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She was wearing a bright green dress, something that actually was made

from cotton and wasn’t retro. It went down to her knees, had a large bow at

the waist, and a cute sweetheart neckline. She’d paired it with black flats

and a black cardigan. She had her hair down, curled into cascading ringlets.

“Hey.” Kiera clutched hard at the door. Her stomach hurt and her legs felt

wobbly.

“I was wondering if you had a few minutes to talk.”

Kiera hedged. Sh

e figured she was going to have to have this

conversation sooner rather than later and avoiding it would only make her

feel worse. Living with anxiety and apprehension, especially when it was

self-created and self-induced really sucked.

“I…”

“Not here. Maybe a café or something?”

“No.” Kiera dropped her eyes, embarrassed at her hasty response.

“Nowhere public. And I agree. Not here.” She’d done enough tampering

with the security system over the weekend. She didn’t want to have to

explain to Wynn or anyone else why another chunk of footage suddenly

went missing.

“Oh, well, if you’re comfortable, we could go to my apartment. It’s not

nice. It’s small and—”

“Yes. That’s fine.” Why did I just agree to that? Now that she had, she

couldn’t pull the words back, and it would be rude to change her mind.

Maybe it was just impossible to deny what she really wanted.

Flustered, Kiera turned and walked quickly back to her desk. She shut

her laptop, grabbed her leather jacket, and grabbed her purse. She shouldn’t

have agreed to go to Romi’s place. Just the thought of being alone there

produced all the wild, hormonal, chemical reactions she’d come to expect.

And dread, because she couldn’t control them.

What was worse? Feeling everything and fearing it, or chasing Romi