Page 58 of Free Agent

“Why would I get mad about that?”

“Green flag.”

The server was standing closer to me, so he didn’t hear that get muttered, but I did. I exchanged a quick look with them because… yes, actually, that was a little green flag, to add to all the rest he was waving.

It was borderline overwhelming, honestly.

Like he couldn’t possibly be this… great.

I didn’t want to relax because there had to be some gotcha to it, but I couldn’t help relaxing, because he made it impossible not to. Tatum was a damn fool— that was the only way to put it—but that was truly a compliment of the highest order. He had me giggling like an idiot through the whole three hours we occupied that table, and we only left because the restaurant had to close and reset to prepare for dinner service.

By the time we made it to his rental, sat there and talked, drove through rush hour traffic, talked in the parking lot of my building, and then all the way up to my door where he was supposed to be dropping me off… Hell, we were hungry again.

So I invited him in, and we ordered food, and talked for a few more hours.

“This is insane,” I said aloud, when the realization hit me.

We’d moved out to the balcony, wine glasses in hand to talk since it was such a beautiful day outside, with the sun starting to set. My building was toward the outskirts of the city, bordering Blackwood Hills—where Monty lived in the house he’d bought me but now probably had Yams in, redecorating all my shit—with all its beautiful natural landscaping.

Because my office was downtown, I hadn’t wanted to be that far outside the city, which was why I had this apartment at all. Monty always thought it was small, but I thought it was quaint and perfect, especially once I had it fully decorated and furnished. He never wanted to live here with me, claimed he felt confined by the space and too close to the neighbors, so it never even felt like ours.

Just mine.

If only I’d known then how that would work out.

Maybe it was intuition though.

It was just the right size for me, he bought it outright and my name was the only one on the deed, and I had a gorgeous view of the lake and forest.

“What’s insane?” Tatum asked, dropping to a seat on the bench.

“Do you realize we’ve been together for damn near eight hours?” I asked. “That’s a long time for a…what even is this?”

“Not a first date,” he said. “You already gave me the draws on the first date.”

“Wow.”

“Am I lying?” he laughed.

“Not really, I guess, but you could say it a little better than that,” I giggled. “I’m not a fan of the framing.”

“Oh, my bad. Okay… uh…shit, I don’t know how else to say it.” He met my gaze, holding it with an intensity that made it hard to look away. “Are you ashamed or something?”

“No, I’m not… ashamed,” I denied. “It’s just… I don’t know. That whole night was just… I don’t want to say it’s not a good memory because I feel like that implies that I didn’t enjoy the time we spent together, which isn’t true. But the impetus…”

Tatum nodded. “Yeah, I feel you. The shit that led up to it wasn’t really the best.”

“Yeah.” I finally broke our gaze to move over to the balcony railing, gripping it with both hands as I stared out at the lake. The sun was fading, fast, but the colors reflecting on the water were beautiful for now.

However fleeting.

“What are you thinking about?” Tatum asked from behind me.

Without looking back, I answered, “Time. Wasted time, to be specific.”

He sucked his teeth. “Don’t start.”

Frowning, I looked over my shoulder at him. “Don’t start what?”