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“Not rules, just a mutual agreement. Okay?”
“Sure,” he said, knowing it would be useless for him, at least. They might agree to focus on a single task or subject at a time, but he had a feeling one track of his brain would be required to continue dealing with his libido—some things were inevitable.
“Great. When should we get together again?”
“How about tomorrow morning or afternoon?”
“Let me check my schedule.” She pulled out her phone and looked at it. “Tomorrow isn’t good and Wednesday afternoon I have another photo shoot. Also, at 11:00 a.m. Thursday I meet with a potential new client.”
“Could I sit in on both?” he asked, wondering if he was a masochist.
“I’ll check to see if it’s okay. The photo shoot isn’t a problem. It’s at a gym, so it’s a public location. Hopefully it will be cooler than today.”
“Uh, that sounds good.” He was disappointed that it wasn’t outdoors, but it would still be a more relaxed setting than a photographer’s studio. “What time?”
“I need to leave just before 1:00 p.m. to allow for traffic. The shoot starts at 2:00.”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
He indulged himself by watching her walk toward the front door of the agency. The hardest part was where to let his gaze linger. Nicole had plenty of attractive curves and a single-minded focus on them would provide a man with a huge amount of fuel for his imagination.
* * *
NICOLE SAW JORDAN’S reflection on the window as she walked across the small parking lot. She wondered if he realized she could see him in the reflective coating on the glass almost as well as he could see her.
It was tempting to turn around and do something outrageous, but she couldn’t think of the right gesture. Besides, it would be childish.
Yet for some reason she thought about something she’d seen at Emily’s wedding. The groom’s brothers had painted “Thnx” on the sole of one shoe, and “Em” on the other, so when the pastor asked them to kneel at the altar, the words were visible to the guests. It had appealed to the sentimentality Nicole tried to keep hidden. Her parents must have guessed part of what she’d felt—which might be one of the reasons they’d believed the wedding had influenced her to change her life.
As she went through the door, Nicole reminded herself that she didn’t need romance. Still, she flicked a glance backward and saw that Jordan was now headed for his vehicle. His standing there, seeming to watch her walk away, probably hadn’t meant anything; most likely he’d been contemplating whether he wanted to go in and say hello to his sister.
“Hi, Chelsea,” she said, stepping into the cool reception area, heartily glad she’d insisted they have air-conditioning installed. In Seattle it might not be needed on a regular basis, but when it was needed, it was really needed.
The new office manager’s face was pink and excited.
“Something happen?” Nicole asked.
“Oh, nothing. For the agency, that is. Um, Barton Smith dropped by this afternoon to see me. I hope it’s all right.”
“It’s fine,” Nicole assured her. “What did he want?”
“He had extra tickets to the Mariners game tonight and asked if I wanted to go.”
Glancing at the clock, Nicole saw it was almost four thirty. “That’s great. Leave now so you can get a jump on the evening.”
“I couldn’t do that.”
“Sure you can. I’m the boss and it makes me feel good to tell you to go home early once in a while.”
“Okay. Thanks so much.”
With a shy smile, Chelsea quickly turned off the computer and was gone. Since a legitimate visitor would ring the doorbell, Nicole locked the front door and went to her office. She wished she’d brought Toby for companionship, though it would have been awkward taking him outside to do his business.
She couldn’t deny that she was lonely once in a while. But she’d felt that way sometimes before moving to Seattle and it didn’t mean anything. Besides, her partners would be here before long and she was making new friends. Today she should get a stack of files together so she could work at home on the deck, Toby at her side.
