He smiled. “I have a confession to make,” he said softly.
“Tell me.”
“I think I’m falling for you, Kristen,” he said.
I felt ecstasy and fear in the same breath. And instead of confronting either emotion, I leaned down and kissed Jake until I managed to chase the guilt from my mind.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jake
As I walked into my office, I noticed that Kristen wasn’t at her desk. I felt a little note of disappointment and realized how much I’d been looking forward to seeing her all morning. I hadn’t been able to come into work first thing because I had meetings across town.
In the last few weeks, Kristen and I had been spending a huge amount of time together. We had frown exceptionally close, and I was feeling all the familiar tingles of love beginning to blossom within me. And there was something else, too…something that felt a lot like relief. Was it possible that Kristen was the one who could mend my broken heart and change me for the better? I was starting to think that it was possible. I refrained from calling to check where she was and headed into my office.
I sat down at my desk and poured myself a glass of water. We had spoken a lot over the last couple of weeks, but I had noticed something in that time. Kristen was extremely tight-lipped about her childhood and her parents. I knew she had a rough relationship with both her mother and her father, and I knew general information, but she had been careful to avoid details. It had made me curious and some intrinsic part of myself told me that she was holding back because perhaps she didn’t feel as strongly about me as I felt about her.
I realized that I wanted to know more about her, not just out of curiosity, but also as an attempt to deepen the connection between us. I was ruminating on how far I had come in such a short time when I heard a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I called.
A moment later, Kristen walked in. She was wearing a red blouse and a black pencil skirt that made her look like she should have been on the cover of some magazine. Her hair was tied into a loose knot at the back of her head, and her makeup, as usual, was understated and classy. She was holding two takeout cartons from a restaurant downtown that I loved. She gave me a smile as she walked in and sat down opposite me.
“Surprise,” she said, setting the takeout cartons on the table. “Lunch.”
“That restaurant is forty minutes away.”
“Turns out, they deliver,” she told me. “The moment I knew, I had just had to order in lunch for us.”
“Delivery must be crazy expensive.”
Kristen tightened her lips, and I knew it would have been.
“How much?” I asked.
“None of your business,” she countered. “Just enjoy the lunch.”
I smiled. I dipped into the carton and reached for the chopsticks. I took a bite and then closed my eyes in appreciation.
“Good surprise?” she asked.
“Great surprise,” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” she said, reaching for her takeout carton.
I glanced up at her. “So, Kristen…”
“Yeah?”
“Things have been going well between us, don’t you think?”
She smiled. “Very well,” she nodded.
“I would even go so far as to say we’ve entered firmly into relationship status,” I said.
Kristen’s smile widened. “I would agree.”
“Maybe it’s time we took our relationship to the next level,” I suggested.