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Her coworker gazed curiously at her a moment, then asked, “What about Alex?”
Lola blinked. “What about Alex?”
“Well, you know. I’ve seen pictures of him on your phone.”
Lola simply stared.
“Come on, Lola. He’s hot—even with the Clark Kent glasses! Tall, dark, and delicious. Employed. Single. Hetero, as far as you know. To top it all off, you’re both nuts about each other.”
“As friends,” she pointed out.
“You’ve heard the saying that ends in with benefits, right?”
“Oh, no.” Lola gave a vehement shake of her head this time. “Alex might adore me, but I literally turn his world upside down. I can’t help it, and I don’t do it intentionally. Well, that’s not always true.” She shrugged. “Thing is, I’m a shoot-from-the-hip girl. He’s a by-the-book guy. The two do not mesh in the way you’re thinking.”
Maxi eyed her speculatively. Perhaps even encouragingly…
“I’m serious,” Lola insisted. “His idea of a rousing Friday night is arranging the cans in his pantry so all the labels face forward—that’s when he’s not trying to invent a new theory of r
elativity or something.”
“Total dud?”
“Not at all, actually.” She sipped, then said, “He’s very bright and witty. He’s just…a little nerdy, you know? Though in a very intriguing way. It’s totally fascinating how his brain is always churning.”
Alex was a marvel, for sure. But they were day and night, not sharing a single similarity, what with Lola being the former head cheerleader and he having been the president of every geeky club imaginable. And yet…she’d been enthralled with him from the moment they’d met, finding his meticulous, brainiac ways captivating, even though she’d had no idea at the age of seven what that was all about.
Maybe it was the fact that he seemed so different from her and everything she knew that had caused her to latch on to him. There really was no clear explanation. They’d just instantly clicked. And she wasn’t one to question their solid friendship.
“Anyway,” she told Maxi, certain there was a healthy dose of conviction in her eyes, “he’s not the type to get wild and crazy. Unless I dare him to.”
“So dare him.”
A snicker fell from her lips. “I definitely would not be simpatico, sexually, with Alex. Sure, I think he secretly gets a kick out of me tossing a wrench in his works from time to time. He needs a little nudge in that area. But I wouldn’t want to send him over the edge. And if anything went wrong? I couldn’t fathom it. He’s a gem—a total keeper. Way too important to risk losing.”
“Okay, then,” Maxi conceded, albeit reluctantly, if the hesitation in her smoky tone was any indication. “Here’s to you finding some other super-hunk Prince Charming. Not too much to wish for, right?”
Right?
Lola had her doubts. Especially since her full concentration needed to be on pulling off her new work gig, not searching for Mr. Right. She was currently operating under the fake it ’til you make it guise, praying like hell she didn’t end up a one-hit wonder in the Marketing department.
Rumor had it the current manager was being groomed for the director position, and he would mentor someone who could slide into his slot when vacated. Lola wanted it to be her. More than she wanted anything else.
Well, aside from her own hot monkey sex…
* * *
A sharp clap of thunder ripped through Alex Reed’s Gainey Ranch condo. Lightning flashed, illuminating his dimly lit dining room/kitchen combo. Fat drops pelted the windowpanes.
Above the ping, ping, ping of rain, he heard the dead bolt on the front door crack. His head snapped up. He stared across the open kitchen to the door.
The second lock sprang free, and he shot to his feet.
Son of a bitch. A home invasion in an upscale Scottsdale community? It was a gated property, for God’s sake!
He stepped around the rectangular, glass-top table where he’d sat, his laptop fired up, his small plate of sliced baguette chunks and foie gras terrine positioned alongside his computer at ten o’clock, his wineglass perfectly aligned at two.
Baseball bat, he thought. Hall closet.
