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“You have?”
She nods without looking over at me, watching as a poodle prances along the path, its owner walking in much the same way behind it. “Between college and law school. I spent a year traveling all over the US.”
“Doing what?”
She shrugs. Laughs. “Seeing. Doing. Experiencing. Life is so different from one place to the next. We all live in these tiny little bubbles, with our tiny view on ideals. Even those of us who think we’re enlightened. Seriously. There are parts of this country so few people know about.”
Her eyes are bright and expressive, her heart quite obviously fully engaged. And I can’t stop looking at the way her mouth curves up and into her face, all the way into the corners of her eyes.
She tilts her head. “What?”
I try like hell to pry my gaze away from her, but I can’t.
It’s stuck.
“Hey, Ruby!” a woman calls, just as a Pomeranian jumps up into the spot between us on the bench and yelps for Ruby’s attention.
“Oh my God! Julie! Hi!” Ruby nearly shouts, jumping up from her spot, scooping up the pup to give it cuddles, and wrapping her free arm around the woman affectionately.
“I didn’t know you guys came here! Oh my goodness. Hi, Rosie, you little sweetie!”
“Oh,” I marvel quietly. “So, this is how she greets someone she likes.”
Ruby doesn’t hear me; she’s too busy snuggling the hell out of the little fluffy dog, but her friend does and smirks.
“Who’s this, Ruby?” she asks suggestively. Ruby draws her eyebrows together at her friend’s tone, and then she rolls her eyes.
“Oh. That’s just my boss.”
I shake my head at her less than impressive greeting and stand to take the woman’s hand in mine. “Caplin Hawkins. Nice to meet you.” I put my lips to her knuckles.
She blushes, putting a hand to her chest. “Julie Lahitch. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Julie is engaged to my friend Kevin,” Ruby says pointedly, a scowl in place on her face.
“That’s great,” I say, biting my lip to keep from laughing at her worry. I have no attraction to her friend, but even if I did, there’s zero chance I would mount her out here in the open like one of the dogs in the park. I turn to Julie with a smile. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Julie replies, clearly more smitten with me than her friend. “Are you married?”
Ruby scoffs audibly.
“No,” I say, ignoring the little minx. “I’m not.”
“Engaged?” Julie asks, a sly smile edging its way onto her face as she glances at Ruby out of the corner of her eye.
“Nope.” My smile deepens. “Single.”
“Single but very much manwhoring…wait, I mean mingling,” Ruby says derisively, and I tilt my head in teasing offense.
“I’ll have you know I haven’t mingled in a while.” I try to calculate how many days it’s been and lose track when I get over three weeks. God. This might just be the longest I’ve ever gone, and I can’t even mentally pinpoint a reason.
Has it really been that long?
Like, over a month since I did anything besides flirt with a woman?
Jesus Christ. The almost-kiss with Ruby is the most action I’ve had in…a long fucking time.
What is happening to me?
“Feeling self-conscious about your winter body?” Ruby teases and pulls me from my mental calculations and overall confusion over the long sexual drought.
Her little, confident grin has me shaking my head and chuckling at the same time. “There’s only one body when it comes to Caplin Hawkins, doll. And it’s always a good one.”
“I bet,” Julie says with a nod, fanning herself.
Ruby hits her with an elbow.
“Ow,” Julie murmurs through a giggle while she rubs at her ribs.
Ruby gives me a hard glare that suggests I move on with my life, and the contracts in my hand reinforce it. I’ve got a whole lot of shit to get done, especially with Ruby having the day off, and the longer I stand here, the later my night is going to be.
I shake the contracts in front of me meaningfully and give both of them a smile. “Well, I guess I should be on my way. Gotta get these back to the office and make a few calls.”
Ruby’s smile is so painfully based in fake happiness, I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
“So great to see you,” she says bitingly, and this time, Julie elbows her in the ribs.
“It was nice to meet you, Julie. I hope to see you again.”
“Of course. You should come out for drinks with us one night,” she offers with a smirk, and Ruby’s face turns white with panic.
I nearly laugh. “I appreciate the offer, but I keep a pretty busy schedule. Unless you guys go out for drinks at three a.m.?”
She shakes her head and pouts a lip.
I laugh. “That’s what I thought.”
