Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
His head fell forward. “Oh fuck.”
“Thought so,” Ian said sympathetically. “But for what it’s worth, it worked, right? You’ve steered clear of her.”
“Of course.” Kennedy sat back and stretched out his legs. “As have you.”
Ian smiled. “I always wondered if that was part of it—if that pact was not only to remind yourself but to make sure you didn’t have to watch Matt or me make a move.”
“You make it sound like I’ve been obsessed with the woman. I’m not Matt, panting after Sabrina.”
“No,” Ian said slowly. “That was a different thing altogether. And yet . . .”
“And yet what?”
Ian held up his hands. “And yet here we are in my office, talking about Kate and that pact when we should be working. Help me understand why.”
Kennedy glared at him in response.
“Or not,” Ian said. “But if you’re not going to explain what’s got you all worked up, at least let me get back to—”
“I can’t stop thinking about her,” Kennedy blurted out. “I can’t stop thinking about Kate. There. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Ian blew out a long breath. “Not really, no.”
“Because of Claudia? I’m breaking up with her.”
“Because of a lot of reasons,” Ian replied. “Look, the pact may have been your idea, but it wasn’t a bad one. I mean, it’s Kate. We can’t go messing with her.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Kennedy said, standing up and pacing again. “You think I want . . . whatever this is?”
“All right. So what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know. Get over it.”
“I think you have to. Your window closed.”
“I never even had a window,” Kennedy groused. Ian looked away quickly, and Kennedy halted his pacing at the telling gesture. “Did I?”
Ian started to pick up his desk phone, but Kennedy reached out and slammed it down. “Hell no. Who are you calling?”
“Matt. I always envisioned having backup for this moment.”
“What moment? What am I missing?”
Ian looked at him steadily, then shook his head. “You sure I can’t bring Matt in here for moral support?”
“Ian, did I have a goddamn window?”
His friend must have heard the silent plea beneath the outburst. “All right. Fine. Yes. Kate’s had a thing for you.”
Kennedy swallowed. He swallowed again. It didn’t help. His mouth was completely dry.
“She’s been, like, halfway in love with you for years. You really didn’t know?”
Kennedy shook his head. No. Hell no, he didn’t know. “She told you that?”
“Well, no,” Ian admitted. “I don’t know that she’s told anyone. Maybe the girls. But it’s obvious, man. She looks at you for too long.”
“Because she’s glaring at me.”
“And why do you think that is?” Ian asked. “It’s because she likes you, probably against her better judgment—no, definitely against her better judgment—and you made a pact never to date her.”
Hope flared, even as Kennedy shook his head. “No. That doesn’t even make sense. Kate’s a straight shooter. She would have told me.”
“She’d have told a guy she works for, who’s been nothing but cold to her, that she’s in love with him?” Ian asked doubtfully. “She’s forthright, not a fool.”
“I haven’t been cold.” But . . . he had. He kept Kate at arm’s length in every way he possibly could, telling himself it was because she seemed averse to him, but what if they’d just been circling each other?
Needing time to think, Kennedy walked to the door.
“What are you going to do?” Ian asked.
“I don’t know. At the very least, I need to let Claudia find someone who’s not thinking about another woman constantly.”
“And what about that other woman?” Ian said.
Kennedy sighed as his hand found the doorknob. “You said my window with Kate closed. When?”
Ian took his time responding. “I don’t know. A long time ago. Early on, her breath would catch every time you walked by, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. And then it just . . . stopped. I thought maybe the window might have opened again with the MBA thing, but for reasons I still don’t understand, you put that all on me.”
“I didn’t want her to know.”
“Why the hell not?” Ian said, exasperated.
“Because what if she’d said no?” Kennedy shouted before he could think to filter the words. “What if she’d said no and rejected it?” Rejected me?
“Why would she have done that?” Ian asked, his voice quiet.
Kennedy shrugged. It sounded irrational now that it was out there, but there was no more dodging the fact that he cared about Kate. Had maybe cared about Kate for a very long time and was terrified about what that meant.
Still, Kennedy forced himself to look Ian straight in the eye and ask the question he didn’t want the answer to. “Does she still?”
“Still what?”
“Care about me,” Kennedy said, forcing the vulnerable words out.
“Sure,” Ian said carefully. “She cares about all of us.”