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“Within reason. None of that turpentine stuff, please.”
He shot me a disapproving look. “Thepleaseis the only thing that’s saving you.”
He went to the bar, and I took a seat next to Arnav, who gave me what little room he could.
“How was work, Molly?”
I put on my cockiest grin even if I didn’t really feel it. “I slew that beast.”
“Where’s your drink? You should celebrate.”
“Duncan’s getting me one. And I don’t know if I should celebrate doing work on vacation.”
“I do it all the time.”
“It seems like this would be a pretty great job to have.” Leading the witness, but still.
“It’s got its perks. Great views, always outdoors, meet loads of new people.” He took a long drink from his glass of what I assumed to be plain cola. “Better than being in an office any day.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I hadn’t been out here very many days and already dreaded going back to my office. Actually…that dread might have started long before my vacation had.
Duncan joined us and placed two small glasses of golden whisky on the table. He sat down across from me, his knees pressed against mine. A sparkly little something flared to life in my chest at the contact.
“That’s not the table leg,” I said.
“I know.” His saucy look sent me soaring even without a drop of alcohol.
Arnav gestured at my drink. “You’re coming around to the water of life, eh?”
“I’m learning from the best.” I raised my glass in toast to Duncan and took a small sip. This whisky had a citrusy taste on my tongue, but it still had a bite going down. Wasn’t sure I’d ever truly get used to that. “This isn’t bad at all.”
Still watching me, Duncan raised his glass to his mouth. My eyes followed every tiny movement of his lips until I looked away, jealous of the glass.
Arnav leaned over the table, staring into the crowd that danced around the band. “No way! It’s one of my mates from uni. Excuse me.”
He grabbed his cola, stepped over me, and crossed the room where he greeted a sunburned young man with disheveled hair. Their enthusiastic reunion raised the decibel level in the pub by several points.
Carlos and Harlow didn’t seem to notice the noise. Leaning close together in conversation, they might as well have been alone. It seemed she’d finally succumbed to his charms.
And me? Calling myself immune to Duncan’s charms would be a brazen lie. I found his charms quite charming, in fact. Those blue eyes, that beard, those hands—
“Do you often work while you’re on vacation?” he asked.
Now that question pulled me straight out of my admiration. On the surface, it might have been casual curiosity, but a hint of disapproval lurked in his tone. I wasn’t sure if the disapproval was for my boss because he’d asked, or for me because I’d accepted.
Probably both.
“Yes.” No sense in hiding it now.
“Is that why you missed kayaking the other day?”
I nodded. “But I don’t take many vacations, so at least there’s that.”
“Why not?”
Duncan had said people in the U.K. weren’t often immediately forthright and direct, but his simple question sure got right to the point.
I scrambled for an answer. How to convince him I wasn’t married to my job even though I kind of was? I had no good way to write off Lincoln’s constant interruptions of my vacation time, so why did I keep doing it?
