Page 105 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

I was being too casual about this. These jokes were meant to lighten the mood, but they didn’t. They only turned her from panicked to angry.

“Mia, tell me what happened.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“Start with the meeting room,” she demanded. “Did you lie to me?”

I swallowed, then nodded, watching her expression flit between disbelief and hurt before she settled back into anger.

“What did he do to you in there?”

“He kissed me.”

She scoffed. “After you said you couldn’t stand him–”

“It was true. Back then,” I blurted. “But we kept running into each other, and things just kept happening.”

“And it was the universe,” Lilly finished sarcastically. “You’re stuck in an enemies-to-lovers plot with your student’s father.”

I threw my hands out. “I don’t know how else to explain it. I kept running into him, and then he wasn’t just my student’s father anymore. He treated my spine, then wanted to thank me for standing up for Kira–”

“He treated your spine?” she interrupted.

I nodded. “He bought Gary’s practice.”

She put a hand over her mouth, muffling the outraged squeak that followed. “When you hurt your back, he treated you?”

“Yes. This is what I mean. What are the odds of that happening in a city as big as New York?”

“So that means you had to sleep with him?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t like that. Not at first. Once we stopped arguing, I started to, you know.”

“Like him?” Lilly finished.

“Yes. And when he kissed me, he said no one would find out–”

“Then you lied to me.”

“Only because I really thought it was a one-time thing, and I didn’t want to put you in a bad situation with Rutton.”

She started pacing, pushing a hand through her bangs as she went.

“What happened after the kiss?”

“We agreed to avoid each other. Someone else treated me at his practice, and he stayed away from me at school.”

“Then how did you–?”

“On Saturday.”

“When you went in for a massage?”

“My usual therapist left, so Theo had to step in.”

I lifted my shoulders, helpless as Lilly turned to me with shock.

“He gave you a happy ending?”