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“Ginny. I thought we agreed that if you wanted to throw a party, you actually had to attend it.” The skeleton man, aka Mr. Herbert, scolded his wife even as he stared at me.
“I’ve only been gone for a moment.” She waved her hand, as unaffected by her husband’s intimidating presence as her daughter was. “Besides, I’m getting to know Paige’s friend. Have you met Dash?”
“I have.” He left it at that, clearly not interested in knowing anything more about me.
All I could hope was it would stay that way. As a judge, Mr. Herbert could easily pull up my record and learn every dirty detail of my past. The minute that happened, there’s no way he’d ever let me around his daughter again.
Which would probably be for the best.
Standing in that garage, flanked by two upstanding citizens who clearly doted on their daughter, the girl who had just snuck a kiss from me in a car I couldn’t afford even if I sold all the organs in my body, I was overwhelmed with the knowledge I didn’t belong.
So, I left. With a stiff nod to both of them, I slid past Mr. Herbert and navigated back to the party. I found Paige sitting with a lovely woman dressed like she should be attending a party a century ago. As I approached, I heard her murmured words.
“Seems like Charlie has some competition, anyway.”
I don’t know who Charlie is, but at that moment, I wanted to tell the woman he can keep his hands off Paige if he wants to keep them.
That surge of possessiveness made it even more clear, I needed to leave.
Paige’s smile dropped away when I told her, and she followed me to the front door.
I was ready to head out with only a wave, but just like at my house, Paige swooped in quick for a hug. Her coffee-scented hair pressed to my nose, and my whole body stiffened in immediate painful arousal.
She didn’t linger. After stepping back, Paige gave me a smile that had a sad tilt to the edge. When I got to my car, just a short way down the street, I told myself not to look back.
But my self-control was pretty much used up at that point, so I gave the house one last glance only to catch Paige still on the front stoop, watching my departure. She raised her hand in a final wave before retreating inside.
When I got back to my house, I realized my pockets were full of Kit Kats.
Apparently, her hug had a purpose.
The image of her waving goodbye sits clear in my mind now, close to a week later. My plan is for that to be the last one I have of her.
Paige and I are from different worlds, and if I spend more time around her, I’ll be tempted to scheme my way into hers. If I start using the methods I know for getting money fast, I’ll likely end up back in prison. And Paige won’t think of me as the nice guy who helped her out with her dog; she’ll know what I really am. A degenerate.
I settle at my desk, letting the faint sound of barking lull me into a meditative state as I read over applications.
My concentration breaks with the vibration of my phone on the metal desk.
I stifle a groan. I know it’s her. Deep in my bones, I’m aware that if I flip my phone open, I’ll have more of her precisely typed words to read.
Why does she have to keep tempting me?
I snatch the phone off the desk, storm over to a filing cabinet in the corner, pull open the bottom drawer, and stuff the phone in a file before slamming the drawer shut.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Yeah, fucking, right.
There’s never been a day at work where I’ve been so completely aware of a particular piece of office furniture. All afternoon I hear phantom vibrations, taunting me, telling me to retrieve my phone from its exile. Eventually, I give up on desk work and spend the last bit of my shift walking dogs.
The exercise helps, and a playful mutt gets me to smile with his insanely good fetch skills. The mangy dog catches everything I throw before the toys even hit the ground.
With only five minutes left in my work day, I finally head back to my office. Only when I have everything else I need, do I open up the bottom drawer and pull out my phone from its hiding spot. With the broken screen, I have no idea how many messages and calls I potentially missed.
I wait until I’m in my car to flip it open. Three missed texts.
One from my dad reminding me about payment.
