Page 59 of The One You Want

“I’d like to see it,” I said impulsively. “The appleorchard.”

I looked up to see him eyeing me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “That’s another reason I love autumn,” he finally said, and his smile looked wistful. “Nothing like picking apples and drinkingcider.”

We stared at each other for a long moment, neither of us saying anything, and I couldn’t help but feel like some unnamed, invisible cord was stretching in the silence between us, growing thicker, tighter, the longer we satthere.

From under the coffee table, Ernie let out an unholy wail and I jumped, startled. From the kitchen, there was a muffled crashing noise and I groaned, closing my eyes. “Freakingcats.”

“What are they doing in there?” Grant asked, pulling himself to his knees as another, louder crash sounded from thekitchen.

“Destroying my things. It’s how they get me to do their bidding. Furrydemons.”

I crawled off the floor to go see what they might want and Grant bent down to grab Ernie, cradling the cat to his chest. “You’re not a demon, are you?” he cooed. “You’re a sweet little fluffball.”

“That fluff ball clawed your neck a few minutes ago,” I remindedhim.

“He was just trying to get my attention, weren’t you?” he asked the cat in an exaggerated baby voice. I rolled my eyes, trying to bite back a laugh, and headed into the kitchen to fill up water bowls and administer treats—whatever it took to keep thefluff ballsfrom murdering me in mysleep.

Grant stuck around to help me clean up the take-out containers and load up the dishwasher. We worked together in comfortable silence, Grant occasionally breaking the quiet with a soft whistle. I found myself peeking at him from the corner of my eye, thinking about how we’d wrestled for the notebook. For a second, it had almost seemed like he wanted to kissme.

I should probably be worried about how much that idea appealed tome.

Grant was just my friend. A really good friend—one who was willing to do me this huge favor just to help me out. I didn’t want to mess that up, especially not so soon after I had nearly ruinedus.

Besides, Grant didn’t like me like that. We’d known each other for a long time and he’d never once showed the slightest inkling of interest. I had probably just imagined he was thinking about kissing me. Maybe it was wishful thinking, or maybe it was yet another example of Jenny Hillman being clueless about men. Hadn’t I proved I had no idea what I was doing in that area when I embarrassed myself so much with Dr.Miller?

But when I walked Grant out, he stopped at the door and pulled me into a quick hug and just like that, all those crazy ideas about kissing him came flooding back. He felt so good, his arms strong around me, heartbeat steady and sure under mycheek.

“Thanks for dinner,” I murmured, mentally crossing my fingers that he couldn’t hear the breathlessness in my voice. “And helping me with all the lionessnonsense.”

He chuckled and I could feel the vibration through his chest. It felt good, intimate in a way I wasn’t expecting. “Thank you for theentertainment.”

He let me go and it took everything in me not to cling to his chest to prolong the hug. I even managed a bright smile when I said goodbye, but as soon as the door was closed, I leaned against it,wincing.

I needed to get a hold of myself. I had been down this road once before—letting myself believe that a guy was into me, letting myself think that I had a chance with someone like Dr. Miller. But I had just been fooling myself. A deluded, silly, inexperienced littlegirl.

I couldn’t put myself through that again. No, the point of all of this was to figure out my calling, get a good job, and make sure I wasn’t dependent on my grandparents ever again. I needed to stick to theplan.

It wasn’t until much later, when I was climbing into bed, that I remembered Grant hadn’t let me see his quizresults.