Page 80 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

Dammit, I hoped he wouldn’t realize that…

“Sometimes I come in on Wednesdays.”

“No, you don’t,” he says confidently. “Wednesdays are Nashville days. I know because you never come to Rolling Hills two days in a row. And you were here yesterday. And you’ve made a point of telling me numerous times that Rolling Hills day is Tuesday.”

Since when is Simon so perceptive? Or remembering what day of the week it is?

“Yes, I was,” I say, trying to not sound defensive in my response. “But you said it yourself, I need to be in here more now if we’re going to really start going full throttle. So here I am.”

Don’t you just love it when you can hide your motives behind the truth? Because, yes, Simon did say I need to be here more. And I should be here more if we’re really going to grow Magnolia Properties beyond our wildest dreams. But I’d be a bold-faced liar if I didn’t say a little part of me was coming in here to see Stella.

The woman got under my skin, and I don’t know if there’s a way to get her out. Especially now that I’m going to be seeing her regularly.

I didn’t see her after I told her to walk away yesterday. Once she was out of sight, I made a beeline to my truck and white-knuckled my drive back to Nashville. Was I going ninety miles an hour? Maybe. I’m not sure. I just knew I had to get the hell out of there before I did something stupid.

Like kiss her.

God, I wanted to fucking kiss her. I wanted to prop her up on that desk and run my hands through her hair before pulling her into me. I wanted her legs to wrap around me like they always do. I wanted to feel her smooth skin in my hands.

The second I got home, I took the coldest shower I’ve ever taken. And I’m not proud that it only took a few strokes, accompanied by thoughts of Stella in her fitted green dress today, to make me come harder than I have since—since I last fucked her.

So was coming in here today stupid? Probably. But, between the cold shower and the restless night, I came up with a plan.

Desensitizing.

The only way to get used to something is to have it around you all the time. It made sense at three in the morning with Winnie snoring at the foot of my bed. And it made pretty good sense as I went over my plan while driving down here this morning. My theory is, the more I see Stella, the more desensitized I’ll get. Pretty soon her scent won’t make me instantly hard. After a while her smile won’t knock me on my ass. And eventually, Stella Banks will be nothing more than the woman I work with.

It will be the perfect plan.

Emphasis on will.

Because I know I’m not there yet. It’s why I used the back door instead of coming in the front, where she’d be the first thing I saw. It’s why I’m not going out of my way to say hello to her. It’s why I want Simon to stop talking so I can lock myself in my office for the rest of the day. In my mind, I’m seeing her, so the desensitizing process is starting, but I’m not jumping in to the deep end quite yet.

“Well, great,” he says. “How about you get settled in and then the three of us will meet. I know we chatted a little yesterday, but we should all sit down and go over expectations, what we’re going to be doing, and how we can all work together to make this a well-oiled machine.”

“Sounds good.”

The words are gritty as I shut the door so I can take a few deep breaths. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go all day without interacting with her. She works a hundred feet from me, and the walls are glass. I had just hoped to get through another cup of coffee first.

Yes! Coffee. That’s what I need. A cup of Charlie’s coffee—that I think has some sort of illegal substance in it—is just what I need. I don’t know what it will help with, but is coffee ever the wrong answer?

I drop my laptop bag and head out the back door again without saying a word to Simon. Luckily, Charlie doesn’t mind if I use the back door to the diner, which allows me to slip in quickly and snake my way to the front counter.

“Well look who it is,” Charlie says. “Two days in a row. I never thought I’d see the day.”

Does everyone know I don’t come here two days in a row? “There isn’t coffee like this in Nashville.”

“Sure, that’s what it is,” she says sarcastically. “Large black coffee?”

“You know it.” I pause for a second as I take a look at thepastry case. It changes every day, and honestly, I’ve never paid attention. But today a cake pop that’s listed as birthday cake flavor is staring me dead in the eyes.

Goddamn it…

“And a cake pop. The birthday cake flavor.”

Charlie raises an eyebrow before she gets it for me. “I’ve never taken you for a cake pop man, Emmett Collins.”

“It just looks good,” I say quickly as I reach for my wallet. Charlie doesn’t let me pay, but I always make sure to leave a hefty tip.

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