Page 55 of 28 Dates

She rushes to me, breath panting, cheeks hot pink. She doesn’t have a coat on.

She rubs her hands together ferociously to warm them, and it takes everything in me not to dig out my own gloves, or give her my coat. There’s no way her thin blue sweater is warm enough for her.

“Hey,” she says, and I swear her cheeks turn darker. “You weren’t even going to say hi?”

Me? This ismyfault? I scoff. “You seemed busy, Caitlin.”

I can’t hold back the pain in my voice. I’ve never actually considered myself a pussy, but I might have to check out the status of my body equipment. She’s ripping my heart out with her bare hands, and she’s not even aware she holds it.

Her hair is held back in one chunk at her temple, the rest falling in a beautiful sheet of red past her shoulders. With the sun finally shining, it almost sparkles like vibrant copper, and everything about her expression draws me to her.

I lift my chin. “Are you seeing him?”

“Oh. Well, it’s just lunch. He asked, and I thought I should meet him in person to tell him we’re not going anywhere.”

Sweet, sweet relief pulses in my veins.

She tilts her head to the side and chews on the corner of her bottom lip. Fuck, what is it about that move that makes me want to slam my mouth to hers and be the one biting that lip? I have to get out of here.

“You’re not?”

“No.”

“Why?” I choke out the word.

She releases her lip and presses her lips together. Her smile is so sweet, barely there, and gone as she runs her hand through her hair while saying, “Well, I guess…can we talk about this tonight? Do you still want me to stop by?”

Right. Funny how a few minutes ago I was looking forward to seeing her with the nervous anticipation of a teenager hoping to score on prom night. Now it’s all muddled. I might have to rethink tonight’s plan.

“Yeah. Still six-thirty?”

Her smile softens. A pink blooms on her cheeks. It might be the cold, but as she steps closer to me and presses her hand to my forearm, heat sweeps through me. She rolls to her toes, and her warm breath skims my cheeks right before her lips brush against the hinge of my jaw. Holy shit. My hand goes to her waist because it’s Caitlin and I can’tnottouch her while she’s seducing me sweetly.

“See you later, Jonas. And thanks again for taking care of me the other night.”

My fingers grip her waist tighter, digging in through the thin fabric of her sweater, and she shivers. That is most definitely not from the cold.

Please…for once let the look in her eyes be more about sex than friendship.

“See you then.” She releases my arm, and I reluctantly let her go. Back to finish having lunch with another man who might be a nice guy, but I still want to punch him in the face.

“I should get back. Logan has a short lunch break.”

“Hurry inside. You’re getting cold.”

Her smile turns sweet, and the bloom on her cheeks darkens. “Later, Jonas.” She raises her hand, and I nod my head, crossing my arms over my chest as she turns and heads back inside. From the windows, I catch Logan’s gaze on me. I glare at him, unable to hide it, and in that split second before Caitlin returns to him, understanding washes over him. He dips his chin.

Manspeak through a crowd and windows. He’s conceding to me, and he’d better.

I might have just freaked out, but there’s no way in hell I’m losing sight of the end goal, and that’s that by tonight, Caitlin will definitely know she has other options than some stupid fucking dating app, and I’ve been standing in front of her, waiting, for too damn long to back out now.

I head back to the bar and whip up some food for me there since my lunch plans at Southside were derailed.

I’m back in my office, tucked away and finishing the upcoming schedules so I can plan out the rest of the evening, when my phone has a message from the dating app.

I’ve ignored and swiped “decline” on every message and profile to pop up except for Caitlin’s, so I already know who the message is from before I read it.

A smile breaks out on my face I can’t hide, once I do.

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