Page 75 of No Headlines Please

And when she'd smiled afterward, I knew I'd done the right thing.

Except now she was looking strangely uncomfortable, like the memory was making her twitchy.

I asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Before I could press the issue, a cellphone chimed. Not mine. Delaney reached into the side pocket of her leggings and pulled out her cell. With a little wince, she said, "Sorry…that's my reminder."

I glanced at her phone. "A reminder for what?"

She glanced toward the penthouse door. "I probably should've mentioned this sooner, but I've got this delivery thing."

I paused. "Now?"

"Yeah. I'm really sorry. I set the reminder this morning, when I thought we'd be having just a quick coffee."

Earlier, she'd joked about us playing Monopoly until midnight. I hadn't taken her literally, but I hadn't expected her to suddenly bolt. Still, there was no reason to be a dick. "So you need to head out?"

"Well…that's the thing. I don't really want to."

Something eased in my chest. "Yeah?"

"But I have to. And now I feel sneaky, because I should've told you from the start." She hesitated. "Can I confess something?"

I was dying to hear what she'd say. "Go ahead."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't mention it, because I was kind of hoping that if we hadn't finished the game, you'd invite me to come back – you know, after the delivery."

I smiled. "It's not sneaky if you're confessing it."

"Sure it is." She gave the door another glance. "Because I should've said something right away."

"So come back, and we'll finish." I pointed toward the board. "But I'm still gonna clean you out."

She snorted. "Yeah, right." Her gaze drifted to the half-finished game. "Are you sure you don't mind if we put everything on hold for maybe a half-hour?"

That was fine by me.

In fact, those thirty minutes might come in handy for collecting my thoughts to finish the second half of my confession.

The trickier half.

The favor for a friend.

30

The Other Confession

Delaney

I didn't want to leave at all.

I wanted to stay right here with Maddox – to hear the rest of his story, to finish our game, and after that, who knew?

But a deal was a deal. I'd promised to deliver those restaurant goodies to Walt, and I had no intention of backing out. Unfortunately, the whole thing was starting to feel a little sketchy.

Not on Walt's part.