Page 32 of #Awestruck

Even more shocking? I was totally going to let him because his touch had rendered me unable to resist.

My eyelids drifted shut as he moved in closer, and my breath stuttered when his lips softly brushed against my cheek. I’d been right about the total spontaneous combustion thing earlier. All he’d done was gently kiss me on a place other than my mouth, and my entire body melted. Like my blood was made out of molten lava, and he knew just how to ignite it.

“’Night, Ashton.”

He reached behind me to open my door, waiting for me to get in. Not knowing what else to do or how to process this entire night, I got in the car. I was going to wait for him to leave so I could put my head between my knees and breathe slowly, but he stood there, waiting for me to drive off. Presumably so he knew I would be safe.

Despite the fact that my brain was scrambled and my heart was racing and utterly confused and my stomach had twisted itself into a thousand knots, I drove out of the parking lot and headed home to my condo.

It took me a very long time to fall asleep that night with all the questions that kept running through my head.

Had he told me the truth about what happened in high school?

Did Evan like me? Could I like him? And would any of that matter once he found out my main objective in spending time with him?

And when had I lost total control of my body? It was like it was acting without my permission and doing whatever it wanted.

Why had I deleted the recording?

Did I forgive him? If not, would I be able to? Or was it better to hold on to the anger, to keep some distance between us? I’d lose out on my dream job if I didn’t find somebody to verify that Evan wasn’t celibate.

But the question that concerned me the most was this one: What was I going to do when I saw him again?

CHAPTER TEN

I’d been so dazed by Evan’s cheek kiss that although I’d managed to put his flowers in a vase when I got home, I’d forgotten the water. I added it when I woke up the next morning. Which was later than normal, because I had no alarm. And no phone with said alarm. After searching my entire condo for more than an hour, I discovered I had left my cell phone on the front seat of my car, where it had died. I brought it back in and plugged it into the charger.

Although I knew I should dress up for Tinsley’s tea party so as to fit in with the natives, I was worn out. Emotionally and physically. So I put on some jeans and a nicer shirt than I might normally wear, put my hair up in a bun, and scrubbed my face clean. (My forgetfulness the previous night had also extended to not washing off my makeup.)

Traffic was light on the way to Tinsley’s place. I checked in with her doorman, who nodded when he saw me. “Ms.Bailey! A pleasure to see you again. Mrs.Hale is quite excited to see you. She said to send you right up.”

He walked me over to the elevator and pushed thePbutton for me. I thanked him. I’d never lived in a building with a doorman before. Were they all that enthusiastic? It felt a little weird.

On the ride up I took out my phone, wondering why it had been so quiet all morning. Usually by this point I had at least three different reminders from my mom to not forget about Sunday and our season tickets for the Jacks game. The same thing we did every week they played at home, rain or shine. I completely understood why she thought I might possibly forget. Even though I’d been doing it for over two decades.

And although I had recharged my phone, I hadn’t turned it back on. A few seconds later it started to beep and buzz repeatedly. I looked at my notifications. There were, like, ten missed phone calls from my mother. I needed some kind of automated response that said, “I promise I’ll be there. You can stop nagging me now.”

But strangely enough, there was a series of texts from Brenda that all basically said to call her right away, no matter the time.

There was a text from Aubrey.

What? I had to respond.

I pushedSENDas the doors to Tinsley’s penthouse opened. I had more texts and missed calls, but I’d deal with those later.

First I wanted to take my chance to appreciate Tinsley’s elaborately set-up tea party. My niece had a seriousAlice in Wonderlandobsession (especially the Mad Hatter scene), and this would have made her giddy. I was about to take a picture for her when I got accosted by Nia.

“What is happening?” She was smiling at me, giving me a hug, but her words came out as a hiss under her breath. “All anyone can talk about is how Evan Dawson is engaged.”

Engaged? He’d taken me out to dinner and been all charming and apologetic and hot and sexy, and he was engaged to someone else? “To who?” I demanded.

“To you.”

“Me?” I squeaked, completely stunned. “Trust me, I am not engaged to Evan Dawson.” I was pretty sure I would have remembered if that had happened.

“Not according to the internet. I’ve been texting you all morning because it made no kind of sense. How did you two get engaged?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

---