Page 60 of The Meeting
Her lungs spasmed and her eyes burned.
“You okay?”
She nodded as she tried to pull in air.
He gave her a concerned look as she continued to cough loudly. When the wine cleared out of her lungs, she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. She wiped at them.
“Sorry about that.”
“It happens to the best of us.”
“Logan hung—” She cleared her throat before continuing, “—put them up for me, actually. Abi and I told him where to put them, and then we packed up her stuff while he—” She coughed again, the word getting stuck on her lips “—hung everything.”
He thumped her on the back. “Are you okay?”
She quickly nodded and shifted her gaze away so she wouldn’t blatantly stare at his crotch.
“So Abi is all moved out?”
“As of this morning, yes.”
He leaned back on his heels and took a sip from his glass. Everything seemed awkward between them, which was something she had hoped to avoid. She knew the only way totrulyavoid it was to not sleep with him in the first place. But it wasn’t like she could go back in the past and change it. Not that she’d want to anyway... it was too good for that, even if it was short-lived.
She looked around the small room, unsure of what to say. “Look, Chase—”
“Kailynn—”
They both stopped and laughed as they spoke at the same time.
“Go ahead,” Chase said.
“I don’t want things to be awkward between us, especially now that we’re neighbors.”
He nodded. “I completely agree.”
“So... I’m thinking maybe we should just be neighborly.”
“Oh.” His brows furrowed. “If that’s what you want.”
Was that not what he was thinking? She watched him, waiting to see how he would react. He only put a smile on his face.
“Isn’t it what you want as well?”
He set his wineglass on the table. “Honestly?”
She nodded.
“I want to ask you out on a date.”
Her stomach flip-flopped and she wanted to a do a dance, but she refrained. However, a small smile escaped.
“Really? We’ve barely spoken since we slept together. I just assumed...”
“I know. Work has been very busy. I’ve been working every day for the last few weeks trying to catch up so I could focus some attention on you. I wanted to make sure we could have a great evening without me being preoccupied with work. But if you prefer to keep things friendly—”
“No!” she shouted, catching both of them off guard. Her eyes widened as her face heated.
He laughed. “No?”
