Page 71 of Fierce-Trent

She was even more confused. “Go on.”

“Maintenance came up to fix the lights in my office. The one in the empty office and the conference room. Both were easy fixes. They just had to be tightened.”

“Tightened?” she asked. “How did they get loose? From the floor above and people moving around?”

“No,” he said. “I loosened the one in the empty office on purpose. I thought it’d be an excuse to go down and talk to you or get you to come up and see me and keep it in a work capacity. I’m the one that told Janine about it. When she said the conference room light was flickering, I figured, perfect, I won’t be caught.”’

Her jaw dropped. “You’re joking, right?” It was kind of sweet in a way.

“No,” he said. “Sad but true and childish. I know.”

“The conference room light was loose too?” she asked. “You just said that.”

“I did. When Janine left for the day, I went back in and looked at the chairs more closely and noticed a footprint on one. My guess is she stood on a chair and got to the light and loosened it and then replaced the cover. You know, being sneaky and all. Maybe an excuse to come down and talk to you because she needed to help get a plan in motion.”

Roni put the spoon down she was using to stir the beef. This was just too much for her to comprehend.

Then she started to laugh. “This is worse than Eli trying to get out of school saying he has a fever after running hot water on his hand and putting it against his forehead.”

Trent smiled at her. “I’m glad you find it funny and not devious.”

Which just meant that he was wishing they spent more time together and she wasn’t sure what she could do about that.

“I have to know. Why did you feel you needed to do that to see me? Why not just call me or text or tell me you wanted more time with me?”

“And this is where you get mad. It was stupid, I know. But I don’t want people to think I’m in your office all the time and put it together. I know you want this quiet.”

So he was being considerate, which again, super sweet.

“I’m starting to think now you’re the one that wants it quiet,” she said. “My parents and Jax know, but you haven’t said if you told anyone.”

“I haven’t,” he said. “Because if my family knew, they’d tell the Fierces.”

“Do you think your siblings would tell your parents, knowing they went through the same thing?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “They wouldn’t. And I do plan on telling them soon, but I needed to talk to you first. I wanted to make sure you knew what was going on so we could figure out the next step.”

“What next step?” she asked. “Trent, we’ve been dating for less than two months. It’s like six weeks or something, if that.”

“I know. But it feels like so much more, don’t you think?”

If he hadn’t said it softly she might have reverted back to her trust issues and thought he was feeding her a line. But she wasn’t letting herself go down that road.

“It does,” she said. “But I’m not rushing either.”

“Yet you told your parents already,” he pointed out.

He had her there. “That’s different,” she argued.

“Is it really? Be honest with yourself even if you don’t want to be with me.”

She didn’t like he was putting her on the spot.

24

Going Well

Trent knew he was pushing his luck right now.

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