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“Please?” he asks when I don’t immediately answer, his hopeful eyes all over me.

“Alden, what else is there to say? You broke up with me. Case closed.”

He sighs. “I didn’t break up with you, Keegan. This isn’t what I wanted.”

Oh, I’m sorry, he said we could continue to see each other but not be serious. Insert eye roll.

“TFB.”

“Huh?”

“Too fucking bad. I deserve better than being someone’s casual fuck friend.”

“That’s not what you were to me. Not ever.” He takes a step closer to me. “I miss you, Keegan. So much.” His throat bobsas he swallows. “I made a mistake, and I want you to give me a second chance.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I understand. What about all those reasons you gave me for ending it?” Like how you didn’t love me back.

He shrugs. “I was stupid, and got scared. It felt like it was moving so fast. But losing you made me realize just how stupid I was to let you go.”

Except he was the one who, after only a couple of days of sleeping together, asked for exclusivity and proceeded to attach himself to my hip. That wasn’t me. Sure, I got swept up in it and in him. I’m a romance author, sue me. Yes, I made the drunken declaration of love, but can a woman really be blamed for what she says when she’s been downing tequila shots like they’re M&Ms all night?

Alden clearly spooks easily, which is likely why he’s thirty-five and still single. Hello, commitment issues and the red flags that come with them.

His hand cups my face when I don’t say anything. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I… fuck, Keegs, I think I love you too. This week apart has been awful. I panicked when you said it, and now all I want is to hear you say it to me again.”

My insides tumble like clothes in a dryer.

I have no idea how to respond. It’s not the right moment for this. I’m too emotionally unsettled, and it would be easy to say okay and fall back into him. So easy. A large part of me even wants that. I miss him too.

Thankfully, my phone pings a text that interrupts us.

I pull it from my pocket and see it’s a message from Loomis.

Loomis: Thank you so much for the lovely and thoughtful gift for Fen. He loves it. You’re a star.

Attached is a picture of Fenric holding a Curious George stuffed animal with a big, drooly smile on his face. Fen was glued to the television when Loomis put on PBS Kids, and he told me thatCurious Georgewas his favorite show. Fen didn’t have a lot of toys there. Just some blocks and other small things. No stuffies. I understand that he and Loomis just came back to America and that it’s a rental place they won’t be in longer than a few months—a tiny rental place at that, which, given who he is, surprises me a bit—but I couldn’t resist sending Fen something.

Babies abandoned by their mothers and left on doorsteps deserve something cuddly and soft to love.

“Who is that? Is that your new boyfriend?” Alden asks, and there’s no mistaking the edge in his tone.

I quickly put my phone away. “You should get to work, Alden.”

He reaches out his hand to stop me before I can escape back into my building. “Forget that guy. He’s not right for you. I am.”

“Alden, I’m not having this conversation now.”

I don’t want to be that girl who gives in just because things feel out of control, and I want some control back. I’m hurt by how he broke up with me, and while I get panicking,sorta, it feels like a shitty reason. If he truly didn’t feel the same way back, fine. That’s a pill I can swallow. But to simply say he panicked and now regrets it? No.

“Then when?” he presses.

“I don’t know. Just not right now. I need time.”

He makes a gruff noise. “Fine. I’ll go. But please, do us both a favor and think about it. I want you back. I made a huge mistake, and I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

He leans in to kiss me, and I practically close the door in his face as I flee inside the safety of my building and up to my apartment. My bedroom door slams behind me, and I shriek, thoroughly annoyed with everything.