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“Hi,” he said, his tone low.

Gah! My reaction to him was embarrassing. All he had to do was say one single syllable and I got all hot and bothered. “Where are you going?” I asked.

“Uh, down the hallway.” His brows rose slightly. “Important papers, huh?” he asked.

For a second, I was confused before my gaze flicked down at the papers I’d completely forgotten I had in hand.

“Oh, right, yeah. Just notes about organizing things.” I saw his gaze trail over them.

“Multi-colored, huh?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I bet when you were in high school, you kept lists in different colors, didn’t you?”

I swallowed, a blush burning on my cheeks. “Yes, I did.” I lifted my chin. “I like color coding things. It helps me stay organized.”

“Of course it does.” I tried to ignore the tiny upward kick of one side of his lips

“Is that a problem?” I felt a little defensive, but also, I liked color coding!

“Absolutely not.” He paused. “By the way, my mom loves you.”

“Oh!” I all but beamed up at him.

“She thinks you’re the center of Heartfire Falls.”

I blinked, warmth spinning around my heart. “Well, I love it here, and I have things to do, so I’m going to go to my office.” I forced myself to say it. I could’ve stood there and had a pointless conversation with Lincoln for as long as he would’ve allowed. I just liked being near him. And, of course, I could not forget he kissed like a dream. I’d only replayed that kiss a few thousand times in my mind.

He gestured. “Carry on.”

I had to pass by him because he was right there, the hallway was suddenly small and narrow. Passing through Lincoln’s orbit was something else entirely. He emanated heat and strength and made my hormones get all noisy. He also smelled delectable, something crisp and subtle and woodsy, and I wanted to know what soap he used because I loved it. Or rather, my hormones did.

I resisted the urge to close my office door after I managed to force my feet to walk by him. I didn’t usually close my office door and that might tip him off to the fact that I was beyond hot and bothered. Sweet hell. All we’d done was stand in a hallway talking about color coding and ridiculousness, and my pulse had gone crazy. My belly was spinning in flips, feeling all tingly.

It was genuinely a problem.

Chapter Eleven

Chloe

Crying in the kitchen

Several nights later

* * *

I’d have sold my soul for a good night’s sleep, but I’ve never been a good sleeper. My tendency to be a doer, for example making color-coded lists, kept me restless at night. But lately, it was worse than usual and waking in the middle of the night had become my new normal. On this particular night, my phone vibrated, the sound puncturing my light sleep.

My eyes flew open, my heart jolting and tension coiling in my belly. I ignored my phone for the moment, telling myself it was probably a spam text. Those were relentless. The package had probably been delivered somewhere erroneously, and I probably needed to click that link so some scammer could get all my information. As I stared at the ceiling in the darkness, my lips curled into a smile because I loved the constellations up there.

When it vibrated again, I rolled over and reached for my phone.

Instantly, my heart ached and dread joined the tightening coil of tension inside. “Oh, fuck,” I whispered into the darkness.

My throat almost ached from the knot of pain. For some reason, she kept texting me. Betrayal sucked, especially when it was your alleged best friend joining forces with someone else. Two people I trusted had betrayed me together. The wound had scabbed over. But every time she texted, it ripped open and bled again.

I tried to go back to sleep, counting the stars on the ceiling, doing the alphabet trick where I picked a word for each letter of the alphabet to try to bore myself to sleep. I even tried to think about Lincoln, because he was a good distraction, except tonight I felt silly. Because maybe he’d kissed me and maybe he liked the chemistry between us, but I knew it did me no good to imagine there was more. The insecurity I carried about myself being worthy of love, or even like, was stacked up so high I couldn’t see around it. My sense of worth felt shredded, but that’s what happens when two people you love lie to you for years.