Page 10 of Ignite My Heart

“It’s happened before.”

He opens his mouth to respond, and his phone buzzes. He pulls it out of his pocket, and his jaw tightens. “I have to go, but we’re not done with this conversation.” He turns, then pauses. “I don’t think there’s another guy. A boyfriend. I think you made him up because you’re afraid to go on a date with me.” He runs his hand down my arm and then links our fingers. “I think you’re afraid I'll sneak in if you let your guard down. I think you’re afraid to give us a shot.”

I swallow hard. “There is no us.” My words come out in barely more than a whisper.

“You keep telling yourself that.”

chapter five

Felicity

A knuckle raps on my office door and I look up to see one of my bosses, JD Granger, standing in the doorway.

“Hey, Felicity, can you chat?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

He pulls my door partially closed, but doesn’t snick it shut.

“Uh-oh, am I in trouble?” I ask.

A shake of his head and a chuckle let me know that this isn’t going to be a reprimand.

“How’re you settling in? Have everything you need in the office?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s been great. It’s almost just like Austin. Until I go outside.” I chuckle.

“Oh, that’s good. I still haven’t managed to convince Chelsea to move to this office.”

“She’s running things pretty much in Austin,” I say of JD’s assistant.

He nods. “She’s incredibly competent.”

“What’s going on, JD?”

He blows out a breath. “Hayes and I were talking and you don’t seem happy. You’re a great employee, one of our very best, and we want you to be happy. We’ve seen you at work when you’re happy and something is not working for you here. So what can we do for you?”

“Wow,” I say dumbly. “That’s very kind. It’s not work. I’m just struggling to get back into the swing of things. Being back home.”

“Things rough with your mom?” JD asks.

I laugh. “My mom is having the time of her life. Meanwhile I’m in my childhood twin bed taking care of her two geriatric cats while she’s on a cruise.” Then I wince. “I don’t mean to sound grateful. My mother worked her ass off to put me through college on a single mom’s salary. I just thought I’d be coming home to hang out with her.”

“I completely get what you’re saying. I mean I moved home and both of my sisters are married, which is weird because frankly I wasn’t sure they would ever find anyone. And I’m so damn happy for both of them because they deserve to be loved and blissfully married,” he says the last word through his teeth. “Just like Hayes.”

“Why’d you move back here then? You were happy in Austin, right?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah, I was. But I’d always planned to move back here. I thought it would be to help Emmy and Lily, but turns out things are swapped with that. They help take care of me now. Saddle Creek is home though, ya know?”

Saddle Creek is home. Why did that feel so right when he said it like that?

“Sorry, I got derailed by my personal drama.” He chuckles. “Back to you. Your productivity is down this week, which is understandable since you just moved in and you’re still getting settled. And frankly you’re already more productive than most of the other analysts who do a similar job. I just want to make sure there’s nothing we can do to make things easier on you.”

“Well, unless you want to pretend to be my fake boyfriend so I can get this other guy to back off, then I don’t think you can help.” I laugh.

But JD is not laughing with me. He’s frowning. “Is someone harassing you?”

“No, no, nothing like that. He’s harmless, I can promise you. He’s just asked me out a couple of times and in a panic I told him I was dating someone and…”