Page 22 of D.I.E.T. (Did I Eat That?)

“Yes.” I nodded. “Until May,” I answered.

“Sweetheart,sunshine, I might be wrong, but I think your passport only stayed valid for five years. Even if I’m wrong, it would’ve expired on your last birthday.”

“Are you kidding me? I just ruined my best friend’s wedding. I promised her I’d be there… How could I have been so stupid?” I rambled on and just kept rambling. “More worried about getting up steps than actually getting to the location. How am I supposed to tell her?”

“There’s still time. You can apply for an expedited passport—don’t worry. Worrying’s bad for digestion and I want you to enjoy the meal. It’ll be fine, promise.”

Don’t worry? How could I not worry?

“If you go online, you can set up an appointment time, then we can go get your passport paperwork filed tomorrow.” Sinjin reached over the basket to pull me a little closer to him, his arm wrapped around my shoulder. I leaned my head on his.

“You’re so wonderful. How is it that you’re still single?”

“I was in a relationship for three years. Actually, thought about asking her to marry me,” he said, and I didn’t really care to be hearing that. He’d loved someone enough to want to marry her. I supposed that was unrealistic of me to expect any less. Women noticed a man like Sinjin. “She broke up with me before I ever got the chance to do so. Said I spent too much time thinking about work and not enough time with her. We went on a few trips together, but she had expensive tastes and it cost money, so yes, I had to work. I suppose she was right, though. I do get a little work-obsessed. Especially now that Futures Technologies is merging with Communicant Network. It’s a multibillion-dollar deal and I can never get a hold of Brandon. He’s always off galivanting somewhere in the world. The problem is, with it being his company, I need his approval on things.”

“Yeah, I totally get it,” I replied. “Work is important.”

“Not as important as people.” He sipped on his bottle of water. “I’ve definitely learned that since my breakup.”

He still sounded sad about his breakup, but I liked that it’d made him less work-driven, which was proven in him wanting to spend so much time with me.

We finished our dinner watching the stars and the snow blowing and twisting up off of the frozen water, and unfortunately far too soon, Sinjin drove me back to Affinity salon. He kissed me in the parking lot, and if I thought the other ones were the best kisses I’d ever received, I was wrong because for this one, there were no words. He just kept upping his kissing game. I slid out of the truck, my boots hitting the snow crunching underneath, and I tripped over my own feet, still dizzy from Sinjin. I waved as I walked into the salon and he waited until the door shut behind me before he drove off.

I clocked back in, hanging up my coat and purse, waiting for my next client to arrive. That was how it went until nine, well, actually ten, because I had to clean up for the night.

After making the drive home, I parked in front of my apartment building, trudged up the walk to unlock the door, and stepped inside my empty home. I didn’t even have a cat. Why didn’t I have a cat? What kind of lonely, solitary existence had I been living? After changing into my pajamas and washing my face down, I plopped down on my sofa to fire up my laptop and I went to the Secretary of State’s webpage, reserving an appointment time, after which I sent Sinjin a quick text, not only letting him know I’d made the appointment, but the time.

My phone immediately lit up with Sinjin’s name.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey, sunshine, how’re you doing?”

“Fine. I didn’t mean to bother you. I just wanted to let you know that I got the appointment made so I can get my passport up-to-date.”

“No bother, sweetheart. You’re never a bother.”

“Well, you called, so I figured you might’ve thought there was something wrong.”

“I called because I knew you were home and I wanted to hear your voice.” Okay, so there might’ve been some major swooning going on. He called because he wanted to hear my voice? “You know what else?” he asked.

“No. What else?”

“I wish you were lying here next to me instead of on the other end of the phone. I’ve got a pretty big comfy bed. It’s perfect for two people, especially if one of those two people is you, and the other of those two people is me.”

The man just had a way about him, always making me laugh. A man who made me laugh went straight to the front of the line. If the man happened to be sweet, kind and devilishly handsome, he got a line all to himself. And Lord help me, Sinjin stood in that line all to himself.

“Well, I’ve got a secret for you too,” I said in reply.

“Really? What is it?” he asked.

“I’m really glad I met you.”

“Well, that’s not much of a secret.”Hello, Mr. Cocky.

“Okay, how about this? Not only am I really glad I met you, but I’m glad I was smart enough to ask you to go to Kami’s wedding with me.” Before I could stop myself, truths just kept spilling. “Ooh—and another secret,” I spewed. “Your kisses are the best kisses of my life.” Now why on Earth did I admit that out loud?Stupid.Stupid, Geet, I chided myself.Why not just put it all out there? He’s going to think you’re desperate.

“No kidding?”

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