Waiting For It - Allyson Lindt Page 0,10

stop thinking about this, and act?

I was me, though. “Good to know.”

“Then we’re all right? I don’t have to worry about you hiding from me, or anything?” The lightheartedness in his question was strained.

I forced a smile. “Yup. Things are great.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I’ll take that for now.”

As he left, I sank a few inches in my chair. Things would get back to normal between us. It would take time some time, though.

Did I want my relationship with Luke to go back to the way it was?

It didn’t matter what I wanted. Returning to pretending it wasn’t him was the only choice I had.

Chapter Five

After another night of working past ten, this time isolated in my office, and with an entire floor of developers between me and Luke, morning came too soon.

Taking a seven o’clock flight should get us into the Sacramento offices by about ten, which only meant a few hours of missed work. Still time I dreaded not having, almost as much as I missed the sleep I wouldn’t be getting anytime soon.

At least I could dress in comfortable clothes, rather than business attire. Our company dress code was basically clean, and make sure your genitals don’t hang out.

I sleepwalked my way through a quick shower, checking in online for my flight, and doing one last inventory of what I’d packed.

All set.

My phone buzzed with a new text.

I’m here. It was Lyn, my other best friend, who was dropping me off at the airport.

She’d been Sadie’s friend first, and when the two of them met, I didn’t know what to think of Lyn. She had that Sadie-confidence I envied, but something less self-assured hid underneath, and back then, I didn’t know if I was jealous of her for covering up the insecurity, or hated her for not owning it like I did.

Lyn and I had moved past that, partly thanks to a little experimenting, that was physically incredible but emotionally didn’t have the spark either of us wanted. Now, I was glad for her friendship.

Speaking of—if Lyn and I worked things out, Luke and I could still be friends too, right? Except my heart didn’t want Lyn, and I was pretty sure it was interested in more from Luke.

I grabbed my suitcase, laptop, and purse, gave the house one last look—not that I’d spent enough time here in the last few months to miss the place—and headed out to her small SUV. After setting my luggage in the back, I joined her up front.

“I brought you a present,” Lyn said in a sing-song tone as she held up a coffee cup.

I kissed her noisily on the cheek, and took the drink as I dropped into my seat. “My hero.” The coffee scalded just a little going down, and left the burn of extra sweet in its wake. “Perfect.”

“How’s work?” Lyn pointed us toward the airport.

I made out with my boss two nights ago. You know—Luke, the hot one—and now I can’t stop thinking about fucking him. I wanted to spill everything, but I needed to wrap my brain around it first. “It’s work. How ’bout you?”

She drummed her fingers rapidly against the steering wheel and let out a subdued but happy squeal. “So, you know how I was talking to Roxie?”

I rolled the name in my brain until I made a match—names weren’t my specialty. “The podcaster Sadie knows?”

“That’s her. She came by the café yesterday, and she loves it. She’s going to have me on her show, because—and I quote—everyone needs to know about this place.”

That was a happier wake-up call than the coffee. “Yay.” I clapped as best I could with a cup in my hand. “Tell me when, and I’ll make the whole office listen.”

Lyn twisted her mouth. “That won’t be necessary, but you can listen and tell me how awesome I am.”

“Duh.” I was excited for the news.

Lyn owned a gaming and anime café called Loading Java. For a long time, she’d only spent what the business could afford, to keep it open. But almost a year ago, she took out a loan to expand. Business slumped off right after, and she struggled to stay in the black since. Christmas rush helped. A shout-out from a gaming podcaster with a huge platform could help even more.

We chatted about other random things while she drove. The airport was less than fifteen miles from my place, and this early in the morning, there was no traffic. Before I knew it, she was pulling up to