AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Christ, Kali. Just say goodbye and be done with it.
He didn’t reply. Just stared at me with his unnaturally turquoise eyes—eyes that, if I stood there for much longer, would probably be able to see right through me.
So, I left.
I walked through the door as quickly as I possibly could without running, got in my truck, and got the hell out of there before I did anything else stupid.
Chapter Fourteen
Jayda blinked at me. “Well, you’re an idiot.”
I groaned and wrapped my hands around the coffee cup. “I know that. I told you that like five times.”
She leaned back against my kitchen counter, picking up her own mug. “I can’t believe I’m here at seven a.m. in my pajamas because you can’t keep your mouth to yourself.”
I dropped my head so my chin touched my chest and closed my eyes. “I didn’t kiss him deliberately.”
“No, no. I’m sure you slipped on a banana peel and your mouth landed on his.”
“He kissed me.”
“That makes the world of difference.”
“I know it does. Thank you.”
She stared at me. “Kali…That’s called sarcasm.”
“I know.” I propped my chin up on my hand. “I’m pretending it wasn’t so I feel better about my monumental fuck up.”
Jayda pushed off the counter and joined me at the table. “Is it really that bad? So, you kissed the guy. He’s handsome, he’s single—you’re single. Who are you hurting?”
“Well, nobody, but—”
“Suck it up, buttercup. If you don’t want it to be awkward, put your mouth back in its cage.”
“It’s the number one rule,” I said before she could carry on with her speech that would ultimately end with telling me to pull up my big girl panties. “Don’t mix business with kissing.”
“You’re not very good at following the rules.”
“No shit. Sherlock better watch out, or your ability to state the obvious is going to put him out of a job.”
She waved her hand. “Cumberbatch will take one look at me and not mind at all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Still, the point remains. Don’t get involved with clients. It always ends in disaster.”
“Um, didn’t your dad meet Portia on a job?”
I paused.
She raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” I said slowly. “But they didn’t get involved until after he was done.” Another pause. “I’m pretty sure.”
“You believe that if it makes you feel better, honey.”
“Don’t honey me. The only person who does that is my mom and she’s not a sarcastic bitch like you.”
Jayda grinned, her make-up free eyes crinkling at the edges. “Your compliment is heard and accepted.”
I flipped her the bird. “What am I supposed to do now? I have to show up today and start painting and he’s going to be there. What am I supposed to say to him?”
She tapped a blood-red nail against the table. “I’d start with good morning.”
Oh my god. She was so fucking sarcastic. I was going to pin her down and force some genuine shit out of her soon.
“Thanks for the advice, Dr. Phil. I hadn’t thought of that,” I said dryly. “But after that? “Sorry I let you kiss me last night? It won’t happen again? How dare you kiss me you bastard?””
She toyed with a lock of her hair. “In the interest of keeping this job, nix the last idea.”
“At least you finally answered sensibly.”
She rolled her eyes, planted her forearms on the table, and leaned forward. “Kali. You kissed him. So what? You’d done him a favor, he thanked you with pizza, and you both got carried away. It’s never going to happen again because you’re too professional for that. You weren’t working when you kissed, so you didn’t break the rules, technically speaking.”
“I like how you’ve laid that out.”
“You’re welcome.” She nodded with a solemn look on her face. “Now, you get over it. Show up like nothing happened and do your job. If he’s at work, problem solved. If not, he has kids to look after and will leave you alone.”
Yeah, no. She didn’t know Ellie and Eli.
“Just deal with it. You’re both adults, you’re unattached, and you’re free to kiss whoever you like in your personal time. End of freak out.”
That was easy for her to say.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it go. “All right. What you’re saying is, show up, act like it didn’t happen, and pray like fuck he’s working in the office today.”
She was silent for a moment. Then, she pursed her lips and nodded. “That’s the gist of it, yeah.”
“Ugh.”
“Hey, it could be worse,” she said, swiping the screen on her phone to unlock it. “Check this message I got from a wannabe Casanova last night.”
I slid her phone toward me and swiveled it so I could read. ““Hey, saw your profile. You’re hot,”” I read. ““Wanna have dinner? Don’t wear underwear, you won’t need them where we’re going.”” I finished in a slower tone. “He wanted you to go commando on a date?
