The bell over the door rings, and Annalise calls out, “Hey, hey, I’m here!” This is how Annalise announces herself every time she enters the building, even if she only popped out for a few minutes to smoke a cigarette. She also loves to remind Lissa that their names sound similar, and they’d both dated some dude named Billy Dudek, but a decade apart.

Lissa hates working with Annalise.

That is not my problem. And just to make sure she knows that, I remind her that while she is my superior, this isn’t her practice. “Dr. Basra told me to update billing, and I have. I emailed you both a summary. See you tomorrow!”

I wave at Lissa and Annalise and skip out of the building.

Fuck. That felt great.

It takes about forty-five minutes to get to the clinic from my job.

It should have taken twenty minutes, but fucking around with Lissa makes me miss the bus, and then I have to wait nearly fifteen minutes for the next one. I grumble to myself on the way to the clinic that I should have just accepted Darren’s offer for a ride or Nadia’s offer to send an Uber.

But noooo, I was too busy being proud. There’s a lesson in this somewhere. A lesson I would prefer not to acknowledge, let alone learn. And a part of my brain — very small and no part of my pussy — is hoping that I’m so late that I’ve missed Darren. I would rather not have to see his face — dark and gorgeous and worried but trying not to broadcast it — when I arrive than have to admit that okay, yeah, sure, I should have just accepted his offer. I know that. He’ll know that. Maybe I’ll be willing to acknowledge that later when I’m wearing something besides my work clothes and don’t feel so tired and gross after my bus ride.

But that small part of my brain doesn’t get what she wants because as soon as I turn from the sidewalk onto the walkway, the clinic’s front door opens, and there is Darren, squinting into the sun and smiling.

Never mind. There’s no small part of me that wants to have missed Darren. He’s too adorable.

“You made it,” he calls, waving.

I sigh. “You were right.”

He stops walking, and his smile freezes on his face. This kind of adorable in a man this tall with a dick that long should be criminal. I keep walking up to him, and when I’m close, I just throw myself against him, and he catches me, wrapping me in his arms.

“I should have taken a ride from you,” I admit.

He chuckles lightly now that he knows what I’m talking about and then places soft kisses on my temple.

“Don’t,” I whine. “Someone might see you.”