“No, there’s one thing more important.”
He cups my cheek with his palm, and I’m so distracted by the heat of him that I don’t realize we’re kissing until his tongue grazes my bottom lip.
It’s electric, and I surge into him, convinced this is a trick my mind is playing on me.How else can I explain the feel of his fingers in my hair?The heady taste of him on my tongue?
The way he’s pulled me close, tilting my jaw with his thumb, kissing me longer, deeper.
I reel back.
“It’s the shock.”It’s got to be.
“It’s not.I’ve been unfair to you by keeping my distance.I thought it was for the best—for both of us.I had no idea when I convinced Monica to hire you that she’d take it out on you, and I thought if she knew how much I favored you, it would make things worse, but I was wrong.”
“How long have you felt this way?”
“A little over a year.”
A year?He didn’t simply hide it well; he buried it.
He continues, “It was close to midnight, the latest I’d ever seen you work, and you were curating a care package from the PR you’d been sent.”
I remember.
“Before each item went in, you added a date on a label to note when they’d expire.It was a small detail I don’t think many would consider.For a month after, you pitched partnerships with brands that all had one thing in common.”
Monica was confused by my apparent turnabout, but didn’t put the pieces together.But Sterling did.
“Did the shelter give you a list of what they needed, or did you put it together yourself?”
I’m proud of what I did, proud of sneaking it past Monica’s nose, proud of being able to use my work to help people, and I’ve kept that pride to myself—until now.
“Myself,” I say.“I interviewed everyone there who agreed to it and went from there.”
“That’s why,” he says, stepping closer.“You’re incredible.”
“What about Lucky?”
Sterling’s palms are warm against my cheeks.“I won’t lie; I miss him, but what we had is in the past.When you arrived, wide-eyed and impassioned, I couldn’t take my eyes off you.I’d already fallen for your writing, and here you were, this beautiful comet, ready to take on everything.I had to keep it professional; I wanted to make sure you had the best chance to succeed without making it about me.”
“It’s always been about you.”
“God, I’ve been so stubborn.I’m sorry.”
I pull him into another kiss.“You’re forgiven.”
* * *
That was lovely.
Wait!I want an epilogue(go to 83)
go back(go to 8)
She can’t honestly be serious.This is a cruel joke, and everyone knows she doesn’t have a sense of humor.
“You’re not even going to give me a warning?You’re just going to fire me?That’s ridiculous.”
Still smirking, she stares at me with the shrewd gaze of a woman who always knows when you clock out one minute early and keeps a record of it—one of many mental tabs she has open of what the world owes her.“No, what’s ridiculous is how long I’ve let this charade go on.I didn’t even want to hire you in the first place.”
