Page 119 of Just for the Plot

“Don’t what?” I ask, worry tugging at my heart.

“Don’t overthink it,” is all he says as he sits up and then helps me off him gently. As he stands, he takes my hand with him and pulls me to my feet. Then he brings me into a hug, where he kisses the top of my head. My mind’s racing, my feelings are pulsing, my regret so heavy, but my need to do it again even heavier.

When he pulls away, he smirks at me and says, “Catch you later, Bower.”

Catch you later?

Wait…

That’s it?

He doesn’t want to talk about it?

He doesn’t want to deconstruct it at all?

Possibly make a pact to never do it again or never to speak of it to Gabby?

No, instead, he heads toward my door, leaving me perplexed and satisfied at the same time. When I glance down at the ground, I see his discarded jacket, so I call out to him, “Bennett, wait.”

He looks over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Your jacket.”

He smiles, his handsome face nearly splitting me in half as he says, “It’s yours now, beautiful.”

Then he takes off, the door to my apartment shutting behind him.

I plop down on my couch and push my hands through my hair. “What the hell did I just do?”

“What on earth are you doing here?” Adalade asks as she comes into her kitchen, where I’m making a batch of her favorite blueberry crumble muffins.

“Just working,” I say, mixing the batter by hand, feeling insane while I do it because I’m attempting to mix away the fear building inside of me.

Because I did something bad last night.

Very bad.

So bad that I don’t think it’s forgivable.

“I told you to take the day off.”

I shake my head. “Didn’t want it. Thought it would be better to come in and work, because work is what makes this country function, right?We need everyone to work and when everyone works then we have a stable economy and a stable economy means good things and good things means—”

“What happened?” Adalade says, pressing her hand to my arm, stopping me from overmixing the batter.

“What do you mean? Nothing happened.” I try to smile, but it feels more like my teeth are trying to pop past my mouth with a massive underbite.

“Sweetie.” She gently takes the bowl from me and sets it down on the counter. “Something happened, because I can see the panic in your eyes.”

“You can?” I ask, scared now that I won’t be able to mask this feeling if Gabby calls, and I can only miss a few of her calls before she starts to worry.

“Yes, I can, so tell me what happened.”

“Nothing…nothing happened.” I shrug, the truth eating away at me.

“Now, Bower, I’ve known you for a long enough time to know when you’re lying, and I’d appreciate it, as your boss, if you wouldn’t lie to me. You don’t want to form distrust between us, do you?”

“No,” I say, guilt consuming me.