Page 132 of City of Sin (Men of Manhattan 1)

I sighed. "I know."

"Now let me get you that cup of tea." She patted my knee and stood up.

I knew what I wanted. But I couldn't shake the feeling that Mason didn't want the same thing. It wasn't like I could make him fall in love with me. He had made it perfectly clear where he stood.

Chapter 64

Bee

My phone started buzzing. I yawned and swiped my finger across the screen. "Hello?"

"So now you're answering phone calls?" Marie's voice cut through the line like a knife.

"Hello to you, too, Marie." I had been screening all my calls for the past week. Just because I knew what I wanted didn't mean I had enough confidence to go get it.

"Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?"

"My mom told me you called the house a few days ago and talked to her. You knew where I was."

"Yeah, no thanks to you. Kendra and I have been taking turns calling you a million times a day."

"I've missed you guys too."

Marie laughed. "Does that mean you're coming back?" The edge in her voice was gone. She sounded like her normal, sweet self again.

"Of course I'm coming back."

"Good. You should probably make that this morning. You have an interview at 2 o'clock."

"Wait, what?"

"Kendra said someone called with an ad job opening. You weren't there so she pretended to be you. Your interview is today."

"Really? What agency?"

"I forget the name. Stop moping around and get your butt back to the city, Bee."

I laughed. "I'm on my way."

***

Mason had called a few times the first two days I had skipped town. He never left a message and then his calls had stopped. Normally that would have deterred me. But I wanted to think with my heart for a change. And my heart said that if he really was done with me, he wouldn't have called at all. He had called because he cared too. It didn't matter that his calls had stopped. He probably wanted me to reach out to him. To let him know that I wanted him too. But I couldn't talk to him over the phone. It needed to be face to face. I'd do it tonight. I was determined to win him back. Right after I aced this interview.

I slid my key into the lock and opened up the door. Kendra was sitting on the couch in pajamas. A bowl of popcorn was on her lap and she was watching some daytime soap opera.

"Kendra?"

She jumped, sending a few popcorn kernels onto the floor. "Oh my god, you're back!" She put the bowl down, ran over, and gave me a big hug. "Marie said she talked to you. I don't know why, I just didn't think you'd come back. I mean, I hoped you would. I was worried you wouldn't."

"You know that dumb boys can't scare me away from this city."

She laughed and released me from her hug. "Well I definitely didn't think you'd choose to come back on Valentine's Day of all days."

"Oh." I hadn't even been paying attention to the days. Was it really Valentine's Day? My heart sunk a little. Mason hadn't called me in several days. What if he was spending Valentine's Day with someone else? "Happy Valentine's Day, Kendra," I said as cheerily as possible.

"Well, that didn't sound sincere at all. He comes by every night after work, you know." She pointed over to several vases of flowers sitting on the

counter.

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