Page 116 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

“Miss Fares lost her promotion?”

I swallowed around the Lilly-shaped lump in my throat. “Yeah. And she already forgave me for it.”

“She seems the type to do that.”

“I have to get her job back.”

“You will.”

I snorted quietly. “You sound confident.”

The smile in his voice felt like pure sunshine as he said, “I am. I’m confident you’ll stir up so much shit, Rutton will give in just to get you to stop.”

I put a hand over my mouth, smothering my laugh. I was on Lilly’s sofa; I didn’t want to wake her. “Maybe we should’ve–”

“What?” he asked.

“Been smarter about this. This wouldn’t have happened if I walked out of your office.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“I didn’t want you to go,” Theo went on. “And I still don’t.”

My breath hitched in my throat. He made me feel all warm and melty. I really, really liked it. But it didn’t change the fact that people were hurt by what we did.

I sighed. “Only I could manage to ruin two people’s lives within forty-eight hours. Because I had sex, of all things.”

“Well…”

“If you call me trouble again, I’ll tell Mario you ate his yogurt cup last week.”

He laughed. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“What are we going to do now?” I asked.

A moment passed. Then Theo said, “Kira is my first priority. Everything has to come second to her.”

“And it should.”

“But not this, Mia. Not you.”

“Theo–”

“Mia, listen. Please. I’ve never felt like this before. And I can’t–”

He cut himself off and let out a breath, like he wanted to be sure of what he meant.

My heart thrummed as he said, “I can’t end this. I don’t want to.”

How was he making me feel all this? My chest felt heavy and light all at once.

“I want to see you. I missed you the second I left you.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” I grumbled. “You’re not playing fair.”

His laugh rolled into my ear, and hearing it gave me the delusional sense that maybe, maybe, we could do this.