Page 5 of Built to Last

“I was using you,” she says. She peeks at me between her fingers.

Fuck, she’s cute. “For what, Velma?”

“I was trying to make Chet jealous,” she says.

Her words are like a kick to my solar plexus. I release a shaky breath. “Wait. What? Why are you trying to make him jealous?”

“I’ve been trying to get him to notice me. As a woman, you know, and not just a fellow scientist.”

My jaw tightens as I listen. The fucker totally sees her as a woman judging from the way he stared at her tits.

“I read this article online about how men want what other men have so I was trying to flirt with you. I’m sorry, Finn. I shouldn’t have used you like that.”

Is that what she’d been trying to do with her eyes and inviting me to have a donut? And that weird, shrill laugh? Her flirting skills aren’t honed and practiced, not like Tina’s. No, Sadie is too real for that. There is nothing rehearsed about her. She’s pure and honest.

“Why are you trying to get his attention? Do you have feelings for him?”

“No, nothing like that. I’m just getting to a certain age, and I’d like to have a family of my own eventually. Chet and I make sense.”

“Low hanging fruit,” I mumble.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing. Just continue.”

“It’s stupid. But the article was rather convincing, and I thought if he saw me with another man, especially one like you, then he might finally see that I’m potential mate material.”

Mate material? That nerdy, scrawny science guy was not worthy of Sadie and her brains or her beauty.

Yeah, remember when I said I was okay not being one of the things she loves?

It turns out I’m a fucking liar.

I was okay with that when I thought she just wasn’t interested in love and marriage.

I would even be okay with it if she really loved this guy. It would break my damn heart, but I’d still be okay.

But if she just wants some guy because he’s convenient? Or because they match on the page?

Fuck no.

There’s no way I will stand by and watch her go after some guy who doesn’t deserve her. Not when I want her so badly myself.

“I’ll help you, Velma. I just need you to trust me.”

chapterthree

Sadie

An hour later, I call my friends to set up a 9-1-1 meeting. Thankfully, Jilly and Ally are still working at their bakery. Calliope can't come because she and her billionaire hotel-mogul of a husband are off somewhere opening a new hotel.

I make my way over toBuns in the Ovenwhich Ally owns and runs with Jilly. When I arrive, they're already sitting at a table, each holding a mug of something to drink. It occurs to me that this is generally the time of day when they close the bakery.

“I’m so sorry. I know y’all probably want to get home for the day,” I say as I make my way over to them.

Jilly’s got her hands on her baby bump. Which is adorable. She and her relatively new husband, Levi, are expecting their first together. The British expat professor fell in love with Jilly and her teenage son, Ryan. The three of them are beyond excited about the forthcoming baby.

“What's the emergency?” Ally asks. “Do you need anything to drink or eat?”

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