Page 77 of I Choose You

And send her the lump-sum bonus.

But I had missed her enough that I would take the bait and reply.

“What did you think of my recommendations?” I asked.

Talking about work was the last thing I wanted to do. We had office hours to dedicate to those conversations. I would have rather asked her why she blurted cock earlier. Or maybe I could have commented about something she’d said at the engagement party.

What I really wanted to do was tell her I missed her. That I’d thought about her over the last few days and wished she’d contact me—even just to say hello.

But she’d opened up by talking about work. The message was clear. She didn’t want to mention how we’d fucked in the garden, and I had to assume she regretted it. She didn’t want to remark about anything with this fake dating we’d agreed to, and I guessed she wasn’t happy about it.

All that remained forefront in my mind was that she wanted to avoid any conversation about us—in any other way than what related to business.

Because she sees nothing between us? Even after the way I’d made her cry out my name as she squeezed my dick? Despite the way she can tease me so easily?

“Kaden?”

I sighed, glancing at her. Shit. I’d been musing about her and why she tried so hard to resist me that I’d missed something she said.

She frowned, pointing out the window. “You missed my exit.”

Dammit. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

Now that she’d declared this ride a no-meaningful-conversation zone, I didn’t want to drag it out and suffer through another minute of it.

Actually, she could give me the silent treatment again.

That hurts less.

26

BROOKE

After a brutal spin class Saturday morning, I rotated my wrist and retrieved my phone from my bag. I’d leaned on the bars too hard—unused to the bike because that creepy guy took it before I could.

I’ve got to find a new gym. The one I liked was affordable, though, so I’d tough it out a little longer.

Hmm. I shifted the straps to my bag a little higher and unlocked the screen. A push notification to my bank app. I logged in and almost dropped my phone as I groaned.

“I thought he said thirty thousand,” I mumbled as I walked home.

The red dot next to the messages list showed that I’d received a deposit of forty grand, pending approval until nine o’clock. Shaking my head, I tapped on the message icon associated with the notification.

The extra ten is for dealing with Kody.

Ten thousand dollars was the cost of tolerating his twin? I’d never understand how wealthy people thought.

I logged out and frowned as I headed down the sidewalk. Walking also helped me to think. Mercedes had asked me if I was a runner at the cake tasting, and I wished that I was. The mindless void of cardio like that would clear the troubled thoughts pinging in my head, but I was too flat-footed to be a runner. I’d tried. It didn’t stick.

Clearing out these worries and indecisive feelings wouldn’t be so easy even if I could run.

For the rest of the work week, I maintained my professional persona when dealing with Kaden. We’d spoken on the phone about the deal, and we had a meeting with Todd, too.

It was stressful. That was the understatement of the year. Seeing Kaden at work bothered me for reasons I didn’t want to acknowledge.

He was kind and professional, not giving anything away that we’d agreed to fake date. Not once did he hint at something funny going on between us. Professional, polite, and charming. That was the Kaden I saw, but I kept wishing for the other sides of him that I now knew. The attentive listener. The sexy, impatient lover who kissed me like no other. The teasing, easygoing joker.

Each time I caught myself wishing I could ask him about something not related to work, I stewed in a strange limbo of indecision.