Not only was she out another hundred dollars, which was painful on its own, but Declan bought black coffee which meant he’d be in the shopalot.
She waited outside his building until someone left. When they did, she grabbed the door before it closed and found her way up to Declan’s' room. She knocked and the door opened almost instantly. On the other side wasagirl.
She was gorgeous, and was looking at Morgan like she'd personally insulted her. Her light blond hair was in stark contrast to Declan' dark, which ruled out any possible siblingconnections.
“What are you doing here?” shesneered.
Morgan lamely lifted up the gift card. “Is Declan here? I have somethingforhim.”
“Oh, how cute.” She turned her head and called into the room. “Declan, darling, it looks like your jilted lover has come bearinggifts.”
“It's not like that,” Morgan tried to explain, but Declan was already pushing the girl aside and looking at Morgan withwideeyes.
“What are youdoinghere?”
Morgan sighed and lifted the gift card once again. “You were right. I shouldn't have cheated you out of somethingyouwon.”
“Did you take it from the otherwinner?”
She shook her head. “That's not exactly fair either, is it? No, I boughtanotherone.”
“Are you trying to buymeoff?”
Morgan's brows lowered as she shook her head once more. “I’m not sure what you mean by that. I'm just trying to do the rightthing.”
“The right thing?” he asked, eyesnarrowed.
She rubbed her forehead with her free hand. “Look, I was wrong. You were right. Please just take this. And if you want me to keep searching for a match for you, I promise to do my best. And if not, well… I don't know. I think I might keep the fee anyway because I've just spent $200 on coffee I'll neverdrink.”
He stared at her for a few moments, his gaze making her uncomfortable. “And you're not trying to buymeoff?”
Morgan lifted her hands in frustration. “You keep saying that, but I have no idea what you mean. No, I'm not buying you off orwhatever.”
“Then I think you'd better take me out of your database,” he said. “And maybe keep thegiftcard.”
“Why?” Morgan askedslowly.
He tipped his head back toward his room. “Because we just published a pretty nasty article online about the Date Maker. I think we both assumed that was why you were hanging outside thefrontdoor.”
Morgan's forehead crinkled. “You werewatchingme?”
“I happened to look out and saw you standingthere.”
“I was waiting for someone to let me…” she started to explain. “Wait! You wrote an articleaboutme?”
“Not mybestmove.”
She'd just recovered from the rough start, and now all that work was unraveling. Tears pooled in her eyes. “Not a good move at all. Do you realize how much PR I'm going to have to do? You know what, I am going to keep thisgiftcard.”
She started storming down the hall, while Declan called out to her. She ignored whatever he was saying, too upset about how everything seemed to be crumbling all because of one offhandcomment.
Morgan decided she was never lying again, and certainly never drinkingagain.
But would it be enough to salvage the small business she had put so much effort, andmoney,into?
ChapterSeven
“What a jerk!”Lacey said, looking at the article on herphone.
