Page 8 of My Hottest Obsession

Don’t say it, Diary! I’m not even going to turn around and look at him. I can’t even think about being with Boss Man.

Okay, I can imagine it, but it can’t happen. I need this job too much.

“Are you headed to lunch?Want to grab something with me?” Adrien asks, and I slam my diary shut.

“No, I’m meeting Lottie. She’s probably waiting for me,” I tell him.

“Are you okay?” He asks with a concerned frown.

“I’m fine,” I tell him as I tuck my diary into my purse and stand. “See you in an hour.”

I step onto the elevator before he can respond. The truth is that I’m a little nervous about this lunch with Lottie. She’s been begging to set me up for the last few weeks. She brought it up again when I went over to their house the other night. I’ve been holding her off, but she’s my best friend, and I know that my time is running out.

Maybe that’s why when I head down to the lobby to meet her for lunch, I’m not at all surprised to see her standing there, talking to some man. He’s attractive in a boring, conventional way, but he does nothing for me. Only one man has ever been able to turn me on, and I just left him up on the twelfth floor.

I hurry behind one of the columns in the lobby before they can see me and take a deep breath.

What the heck do I do now?

I really don’t want to sit through a lunch date. I need to figure out a way to get Lottie off my back. She’s been all gung ho about setting me up ever since she got with Anson.

I don’t really blame her. She’s got her happily ever after, and she wants me to be just as happy. It doesn’t help that her brother, Rhett, and all of their friends at Knight Security are all settled down and in love. I’m the last one in our friend group that’s single.

The easiest option would be to lie and tell her that I’m seeing someone, but I know Lottie. She would be hounding me, begging me to meet him or for me to give her details. She would never believe that I would hide something like this from her either, so it would have to be a new relationship or with someone that I’ve known for a while.

My mind flashes to Adrien, and I shake my head. That can’t happen.

I can’t let Lottie set me up, either. I can barely manage to pay my bills and find time to hang out with my friends. I don’t need to try to add dating to the mix. That would only complicate things even more.

Besides, it’s not really fair to date someone when I have feelings for Adrien. Feelings that I can never, ever act on.

I peek out from behind the column and sigh when I see Lottie is still with the guy. She looks so excited to introduce me to him, and a pit forms in my stomach.

I should just kiss someone. The first person that I see. I’ll tell her that it’s still new, that we’re going out for the second time this weekend. Then things will fizzle out, and I’ll tell her that I can’t bear another heartbreak again so soon. That should give me a few months of her leaving me alone.

I peek out again and see that Lottie is looking around for me now. It’s now or never. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

Just do it. Just grab some guy, apologize for kissing him, and lay one on him really quick. Lottie will see, and I can get out of my lunch date.

With my eyes still closed, I take a deep breath, step out from behind the column and run right into someone. I open my eyes, see a black suit, and swallow hard.

“Sorry about this,” I tell him.

My eyes flutter closed as I grab the back of his neck, rise up on my tiptoes, and kiss him.

His lips are soft but firm beneath mine, and after a moment of shock, his hands wrap around my waist, and he kisses me back.

Butterflies take flight in my stomach, and heat floods my veins as he takes control of the kiss. One of his hands runs up my back and tangles in my hair. He tugs on it slightly, sending tingles over my scalp, and I moan quietly, my grip on him tightening.

He tugs me closer to him, and lightning hits when his hard, lean body presses up against my soft curves.

His tongue runs over my bottom lip, and I open for him eagerly. He slips his tongue into my mouth to tangle with mine, and I moan again, louder this time. He tastes like cinnamon and coffee, and I love the taste instantly.

“Fuck,” he moans against my lips, and I can only nod in agreement.

He dives back in, his tongue plundering my mouth as he backs me up against the pillar that I was just hiding behind.

I’ve never been kissed before, but if I had known it would be like this, I would have tried it earlier. I always thought that kissing would be awkward. I never wanted anyone all up in my business like that. I was worried it would be clumsy and sloppy, but this guy is the opposite. I’m too wrapped up in the kiss to be self-conscious, and this guy is smooth. He knows what he’s doing.

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