Page 86 of The Hookup
It wasn’t love. Absolutely, definitely not. But it no longer felt like just a hookup, either.
He hadn’t called her since that night after the wedding, but not a day had passed that he didn’t think of her. He’d purposely stopped himself from getting in touch because the feeling of getting used to having her around scared him.
But he didn’t want to end up like Xavier, not realizing what he had until he risked losing her. And now, the idea of seeing her, or making it up to her, made his heart beat faster.
He opened the drawer and saw the gifts he’d decided to give her for Valentine’s Day. He didn’tdoValentine’s Day, ordinarily. But he could mention that he’d bought them just after Christmas, confess that he’d felt like a real douchebag that he hadn’t gotten her anything. Whatever. He’d used it to try and put things right.
He slipped the jewelry box into his jacket pocket, and picked up the dainty gift bag. Grabbing his keys, he considered texting her to see where she was, then decided against it. She had avoided coming to the bar, and he hadn’t been in touch. Things between them were probably a little icy. It would be best to turn up unannounced at her place, and unless she had found another watering hole, he assumed she’d be at home.
Twenty minutes later, he was at her door with a gift bag and a bottle of the best champagne.
But no flowers.
Damn.
He’d forgotten the flowers.
This looked like a typical booty call, and today of all days. Just as he was about to turn around and leave to get the flowers, she opened the door. Her face was a picture of surprise and shock, but she seemed to compose herself quickly. He was starting to wonder if this had been as great as idea as he had first envisioned.
“Hey?” She said it like a question, and stared at him with awhat-the hell-are-you-doing-hereexpression.
“Hi.” He smiled, tilting his head slightly, trying to gauge at which end of the in-deep-shit scale he was at. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, it seemed he was at a 10.
“You should have called,” she remarked, stiffly, reminding him that their hookups had never been spontaneous.
“I wanted to surprise you.” He handed her the gift bag. “For you,” he said, noting her hesitation in taking it.
“What is it?”
“Take it and you’ll see,” he insisted, dangling the bag in front of her. She was cold, and understandably so, but he had plans to fix that.
“You shouldn’t have.”
“I wanted to.”
She shrugged as she took the bag. “Thanks, but you shouldn’t have…”
He followed her in and briefly wondered if he’d caught her at a busy time, that she might have been working, but there was no obvious paperwork or laptop in sight. She placed the gift bag on the table, and walked away without looking through it.
Things were not looking good.
“Sorry,” he said. “I should have called, first. Is this a bad time?”
Her faced turned slightly pink. “I can’t,” she said looking away, “It’s my…I’m on…my period.”
He remained rooted to where he stood, her words confusing him and derailing his thoughts completely. The whole moment was steeped in awkwardness, as they stood a foot apart, in her living room.
“I…I…” He didn’t know what to say, especially since his motive for coming here tonight hadn’t been to have sex. “That’s too bad.”
Her brows knotted together, and he realized too late that it had been the wrong thing to say. “I mean,” he said, fumbling around trying to find a way to redeem himself. “It’s okay, it’s not why I’m here.”
She folded her arms, and stared back at him and he wished she would say something but she didn’t. She seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
“Do you need anything?” he asked, hating the silence, and for once feeling as though he didn’t have control of the conversation. “Can I get you anything?”
“I’m on my period, Luke. I’m not sick.”
“I know.” He coughed lightly. “I know that.” What was he supposed to say?Get better?She’d only bite his head off. “I’ll—uh, I’ll see you around. Call me.” What an idiot. Why had he gone and said that? She seemed so hostile, and so unwilling to even give him a shred of a smile, that he couldn’t find a way of salvaging the visit.
