Page 45 of Unofficial

"Maybe you jolted him into seeing what he was missing by not wanting to settle down. Vinny did that to me."

Except Jess isn't Tiffany with a long list of suitors to fall back on. Even now, if Tiff and Vinny split, she'd have three boyfriends by the end of the week fawning over her. That's not what she has or wants.

"Maybe, but if he thinks a fruit bouquet will win me over, he has another thing coming," Jess says and stands up.

"Where are you going?" Tiffany calls after her.

Carrying the giant basket into the break room, she sets it on the counter. Grabbing a plate, she folds it in half and finds a marker to write the word FREE on it.

People in the office always look for free food, and it doesn't take long for them all to filter in, chomping at the bit to get their piece.

"See if he appreciates me giving it away to others like he gave himself away when we were together," she says and pulls out her phone to take a few pictures of everyone tearing the skewers out of the Styrofoam setting.

She sends the pictures she took and expects silence. Instead, she stares in shock at the message buzzing through in her hand. From Kade.

Is he serious? She sets her phone down and works, ignoring him for the rest of the day.

The next day rolls around, and Jess stares at her phone. Kade texted her all night. It started with asking how her day was, and he even asked if she's talked to Noelle lately. Noelle told her about the interaction they had at the bar the night he saw her with Landry for the first time, and she told him she knows about the failed pickup attempt.

To Kade's credit, he laughed it off. Said he probably subconsciously knew he'd be turned down when he picked her in the room of women. She's not his type, and he felt relieved when she threw the drink in his face. She didn’t understand why, and he told her it was because he felt like it was what she should have done when they decided to end things.

Landry had yet to reach out to her, and Jess wasn't sure if she should be the first to reach out or not. He was so angry when he left, and she didn't know him well enough to know whether his personality was the type to need space or not. She decided to wait and leave the ball in his court. After all, he was the angriest one.

"Jess!" Tiffany's voice calls from down the hall. "You have another present!"

"Dear God, please don't let it be more fruit," Jess mutters.

Her eyes widen when she sees the largest bouquet of lilies she's ever seen. Tiffany sets them on her desk and smiles. "These are gorgeous. And I can tell you they are expensive."

"Oh my God," Jess gasps and pulls out the card.

Jess can't help but chuckle, and Tiffany gapes at her. "You can't say no to him now. Look at you. You're smiling like a fool."

"It was a cute comment on the card," she admits. "But he's acting like giving him a second chance will end up with us getting married with kids. It's actually kind of creepy."

"You can say the words all you want, but I see the love on your face. You want to give in, so take the chance. What do you have to lose?"

"My dignity, for one," Jess says. "And Landry."

Making a tsking sound with her mouth, she raises an eyebrow. "I have not seen one single thing from that man. Not only is he not putting in the effort, he also wasn't giving it to you good. You never came into work with a stupid grin on your face like you did when you spent the night with this loving guy."

"He shouldn’t have to! He already put in the time and effort, and now Kade's trying to step in." She ignores the sex portion of the comment. She has no good reply.

"If he was really worried about losing you, he'd do whatever he needs to in order to remind you just what a catch he is. But that's just my opinion," she says and walks to the door. "For the record, someone can't steal you from someone else if you really belong to them. Just keep that in mind."

Rolling her eyes, she turns back to her computer for the rest of the day. If Kade thinks a fruit bouquet and a beautiful vase of her favorite flowers will get her to concede and admit she wants him back, he has another thing coming.

The next afternoon, Paul steps into her office. "Hey, Jess."

"Hi, Paul," she says and turns to face him. "I just sent the email off to the committee with the proposed changes the client agreed to. We should hear back tomorrow if they approved them or not."

"That's great," he says and eyes up the flowers. "Who are these from?"

Sighing, she’s surprised when he moves further into the office and takes a seat in the chair in front of her desk. "They're from my ex-situationship."

"Situationship?"

"One of those situations where I thought we were in a relationship, and he thought it was just a fling. Or casual dating. Either way, he didn't want to commit, and we ended things months ago."

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