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“Well, with the coach working us so hard we’re dead on our feet, nobody has time to get laid.” Beckett sighs dramatically. Then he gives me a quizzical look.
I shake my head. “No. I am not secretly banging the devil-woman who makes me dress up in kiddie costumes.”
“Are you doing okay, in general? You’ve been so tied up lately, I’ve barely seen you. Everything okay?”
“I’ve been busy.” I smile at him wryly. “That’s code for ‘I’ve been staying away and missing guys’ nights out, because that’s the kind of thing that gets me in hot water with the coach.’”
“You’re different. You can handle it.”
I shrug. “I’m going to stay clean and sober this season. And forever. It’s just better for me if I don’t expose myself to temptation on the regular, whether that temptation is bourbon or puck bunnies.”
Beckett’s face has gone serious. He nods at me. “You’re doing amazing these days. I’m proud of you. You know that, right?”
I’m almost tempted to make a smart-ass comment about how I love him but he’s not my type, but I bite down the urge. I tend to push people away when they’re getting too close, which is something I’ve talked about in therapy. Beckett’s one of my few genuine friends.
“Well, thanks.”
“So, about Rowan...”
I give him an evil look.
“Does she have a hot sister?” He grins at me.
I elbow him, and head back to the living room. “She does,” I inform him. “And she’s off limits too.”
14
ROWAN
As I walkto my seat at the Queensby conference room table, my cell phone bleeps with the message alert I set for Mason. As always, a little twinge of worry tweaks inside of me.
Please don’t be asking me for bail money, please don’t be asking me for bail money ...
I pull my phone from my purse and relax into a smile.
Mason has sent me yet another picture of his canine child. Puck is asleep on his back on the sofa, smiling blissfully, which is funny because big mean Mason informed me that there would be a “no dogs on the furniture” rule in his house.
Yeah, right. Mason has had the dog for one week now, and he’s practically named him as his heir. I’d be shocked if Mason isn’t letting Puck sit at the dinner table and spoon-feeding him from a sterling silver spoon. With a Puck monogram.
He’s captioned the picture:Paws in the air and he just don’t care.
Damn it. I kind of preferred the arrogant, aloof Mason I came to know and loathe before—well, before I started to get to really know him. When he sends me these pictures, and acts all decent and goofy, it gives me squishy feelings that I don’t know what to do with.
Also, I am having disturbingly erotic dreams about Mason every night, which I justify to myself because I haven’t gotten any nooky in ages and Mason is my full-time job for the moment and I honestly just don’t have the mental bandwidth to summon up anyone else to fantasize about and ...
Yeah, right.
I reply with,Very nice, dorky dog dad. Then I quickly turn off my phone and shove it back in my purse.
He invited me to meet him at a dog park the other day, and I came up with an excuse because I can’t risk getting any closer to him. I’m glad we’re getting along, but it can never be more than that.
Don’t worry, Mom, I think wryly. I know where my priorities lie.
The sad thing about my mom’s frustrated career aspirations is that she was just getting ready to go back into the job market when she got sick. Ruby and I were a little older by then, more independent. I was going to watch Ruby after school, and Mom and Dad would both be full-time working parents, and my mother would finally go back to the career she’d loved so much.
And here I am, with no kids and no relationships and nothing in between me and the job that is the pinnacle of my aspirations—well, nothing but Amanda.
Amanda is sitting across the table from me. Her demeanor has been veering between icy and openly hostile ever since she found out we’re vying for the same position. It’s very movie-of-the-week, but less fun. If I’m found at the bottom of a stairwell after being stabbed in the back with a Louboutin ... well, I think we know who detectives should consider a person of interest.
