AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I felt the thrum of the word deep in his chest. I licked my lips, hope budding inside me. Which was fucking dumb, considering we were just coworkers.
“A wife?” I probed.
“No.”
I nodded against his chest.
But what if he’s not into girls?
“Anybody else who wouldn’t fit into those titles? A boyfriend?'“
“No.”
I nodded again. So he was single, then. Interesting.
I didn’t have time to ponder just how interesting this little tidbit of info was, because a second later the hover-vator dinged, its entrance opening, totally killing the moment. I pulled out of X’s arms, and we stepped out of the hover-vator.
“Are you OK to walk? I thought you were going to have a stroke in there,” X said as we moved into the aisle.
“I’m fine, jeez, let a girl laugh!”
“I’d never dream of stopping you.”
“Well, good.” I said, not sure what else to add. We approached the door to my block, and I tapped my personal tablet against the security screen to open the doors.
“I’ll walk you to your door,” X insisted, and I couldn’t think of any reason to stop him. And I could think of a bunch of reasons to stay with him. There was a warm strip across my back where his arm had been a few minutes before, melting me from back to front.
“Sounds good.”
The only problem was we reached my room all too soon. And then I remembered that I wasn’t going to see him tomorrow, or the next day, and I felt my heart fall. That’s a really bad sign.
“No more laughing?” X said, looking at me with concern as we stopped in front of my door. “It’s odd seeing you without some goofy smile on your face.”
“Goofy!?” I cried. This guy had some fucking nerve. But when I saw the pull of his own snout, his own smile, I realized he was teasing me back. And that made my whole chest swell with fluttery light that threatened to carry me right off my feet.
“You’re right. Goofy isn’t the right word,” he said, crossing his arms again and looking at me appraisingly.
“Then what is?”
“Hmm,” he said, raising a hand to rub his snout. Then his face turned serious.
“You should get inside. Get some rest. You’ve worked hard,” he said abruptly, stepping back and away from me.
“Oh. OK,” I replied. I felt like someone had just dropped me into a New Toronto snow bank. “Well, goodnight then.”
“Goodnight,” he said, fixing his hard eyes on me. “Sophie.”
I opened the door and went inside, the echo of his voice pounding in my skull. I realized, then, that that was the first time I’d ever heard him say my name.
And I wanted to hear him say it again.
