Page 10 of It Must Be Love

Naya pulled out a woolen cap from her jacket pocket and secured it on top of her head. "Nice to see you both. Have a good rest of your day."

She hopped on her bicycle, and I watched that fine ass go up and down over the saddle and wondered how it would look riding me.

Ann punched my shoulder, and I turned to face her. "What?"

"You could at least say hello to her."

I hadn't realized that I hadn't greeted Naya. I'd been too fucking shell-shocked.

"I…." I had no PG-13 explanation suited for a girlfriend, so I just let it go.

"Do you dislike her that much?" Ann asked, and I could see the flicker of sadistic joy in her eyes. She liked it that I'd ignored Naya.

"Nothing like that…I don't have an opinion about her one way or the other."

She smirked. "Kara told me that she never goes out. I mean, no surprise. Who'd date her, right?"

"Why? What's wrong with her?" I demanded, suddenly feeling the need to defend Naya. She'd done nothing to Ann; she didn't deserve this vitriol.

"I thought she wasn't your type," she flung back at me.

"That doesn't mean she's nobody's type, Ann."

"Anyway, Kara thinks her head is not screwed on right."

"If she thinks that why does she leave her son with her to babysit?" I snapped, a little annoyed at how the people in Naya's life treated her.

And that includes you, jackass.

Naya stayed on my mind for the rest of the day to the point that I told Ann that I'd rather she went to her place for the night as I needed to get through some work. She pouted prettily, but she knew it was wasted effort to change my mind. We didn't spend every night together—I liked my space and my privacy.

"But we'll be together tomorrow night, right? I don't sleep well without you, Amias."

Christ! I needed to break it off with her. Her neediness was driving me up the wall. She used to not be like this. There was a time when she was fun and easygoing. We made up and broke up and made up and broke up. This time around, she'd said she didn't want to ever break up and wanted it to be forever. She never said that before, and she was trying very hard to accommodate my mood and temperament. I knew I wasn't the easiest man to be with—because I continued to live my life the way I always did regardless of who and if I was dating. The only concession I made was that I didn't have sex outside of a relationship—but then I didn't do relationships often, so it wasn't a problem.

With Ann, there was a history and…a kind of unhealthy dependency. According to Hayes, it was easy for me to be with Ann because I knew exactly what I was getting, and I was not emotionally invested. I scoffed at that. I loved Ann. I was emotionally attached.

If so, I wouldn't be thinking about breaking it off with her every ten minutes, I chastised myself.

The next morning, as I looked through my calendar while I drank coffee I felt a buzz of excitement that I had a meeting with Naya scheduled for ten in the morning. I looked at the meeting invite and felt a pinch of regret that there would be three other people joining us.

Why the hell do you care whether you're alone with her or not?

I didn't.

But Naya continued to fill my morning, because Ethan, her boss, called me after my eight o'clock meeting.

"You're on paternity leave, why the fuck are you calling me?" I demanded jokingly.

"What the hell is your problem, Amias?" he barked.

"Hello to you, too."

"Did you ream Naya's ass because of the project timeline?"

I thought back to our meeting on Friday. "You would as well. The buffer was too short."

"A decision you made."