Promise Me (The Me Novellas) (13 page)

We crossed Mission, passing the Denny’s restaurant on the corner. The entryway was crammed with teenagers and I smiled. I’d spent a fair number of nights squashed into one of the booths there, sharing plates of french fries and drinking glass after glass of diet Coke.

A block later and we were standing in front of my car. I hunted through my purse, trying to locate my keys. I found them and held them in my hand and turned to Dex.

“Thanks for dinner,” I said.

He grinned. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.”

“I’m glad I did.” And I was. I was glad that I hadn’t gone to Sage’s and glad that I hadn’t responded to any of Grant’s messages.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “So
…”

“
So,” I said. “So, I’ll give you a call tomorrow? We can do a little more planning?”

He looked at me and smiled. “Yeah. Absolutely.”

I nodded. “OK.

Dex opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He took his hands out of his pockets, crossed his arms, then shoved them back in his pockets again.

“Is everything OK?” I asked.

“
I…” He faltered for a minute, his gaze darting from me to the ground and then back to me. “I just…I had a good time with you. Yesterday morning. Tonight. You’re easy to be with. To talk to.”

I nodded. I felt exactly the same way.

“And, I gotta admit,” he said. “When I started talking to you at Mesa the other day? It wasn’t because of your bracelet.”

“
No?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Then why?”

“
Because I thought you were cute.”

My pulse quickened.

“I don’t want to make things awkward,” he said, a small smile on his lips. “But it would feel more awkward if I didn’t acknowledge it. Especially if we’re going to be working together.”

“
OK.”

“
And I’m not asking for anything,” he said quickly. “I just…I just wanted you to know.”

Maybe there was a little rum still in my system. Or maybe I was reacting to what I’d overheard about Grant. Or maybe I was just acting on my own attraction to him.

I leaned close, stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. His mouth was warm and soft and a heat that had been missing for far too long coursed through me as he molded his lips to mine. His arms snaked around my waist and I pressed myself against him.

“
I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I murmured when I was finally able to tear my mouth away from his. I hadn’t been kissed so thoroughly in months. Years.

“
It probably isn’t,” he whispered back. “But I’ve been torn between wanting to kiss you and talk to you since the day we first met.” His hands pressed into my back. “I knew talking to you would be amazing. And I was pretty sure kissing you would be, too.”

I took a step back and he dropped his hands, shoved them back into his pockets.

“So now what?” I asked.

“
Technically, I’m your boss,” he said, grimacing. “I’m not sure how the human resources department will feel about this.”

My heart sank.

“But fortunately, I’m the human resources department, too,” he said, a slow smile creeping across his face. “I just checked. We’re good.”

I laughed and shook my head.

His smile disappeared quickly, though. “But I’m serious. I don’t want you thinking I offered you a job just so I could kiss you. I didn’t. I really want to work with you.”

I didn’t say anything, but I liked hearing that.

“But I’ll fire you if I have to,” he said, stepping close to me again. “Because I really like kissing you.” He leaned forward and kissed me softly.

I pulled away after a moment, my heart beating out of control. “I think we can find a way to work it out.”

He smiled, his lips brushing against mine. “Good. You’re officially hired.”

And then he kissed me again.

TWENTY

There was a car parked outside of my house when I got home. A pristine white BMW, engine turned off, the driver’s side window rolled halfway down. Grant was opening the door before I had a chance to kill the engine.

“Emma.”

I stepped out of the car, my purse in one hand, my keys in the other. “What?”

“I’ve been trying to reach you all night.”

“
I wasn’t available.” I stalked past him but he reached a hand out and grabbed my forearm, stopping me.

“
I have nothing to say to you,” I snapped.

“
Fair enough,” he said, his expression pained. “But I have something to say to you. Will you at least listen? Five minutes. That’s all I’m asking for.”

I glared at him. “Three. You get three.”

He sighed.

I stared pointedly at his watch. “Time’s ticking.”

“I made a mistake,” he said, his words coming out in a rush. “A party. I was drunk. And I know that’s not an excuse. But I missed you. You were thousands of miles away. I couldn’t talk to you, couldn’t contact you.”

“
And couldn’t have sex with me, either. Which is why you hooked up with someone else.”

He winced. “I made a mistake,” he repeated.

“Twice. At least according to Jamie. You’re a smart guy, Grant. You usually don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“
I slept with her once,” he said. “The other time, she came on to me. And I told her no. Because of you.”

“
But you didn’t tell me, “ I said. “And that doesn’t sound exactly right, based on what I heard. But either way, you didn’t come clean. And you didn’t want me working at the hotel because you knew I’d find out. That’s why you didn’t turn in my application, isn’t it?”

He paled a little.

“You know what?” I asked, my voice rising a little. “I’m glad you did it. I’m glad you slept with her. Glad you lied about turning in the application. And glad I was able to find everything out.”

“
You are?”

I nodded emphatically. “Yep. Because it helped me realize a ton of things. One, you really are an asshole. Sage was right all along.”

His eyebrows pinched together and he started to say something but I cut him off.

“
And two? If I hadn’t found out, I wouldn’t have broken up with you. Obviously. Which means I wouldn’t have gone to dinner with a guy tonight.”

“
What?”

“
And I wouldn’t have spent four hours talking to this amazing person, realizing how much I have in common with him. I wouldn’t have had a conversation that completely altered the course of my life. I wouldn’t have let myself see just how hot he was and how into me he was. And I definitely wouldn’t have kissed him when I said goodbye.”

A muscle twitched in Grant’s jaw.

“So, thanks,” I said. “Thanks for everything.”

I pushed past him. My heart was hammering out of control and my cheeks were flushed, but not from anger. Well, maybe a little bit of anger. I was still pissed off at him for cheating on me. But, more than anything, I was excited. Ecstatic.

“Emma, come on…” Grant said.

“
No, I’m serious, Grant,” I said, turning to face him. “Thank you.”

And I was. I’d been coasting along, too afraid to break away from what was comfortable. But what had been comfortable wasn’t right for me. I’d known that, but I hadn’t been able to break away from it. Hearing that conversation in the hotel, that had been the catalyst for me. That was the push I'd needed to get my life into the gear I wanted it to be in.

I wouldn’t let it happen again. I’d keep my eye on what I wanted, whether it was Dex or Mexico or who knew what. But I wouldn’t coast again. I wouldn’t take the safe route. I’d take the route that interested me, even if I didn’t know what I’d find. I wouldn’t let myself down again.

I would keep that promise to myself.

THE END

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to Pam at Proofed Prose and David at Painted Motion Designs for their expertise in editing and cover design. Thanks to the fabulous Miller kids who came back from the Philippines solely to play with mine so I could find time to finish this book. And to my own kids, for recognizing when Mommy was in the writing cave. And Minecraft. Thank you, thank you to the makers of Minecraft.

A very special thank you to Chris and Zach from Living On One (
http://livingonone.org
) for providing the inspiration to write this story. Their documentary is amazing. Ah-mazing. I had the great fortune to see the showing at the University of Minnesota and to talk at length with Chris after the show. Their passion and enthusiasm for what they're doing is both infectious and inspiring. I highly recommend checking out their web site to see just what you can do to help the one billion people across the globe who literally live on one dollar a day.

And last, but absolutely not least, thank you to Jeff. I couldn't write a single word without you.

MORE TITLES BY LIZ APPEL

Liz Appel is the best-selling romance writer of PROMISE ME and four other titles in the Me novella series. She also writes contemporary romance under the name Shelby Gates and YA/Middle Grade under the name Beth Balmanno.

You can find her online at:

http://lizappel.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLizAppel

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