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“Men and their axes to grind. Two women would never allow it to get this bad. They’d smile to each other’s faces and do that phony nice speak, then bad-mouth them the minute the other person turned their back. It’s much more civilized if you think about it.”
Talk about uncivilized—one of Anna’s coworkers had uttered Jacob’s name in a meeting the day before, and Adam literally kicked the guy out of the meeting. No explanation, just an invitation to get the hell out. He’d softened his approach with her, but he was still being extraordinarily hard on everyone else.
Anna was picking through her salad when her cell phone lit up. Jacob’s name popped up on the screen. She dropped her fork into the bowl.
“Who is it?” Holly asked. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“It’s Jacob.”
“What are you waiting for?” Her voice was at a near-panic. “Answer it.”
Anna wiped her mouth with a napkin and picked up the phone. What in the world could he be calling about? Nothing about their circumstances had changed. She stifled the hope that rose in her chest, that he was calling because he had to see her.
“Jacob, hi.” She brandished her hand at Holly to shoo her out of her office, but Holly just sat back in her chair. Anna bugged her eyes. “Please go,” she mouthed.
“Fine.” Holly feigned sadness by jutting out her lower lip and begrudgingly got up from the chair.
“Is this a good time?” Jacob asked. Even when he was being entirely too businesslike, his voice was so sexy that it shook her to her core.
“Yes. Of course.”
“I didn’t want to assume, since you’re at work, but it’s important and I didn’t want you to hear this from anyone else but me.”
Her heart began to beat furiously in her chest. “Hear what?”
“Sunny Side is going to have to go on hold. The patent has been delayed and there’s a design flaw they have to work through. It’s pretty routine with a technology like this, but it could be another few months until a sale is in the mix. They want to put their best foot forward with whomever they partner with, and I’ve advised them that that’s a sound strategy.”
Anna took in a deep breath through her nose. She fought her disappointment that he hadn’t called about something personal. At least he had what might end up being good news—a delay could be fantastic for her. By the time Sunny Side was ready to sell, she might be in place as CEO and she could make the call. “I see. Well, I appreciate you keeping me up to speed on things.”
“I hope you don’t feel like our weekend was a waste of time because of this.”
A waste of time? Does he feel that way? “Of course I don’t. It was an amazing trip.” There were hundreds more things she wanted to say to him, but could she make that leap? Could she even hint just how badly she wished they could do it all over again? And should she even cross that line again? “It was great. Both personally and professionally.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that you still feel like that.”
Her mind was whirring like a broken blender. Why did it feel as if he was calling about more? And if he was, why wasn’t he just getting to it? It wasn’t like him to tiptoe about things. “You didn’t really think that I only cared about Sunny Side, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. I just wanted to be sure.” He cleared his throat. “Anna, I have to tell you something else. I’m actually glad that the delay with Sunny Side happened because it gave me an excuse to call you.”
“You don’t need an excuse. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Friends with a very complicated set of circumstances.”
That much was indeed true. It didn’t change the fact that she was hopelessly drawn to him. “So just call me whenever. You don’t need an excuse.” A long silence played out on the other end of the line. Had she nudged things too far? Was he now trying to find a way out of this phone call?
“Okay, good. Because I’m calling you right now to tell you that I can’t stop thinking about you.”
She smiled so wide that she witnessed the rise of her own cheeks. Her heart had apparently gotten the memo—it sprang into action by thumping her pulse in her ears. “Really?” Anna dug the heel of her pump into the office carpet, wagging herself back and forth in her chair, ultimately propelling herself into a lazy spin.
“It’s especially bothersome when I’m trying to go to sleep.”
