Page 54 of Mr. Wrong Number

Same, Marshall.

Hard same.

11

Olivia

A week later was moving day. Or, to be more specific, movingeveningbecause I’d had to wait all day for the polish on the fancy wood floor to dry. Since it was the middle of the month, they’d prorated my rent, so I had no reason to wait to move in.

I still hadn’t had a chance to thank Colin for giving me a reference, mostly because I’d been avoiding one-on-one conversation with him since the kiss. Except for the weird happy hour with Sara, he seemed totally normal since it happened, behaving the way he had since I’d moved in.

Entirely unaffected.

I did my best to act normal, as well, but the sight of him brought the memories flooding back, making me hot and bothered and struggling not to stare at his incredibly talented mouth.

I grabbed the big box I’d filled with clothes and slid it into the living room. Jack was watching TV, and Colin was nowhere to be found.

“I can’t believe that we literally only have to move one box and an air mattress.” Jack came over and carried the box to the doorway. “Best move ever.”

“Yeah, everyone should be so lucky as to have a fire burn all their belongings.” It was probably a testament to my patheticness, the fact that I still had no realstuffto move.

“Colin already went down because he wanted to measure something.”

“What the hell would he want to measure?”

“I don’t know, I think he liked your flooring planks or something like that.”

“He’s so weird.”

“Yeah.” He gave me a smile and said, “I’ll get the box if you’ve got the air mattress.”

“Cool.” We loaded them into the elevator before riding down to my floor.My floor—I was beyond excited. I very nearly ran down the hall when we exited the elevator, bouncing off walls with my rubber raft, so excited to be back in that pretty apartment.

“You’re such an idiot,” Jack laughed before attempting to race me down the hall while carrying a huge box.

The door was ajar and I pushed it open with the air mattress. “What the hell are you measur—”

“Livvie!” Dana ran at me and grabbed the air mattress. “This place is amazing!”

“Dana, what are you doing here?” After she took it from my arms, I could see that Will and the boys were there, alongside Colin. There was also a stack of pizzas and a twelve-pack of beer on the counter. “Oh, my God, are we having a party?”

Colin laughed with my brother, and my cheeks got hot.

“We got you two stools for the counter as a housewarming gift,” Dana said, grinning and pulling me toward the kitchen area, “but if you hate them, we can totally do an exchange.”

“They’re perfect.” They were tall and the exact same shade of wood as my cabinets, and they each had a big red bow on the back. “I love them.”

Brady ran over and raised his arms for me to pick him up—which I did, of course—and Kyle made a face and mouthed the wordpoopat me because he knew he wasn’t allowed to say it but also knew he could use it to make me laugh.

“You guys, I can’t believe you brought me pizza.” I was seriously touched that they’d come over for my moving day. I opened the top box and snagged a gooey piece of cheese. “Wanna help me unpack box?”

Will’s eyebrows went together. “Box?”

Colin’s mouth slid into an easy smile and he explained, “Because of the fire, the only things she had to move all fit in one box.”

“On-brand for Queen Dipshit, I’d say,” Jack muttered.

Colin and I shared a secret smile, but before I could get light-headed, Kyle was running up the stairs to my loft and beers were being opened. It quickly became a laid-back gathering of friends instead of a moving thing.

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