Wait For You

Chapter 19: What to Expect When You're Chasing Pavements.

𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚜 𝙻𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛...

ɢʀᴀᴄᴇʟʏɴɴ ᴀᴠᴇʀʏ ᴍᴏɴʀᴏᴇ

"Are you even listening to me?" she whined, tapping her finger on the phone. "Hellllooo?"

"I'm here," I said, cheeks flushing at how easily distracted I'd become lately. I gripped the phone more tightly and willed myself to pay attention.

"I was asking you, how is Mr. Hottie?" Cassie sing-songed the last word, and I did my best not to snap at her.

For the past hour, I'd been trying to catch up with her all while trying to skillfully avoid this question, but my sister knew me too well to allow that sort of thing to pass.

Unluckily for her, I wasn't willing to give up the goods quite so easily.

"He's fine, don't think of wedding bells and all,"

"Nope, I'm not doing this with you," She said with that stubborn edge to her voice that made my gut clench. "You're telling me details, or I'll take a flight and introduce myself to him and ask him for the answers you're not willing to give me. Your call, big sis."

I rolled my eyes. Drama queen. "I already answered you. Things are fine."

"And you're telling me you're not still worried about everyone in the office finding out you're scheduling the boss?"

"No, I think...I think we've been discreet. At least, I hope we have." A little coil of dread rolled through my stomach at the thought, but I tried to brush it back.

If anyone thought anything about our relationship, they certainly hadn't said anything to me about it. And, of course, it was true that I spent every morning in his office with the blinds drawn, but that was because we were still unraveling the mess that was the merger. Everyone in the office knew what we were doing, even if they didn't know exactly how serious the situation was.

"He's been pretty stressed out lately," I said, finding myself caving, if only to have someone to talk to about all of this. Truth was, every day, I was getting in deeper, growing more attached. When the time finally came—and, let's be honest, this was Tate, so it would—letting go was going to be the hardest thing I'd ever had to do.

"I have an idea of how you can fix that." There was a laugh in Hailey's voice that I tried to ignore.

"Why don't we ever talk about your sex life instead of mine?" I asked.

"Something has to exist for you to talk about it," Cassie answered, apparently nonplussed. "I've been in a serious dry spell. Let me live vicariously through you, sister dear. I want to know more about him. I saw his profile, but it barely said anything. What's his deal? Why do you like him? Is he funny? Do you like him more than just someone to screw around with?"

"Woah, tiger, slow down," I said with a chuckle.

"Sorry. You're just making it hard to fantasize about how awesome your life is by being so stingy with the deets. Plus, I need to tell Mom something about him."

"Mrs. Wellington?" I choked.

"She's asking me all sorts of questions about him. What's he like?"

"I'll tell you something if you promise not to tell her," I shot back immediately.

Cassie sighed, and I knew I'd reached the end of the line. I had to give her something here, or she was going to ratchet up from annoying to relentless.

I thought hard, trying to figure out how to explain Tate to someone who had never met him.

"He's a serious kind of guy," I started.