Page 20 of Hard to Resist

“You can’t finish this all yourself.”

“Oh yeah? Wanna bet?”

I leap up and grab one of the bagels, peeling off the paper wrap to reveal a stunning bacon, egg, and cheese bagel with some sort of creamy rose-colored sauce. Damn, that looks good.

“Aren’t you going to call him?”

I pause, inches away from taking a bite, and purse my lips. Nerves prickle their way through my veins.

“Can’t I just text him?”

“No.”

Ugh. The thought of calling has my palms getting all sweaty. There’s something so much more personal about that. If I callhim, I can’t plan my responses. I can’t take the time to mull over what he says and analyze what it means. I’ll probably just end up speaking total nonsense and oversharing way too much.

Hannah grabs my phone from the couch and holds it out to me.

When I do nothing, she unlocks it and begins typing in the phone number.

“Wait—” But before I have a chance to stop her, she’s hit dial.

The ringing noise echoes around our apartment like a warning signal.

“Hello?”

My breathing stops.

“Hello?”

I stare at the screen, mesmerized by the gravelly voice that just came out of it.

Hannah kicks me in the shin, eyes widening as she shoves the phone in my face.

“Ow. Um, hi.”

Oh my God, why do I sound like that?

“Verity?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

He lets out a deep chuckle, and my heart does a flip in my chest.

“Well, hey.”

“Hey back at you. Um. Thank you for the flowers and the food, and for the ride home last night. I mean, thank you for everything last night, not just the car, but, you know, the food and the drinks and the whole taking care of me so I didn’t get kidnapped on the subway even though there was like a three percent chance of that happening and I’ve done it plenty of times before without any potential murderers claiming me as a victim.”

I’m rambling. Again.

“I’m glad you got home safely.”

“Yep.” I swallow, trying to think of what else to say.

I seriously hate phone calls.

“Are you busy tomorrow?”

I look at Hannah. I have no idea what we have planned.

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