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“I think so,” she groans

“How can you tell?” I lift an eyebrow Asking for a friend Ha

“I think about him all the time Jump forabout him either”

Check Check And triple check, I think “But do you think it could be ?”

“How should I know, Rina? Personally, I just want to have fun, but who knohere anything leads until you try it out, right?” She squints at me, suddenly suspicious “Why all the questions? Nor some action”

“No reason” I clear my throat “Just curious”

“You know, not every potential non-fling hookup ends in disaster,” she points out Her eyes narrow “Not everyone is like… well”

She doesn’t have to say roan “I know, I know He was a colossal jerk”

“And you don’t have to project these insecurities onto me, either”

“I’m not insecure!” I protest

“Please, as the last tiuy a chance?”

I purse my lips, unable to respond

“Exactly Now, about Cannon”

My heart leaps from 0 to 60 in no seconds flat “What about hih-pitched to sound normal

Lacy frowns atto say, can you talk to Cannon about Chris, maybe? Feel him out?”

“Oh Right Yeah Of course!” She’s still staring I clear ht If you want, I can talk to Cannon, get him to feel Chris out—discretely, of course"

She stares at me for anotherto call hs and breaks eye contact to run her hands through her hair "I don't know I'ht be messy to mess around at work" She chews the inside of her lip, thinking "But on the other hand, I ht now And he is hot as hell"

"He's definitely that," I agree, even though I don't really think Chris—cute as he ht be—can hold a candle to Cannon in the looks department

She blows out a hard breath, which uess, if you think Cannon will be discrete about it and won't totally spill the beans, maybe yeah, ask him to see if he thinks Chris is interested?"

I grin "He's discrete as can be, don't worry about that Yeah, I'll get him to find out for you"

"Thanks" She grins at h, too bad you and Cannon aren't more than roomies, huh? Could be fun to double date" She says it without any inflections or hints, and yet, I h harder than strictly necessary,to my cheeks

"Yeah, too bad I'us toward the door "Let's get back to losing this bowling game spectacularly"

Lacy links ar"

I just hope that bowling is the only thing I'ht now—and not my mind Or my heart

7

Cannon

Three days That stupid goddamn business trip lasts three days And it's all I can do to keep hts up, I practically pounce on it, eager to check the es, to see if there's one from Rina

Every tie from anyone else, I feel my stomach sink

It doesn't help that all day, every day, I keep seeing stuff that reht of the conference to a bar, and just the sight of the dart board they had in the corner got ames Rina and I played back in law school She started out slow, but pretty soon she hooping ame we played I never admitted it to her, but I found that sexy as hell