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His hands stayed firm on my hips, and he was so close that I could smell the mix of his shampoo and sweat. Troubling thoughts were hidden behind his eyes. I tried to read them, but his own thoughts seemed to be confused.
His lips hovered right above mine for a few seconds before he came down to meet them. My sweaty hair was not a deterrent for him to slip his hand underneath my ponytail. I threw my arms around his neck. He pulled my hair slightly as I parted my mouth, allowing him to deepen our kiss. It was full of envy. Jealousy. He was trying to erase Erik’s kiss from my lips.
“I think I like it when you’re jealous,” I took a breath from him.
I tried to step back, but he didn’t let me go. His grip on me was possessive. Unyielding.
His smile returned as I stared at him. His face was only inches from mine. I had begun to memorize how his eyelashes curled at the end, how his left cheek got laugh lines with his smile, and how the small scar on the bridge of his nose creased when he read something complicated.
“Do you want to get some ice cream?” he asked.
“We just worked out,” I laughed.
“Why do you think we work out?!” He grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of Scooped. “And after I walk you home, I’m going to spend all night thinking of what we’re going to do on Saturday.”
“It’s not even Monday!”
“That just gives me more time to get creative! You’re all mine on Saturday, princess.”
Chapter Nineteen
Thursday night.
Forty-four days left.
The clicking of my keyboard and the music barely managed the monumental task of keeping me awake. It was really late, and my light was likely the only one on in the building. My eyelids were heavy, asking me to sleep. I debated taking a nap on the couch in the break area.
Today had been hard enough. I struggled to keep up with my workload and tried to step in to help Lainee, who was also struggling. Connor had spent two hours grilling me about discarded ideas on a different project and about how I thought Amelia’s team liked our work. During lunch, I had to field a call from a concerned customer that a specific ad wasn’t working yet. We released it two days ago. It wouldn’t produce results in forty-eight hours, but I had to listen to them complain anyway.
In the whirlwind of the campaign and my emotional turmoil, I realized that the timeline draft for one of our smaller clients was due tomorrow. As of this morning, it had not been touched in weeks.
Most of the information was compiled and patiently sitting in a folder on our drive, but we had not gotten around to putting together the timeline or a minor draft of the ad we promised. The last nine hours of my day had been consumed by reviewing the materials and putting the documents together. I didn’t want to alarm anyone, so I took care of it myself. The last thing I needed was for anyone to be worried.
Finding this slip-up was concerning, at best. Lainee had been tasked with reviewing all the upcoming deadlines within the next five weeks to ensure we had not missed anything else. Thankfully, this was the only item that fell through the cracks.
Parker, Nathaniel, and Gabby had been trying to call me since I was supposed to watch their practice and get some fresh air. I canceled at the last minute. With a quick text, I appeased them enough to get off my back and stop their worry that I had died.
“Blake?”
The faint creak of my door startled me. Erik peeked his head in.
“Hey,” I rubbed my eyes.
“What are you still doing here?” he asked.
He was in running clothes. His hair was sweaty and messy, not slicked back, and perfectly styled. He looked like the Erik I grew up with. I figured he went for a run to tire himself out. He did that when he couldn’t sleep.
“I’m just trying to finish something I let slip.”
I put my chin in my hands and faced the computer, trying to make sense of the sentences I had written. The words were starting to slur together in my eyes. My brain had stopped cooperating with word processing.
“What is it?”
“A timeline for a different contract for a small customer in North Carolina. I’ve been working on it all day, so it’s mostly done. I just need to finish the presentation.”
“Button, it’s almost midnight. Come on, why don’t you let me walk you home?”
“Is it really?”
