Page 13 of The Work Wife

She and Wes grabbed dinner or lunch all the time when they weren’t finished working but hunger was keeping them from thinking through a problem. It was no big deal.

Except she jumped when Wes walked into the room. Her face flushed with heat and he frowned as he handed over her coffee.

“Are you still thinking about the lobby incident?” he joked.

She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself. I know it might be difficult for you to believe, but it is possible for a female to touch your penis and not be ruined for life. I, for one, was able to touch your penis and not become obsessed with it.”

He laughed, and life would have gone on except that Cindy had stepped into their office in time to hear that last sentence.

Cindy appeared flustered, as Wes and Jamie looked at each other with the same Do something expression on their faces. Apparently neither of them knew what to do, so they just let it pass.

Wes had a number of meetings that day, so it was easy for her to get through the shift without her dinner plans coming up. Not that she wouldn’t have told Wes if they had come up. She would have. Probably.

Despite her hopes to the contrary, Duane was waiting for her in the lobby at 6:02 when she arrived.

“Ready?”

“Yes. I’m starving. Do you want to get pizza?”

“Actually, I made reservations. It’s a surprise.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” She hated surprises. Wes never would have tried to surprise her.

Wes also wouldn’t have opened her car door and taken her to a fancy restaurant to discuss work. He never would have helped her into her chair and ordered a bottle of wine that cost more than fifty dollars. What was going on here? Did Duane think this was a date?

Jamie swallowed when she realized he probably did. She was so used to her relationship with Wes, that this possibility hadn’t even crossed her mind.

“What issue are you having with the library?” Jamie asked after they’d ordered. Since there were no wing options on the menu, she settled for a crab cake.

“Let’s talk about that later. For now, let’s just enjoy the wine and the company.”

“Sure. I like being at Blain and Douglas a lot. They offer so much more than other companies.” It was the way he looked at her, blinking, that clued her in she’d misunderstood what he meant by company.

“I meant the company around this table.”

“Oh. Right.” She took a gulp of her wine, hoping it would help. It was so dry she had to take a sip of water to wet her mouth again so she could speak. Wes never would have ordered dry wine. “So where are you from?”

“Boston,” he answered. She should have known that from the way he was only wearing a suit jacket and it was twenty-six degrees outside. He didn’t even have gloves. It was proof aliens were taking over the world slowly, starting with the Northeast. “I went to USC.”

If she wouldn’t have already thought there was something off about Duane, this information would have sealed the deal. Who would attend four years of school in Southern California and willingly come back to this frozen hell?

His swordfish on a bed of quinoa was set down in front of him as a different person simultaneously put her plate in front of her. The crab cake was so tiny, she was already planning to make Easy Mac when she got home.

Eventually she was able to pull the conversation to work, and he told her he would forward the library plans to her in the morning, since he’d forgotten to bring them along. Likely story.

After dinner she directed him to her apartment building, thinking she should have come up with an alternate plan. She pointed to the curb where Wes always parked when dropping her off. It was a no parking zone, but she was always quick to jump out.

Duane pulled over but paused. “Do you have a parking garage so I can walk you up?” he asked.

“Oh, no. That’s okay. I can walk up myself.”

“Maybe I won’t be walking back down right away.” His voice had changed. It sounded lower and icky.

Oh, God, no.

This was all her fault. She’d gone out with him looking for some kind of sign that she was making the right decision not to join his team.

And now here was the sign. Giant, neon, with an arrow. He was hinting that he wanted to stay when all she was thinking about was how she wanted to go make some Easy Mac. It would have been laughable if she wasn’t so surprised.