisted hands. “Derek, why did you kiss me in my office? Why do you want to explore things with me? What do you really feel for me?”

She was asking him this, after he’d ended his engagement for her? After he’d risked everything for the chance to be with her? “Are you serious? I thought this was what you wanted.”

Her face hardened, and she scrubbed a hand over her mouth. “Maybe we should talk about this when we’re both a bit more rested. Things will seem clearer in the morning.”

Who needed sleep? Things were pretty clear right about now. Ashley Baker hadn’t meant it when she’d claimed to love him. Love wasn’t just words. It was action. And her actions spoke loud and clear about her priorities and where her heart really stood.

A least one thingdidseem clear—if he really loved her, then he’d attached his heart to a woman who was going to keep stomping all over it. Dangling him on a fish hook. A fickle woman just like his mother, who had told her family how much she loved them.

But when push came to shove, she’d left them.

No thanks.

If this is what love did to people, then he’d be just fine with leaving it in the dust.

“I think we were just kidding ourselves, Ashley.” He gestured between them. “This would never work.”

With his coffee untouched and growing cold on the countertop, Derek pivoted and headed for the door, letting it slam behind him.

Chapter 16

It wasn’t often that a woman came face-to-face with complete and utter failure.

But for Ashley, today was that day.

Steeling herself and swallowing hard, she lifted a hand to knock on Kyle’s office door.

“Come in.”

She pushed open the door to find her boss tucked over his morning cup of joe, two donuts from the Frosted Cake sitting on a plate next to his computer mouse.

“Good morning.”

Kyle glanced up, lifting a bushy eyebrow in her direction. “Is it?”

Sighing, Ashley plopped into the chair opposite him. She wasn’t going to pull one over on him, not with her bloodshot eyes that on other people might indicate a hangover. Well, she was hungover in one respect—she’d drunk a double shot of regret last night and chased it with a pint of heartache.

She shouldn’t have gone to the print shop last night. Derek was completely right on that one.

But maybe, in the end, it was better to focus on helping Ben and Bella have their happily ever after than chase her own. After all, the man she loved couldn’t even tell her why he wanted to be with her.

“I thought this was whatyouwanted.”Like he didn’t want it too. Or, at the very least, like he didn’t know if he did.

Kyle cleared his throat, and Ashley was back in the present. “Sorry.” She forced a thin smile. “I didn’t sleep much last night.” Or at all.

Her boss studied her, then pushed the plate across the desk. “Looks like you could use this more than me.”

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