If she’d married, he would have gone on with his own life, making his own messy relationships to sort through. Maybe he’d have fallen in love with Amy if he’d let himself really see her.
Kelsey turned off the shower, vigorously toweled dry and scurried into her room to get dressed.
Five minutes later, she gulped down half a cup of coffee, while aiming a blow dryer at her hair. She’d gotten pretty good at multi-tasking.
Returning to her bedroom to grab her purse and briefcase, Kelsey’s gaze fell on the red dress she'd worn last night, now tossed over a chair.
Jared. Now there was another puzzle.
If she’d made him sweat last night, he hadn’t shown it. Instead, he'd baffled her with his charming, capricious ways. Dancing in an elevator, for heaven’s sake! Then he’d gone home without even kissing her.
She wouldn’t have slept with him. At least, she didn’t think she would have. But it irked her that he hadn’t even kissed her. Last night, she’d thought that one kiss would clear the air, satisfy her curiosity and help her reassert her objectivity with this man.
This morning, it looked more prudent to forgo the kiss and keep reminding herself not to play with fire.
They had a meeting scheduled this morning to finalize the ads for The Meriton. Both Jared and Doug would undoubtedly be there. She’d play it cool with the former, she promised herself, and take the first opportunity to straighten out the latter’s foolish crush on her.
Feeling reassured by these decisions, she left the apartment with a confident step.
***
“Doug!” Kelsey said, glad she’d reached the meeting room early enough to catch him before they got started. “Come out in the hall a minute. I need to talk to you.”
“Of course!” Doug got up with pitifully obvious alacrity and followed her out of the room. He paused next to her, asking in caressing tones, “How are you this morning?”
“I’m fine.” Kelsey kept her tone brisk. As much as she didn’t want to hurt him, she still had to get the message across. She owed it to both Doug and her sister. “But after last night, I feel the need to clarify something.”
“What?” He looked at her with puzzled eyes.
“Doug,” she said gently, pulling him closer and lowering her voice so she wouldn’t be overheard. “I-I don’t want to hurt you, but, last night, and a lot of other times lately, I’m beginning to see—“
She broke off, unsure how to continue.
“What’s the matter, Kels?” he asked, a tender smile on his lips.
“Doug,” she started again. “When we dated in high school and I broke up with you to go with—“
“Mark Kimes,” Doug said with a sudden darkening in his eyes.
“Yes. When I broke up with you,” Kelsey said, feeling incredibly awkward, but knowing she had to plunge ahead. “I told you then that I loved you like brother.”
Doug looked at her, his gaze puzzled and searching. “Yes.”
“I-I meant that, Doug,” she said earnestly. “I do love you. Like a brother and…nothing more.”
If he’d been a more emotionally demonstrative man, he’d have winced. As it was, she saw the half-dismayed, half-angry reaction in his face.
“Kels,” he said abruptly, shifting his feet to place greater distance between them. “What brings this on? Like you said, you told me all this years ago.”
“Last night,” she said as gently as she could. “Last night you acted like a jealous lover.”
“Don’t be silly,” Doug scoffed unconvincingly. “I was just worried about you going out with Jared. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a great guy. But he’s got a tough side and I was worried about you.”
“You don’t need to watch over me,” she told him, still trying to be as gentle as possible. Doug had been the brother she’d never had. She hated having to hurt him.
“Fine,” he said, shifting yet another step back and lifting his hands in surrender. “Enough said.”
“And you hurt Amy,” Kelsey said steadily, holding his gaze. “You hurt her.”
“Amy?” The puzzled look returned to his face. “She’s great. I didn’t mean to ignore her.”
“Then tell her she’s great,” Kelsey recommended before turning to go back into the meeting room, “and next time, don’t ignore her.”
***
Kelsey tapped her pencil on the notepad lying on the conference table in front of her, her gaze trained on her boss.
“…the television spots will run during the shows rated highest for our target demographic. But changing the timetable on this campaign would be problematic…”