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“Well, soon enough, Warren will get his dream CEO,” Derek teases, coming back into the room and tosses Graham a beer.
“Stop,” I warn, again. I don’t like being in the spotlight, but I like even less that Derek, who knows how I feel about the situation, is pushing the issue in front of our new guest.
“Wait, is there a development?” Graham asks, genuine curiosity in his voice.
If there wasn’t a fucking audience, I might explain the situation to him, he’s one of the more levelheaded ones.
“No.”
“Yes.”
I glare at Derek, warning him to drop it. “No. There isn’t.”
“Oh come on, being her admirer is—”
“I’m not her admirer.” More like her secret love affair. Way different.
“Wait, what’s happening?” Quinn asks.
“Well, Warren here works over at the Leads Building,” Garrett starts.
“Can we not spill all of my secrets, please?” I ask, taking another sip of his beer.
“Yeah, sorry, no. I have to. Plus…” Garrett points to Quinn who raises a brow. “We finally have a woman here who can give you advice.”
I consider what he’s saying while Quinn shrugs. “Happy to attempt to help, but I have to warn you, I’m not a dater. So, I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
Graham leans over and whispers, “You’re doing just fine, darlin’.”
“Dude,” Derek says, pointing at Graham. “Knock it off.”
I sigh and turn to Quinn, resigned to my fate here. The guys will never let up. I start to tell them about Jane, unable to keep the sounds of awe and admiration out of my voice. I really was amazed by the woman.
Quinn listens intently, only cutting in to clarify things and in the end, she leaves me with some profound words. “Whatever happens, that’s what’s meant to be. But you have to remember, no matter how beautiful, smart, or perfect she seems behind closed doors to you, you have to still be respected in public, too. You can’t let people walk all over you, even if there are real, true feelings there.”
And there was where my concern lay. I didn’t want to be the secret, I wanted to proudly display what I was feeling for her. I wanted her to come to game nights like tonight, to find friendships with my friends as well.
I wanted to be invited to come with her to her own work and social functions. I knew I was going to have to tell her all of this, but the fear was holding me back.
What if what I wanted, was the one thing she couldn’t fully give me?
Chapter Twenty
“Keep it a hundred.
I’d rather you trust me than to love me.”
-Kendrick
Jane
I was growing increasingly frustrated with each night spent away from Warren. Was I already addicted to the man from a few kisses? And if I was, what did that say about me?
Probably that I wasn’t used to being treated so well, that I was growing used to this feeling of, well, feeling special.
But I had a canceled event tonight and Warren wasn’t answering the phone, so I had called in an emergency get-together with April, hoping she could help me puzzle all of this out.
“How did Chris take you sneaking away tonight?” I ask as I measure in some spoonsful of chocolate mix into the milk I frothed.
