A Wish, A Kiss, All Amiss Ch. 02

“Who was your second choice?” she asked, changing the subject, not wanting to get used to his smiles.

His eyebrows rose with his confusion. At least he was not smiling anymore. “What?”

“If you can’t work with me, who would you like to be your editor?” She looked to him then.

“Why are you asking?” he asked.

“You must’ve had a backup plan.”

He smirked, knowing eyes piercing through her. “I didn’t need one.”

She looked away from his probing gaze. “With that level of confidence, I doubt if you need any editor.”

“Are you trying to talk yourself out of a job?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” She batted her eyes at him, feigning innocence. “I’m not the one who made myself a career arguing semantics.”

The muscles around his lips twitched.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re only asking so you can get rid of me.”

“As if you were that easily rid of.” Shaking her head, she surprised herself with the truth of it, and then she could not help let out a bitter chuckle.

Gabriel suddenly sat up; maybe he was already on the edge of his seat before, she could not be sure. His arms folded on her desk, occupying more space than she would like to share.

“Rosaline, why are you asking?” His tone grew serious, voice deep and liquid.

“Who was your second choice?”

“I told you I didn’t need one,” he repeated.

They stared at each other at the impasse.

“How could you be so sure?” she asked after the small pause.

“I just knew,” he said with conviction, now looking directly at her, seeing through all her secrets, and saw her.

Rosaline huffed a dry laugh. “We are not in a romance novel; one does not simply know.”

“Ah, right, I forgot, we are in your slasher play.”

“It’s not a slasher play. It’s a poignant tragedy.”

“How do we all just drop dead at the end?”

“Natural causes?” She tried to keep a straight face.

He laughed, deep and rumbling, and Rosaline liked it a little too much.

“Just trust me on this,” he said.

She rolled her eyes, and then she said, hoping to quiet him, “You can choose and charm your backup editor at the publisher’s party tomorrow. You might get even luckier than that.”

It worked for a second; she thought she had finally silenced him, and that was when she forgot he was a silver-tongued writer with an inflated ego.

“I will find out why one way or another,” he said, low and soft, and full of promise.

She glanced back at her computer screen, control-tabbed a few times and clicked on the purchase button, then the venomous yellow happily spewed out the transaction page.

Suddenly everything became clearer. She had a plan now. She would show up at the party tomorrow as her way to say goodbye to this life, organize her things, and leave in one week.

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Dear readers,

thank you for reading, if you like the story or you have something to say about it, please don’t hesitate to share with me. I’d love to get your feedback!

I plan on posting the next chapter next week. But we know how plans go.

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