Page 60 of Love's a Glitch
I should’ve followed his finger, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Luke.
“I’ll be so glad when this party is over,” Luke whispered. He snagged my hand, lifted it to his lips, and kissed the back of it. “I’ll probably be busy for the first hour or so, but then I need to talk to you about a photoshoot I’m hoping to line up.”
My lungs tightened, the moment I’d dreaded suddenly upon us. I so wasn’t ready—I’dneverbe ready to put more space between us. But it was okay. One step at a time. No reason to freak out until I had enough details to know which way to direct my anxieties.
Anyway, that’s what I told myself.
“I’ll make you a deal. I’m willing to hear you out, but only if I can drag you to my place after the party and have my wicked way with you.” It’d come out louder than I’d meant for it to and, judging from the gasp from the woman with three thick coils of pearls around her neck, she’d heard it. My cheeks burned and I buried my head against Luke’s chest. “Oops. This is why we can’t have nice things, or I shouldn’t be allowed at classy functions, or whatever.”
Using his thumb and index finger, Luke captured my chin and tipped my face to his. “No way. It’s what makes you the least boring person in the entire world, and I need that tonight more than ever.” He brushed his lips over mine. “And while you drive a hard bargain, you have a deal.”
I moved my lips to his ear and whispered, “You’ll be the one driving me hard.” I gently bit the lobe of his ear, and his low growl rumbled through his chest.
“You won’t be happy until the world sees your effect on me, will you?” he asked, holding me in place as he worked to regain his control. I should help, not push up against him like my hips demanded I do. Then again, what was the harm in reminding him what’d be waiting for him at the end of the night? At the end of his trip? The end of the line, if I had my way.
“Good luck with your speech. I’m sure it’ll be amazing.” Even though my hair was pulled up, I completed a hair sweeping motion. “After all, the web designer you worked with is practically a legend.”
One corner of Luke’s mouth kicked up. “She’s the best, all right. I’d list off all her good qualities, but then we’d be here all night, and my dad’s already giving me the eye.”
My heart expanded with joy, affection, and a love that I hadn’t yet confessed to. In order to keep on experiencing this kind of high, I assured myself that while it might not always be easy, Luke and I could make the long-distance thing work.
He stepped backward, in the direction of the podium, and I did the same, only heading toward the tables, our linked fingers slowly pulling apart. We drew it out to the very end, letting go at the absolute last possible second.
If I glanced up to discover cartoon birds circling and chirping overhead, it wouldn’t surprise me, indicating I’d hit a level of twitterpatedness there was no coming back from. I blew Luke one last kiss, and then I pivoted on my heel…
And ran smack dab into my ex-boyfriend.
30
Ellie
“Dild—Dillon?” Great. Luke had me using the inappropriate nickname, and it’d almost slipped out around people I suspected wouldn’t find it nearly as funny as he and I did. One more strike and the woman in the pearls up front would call the purity police, I was sure of it. “What are you doing here?” I asked, at the exact same time he did.
I crossed my arms, using the gesture to both show my immovability and to act like a shield—just in case—and allowed the silence to stretch between us, forcing him to answer first.
“Attending a work event,” he said. “You?”
“You work at the yacht club?” A strange leap for a property manager, but I supposed after dealing with credit checks, filling vacancies, and handling delinquencies for dozens of properties, only dealing with one would be a relief.
He cocked his head, the crinkle I used to be semi-obsessed with dissecting his brow. “I’ve managed the majority of Coastal Luxury Realty’s properties for the past few years. In early April, I accepted a position as a mortgage loan originator with another company, but still work with CLR, helping them sell and close properties as quickly as possible.”
I nodded, waiting for it to make sense while my brain stumbled over the fact that he and Luke had both worked with Coastal Luxury Realty and—holy shit. Luke’s phone.
My breathing grew shallow, my head spinning from lack of oxygen. “Did you happen to have a company phone while we were dating?”
Dillon’s gaze drifted over my shoulder, and he rubbed at his neck as though he’d super wished I hadn’t gone and made things awkward and mentioned our past. “Yeah. I did get your message with the pictures of us, and of you in your bathroom. But I could tell you were just drunk, and by then I’d moved on.”
Ouch.Not a spark of attraction remained as I looked at the guy I’d once thought might be “the one,” but the first time I’d sent those texts, it’d only been a month after a breakup I’d taken rather hard.
And he’d already moved on, not a second thought about it.
“You’re right. I was very drunk and not thinking straight,” I said, proud my voice came out steadier than I felt. The sad truth was, if he’d answered that night, I would’ve sprinted into his arms. “Too many green Jell-O shots at Paddy’s.”
“You did love that place.” He raked a finger through his dark strands of hair. “Anyway…” He started around me, and I stepped into his path.
“Wait. I understand why you didn’t reply to that hot mess of a text thread. But after everything we shared…” Old hurts arose, picking the scab off the wound he’d left. He’d gone from telling me he could hardly focus on his work because the only thing he could concentrate on was the next time we could be together to not responding at all. “You didn’t think I deserved a phone call? Or at the very least a text? You broke up with me without bothering to tell me.”
Irritation laced his sigh. Then he glanced around, stepped closer, and lowered his voice. “Look, I’m sorry, but I knew you wouldn’t take it well.”
