Page 9 of Hard To Leave

Chapter 3

Chloe

“So, let me get this straight,”Kristen said, throwing her pen on the counter. “He hit on you when he was on a date?” She let out a loud laugh but caught herself. “Like, with another woman.”

I kept my back to hers while I continued to roll the silverware into the white napkins. “Yup,” I said, trying to distract myself and not let on how much it bothered me that I didn’t follow my instincts about him.

“Damn, if that doesn’t scream man-whore, then I don’t know what does.” Her voice softened as she added extra sugar to her coffee. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I kind of pushed him on you when he came in here.”

“Please, I might have had a tiny,” I stopped and inched my fingers to demonstrate how small it was, “moment of weakness, but thank God it was so short lived.”

The bell over the door chimed, and Kristen’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “Um, it’s a good thing you feel that way because he just walked in,” she whispered quietly.

My body stiffened, and then my back went completely straight. Slowly, I turned around as he gave me a small wave. I rolled my eyes and looked at Kristen. “Do not let him sit in my section. I’m going to busy myself in the back. Let me know when he’s gone.”

I hurried to the storage room behind the kitchen, trying to get as far away from the dining room and Jack as possible.

I grabbed a pair of scissors and started cutting into the cardboard boxes that were just delivered. I unpacked the new salt and pepper shakers one by one and tried to ignore the buzz of excitement that was coursing through my nerves.

Keeping busy was just what I needed. What I didn’t need was for Jack to flash me that lady-killer smile, the one that got my attention last night. It shouldn’t have bothered me so much that he was on a date and it only irritated me even more that it did.

I should have just let go, and put aside my confusing feelings. Instead, I did the last thing I should have done. I went home and stalked his Facebook page. I was pathetic. As it turned out, his profile was private, so I didn’t get to uncover too much while snooping. However, his Twitter account was a whole other story. And looking him up online ended up being a BIG mistake.

I knew nothing about Twitter. You might as well just speak to me in a different language. I was so excited to stumble upon his account that I accidentally clicked a button and started following him. Between my lack of Twitter knowledge and the number of drinks I consumed last night, I couldn’t figure out how to unfollow him. And based on how many times a day he tweets, he probably got the notification before I even had a chance to log out of my account. An account I didn’t even use.

My morning would have been a lot less stressful if I had just stayed off the internet last night.

It didn’t take long for Kristen to find me. “Here,” she said, holding out her hand. “He wanted me to give this to you.”

My eyes narrowed, and I stopped and stared at what looked like a business card. “Whatever the hell it is, I don’t want it.”

She placed her black painted fingernails on her hip. “Aren’t you even curious as to what it is?” she asked.

I was curious as hell, but I wasn’t going to admit it. All I knew was that the mere sight of that man had me running in the other direction.

“Nope.” I shook my head back and forth like a child refusing to eat her vegetables.

“Liar.” She practically shoved the card in my face. “It has his personal cell on the back. For what it’s worth, I think he really likes you.” Her gaze got all gooey.

I stood up and dusted off my shorts. Yes, I felt a connection to him, but I couldn’t ignore all the warning signs.

“Seriously? He’s a player. What happened to him being a man-whore?”

She shrugged her shoulders. It was obvious she had changed her mind about him. “He can be very persuasive. I can see how you had a moment of weakness.

She really needed to work on her “guy-dar.” She was too easily persuaded. I waved her off. “Well, if he’s so great, then by all means, keep his number for yourself.”

“I would if I thought I had a chance. He seems pretty determined to get to you. I think he really likes you.”

I scoffed. “He doesn’t even know me. We’ve talked for like fifteen minutes, tops. He’s like a child who doesn’t like being told no.”

“Well, maybe you should go tell him no yourself.” Her gray eyes challenged me. “That is if you think you’ve got enough bullets to keep shooting him down.”

My head cocked to the side. Challenge accepted. I snatched the paper card out of her hands and stormed toward the dining room. The heels of my shoes smacked across the tile floor, clicking loudly like a woman on a mission. There was no need to pretend that this was anything more than it wasn’t.

I wasn’t going to let him get to me. I wasn’t going to let him flirt with me. I would kindly tell him that I wasn’t interested and send him on his merry little way.

I ran my hands down my wrinkled shirt, thanks to my iron shitting the bed this morning, and smooth down my hair. My patience was hanging on by a thread, but as soon as my eyes landed on Jack, I blinked and took a minute to admire him.

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