“Hey. I picked up dinner. I got a bottle too, but,” He paused and nodded toward the empty glass beside her laptop. “Maybe it’d be better to save that for another night?”
She followed his gaze and then shook her head. “That? No, I was going to pour a glass, but I got distracted. Wine would be great. Welcome, even.”
She snagged her glass from the table, carefully avoiding Tesla who was, as always, underfoot. Garret bit back a smile, remembering how Rachael had yelped the first time she’d seen her furry familiar. Now, he hardly ever saw the two of them apart. In fact, if Rachael was home, the pug barely bothered to move to greet Garret anymore.
As Garret began unpacking the overstuffed white cartons from the brown paper bag, Rachael got out a second wine glass and filled them both nearly to the brim.
“What made you think to get dinner?” she asked.
Because you’ve seemed upset…
He couldn’t tell her that. He was her friend, sure, but it still seemed strangely intimate to admit. He certainly couldn’t admit that he’d called every restaurant in the area trying to get a meatloaf for take out before settling on Chinese.
Instead, he shrugged and said, “I had a craving.”
“Works for me.” She slid the container of pork-fried rice toward her, then opened a drawer and placed two forks on the marble counter. After popping her container open, she frowned and asked, “You’re the kind of guy who eats his Chinese on plates, aren’t you?”
“I am.” He picked up his own utensil, and then added, “but I’m flexible.”
She smiled, the first genuine smile he’d seen all week, and he lost the battle not to smile back.
He picked up his spicy beef and broccoli and followed her to the table. “So what’s with the stressed-out face?”
“Oh that’s just my face.”
“Come on,” he prompted.
She sighed, “My mother finally responded to the e-mail we wrote her. She said she wished she was more surprised, that she never liked Lance, and that she wonders if I’m ready for a commitment like marriage.” She pushed her food aside and took a long sip from her glass. “Nothing is ever easy, is it?”
“No. But the good news is you don’t have to go back there.”
She tilted her mouth to the side. “I guess so. And once the wedding is over, Eliza will be here.”
“And you can tell her all about your sham marriage.”
“She’ll love it. It’ll be like the parental revenge she always wanted.” Rachael chuckled.
For a moment, they ate in silence and all the while Garret wondered at what to say. He could tell her that her parents didn’t matter and, really, neither did the wedding. That she shouldn’t let these things and these people bring her down.
That he hated to see her full lips frowning.
“I’ve been wondering about something,” her voice broke through his thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Why did it mean so much for you to keep me around?”
He blinked. In truth, he’d spent most of the week wondering that same thing. At first, he’d thought it had been because she was a great worker. The perfect solution to his research problem with Matchware. But then, when he was here around the office…
Lately, it felt like he spoke to her less and watched her more. Like whenever she strode between the cubicles, his gaze was fastened on the way her body moved. The way she looked in her hip-hugging skirts.
“Who else would put up with me?” He smiled, surprised to find how suddenly dry his throat had become.
“Well, I just want you to know I appreciate it. I mean, the moving in here things was weird. And the dog has been…a struggle. But I’m glad.”
Her soft palm clasped the top of his hand and the warmth there spread through the whole of his body. In that instant, staring into her dark eyes, he thought again of his first morning here. Her barely-there pajamas…
Those damn tight skirts…
This was wrong. He’d spent every second of the last week convincing himself as much. Six times, he'd poured over his employee handbook. He'd looked through every version of every human resources guide for the company. There were no loopholes. No way for them to legitimize any kind of entanglement.
But that did nothing to change the fact that his tongue felt slick inside his mouth, his teeth itching to rip the tight fabric of her shirt away and expose the flesh beneath. To lick what he found there until she begged for more of him. And it would be practically effortless to hoist her onto those counter tops and take command of her supple body.
He took a deep breath.
As if she could hear his thoughts, she ran the tip of her sweet pink tongue over her top lip. A slight concern etched her delicate features, but there was something more than that…curiosity. She was testing him.