“I wasn’t his favorite person after that. He took it very personally, and I have a sinking feeling he’s going to blame me for this.”
Keith sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “He can’t. He was clearly in the wrong.”
“Do you think he’ll care if he can take me down with him?”
Jan rubbed her arms, very cold all of a sudden despite the warm evening. “I’m really worried about it.”
“There’s nothing you can do right now,” Keith told her, “just hang in there and it will be better. He can’t do anything to you right now. You took the blood tests and everything and I know, as you do, there’s nothing to worry about there. Eat and spend some time with me.”
If only it were that easy.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, and Keith set the table, pouring some soda for each of them. When there was a knock on the door, he went to open it, pointing toward the table. She spent an extra moment sitting and watching his ass before getting up. He really did have an incredible body.
There was something about him here, in his own environment, that made her want to forget about his friendship with her dad, to forget everything but this night and a nice guy, who might be old enough to be her father, but who most assuredly was not.
Keith was gorgeous at any age; he had to be closer to fifty than forty, but you would never have known it to look at him. His brown hair was thick and wavy, curling at the ends, and his green eyes were as dark and deep as she’d ever seen in a man. He was over six foot and still very slim, his bearing very strong.
And his smile…
He had an incredible smile, still youthful and gentle, but a bit naughty at times. She had a feeling if he let himself go, he could be a real handful.
But he was her dad’s best friend and there was no way they could go there, no way, no how. It wasn’t happening. That would be…not good. She didn’t know why, exactly, but Jan couldn’t take that step, not even in her imagination, even though her body seemed over stimulated.
It wasn’t as if she had a boyfriend, or even a buddy she could go to when she needed to alleviate sexual tension. She didn’t have that kind of relationship with any guy, which was unfortunate, but she wasn’t that kind of girl.
She was the friend, but not the lover, the sidekick type of character you’d find in every movie. The friend of the heroine rather than the heroine. The usually less attractive, less thin option to make the audience feel better about themselves.
Yeah, that was her.
Keith came back and started dishing the food out onto plates. Jan would have eaten out of the cardboard containers, but he was having none of that. As they ate, they relaxed together, and Jan felt the tension finally easing away. This would be a terrible time, but she could handle it just fine, as long as she had some friends along the way.
After dinner, she started to reach for her purse, and her phone inside, but he shook his head. “Couch. None of that.”
“What did you think I was doing?’ she asked, amused.
“I know what you were doing,” he shot back. “You were going for your phone, and you were going to see what everyone had to say and what the updates were. The little boy is fine, I’m sure of it. We do surgeries like that all the time. And as for your work crisis, you can’t do a damn thing about it, so get your ass on the couch and relax.”
That was kind of sexy the way he took charge, and she shivered. “Wine?”
“I better not.”
“Next time, then.”
Jan sat on the couch and Keith draped an arm around the top, fingertips trailing over her shoulder. She was sure he hadn’t gone any further than the “friend place” but it was nice to relax against the back of the couch and pretend for just a moment that she wasn’t alone.
“What is it you’re looking for, Jan?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“In your life, what are you looking for. This job is great, but you seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut right now. These guys don’t seem to see what a treasure they have in you, and that is a damn shame. You deserve so much more, Jan, and I’m afraid you’re going to get stuck in this place and not move on to bigger and better things.”
“I don’t know what to say to that.” It was true; he was right, she did have a lot of options, or might have, but now, with this situation, she might have hosed her career, or…this could be the stepping-stone she needed to get out.
If she didn’t get screwed.
“Say you have aspirations beyond that school. Say you want to do other things. Say you want to be known as more than a teacher. Say you want to nurture yourself as a woman, instead of just as you relate to those kids.”