Page 46 of The Trolley Kiss

“What are you doing tonight?” he asks.

Whatever the fuck you want me to be doing.

“I don’t know. Probably going home, eating dinner, and going to bed. It’s a Wednesday.”

We both know he didn’t actually care what I was doing. He wants me to come over, but if he thinks I’m sleeping with him again, he’s crazy. Especially not two days in a row. No, wait. What am I saying? Not again. Not ever again.

“Were you planning on cooking? Otherwise, my place is a much shorter commute to the office in the morning.”

“That must be nice for you,” I sass back, pressing my hands on my desk and pushing myself up. I walk to the supply closet and grab a couple highlighters to get away from him for a moment.

He walks up behind me, reaching forward to grab a sharpie. He lowers his mouth to my ear. His warm breath against my skin makes me freeze in place. “C’mon, princess. Don’t make me wait.”

My heartbeat pounds in my chest as I fiddle with the highlighter box. “I already told you,” I whisper, not very convincingly. “This is not happening again.”

His hand falls down to my hip as he leans in closer, pressing himself up against my back. “I’ve thought about you every moment since you left my place.”

He steps back suddenly when Scott walks in the office, and a rush of cold air surrounds me where he was standing before. He sits back down at his desk, and I follow behind.

“Oh, good. You’re here. Addy, could you tag along with Declan to the library today to represent the company for the new children’s wing donation? I forgot it was the quarterly accounting meeting and I’m sitting in on it.”

“Oh, uhm… I guess. What exactly do you need me to do?”

“You’re just dropping off the check. They’ll probably take a few photos and do a little speech. Whole thing should only take about an hour.”

Declan nods in agreement. “We’ve got it covered,” he says to Scott without consulting me first.

I glare back at him before turning and smiling at Scott. “No problem.”

Scott claps his hands together. “Great! Declan, you have all the details? I need to get going. I’m already going to be late.” He’s out the door before Declan can barely nod his head yes.

Declan doesn’t seem to notice as he leans back with the most satisfied smile on his face. I roll my eyes as I grab my phone from my desk. “I have to get these invoices finished before we leave, so be a grown up for once and stop distracting me.”

He brings his hand up to his chin and leans against it on the desk. “In what ways am I distracting you?”

I glance at him for only a moment before turning back to my computer. “You keep talking.”

“Am I not supposed to respond when you speak?”

“How about you just shut your mouth and stop asking me more questions?”

His smile fills his whole face. “Do you need help?”

My shoulders fall as I sigh. I don’t want to say yes, but I really do need help. I’m falling behind, especially since I had Monday off, and I really don’t have time to do this whole library thing today since we’re nearing month end.

“Yes, please.”

He stands immediately, grabbing his chair and wheeling it over to my side of the desk. “Anything for you, princess.”

The rest of the morning flies by because I was rushing to finish everything. I sneak away to the bathroom before I leave to touch up my makeup and fluff my hair to try to look somewhat presentable. I open my text thread with Tiff as I do one last mirror check.

Me:Can you hang out this weekend? We need to talk.

I haven’t told her about the little door rendezvous from last night. I didn’t want to think about it after I left Declan’s place last night. Except that was the exact opposite of what actually happened. I thought about it the whole night long. I desperately tried to put him out of my mind because I know if I start marinating thoughts about him, it’ll only end with heartbreak. Just like it always does.

It’s endless though. The thoughts of him come no matter how hard I try to ignore them. Especially when he has to go and do stupid shit like making sure I made it home safely. I stare into my own eyes in the mirror until I don’t recognize myself.

You have to protect yourself. Hope is for the fucking idiots. You’re not going to humiliate yourself again. You know better than that. You promised.

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