Page 59 of Kiss and Tell

“There’s still half the list to go,” I replied.

“Don’t you think we’ve already gotten a lot done?” he asked.

I had to agree. “We might even be ahead of schedule.”

Connor took one hand off the steering wheel long enough to pluck the folder from my fingers and toss it into my open bag at my feet.

“You’re officially off the clock,” he said.

“I’m never really off the clock,” I said.

“You can jump back into things early tomorrow morning,” he said. “For now, we should take a break and enjoy ourselves.”

We already enjoyed ourselves quite thoroughly last night, I almost retorted, but I didn’t say it out loud.

Connor turned the corner into the parking lot of my apartment building and came to a stop in one of the parking spots.

“Thanks for the ride.” I grabbed my bag, unbuckled the seatbelt and grabbed the door handle. “I think we had a really productive trip.”

Connor unbuckled his seatbelt too and grabbed for his bag in the backseat. I stopped with the door half open and one leg out.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting my bag,” he said. “I don’t want to leave it in the car overnight.”

I slowly turned my head to stare at him.

“What?” I said dumbly.

“I have no idea what kind of neighborhood this is,” he replied. “What if someone breaks in and steals my stuff?”

“No one’s going to break—” I cut myself off, took a calming breath, and spoke again. “Why are you getting out of the car?”

“To come in?” he answered, as if the answer was obvious.

And it clearly was obvious. To him.

As understanding dawned on me, a mixture of disbelief and pity swelled in my chest.

How could Connor and I have read the situation so differently?

“You’re not coming in,” I told him.

“Oh.” Connor sat back in his seat. “Did you want to have an early night? I’m cool with that, we can just go to sleep.”

“Connor…”

He either didn’t catch the warning in my tone, or he was ignoring it.

“We don’t need to get up to anything tonight.” He winked. “Let’s save it for the morning, hm?”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said patiently. “I’m going into that apartment, alone. And you’re going home.”

“All right.” Connor held a hand up in surrender. “I’ll let you get your beauty sleep. But tomorrow night belongs to me.” He gave me a wicked grin.

“No, it doesn’t.”

He seemed caught off guard at my resolute statement, tilting his head at me quizzically.