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It was ridiculous. And distracting. And while I tried to tell myself the crazy brain would go away in a few days, it didn’t. The late-night tossing and turning continued every night since the one I’d felt Lukas’s body on mine with every, and I mean every rock-hard inch of him pressed up against me.
“Lia?”
“Yes!” I snapped back to life. “I’m so sorry, Abby. Um, so, the thing is, I have a potential investor and pending that deal, I’m projecting to afford a monthly rent between the ranges of, um – ” I tore through my purse looking for the notes I’d written up last night. “I have it somewhere. I apologize. And I’m never like this, I just – ”
“Relax. Have you even secured the investor yet?”
“No. Not officially.”
“And have you ever considered small business loans? Like everyone else does?”
“Yes, but it’s a complicated story with my credit ‘cause my ex – ” Nope. Wasn’t gonna go there. Abby rolled her eyes.
“We don’t need to talk about your personal issues. We’ll just meet another time, Miss Pope. Alright?” She left me no time to answer before walking ahead of me to the door. “But don’t expect this space to be available by the time you decide to figure your – ” She paused. “By the time you figure everything out.”
God, she was tempted to say figure your shit out, that was how much I’d just pissed her off.
“Of course,” I said in defeat, feeling like a dejected first grader as she held the door open for me to leave. “Thank you for your time, Abby. I promise I won’t waste it again.”
“Try not to make promises you can’t keep,” she said, flashing me that deliberately fake realtor smile before leaving me on a final insult. “Besides, there’s always Craigslist.”
On that, she turned on her red-heeled pumps and strutted up the street, already laughing on the phone within her first few steps away from me.
Wow. Red in the face, I gathered myself on the sidewalk, in awe of what a total shitshow that just was. And while Abby had certainly been ruder than necessary, the fault was solely mine because I couldn’t frickin’ focus. I couldn’t gather the pieces of my scattered brain because I couldn’t stop thinking about Lukas. I had to slam my thighs together every time I remembered him touching me. Sucking on me. I was sure Abby had actually caught me one time and I was still shuddering from the hot embarrassment.
“Fuck it,” I muttered to myself, fishing through my purse for my phone. Whatever was plaguing me, I couldn’t let this go on for another second. I had to nip it in the bud before it claimed another day or even another hour of productivity. So pacing fast up the block I made a call.
“Darling,” Sara answered on the first ring.
“I need help.”
“Talk to me.”
I pressed my finger against my ear as I turned on Houston, warding off the sounds of blaring traffic. “I need you to help me set an actual date with Dog Hater.”
“Ooh, okay. When?”
“Tonight.”
Sara paused. “Are you serious? I thought you said you needed time to mentally prepare for this night.”
“Yeah, well I think what I need more now is to clear my mind. I have to draft up a business proposal and pitch it to the investor this week and I need to frickin’ kill it. But I won’t if my brain is still trashed over Lukas.”
“Mm. Mine would be trashed too if he kissed me like that in the hall.”
“You’re not helping.”
“I know. But can I quickly say that I still think neighbor-with-benefits could be a great solution for you?”
“No! I lost three nights of sleep over a kiss from this guy – I can’t imagine how much I’d lose if I actually had sex with him,” I protested. “So please, pretty please, help me message Dog Hater. The app is in your phone and I’m desperate.”
“Fine. I’m letting him know you can only do today.”
“Thank you.”
“Seven o’clock work for you?”
“Works perfect,” I said, waiting around till I heard a little ping on her end. “Is that him confirming?”
