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“It’s no big deal, Addy. Not every guy can handle a girl like you. No reason to be upset about it.”

“A girl like me?” I ask, intrigued and a little irritated with his statement.

“Yeah. A girl like you.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I level a glare at him and wait.

“Whoa, chill out. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just meant that for some guys, you’re just too much. Too smart, too beautiful, too strong. It’s not a bad thing, Ad. Some guys just don’t have what it takes to handle you, so move on and find one who does.”

Oh.

My heart pounds in my chest, and I just stare at him for a second, unsure of what to say to that before I shake my head and plaster a smile on my face. “Well, what about you, Trey? Any good girl stories to tell lately?”

“Naw, you know I’m not into that casual shit.”

I knew that’s what his answer would be but I couldn’t think of anything else to say after his comment. Trey’s always been a one-woman kind of man, and if there was someone in his life, I would already know about her.

“Maybe you should give it a try. I mean, you might meet someone you really like, right? In fact, there’s this girl in my yoga class that might be perfect for you.”

He laughs, shaking his head as he takes a sip of his soda. “Now you sound like Emma.”

“Has she been trying to set you up, too?” I ask.

Ever since Nix proposed to Emma, she’s been relentless in trying to make everyone around her as happy as she is. When it’s not incredibly annoying, it’s kind of sweet.

“Every time I talk to her.”

I sigh and stir my drink with the straw. “She just wants us to be happy, too, and now that Tucker and Daisy are official, we’re the only ones left.”

“Yeah, I get it but I don’t need my baby sister setting up dates for me. I’m a grown ass man.”

I roll my eyes and point a finger in his face. “What did I say about that phrase?”

He laughs and pretends to zip his lips. “Sorry, won’t happen again.”

“Better not. It’s getting a little weird, and I’m beginning to wonder if you’re trying to convince me or yourself.”

“Oh, funny girl,” he quips, flashing me a wide genuine smile just as the waitress arrives with our food, and I grin, happy that the arcade seems to have been completely forgotten.

* * * *

Stepping out of my car in the parking lot of the restaurant where Kyle asked me to meet him for dinner tonight, I close the door and lean back against it, looking up at the brick building. I sigh and shake my head. After my conversation with Trey yesterday, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what he said. I know what I have to do when I go in there, even if the thought of being alone scares me more than anything.

I met Kyle as I was fleeing from yet another disastrous date – literally crashing into him outside the restaurant. After he helped me up, he asked for my number. I was running from one guy and had no interest in finding another at that moment so I turned him down. As luck would have it, I had been hired to do some graphic design work for his firm so when I ran into him again, I fell for the suit and perfect white smile.

He was the exact opposite of the type of guy I usually go for but I was at a place where I thought maybe that was what I needed. His blue eyes and sandy blond hair would have never appealed to me before. He was safe at a time when I desperately needed safe. Unfortunately, my feelings for him never developed past friendship. Maybe that was the point though. Even then, I knew that I was in no danger of falling in love with him.

Sighing again, I stand up straight and level a determined gaze at the front door. This has to stop. No matter what it means for my future, I can’t keep using Kyle to avoid the storm that’s nipping at my heels. I blow out a breath and start making my way to the entrance. When I step inside, I give the maître d’ Kyle’s name, and he points to one of the tables lining the wall of windows. I smile my thanks before weaving my way through the other diners.

The closer I get, the more my stomach rolls, and I wish I could just fast forward through this whole dinner. I’ve always hated this part of dating, and I wish that I could just spare him whatever he’s going to feel when I end things. He’s so close to falling in love with me. I can see it when he looks at me sometimes, and I know this needs to happen now – before he trips over that cliff and I hurt him even more. I hate that I’m going to hurt him at all, though. I’ve always thought that that was one of my weaknesses – my distaste for seeing people get hurt. It’s so extreme that I’ll even fast forward through awkward parts in movies or skip pages of a book so I don’t have to see a character make a fool of themselves.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Kyle says, his eyes lighting up as I reach the table. He stands and wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, pressing his lips against my cheek, and my stomach rolls again. I half-heartedly return the gesture, offering him a smile as he pulls my chair out for me. When he takes his seat across from me, I suck in a nervous breath and look up at him.

“Sorry I’ve been so busy lately, sweetheart. Things are just really crazy at work.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I mumble, brushing it off. He flashes me a perfectly straight row of teeth, and I fight the urge to groan. With his sandy blond hair swept off to the side, in what I like to call politician hair and his million-dollar smile, I wonder what it ever was that made me agree to a date in the first place.

“I actually needed to talk to you about work. They want to send me on a business trip to set up a new office in Vermont. I’ll be gone for a while but I’ll fly back as often as I can to see you, okay?”