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“Maybe you should check.” I narrow my eyes at her, but she just laughs.
“Nah. This is infinitely more interesting.” She looks around. “Where’s Victor?” She’s not being quiet anymore, and I attempt to banish her with my glare.
Jocelin grips her arm. “Don’t ask that!” He looks around cautiously and drops his voice. “You’ll summon him.” As if she has, Victor steps away from the bar and heads right for us. I glare at her.
With the smarmiest of smiles, Victor saunters up to our little group. “Did I hear someone mention my name?”
In unison, Jocelin and I both say, “No.”
Victor blinks, and Astrid laughs. “Victor. Good evening.” She holds out her hand, and he takes it, giving her the same limp handshake he gave me. She frowns and pulls her hand away before plastering a smile to her face. “We haven’t formally met. I’m Astrid Osouf. I’m an editor at Hibernian Press. So glad you could make it tonight.”
His grin is smug as he replies confidently. “Well, it’s important to support the client, and since I’ll be responsible for Hibernian’s new imprint, I need to be here.”
Astrid laughs and nudges Victor. “Well, one can dream.” She turns to smile at Jocelin. “Hibernian Press is very happy with the services of Trumble, Santori, and Knobb, and most especially with how Jocelin’s handled our account.” She winks at him and then looks back at Victor. “We don’t foresee any changes to that.”
Victor shrugs. “I’m sure it will all be worked out by the partners.” He turns to Jocelin with the lamest attempt at a smile. “We need to make sure we’re supporting our clientsproperly.”
That does it. “Listen here, you…”
I step forward, but Jocelin puts a hand to my chest, stopping me. He shakes his head, then turns to Victor. “I’m sure the client will have some say in the matter.”
Astrid steps in and hooks her arm through Victor’s. “Itisbetter to keep the client happy than to change things and have them take their business elsewhere. But I’m sure all this can wait until Monday. Why don’t I take you over to say hello to Gary?”
She steers Victor away, and I glare after them. “What an asshole.”
“Try working with him. Better yet, try working with him and his aunt.” He shivers dramatically, then turns to me with a rueful grin. “Hopefully tonight is enough to convince him to stop.”
I shrug. “If it’s not, I’m willing to play boyfriend whenever you need it. Maybe going to Alistair’s party together will solidify your taken status in his mind. If more people think I’m your boyfriend, he should stop. And if not, you can always go to HR. Pressuring you to go out with him is sexual harassment.”
Jocelin shakes his head. “His aunt is a partner, which complicates things. It could blow up in my face.”
I take his hand and squeeze. “Then you’ll just have to let me know when I need to come to your rescue.”
5
Jocelin
IlookintoGunnar’seyes, amazed by his offer. “Are you sure you want to put yourself in the middle of this? Just because I’m friends with your sister doesn’t mean you’re obligated to continue the charade. We barely know each other. I really appreciate your help tonight, but I don’t want to take advantage of your good nature.”
Gunnar laughs out loud. “Joce, the last thing anyone would ever accuse me of is having a good nature. And yes, I’m sure. Unless you don’t want me to. I’d understand that.”
Before I overthink it, my mouth is moving, and words are pouring out. “If you’re willing, then I’d truly love for you to go with me to Alistair’s.” Heat creeps up my cheeks, and my heart races. “I’m having a great time with you tonight.” I laugh. “At least so far.” It’s surprising but true. For as close as I am with Astrid, I don’t know much about Gunnar, except their parents’ deaths hit him really hard, and he was kind of a loose cannon because of it. But according to Astrid, he got help to deal with his anger issues, and tonight he’s been nothing but sweet.
The few times we actually met before were at Bjorn’s house, and they were very brief. I’d gone with Astrid to pick something up or drop something off, and Gunnar was in the garage, quietly working on his motorcycle. We might have said ten words to each other over the past few years. Nothing I’d learned about him prepared me for how sweet he’s being tonight. “So, um… if we are going to continue telling everyone we’re dating, we should probably get to know some specifics about each other.”
Gunnar glances around the bar and nods in agreement. “This probably isn’t the best place to do that, though.”
He’s not wrong. Not only is it loud, there’s always the chance someone I work with will overhear us and figure out what we’re doing. “Should we get together at some point this week, then?”
His smile is wide, making his handsome face even more attractive, if that’s possible. “Joce, are you asking me out on a date?”
My heart hammers in my chest as I meet his eyes. Is it a real date if we’re getting to know each other so we can fake date? Would I mind if it was a real date? I let that question settle in my brain and decide I wouldn’t actually mind at all. “Would you say yes if I were?”
Gunnar’s eyes sparkle, and he takes my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I would.”
That’s all the encouragement I need. Stepping closer, I look into his eyes and place my palm against his very firm chest. “Would you like to get out of here now? Unless you need to stay for Gary or Astrid.”
His free hand settles on my hip, and a slow smirk spreads across his face. “Nah, they don’t need me here.” He brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles, sending delicious tendrils of heat up my arm. “Where should we go?”
