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“Hey Joanna,” I said.
There was a brief pause before she spoke again. “Hi, Anderson.”
“I was just thinking about you,” I said. “Um…are you busy?”
“No, not exactly.”
“Would you like to come over for dinner at my place? I can cook up something for us.”
There was another pause, this one a little longer than the first one. “Sure,” she finally said.
“Okay, see you in a little bit then.”
“All right.”
She was first to hang up the phone. I remained sitting on the couch for a moment though, getting the distinct feeling that something was wrong, but not quite being able to figure out what. I thought back to seeing Joanna in the office that morning. She had looked right at me, giving me a sexy and sly grin that had practically set my body on fire. Yet we kept our distance from each other for the rest of the day. In hindsight though, I recalled catching glimpses of her throughout the day, and noting how her mood seemed to steadily sour. I had initially chalked it up to the day being extremely busy for all of us, for it had been the kind of day that could make even the calmest person’s head spin, let alone a new employee.
But what if that hadn’t been the problem at all? What if it was something else?
I’d spent so much time worrying about how wrong it was for me to entertain thoughts of sleeping with my best friend’s sister, but how did it feel from her end? Was it possible that she had even more reservations than I did, considering that she was messing around with the best friend of her brother?
Tobias was like family to me, but he literally was family to her.
She agreed to come over though, I reminded myself. That has to mean she’s willing…
I stood from the couch and headed to the kitchen, figuring that with Joanna being on her way, I would soon know how she truly felt. So for the time being, there was no need for me to stress about it. All I could do was start preparing the dinner I had promised her.
When I opened the door to find Joanna standing on the other side, my lips curved into a smile that I couldn’t hold back. She looked up at me and grinned.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” I said, stepping forward to wrap my arms around her in a hug. She slowly wrapped her arms around me, returning the hug and squeezing me around my middle as I lowered my lips to kiss her forehead and then moved aside, permitting her entrance.
“Mmmm,” she said as I closed the door behind her. “Smells good.”
“Thanks.”
“What are we having?”
“I hope you’re a fan of spaghetti.”
“I sure am,” she said, smiling and pulling off her jacket. She had changed out of her work clothes, now wearing a nice pair of jeans and a flowing blouse that her lovely figure still managed to show through.
“Great. Let’s dig in.”
*
“That was delicious,” Joanna said, wiping the corners of her mouth with her napkin. I stared at her lips, wanting nothing more than to pounce across the table to kiss them.
“Thank you,” I said.
She picked up her plate and stood.
“No, I got it,” I said, reaching for her plate. She smiled and handed it over while I proceeded to clear the table.
Cleaning the dishes in the kitchen, I couldn’t deny feeling the awkwardness I suddenly felt between me and Joanna. Although dinner had been a success, I knew there was something on Joanna’s mind that she wasn’t letting me in on. She had been somewhat distracted throughout the whole meal as I tried to engage her with chit-chat. It bothered me, but I didn’t want to press the issue; I didn’t want to force anything out of her until she was ready to tell me on her own.
After cleaning our plates, I searched through my cabinet, finding a bottle of wine that I’d been saving for a special occasion and figuring it was a good time to finally pop it open.
