Page 89 of Lost Love

“Oh God, it’s so weird to hear my boss talk like that.” Olivia laughed.

“That is so sweet,” Lourde gushed, wrapping her hands to his cheeks and pulling him in for a deep kiss.

“So sweet,” I echoed.

“Cheers to us, Pepper. Who needs men, huh?”

I lifted my champagne, clinking with her beer. “Absolutely.”

Suddenly, my skin tingled with warmth. I didn’t need to look to know he was staring. He was constant, like oxygen flooding my lungs.

* * *

Dancing to the beat was the escape I needed from both men tonight. But closing my eyes only eradicated one. It did little to evade Connor. Imagining his lips tracing my body set me alight. The way my body responded to his stare sent tingles radiating up my legs and pooling between my thighs. But I just danced. Closing my eyes, I let the haze of alcohol warm me from the inside out. Then, out of nowhere, hands circled my waist, and I held my breath.

Connor.

Please let it be him.

The hands moved down to my ass, grasping it overtly. I opened my eyes. Blue eyes stared back at me. But they were the wrong shade. Jake smiled back at me, and I immediately jerked. “What are you doing?” I swatted his hand away, noticeably irritated.

“I’m touching my girl,” he retorted. “Jesus, Pepper, are you on your period or something?”

My jaw clenched tight as anger coursed through my body.

He was mad, but fuck, so was I.

This couldn’t work. Deep in my bones, I knew right at this moment that my heart belonged to someone else.

Jake moved away from the dance floor, and I turned back to where he sat.

But Connor wasn’t there. I scanned the area for him. I needed to tell him how I felt.

It didn’t make sense, none of it.

I left the dance floor and quickly floated in and out of people, trying to find him. Ari and Magnus were there, but he wasn’t. I walked past the bar and toward the exit.

My heart raced, pounding like a metronome.

Whatever had become of me, Connor was more than just great sex. He was who I thought about day and night. Night and day. I didn’t know how he felt about me, but I had to tell him. I had to be upfront and honest with myself.

I turned my head, looking left and right through the crowds of people

I laughed aloud when I spotted Jake talking to a model.

Fuck, all this time I’d wasted. Wasted on the wrong guy when all along, the right guy was in front of me.

With confidence at my back, I marched toward him and his wafer-thin model.

“Hey,” she said.

“Pepper, I see you’ve come to your senses now?”

“Oh, you bet I have.”

He stared at me curiously.

“We are done, Jake.”

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