Page 71 of Fierce Storm
It felt wrong to work full days in the Storm office when I wasn’t doing anything for the team, so it made sense to move my work here. It had nothing to do with avoiding the temptation of a beautiful redhead. Nothing at all.
Time passes slowly as I stare at the numbers in front of me, unable to process a single thing as that beautiful redhead haunts my mind. I’m so out of it that when my phone vibrates across the desk, I jolt, my heart racing as though I’ve been caught with my mind wandering where it shouldn’t.
Which is exactly what was happening.
Instead of thinking about the task at hand, I’ve been thinking about Keeley. Replaying her moment with Beckett in the locker room.
It wasn’t even a fucking moment and yet…What the fuck am I doing?
It’s been months since we kissed, and I still can’t stop thinking about the softness of her lips and the light whimper that escaped her.
I can’t have her. Plain and simple.
We work together, she’s my daughter’s closest friend, her goddamn sister-in-law, and more than that, she’s twenty years younger than I am. We’ve been over this.
So why can’t I accept that truth? She has. She seems to have moved on easily. Business as usual.
My phone vibrates again, reminding me I missed a text, and I absentmindedly pick it up, unlocking the screen without looking at the sender.
KEELEY: Hi
Keeley?Hi?My eyes bulge over a two-letter fucking word, and I stare at it for a beat before deciding how to answer. If I was to scroll back through our message chain, I’m certain I’d discover that the last time either one of us texted about something that wasn’t work-related was right around the time that we kissed. Although, since she only said hi, I’m making the assumption that it’s not about work.
SALVATORE: Hi back.
KEELEY: Why is it awkward between us now?
SALVATORE: I didn’t think it was.
KEELEY: You know it is
I laugh at her response though it’s not exactly true. When we’re at work, it’s like nothing has changed. Only we no longer have after-hours working dinner dates, long chats in my office, and we don’t talk about anything personal. She could have a fiancé and I’d have no idea.
Okay, that’s not entirely true because Paige would have mentioned that, most likely in the sense that Easton was grumpy about it. The point is that I don’t really know what’s going on in her life. Like what she’s doing at—I check the time and groan—one thirty in the morning. What the fuck?
SALVATORE: It’s not awkward, though I did think you’d given up on me. As a friend.
There’s so much more I want to say right now, but it’s none of my business.
KEELEY: I haven’t given up on you. As a friend
SALVATORE: Okay. This is work-related then?
KEELEY: Definitely not. I don’t talk about work when I’m drinking
Fuck. I reread her previous text and laugh at myself. She hasn’t given up on meas a friend, just as someone to give her more than that.
SALVATORE: Where are you?
KEELEY: Wouldn’t you like to know?
Yes. Dammit.
SALVATORE: That’s why I asked, Keeley.
KEELEY: I’m out. With friends
KEELEY: Actually, I WAS out with friends, but they left
