He looks at me and I look back at him. I can feel the dust starting to settle on this misunderstanding, and with it the glimmering hope that maybe we’ll beOK.
“So what happens now?” I askhim.
“We do our own thing,” Connor says. “I told you before that Ben and I have always stayed in touch with the company that boughtDinoCode.They liked an idea we pitched a while back, so we could try that, see where it goes. If Taskio floats later this year, we’ll have enough cash to fund ourselves for a little while. And you,” he adds. “I wasn’t kidding when I said Ben really wants to offer you a job.”
“But—you never called.”
He hesitates. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear from me. I expected you to show up and ream me out for being such an idiot. When you didn’t, I worried you were done with me. And I don’t know. I guess before I came after you, I wanted to prove I could be different.”
“I’m not done with you, Connor,” I tell him, surprised to realize Shannon was right. He was waiting for me to come to him. “I just didn’t think you wanted to talk.”
He moves in closer. “I did, for the record.”
“I-I went back to Canada. But it was good. I spent time with my sister. We cleared the air.”
“That’s good, Annie,” he murmurs, closer than he was a minute ago. It feels like he’s leaning in. To kissme.
“You know,” I tell him, my hands tentatively coming up to rest on his hips. He doesn’t stop me. “It was actually her who suggested one of the ways I could make it up to you.”
“Oh yeah? What did she advise?”
I can hear the warmth in his voice, the affection. Feel the heat of his skin through his T-shirt.
Mischief dances across my face. “She suggested I text sayingConnor I’m sorry here is a picture of my tits.”
His responding smile lights up the entire room.
“Wow. That’s—that’s pretty good, actually. Maybe try it? I’m still kind of mad.”
I burst out laughing, then smack him on thearm.
“You’re right, too complicated. Just show them to me. In fact, let’s take your top off.”
“Connor!” I squeal when he reaches for my T-shirt, and he laughs at my feigned outrage, crushing me to him. He plants a huge kiss on the side of my forehead, the only part of my face not hiding in his chest. I cling to him tightly; if I didn’t, I would float.
“This is serious,” I mumble.
“You’re right,” he says, his voice full of laughter. “I’m seriously happy to see you.”
I pull back slightly and look up at his shining, perfect face. The best face in the world.
“You can’t just take my top off.”
The corners of his mouth move. “Why not?”
“Because we brokeup.”
“Did we? When?”
I look at him sternly. “In the lobby, after I got fired. You saidforget it.Remember?”
“No,” he says. A bold-facedlie.
“You don’t want to go out with me,” I tell him, lacing my fingers together on the small of his back.
“Obviously. Why not, again?”
“Well, I blew your life up, for starters.”
