The Ex Files (Ocean View #1)(46)

I tell her about our date of favorites, about the spilled coffee and the boots.

And because I’ve completely destroyed my usually strong barrier, I tell her about the kiss, the boots, and what happened after. I tell her about the morning after and bagels on the couch. But, most importantly, tell her about him refusing to end it there and proposing two more weeks.

About how he doesn’t seem to think we’ll end after the wedding.

By the end of it, her eyes are like saucers as she stares me down, shock across my face.

“Oh, Cassie. That is the most beautiful love story I’ve ever heard.”

“What? No. It’s not that.”

“But it could be!” she says with a shout, and once again, I’m shocked by her exuberance. “I read romance. Like, a lot of it. It’s a problem, but we’re not talking about me yet. But Cassie, this… this is everything good. He wants you. He wants you to be his. He wants to work with you, meet you where you are, and get past your barriers. Oh my God! It was love at first sight.”

“Gabi, stop, no. It’s not that.”

“You might know red flags, but I know green ones. And this man is a fuckin’ leprechaun.” I snort wine out of my nose. “Except I saw his profile picture. He does not look like a leprechaun. Do you have more pictures?” I shake my head in the negative. “Give me your phone.” Before I can, she grabs it from the coffee table, entering the same password I use for our office phones. “You need a better password,” she says quietly as she taps it a few times.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Gabi…” I say, reaching over to grab my phone. But she stands up and runs to the bathroom. “Gabi!!” The doorknob is useless as I wiggle it. It’s locked. But just a few moments later, it opens back up, and she’s walking out like nothing happened, dropping the phone into my hands.

“Here you go. He’s cute. Super worth it.”

“Gabi, what did you do?” I ask, unlocking my phone and scrolling to find what she may have done. My texts? No, not there. Email? No, looks normal…

“I friend requested him.” My blood runs cold as she sits back on the couch and sips her wine with a smile.

“You what?”

“I found him on social media. Added him on Facebook and Insta.”

“Please tell me you didn’t.” But the smile on her face says it all. When I open the apps, his profile is still open with ‘request sent’ in green letters. No!

“I wouldn’t undo it, either. He’s getting the notification either way.”

“Gabi, I cannot believe you did that!” But even as the words leave my lips, my phone vibrates in my hand. I close my eyes in horror but I already know.

Luke: Stalking me now, sweetheart?

“GABI! He just texted me!” I throw my phone at her, aiming for her stupid head as she laughs, but she somehow catches it.

“Oh, my God, he calls you sweetheart! That is so, so cute!”

“He also called me a stalker, thanks to you.”

“Oh, shut up. Oh my God, his photos on Instagram are so cute. His nieces! He accepted you, by the way. Cassie, if you fuck this up, I’m taking him for myself.” The woods tumble before I can filter them.

“No way, he’s mine.” An eyebrow raises, but she doesn’t say a word. She doesn’t have to. I showed my hand. “Fuck, what am I doing?” My head falls back to the couch with a soft squish, but I wish it were a brick wall.

“You’re having fun. Which is allowed. He seems nice. Let him take you to the wedding. If he’s nice, keep it going.” Her voice is soft now, like she’s talking to a scared kitten.

“But what if he hurts me?”

“He might. But Cassie, avoiding all human contact outside of work isn’t healthy either. If you’re doing that, you’re letting the assholes win. Letting your dad have an even tighter grip on you than he already does, and he doesn’t deserve to have that impact.” Staring at her, I know she’s right. But I just… “Two weeks. Play the game for two weeks. Then, once the wedding is over, you can make your decision. But don’t let these two weeks go without actually trying. Why waste them? It’s like the perfect test run. If it ends badly, you only have two weeks into it. No harm, no foul.”

She’s right, but she’s wrong. Because something tells me if I let this man in for one day or two weeks or two years, he’s going deep. And scraping him out is going to hurt. God, it’s barely been a week and already he’s changing how I see my relationships, breaking all my rules, making me question things.

But even more, she’s right—I can’t keep letting the assholes of the world win, keep allowing them to dictate how I live my life. Maybe it’s time to do something for me. To open myself up. So instead of answering her, I grab my phone from where she placed it on the coffee table and look down at it, making a decision.

Cassie: That was my assistant, but I’m not mad about it. Cute nieces.

Luke: Glad we can be friends this way too.

Luke: Your account is boring.

Cassie: It’s for business.

Luke: I like being up in your business.

My cheeks burn, and I try to block my face with the fall of my dark hair, but she knows.