Anyone But Nick (Anyone But... #3) - Penelope Bloom Page 0,26

she’d sent a text telling me she’d come and needed to talk to me about something important upstairs. I’d assumed she was going to ask for a favor, but when I’d come in here, she’d confessed that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about me and kissed me before I knew what was happening.

I think part of me had suspected something like this was going to happen, and maybe I’d even wanted it to. Getting back in a relationship with Laine would’ve simplified my Miranda problem immensely. I was a lot of things, but disloyal wasn’t one of them. Dating somebody else would put Miranda from my mind, but it would’ve also been an extremely shitty thing to do to the woman I’d decided to date as a distraction. Once Laine kissed me, I knew I couldn’t go through with it.

“God,” she said. “I thought maybe the reason it didn’t work was that you were testing me somehow. Like you were waiting for me to be brave enough to do something physical. I had this grand plan for how that would play out, but as soon as I saw the look on your face, I knew I royally fucked it up.”

I smiled and spent the next few minutes trying to easily let her down. I gave her a quick hug that included a couple of awkward, brotherly back slaps—just to be sure there were no more mixed messages—and said goodbye.

Once she was gone, I sat down in an armchair and breathed out a heavy sigh. Something had to be wrong with me. There was nothing objectively wrong with Laine. She was kind and attractive, and she also had a respectable job. She had never even seemed like she was interested in me for my money. But when I thought about dating her again, all I felt was emptiness. When I thought about dating Miranda, my skin got hot, and my pulse quickened. Even the idea was a thrill, but the electricity didn’t come without an oily, sick undercurrent. I’d be just as shitty for trying to date Miranda as I would be for using another woman to distract myself.

I laughed bitterly. I’d gotten myself in one hell of a situation that apparently meant the only path for me going forward was celibacy. I was an asshole if I dated somebody other than Miranda, and I was an asshole if I dated Miranda. Perfect. But maybe this would all pass. Maybe it was just the natural human tendency to want the things we couldn’t have most. After all, the moment I’d decided she was off limits, it was like my desire for her had gone through the roof. I’d gone from being aware of how attractive she was to having to run my shower cold to stop from actively imagining what she’d look like standing across from me with water running between her breasts and her wet hair sticking to her body.

I pressed my palms into my eyes and made a frustrated sound. Jesus. This was absolutely ridiculous. In the span of two days, I’d become unhinged. I wasn’t thinking about work. I was only thinking about her and about the things I wanted to do to her—the things I wanted her to do to me.

I tried to steer my thoughts down a more innocent, business-focused path.

I wondered if Miranda had stayed at the party after what she’d seen. Knowing her, she was probably down there landing us more funding than we’d know what to do with. I smiled a little at that.

She really was an impressive woman. Determined. Hardworking. More driven than anyone I’d ever met. On the other hand, I’d seen a new side to her since the interview. Miranda the robot warrior was showing some signs of weakness, and instead of disappointing me, those chinks in her armor were only making me more drawn to her. I wanted to help mend her and get her life back on track.

I just wished the best way to do that didn’t feel like breaking her heart all over again.

I spent most of my morning sorting through Bark Bites’ financial accounts. So far, I hadn’t spotted anything that felt like a smoking gun to point toward the imminent failure of the business. Then again, I was hardly surprised. Every few minutes, I went back to turning over the Miranda issue. I had to hope that things would simmer back down to normal in a few days, or this takeover was going