Page 67 of Keep On Loving You
“I didn’t see anything.” Jess held up her hands. “Nothing that is any of my business, anyway.” She winked. “But I can see you’re still a little hesitant about this space.” She moved back into professional mode. “Is it the apartment or something else?”
Yes,he wanted to yell. He was hesitant about signing the paperwork on a new place when the only place he wanted to be was with Kat. But it wasn’t as if he could say that. Not to Jess. Or anyone else.
“Two months you say?”
A lot could happen in two months. It could be enough time to figure out a way forward with Kat that didn’t involve sneaking around like teenagers.
“Two months for this tenant, yes. And there’s always an option to use the space for an investment property as well,” Jess added. “I know Craig Carlson was using the space above the Sugar Shack as a short-term rental before his new chocolatier moved in.”
Andy nodded and turned away from the window. “That’s right. So that’s always an option?”
Jess smiled knowingly. “Absolutely. In fact, if your personal situation changes,” she spoke carefully, “this would be an excellent investment property. I really don’t think you can go wrong here, Andy.”
“Okay.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s put in an offer and make it official.”
Jess immediately started talking numbers and details, but Andy was no longer listening. His attention was pulled by the flash of red hair in the plaza below.
Kat and Annie were coming out of Charli’s flower shop. Kat’s long red hair had been pulled up into a messy knot on the back of her head. Instantly, Andy’s memory flashed to earlier that morning, when her hair had been splayed out over the pillow when he looked up from between her legs and she screamed his name while she came apart all over his tongue.
That was a memory he would happily replay over and over.
A few minutes later, after agreeing to pretty much everything Jess suggested when it came to the offer, she’d headed back to her office and Andy was jogging over to Kat and Annie, who’d stopped in front of the Bean Bag coffee shop.
Charli was more than happy for the break and a few minutes later, Poppy was safely strapped into the stroller as they headed out into the plaza.
The moment they were alone, Kat spun on her best friend. “What are you thinking?”
Annie shrugged. “I’m thinking that I want the best for you.”
“And having my family go ballistic would be the best?”
Annie laughed. “They wouldn’t goballisticif they found out you were sleeping with Andy.”
“Annie! You can’t say that out loud.” Kat stopped abruptly and grabbed her friend’s arm. “Besides, how do you know we’re,” she lowered her voice, “sleeping together?”
It was true that Kat generally told her best friend everything, which was exactly why she knew and had always known about her crush on Andy since they were kids. Annie also knew details about their hookup on her trip to Vancouver. But that was before. Now that Andy was staying with Kat, it was so much riskier. Not to mention the fact that Annie and Kat’s oldest brother were happily shacked up and madly in love.
Best friend or not, Kat couldn’t risk Annie telling her secrets to Chase. Not if she didn’t want everything to blow up in her face.
“Ha!” Annie pointed at her triumphantly. “I knew it!”
Shit.
“I didn’t admit to anything.”
Annie laughed. “You didn’t have to, Kat. You forget that I know you. Like,knowyou know you. I can see it all over your face. Never mind the way the two of you look at each other.”
“We do not.” She froze with a moment of panic as she quickly tried to dissect how the two of them behaved when they were around other people. “Do we?”
Annie was about to answer when a familiar voice sent a thrill through Kat’s body.
“Hey there, you two.”
When she turned around to see Andy behind them, Kat couldn’t help the full-body response she had at the sight of him.
“Hey, Andy. What are you doing here?”
“See?” Annie practically shouted the word and clapped triumphantly.
