Page 122 of City of Sin (Men of Manhattan 1)

I shook my head. Like I could protect her? I was the

one that had screwed her over. I had stolen her advertising idea for Sword Body Wash. Which in itself didn't matter. Except that I got the account. John Landry had called me this afternoon and said that they liked my pitch the best. Bee's pitch. She had lost her job and I had just gotten enough money to keep my apartment without my dad's help. She was going to hate me.

It was like I could hear the clock ticking down to our demise. I should just tell her right away and apologize. It was an accident. I just said the first thing that popped in my head. But I had read her notebook without her permission. I ran my hand down my face. Fuck. I couldn't talk my way out of this one. I had already gone over every possibility in my head. Each choice ended up with her leaving. And she couldn't leave.

"Done!" she said.

I almost jumped. I hadn't seen her walk out of her apartment building. "You turned in the keys?"

"Yup. I'm officially homeless." She laughed. "Maybe I should make a sign and join all the homeless people who I gave tons of money to."

I laughed. "You're adorable." I wrapped my arms around her. I didn't want to let go. I wanted to hold her like this, with her smiling and happy, forever. Forever. I felt the tightness in my chest. We only had a little time left.

"I do have one more favor to ask," she said and pulled back. "On the way to Kendra's can we stop by Goodwill? I have some stuff to drop off."

"Sure." I reluctantly let go of her. I watched her climb to the passenger's side of the truck, leap onto the step, and slide into the seat.

I just needed to keep thinking. There had to be a way where she ended up with me. There had to be. I walked around the truck and climbed into the driver's seat. I put the key into the ignition, brining the truck to life. "What are you giving away?"

"Just some things I don't need anymore." She smiled at me.

"Do you want to tell me what really happened today? You said that you had a disagreement with your boss?"

"It's not a big deal. I didn't want that job anyway. Like you said, most ad executives don't start out as secretaries. I was approaching the whole thing wrong."

I gripped my hands on the wheel. "What did that asshole do?"

"Mason?" She lightly touched my arm. "Are you okay? You've seemed a little on edge tonight. Are you still not feeling well?"

"I'm fine." I was never sick. I just couldn't face her last night. But when I had made her cry it felt like a part of me was hurt. I never wanted to see her upset. Then I shouldn't have stolen her idea. Fuck! I gripped the wheel even tighter.

"I really appreciate you helping me move."

I nodded. Of course I was going to help her move. I'd do anything for her. My grip eased on the wheel a bit. That was it. I'd tell her it was time to make things official. Maybe that would make telling her the truth better? I knew she wanted me to be her boyfriend. Isn't that what every girl wanted? To take the next step? I wanted that too.

"You can turn in here," Bee said and pointed to the Goodwill on the corner.

I hit the turn signal and pulled into the donations drop off section.

"I'll grab it. You can just stay in the car."

"All the boxes are heavy. I'll get it." I turned off the car and hopped out onto the pavement.

I heard Bee's door shut and she appeared next to me as I unlocked the door and lifted it up. I picked up the box marked "donations." It was one of the heaviest ones.

"Really, Mason, I can get that." She put her arms out.

I laughed. "Lead the way."

She pressed her lips together and then turned away from me. We walked together toward the drop off door. She opened it for me. As soon as we were inside she rushed past me and started talking to the person standing there.

"Okay, we just have to look through it to give you a tax credit," the lady said.

"Oh, no need," Bee replied. "It's just a bunch of junk."

The lady made a funny face.

"I mean, not junk. It's nice stuff. CDs, DVDs, and some old clothes. Someone will definitely want to buy it. But it's just stuff. Nothing valuable or anything. Just give me the smallest tax credit possible."

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