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I bow slightly before turning on my heels and going to the door. As my hand touches the knob, Gabriel calls my name.
This is it. He is finally going to acknowledge what happened.
“You don’t have to push yourself,” he says something else. “You were already ahead of schedule before you left, and we have extended deadlines for a reason.”
Although I am well aware that Gabriel cannot read my mind, hearing him say something different annoys me so much that I don’t respond, choosing to walk away instead and shut the door with a thud.
His secretary looks at me weirdly, but I ignore her. If Gabriel is going to act ignorant, two can play that game. From now on, it is strictly business and nothing more.
My phone rings when I enter my office, and my mood brightens when I see its Mira.
“Hey,” I say.
“Guess what!?” she squeals in my ear.
I hold the phone away and take pity on my eardrum. “You know I can hear you no matter which pitch you use, right?’
“Oh,” her tone lowers as she responds, “I’m sorry. I’m just too happy to be still. Remember how I told you I was certain Caleb was the one for me?”
“Yeah?” I reply as I settle heavily into my chair. For a second, I am back in Gabriel’s office, trying to read his mind.
I wipe the thought away with a firm head shake.
“Well,” Mira squeals some more, “I was right. Caleb officially asked me to be his girlfriend last night, and he proposed with a ring.”
The little joy I had when I answered the call deflates. “Caleb asked you to marry him?”
“No, silly,” she giggles, “he did not ask me to marry him. He asked me to be his girlfriend and gave me a beautiful promise ring.”
My tone is deadpan. “Oh.”
To Mira, it sounds like all the validation she needs from me. “I told you he was the one, Harper, and I wasn’t wrong! I think we might get married this year.”
The year has far fewer months to end than is needed for two people who barely know each other to get married. Regardless, I have seen them together, and I know Caleb and Mira are in love, so maybe it will work out for them.
“You know, I never would have thought that someone I met at the club would become the love of my life, so thank you!”
“Me? What did I do?”
Mira makes a sound I cannot comprehend. “He’s your boss’s VP, so it’s like you introduced us.”
I didn’t, though. Mira found the love of her life in a club, and they started something beautiful almost immediately. I, on the other hand, made a mistake that night. A mistake that spiraled into what I’m going through now.
The way I think about it, if Mira had never gotten away and met Caleb, I would not have met Gabriel and danced with him. And now, I wouldn’t have a thousand and one questions in my brain without a single answer.
“You’re happy for me, right?” Mira says, although her tone doesn’t convey a question but a statement she’s already gotten an answer to. “Caleb is a far cry from the men I usually date, who are out for one thing, sex.”
And it fucking hits me.
The reason I have been enduring sleepless nights trying to come up with an explanation for Gabriel’s silence.
It is fear.
I am scared that it might just be sex to him or a fling, whereas I am developing feelings.
My palm smacks my forehead as I sigh. “What have I gotten myself into?”
Chapter 14
