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Jack laughs, wrapping his arms around Lauren, who’s sitting on his lap, as he says, “No worries, mate, nothing inappropriate going on in here…yet, anyway.”
Lauren swats at his arm as she reaches for a cookie from the half empty packet on her desk. “Hey, Tommy,” she says, smiling.
“Hey,” I reply, walking over and reaching for a cookie.
Lauren smacks my hand away before I have a chance to grab one, immediately letting out a gasp as she realizes what she’s done. “Shit, sorry,” she says.
I glance at Jack, who’s still laughing. “She’s kinda territorial about them,” he says, tipping his head in the direction of the packet.
“Am not!” Lauren says, scowling up at him.
“Babe, please, you haven’t even let me have one.”
“Yes, I have.”
Jack leans down and kisses the end of her nose. “No, you haven’t.”
Lauren’s brow narrows as though she’s actually trying to decide if what he’s saying is true. Eventually she exhales, reluctantly reaching for the packet before offering it to Jack. He grins as he takes one of the chocolate cookies before tipping his head in my direction. Lauren’s face falls as she turns to me and holds the packet out.
“You sure?” I ask, grinning at the look on her face.
“Yes, she’s sure,” Jack says before he sticks the whole cookie in his mouth.
Lauren elbows him in the stomach as I reach for one, her eyes never leaving the cookie as she tracks it to my mouth and I start to eat it. “Holy shit,” I say. “These are amazing.”
“Right?” Lauren replies.
Jack lets out another laugh. “Babe, seriously, we have like fifty packs of Tim Tams at home and Dad has already sent another carton over. It’s okay to share them.”
I chuckle as Lauren pouts up at him, clearly annoyed at his suggestion. “Well, thanks for letting me have one of your precious cookies,” I say. “And if it’s okay with you, I’m gonna skip out on work this weekend, that cool?”
Jack raises a brow. “Got something going on, Tommy?”
“Yeah, just making some mead.”
He grins. “With Penny?”
“With Penny,” I reply with a nod.
Jack smirks up at me now, and I can tell he wants to say something more about the whole Penny and me working together thing. Before he gets a chance though, Lauren cuts in. “Absolutely, you know you don’t have to work weekends anyway, Tommy. When do you think the mead will be ready? We can add it to the tasting menu if you like?”
I glance at her. “Let’s see if it’s actually drinkable first.”
“Of course it will be,” she says. “You’ve been helping us make wine and cider for years, it’ll be great, right, Jack?” she asks as she elbows him in the stomach again.
“Yeah, yeah,” he says. “Although I think the bigger question here is, what’s the deal with you and Penny?”
“The deal?” I ask, clearing my throat a little. Surely they don’t know about what happened between us? “There is no deal. We’re friends, we work together.”
“Sure,” Jack replies, dragging the word out.
I roll my eyes, needing to get the fuck out of here before he starts digging deeper. Reaching over, I grab another cookie from the packet on Lauren’s desk, chuckling as she scowls up at me again. “Anyway, I’m outta here. Thanks for the cookies.”
The rest of the week passes quickly and before I know it, I’m heading home early on Friday afternoon to get ready for my date with Wine Queen. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about meeting up with her. I mean yeah, we have great chemistry online and it’s clear we have a lot in common, despite the age difference. But that doesn’t mean it’ll translate to real life.
Everything’s always different behind the safety of a screen, especially with an anonymous profile. Before, when neither of us knew if we’d ever meet up in person, it meant we could say anything that came to mind. It was liberating and easy and as I pull on a clean shirt, I also realize, kind of dirty at times too.
I mean shit, we actually got off to thoughts of each other. At one point we talked about swapping naked pics. Is she going to remember that part when she meets me? Hell, is she going to be embarrassed about it?
