Page 59 of Breakaway to You

On my way.

She sent me a thumbs up emoji as her only response. My heart sank.

I tried to think positively—maybe she wanted to talk about how she wasn’t okay with all the physical stuff if we weren’t in a committed relationship. And even though both of us had earlier proclaimed to be anti-relationship, we could talk about giving it another try with each other.

Gosh. I had fallen harder for her than I’d thought if I was thinking that positively. There was no way she would go from freaking out earlier to wanting to run into my arms and try the relationship thing with someone again.

Shoot. I slid my hand into my hair, tugging at the ends and gritting my teeth at how I couldn’t spin this upcoming talk in a good way. She was going to end things. Well, maybe not end things since nothing had officially been started, but she was going to put on the brakes.

The drive home was a blur of worries. How did I change her mind? How could I act unaffected? How could I have let myself end up in this situation a second time?

When the elevator opened on my floor, she was already there, sitting by my door.

“Hey, sorry to make you wait.” I hurried over to unlock the door as she stood up.

“It’s okay.” She still wasn’t looking me in the eyes. “I figured it would be easier to wait for you then to go all the way home and back.”

“Come in.” I let her walk past me and into the living room, letting my hockey bag drop to the floor. “Do you want anything to drink? A club soda?” Yeah, I now had club soda in my fridge because of this woman. How I’d thought I wasn’t so far gone for her was laughable.

“Um, no, thank you.” Her voice was so quiet and hollow that I wanted to pull her to me, to make her look me in the eyes, to bring back the girl from this afternoon, from last night. “I’m not going to stay long.”

Right. Of course she wasn’t.

I stood in front of her, several feet separating us, feeling more vulnerable than ever. I waited, already feeling gutted.

“Zeke,” she started, then paused. She took a deep breath, letting it out in an exhale before starting again. “You’re an amazing guy.”

I held up my hand to stop her. Not wanting to hear anymore. I was an amazing guy? Really?

“Spare me the break-up monologue.” I tried not to sound bitter, but I wasn’t sure I succeeded. “First of all, we were never together, so you don’t need tobreak upwith me. Secondly, why don’t we actually talk about what’s going on? What has you going from being happy, kissing me, to freaking out and giving me the whole ‘it’s not you it’s me’ speech?” I was failing at keeping calm. My exact reasons for never letting myself care about anyone were being shoved in my face, and I was angry at myself for having let a pair of pretty green eyes distract me from the truth. Me and any sort of relationship that could be construed as couple-hood did not go together. It just wasn’t in the cards for me. I was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Here I was again, vulnerable, looking desperate to understand, and being rejected. At least it had been ten years since the last time. I guessed I could congratulate myself on going that long before making the same mistake twice. Now the don’t-be-stupid clock would need to be restarted.

She placed her hands on her hips, a fiery look now on her features as she matched my demeanor. I couldn’t help the way my mouth ticked up on one side at the sight of her feisty side coming out. Even frustrated, knowing she wasn’t going to choose me, I couldn’t help but like her.

“Raymond is what happened between kissing you at work and now.” Her eyes were blazing as they finally locked onto mine, but hey, she was finally really looking at me, so I was viewing it as progress.

My brow furrowed, and I searched her face. “What do you mean? What happened?”

“He pulled me into his office and told me that he saw us kiss at the gala.” She still sounded annoyed at me. “He said that dating a player is against policy and he would have to fire me if anything between you and me continues,” she said, gesturing between the two of us. “He also mentioned that he knew I’d been in a similar situation with the last team I worked for.”

Oh, shoot. That wasn’t good.

The fire in her eyes quickly dimmed and turned glassy, and my feet were already moving toward her. I gathered her up in my arms, unable to bear seeing her in pain. Thankfully she didn’t push me away and let me hold her against me, her head resting against my shoulder.

“Piper, I’m so sorry.” I gently rubbed her back. “This is all my fault.”

She pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyes still a little watery, her fingers curled lightly around my shirt like she wasn’t ready to let go. “How is this your fault? I’m pretty sure I’m the one who initiated the kiss at the gala.”

“Maybe,” I murmured, brushing a stray tear from her cheek with my thumb, “but I was ready to kiss you as soon I saw you in that dress, so I’m pretty sure we would have kissed that night no matter what.”

She rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched like she was fighting a smile. “Okay, well, I was definitely the one to kiss you in that bar in Chicago.”

“Yeah, but that was because I’d said I was your boyfriend.” I smirked, nudging her chin up with my knuckle.

She hummed, tilting her head slightly, her fingers tracing an idle pattern against my chest. “Hmm…then maybe you’re right. It is your fault.”

“Hey, now.” I squeezed her waist, my thumbs stroking absentminded circles against her ribs. “You’re not completely innocent, with those fitted scrubs you wear and the way you put your hands all over me.”

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