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I start shaking my head immediately. There is no way I’m agreeing to this.

“Come on, Ali. Please? We need this if we’re going to make your column a success; otherwise, people are going to forget about you as soon as something else goes viral.”

I sigh and take another sip of my coffee. I know she’s right but I don’t like it. “All right, if I agree to the photo shoot and radio interviews, will you drop the TV appearances?”

“Deal,” she practically shouts, sticking her hand out for me to shake. I laugh and do it as I shake my head, my stomach sinking.

“Why do I feel like I just made a deal with the devil?” I ask, and she grins, winking at me.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Ali. You’re on my team now, and I promise that we’ll take care of you, okay? You’ll see; this is going to be amazing.”

“If you say so.”

She shoots me a look, and I hold my hands up in apology.

“I’ll have the shoot and interviews set up and sent over to you later today, okay?”

“Sure, sounds good.”

“At least try and sound excited about this,” she says, and I give her a very unenthusiastic smile. She laughs loudly as I stand and go back to my office, still trying to process all this. This is not where I saw this going but the only thing I can do is hang on tight and hope it all works out.

Chapter Ten

Storm

Me:

Free tonight?

Sighing, I shove my phone back in my pocket and scan the road in front of where we’re parked, looking for any sign of danger as I try to forget how badly I want to see Ali again. What I’m feeling when it comes to Ali can’t even be described as want anymore. It’s need. I’ve taken a sharp left into obsession when it comes to my gorgeous neighbor, and I want to spend every second of every day with her. I can’t even bring myself to care. Call me crazy but I enjoy not feeling like I’m suffocating every second of the day too much to care that she’s consuming me in a whole new way. I like the way that my heart feels light for the first time in six years instead of weighed down with pain. But then the guilt takes over and makes me sick to my stomach. I shouldn’t want her this much. I shouldn’t pursue her.

I’ve managed to not go back over there since the night I surprised her with dinner but we’ve also been texting back and forth everyday. That first day I met her, the attraction was instant. I’d have loved nothing more than to pin her to the bed underneath me and sink into her again and again until I fucked her out of my system, but by the time I left after bandaging up her knee, it was different. Something about her got to me, and even if I don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t stay away. It’s almost like the moment we met, this string was tied between us, and no matter how far I try to run from the shit I’m feeling, the shit that I never expected to feel again, the harder she pulls me back. And I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep resisting her. My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket.

Ali:

Not sure yet. Crazy day.

My smile transforms, and I scowl down at the phone, worry coursing through me. I want to know about anything that erases her beautiful smile and take it out so it never bothers her again. Jesus. What is happening to me? I haven’t felt like this in so long. And I was convinced that I never would again. But Ali knocked me flat on my ass.

“You all right?” Chance asks from the other side of the cab, and I nod.

“Yep. All good.”

Me:

You okay?

Tucking my phone away, I look up and scan the street again. Everything looks normal. A few cars are parked along the tree-lined street but they are all empty, and as far as we can tell, he doesn’t have eyes on her.

“What’s her name again?” Chance asks from the passenger seat of the truck.

“Jenny.”

He nods, doing another scan of the street. “And when are we supposed to get her?”

“Jesus, dude. Did you not read the sheet at all?”

“Just remind me.”