No Kissing Allowed (No Kissing Allowed #1)(48)

Lauren and I both stared at Alexa, waiting for her to agree, but she simply shrugged again, her look distant, and I wondered if she was planning that very thing in hopes of scoring Peyton’s job. The thought sent a chill over me as I realized how little I knew of Alexa or what she was capable of. I’d have to be much, much more careful.





Chapter Twenty-Four


That night I slipped into my apartment and set down my keys and purse, exhausted from the stress of the day—and none of it technically had anything to do with work. I contemplated calling Aidan a thousand times, texting him, anything to relieve the urge in me to know. But each time, I set my phone back down, my eyes returning to the word “tonight,” and the sinking feeling would start all over again.

The apartment was empty, Lauren out on another date with Patrick, and in the quiet I found myself spiraling faster into my misery. When did this happen to me? When did my happiness become linked to a guy? Even with Blaine, I kept myself focused, centered. But this was different. Aidan was different. I felt so unbelievably happy around him, so at peace. I didn’t want to give that up. At first, I thought my comfort was because he understood my goals—his being so similar—but it was never about the job. It was him. The easy way he looked at me, the way he willingly opened up about his life, the way he listened to me talk about my dad without the smallest hint of pity on his face. I didn’t want to lose that.

I didn’t want to lose him.

Tears clouded my vision, and I started for my bathroom for a tissue just as my phone vibrated against the counter. It was just after seven, after midnight in London. He’d stayed awake for me.

Grabbing my phone, I curled up on the couch, hitting answer even before I looked at the screen. “Hey…”

“Hey, yourself,” he said, his voice low, tired.

“Busy day?” I asked. “You sound exhausted.”

“Just a day of difficult decisions. Always the toughest to get through. Listen, I wanted to talk about—”

“I know.”

He hesitated on the other end, the sounds of him breathing making it hard for me to keep from blurting out every thought I had about London and him and us. But again, it wasn’t my conversation.

“Cameron…”

“It’s okay.”

“It is?”

My heart plummeted into my stomach. He sounded only marginally disappointed, nothing more. My pride wouldn’t allow me to tell him how much I wanted him to stay if he wasn’t thinking the same thing. If he wasn’t just as desperate to be with me. Here I’d stupidly thought he’d take a chance on me, drop the no-dating thing for me, but now I saw I’d been as foolish as all the women before me.

“I get that it’s a great opportunity. You’d be crazy to turn it down. And besides, we were just having fun, right?” My voice shook with emotion, and I wondered if he could hear it, if he knew how much this was breaking me.

“I’m not sure—”

“Really. I’m fine with it.” Lies. All lies.

“What exactly are you talking about?”

I sat up and crossed my legs. What was his game? He knew exactly what I was talking about. Did he want to hear me say it? “London,” I spit out.

“Right… And I get why you might be disappointed, but why are you so angry?”

Disappointed? The nerve. Poor little Cameron, disappointed that the Aidan Truitt is dumping her. “Look, I’m really tired. I’ll talk to you—”

“I swear to God if you hang up this phone, I will fly home and come knock on your door. I don’t avoid things, Cameron. And I don’t appreciate being left in the dark. What is—”

“You’re moving to London.”

“I’m what?”

“Alexa told me at the office today. They offered you an amazing job and an amazing salary and now you’re moving. And I get it. I do. I just…” I trailed off, unable to say what I was truly thinking, feeling.

He started to laugh, and for the first time ever, I contemplated dipping into Dad’s money just so I could buy a private flight over to his hotel so I could kick his ass.

“It’s not funny.”

“No, you’re right. You believing gossip at the office instead of coming to me directly isn’t funny.”

I swallowed hard. “I was waiting for you to tell me, but you weren’t admitting it.”

“That’s because there’s nothing to admit. I called to tell you that I’d be here two more days, arriving back to New York on Friday. I know things have been off between us, so I didn’t want you to think I was staying to avoid you. The opposite, actually. I’m dying to get back home.”

I jerked upright, my heart beginning to dance and cheer in excitement. “It’s not true?”

“No. They’ve offered. But they’ve been offering for a year now. My life is in New York.”

Relief swarmed through me, relaxing the tension in my shoulders. “I would kiss you right now if I could.”

“I would do a lot more than kiss you. I miss you.”

“But what about the rules, the complications?”

“I don’t know. I just know that I’m sitting here alone in my hotel room, and all I want in the world is for you to be here, too.”