A knock sounds at the door just as I’m about undress. I stop and smooth at the dress with shaking hands, fully expecting the person on the other side to be Gregory.
“I want to know everything,” Chrissie demands as she bursts in holding a bottle of wine and a tub of Double Choc Chip.
It’s not ideal, but if he’s not returning I am so up for a little distraction. I can go back to my diet tomorrow.
“God, that man was….phew,” she giggles, fanning herself for emphasis. “And the way he was looking at you! My pants almost caught on fire.”
I grin at her and excuse myself to change, coming back with her dress thrown over my shoulder as I adjust my shorts and roll my hair into a bun.
“So, let’s hear it.”
I accept the wine and offer the dress.
“Thanks, Chris, that dress was a life saver.”
“Well, keep it! It was obviously meant for you,” she insists wickedly, and we giggle as we sip wine and dig into the ice cream.
“Okay, but at least let me pay you for it.”
“Nope. You can owe me a favor when I’m having a pre-date meltdown sometime. Dish. I want to hear everything.”
I relax back and close my eyes as the events of my date with Gregory come back to me. God, I am so in trouble if my mind is already on a first name basis with the man.
“He took me to this little Italian bistro. It’s so hidden away it’s a miracle people can find it, but it was…perfect. It’s romantic and intimate and they serve the best spaghetti I’ve ever had.”
“Yeah?”
I can hear she’s trying to be patient. Chrissie wants the juicy details, not what we ate.
“Afterward he brought me home and suggested a nightcap.”
“Ooooh, a nightcap, nightcap?”
We giggle as she wiggles her brows, and it takes a few sips of wine before we’re back to being rational adults. I am enjoying myself, talking to her and sharing…something. I’ve never been a girlfriend type of girl, and I find that it’s much more than what I expected it to be.
“I said no though,” I confess, and I have to restrain a smile when her face falls in disappointment.
“For real? Why?” she squeals. “God, what I wouldn’t give for a man who looks like that to offer me a nightcap.”
“Well.”
How should I explain this without sounding like a freaking idiot?
“I didn’t want things to move too fast, ya know? We’ve only just met, and he’s something of a player. I don’t want to be a one night wonder and then have to work with him for the next few weeks pretending I haven’t seen his peepee.”
Chrissie cackles so hard she spews wine all over herself, and we both start giggling again.
“I see where you’re coming from. You work together?”
“For the moment. He’s a client. Jordan’s handling the campaign for his cruise line.”
“Hhhmmm. Okay, so he’s definitely into you. You’re into him, and you have to work together for the foreseeable future. Yeah. That sounds complicated. What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know.”
And it’s true. I know now that keeping Gregory at arm’s length is not going to be as easy as I’d led myself to believe, and as I’ve said, there’s no way I can ever have enough control of the situation to be completely comfortable with what’s happening.
But, and this is a big one, I know we’re going to sleep together. It’s as inevitable as the sunrise. I just need to decide when I’ll let that happen and how I’ll respond when it’s over.
Gregory Lucas is not a man to build dreams around, and I know it, I just have to convince the old fashioned idiot in my head that sex for the sake of sex is not wrong and that I don’t want anything more than that.
Chapter Seven
I’ve set up the boardroom, arranged lunch and drinks, and practically done Jordan’s entire presentation and practiced it with him by the time twelve o’clock rolls around.
I am starving and crabby from my restless night, and my idiot boss is still having a conniption about God alone knows what. Some days I wish I could kick his bratty ass to the moon.
“Where the hell is that file!”
I sigh and drop my purse back to my desk and walk into his office with as much calm as I am able to present. It’s like being a nanny. I just have to remember that slapping him or giving him a time out isn’t possible.
I just have to breathe through it and help him through the stress. His big Lucas presentation is in ten minutes, and he’s having a meltdown.
“I put it in your briefcase. Here,” I say through clenched teeth, pulling the file out.