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Sweet Surrender (Sugar Rush #3)(6)

By:Nina Lane


"Er, let me find out." Kate hastened to bring up Luke's calendar on her computer, scanning his schedule which had uncharacteristically slipped from her steel-trap memory. "He has a call at eleven thirty, but … " she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, " … let me see if I can fit you in for a few minutes."

"Thank you, Kate."

Oh, he had such beautiful manners.

She hurried to check with Luke, who agreed to meet with Miles before his call with the head of the chocolate division in Switzerland. Kate relayed the information to Miles.

"Excellent." He pulled out his phone. "I expect my explanation to take about fifteen minutes."

"That will be fine." Kate waited while he typed something on his phone. She liked his hands-they were long and well-shaped with clean, neatly trimmed fingernails. The hands of a pianist or a … well, a data analyst.

She searched her brain frantically for something to say. "Er … so how is Melanie these days?"

Miles blinked, as if he were trying to traverse the jump in subjects. "Melanie? I assume she's well. I haven't seen her in a few weeks. She and I are no longer dating."

No longer dating? No longer dating!

"I see." Kate retained her bland expression while her heart did a spinning cartwheel. "I'm sorry."

Miles shrugged and took a step back. He didn't look terribly heartbroken by his admission, not that Kate would be able to tell if he was.

Would it be a breach of etiquette if she were to ask him out for coffee right now? Would that make her look desperate and overeager? Was it too soon after his breakup to make a move or was he fair game?

Kate bit her lip in frustration. Most women seemed to know this sort of stuff instinctively, but she had no romantic instincts where men were concerned. She could organize a fantasy football spreadsheet and prepare any kind of income tax form, but she'd always failed miserably at the dating game.



       
         
       
        

Before she could work up her courage to say something else, Luke stepped out of the office.

"Good to see you, Miles." He extended his hand. "Come on in."

Miles gave Kate another nod of thanks and went into the office with Luke.

Kate sighed. Not for the first time, she wished she'd been raised with some sort of female influence that could have at least provided her with a map for the dating maze.

Much as she loved her father and his fellow quarry workers, they hadn't exactly been able to guide her through the specific intricacies of being a girl. Heck, most of the time they hadn't even seemed to know she was a girl-she was cute, odd little Katie who organized her father's taxes, kept the house clean, and packed him a healthy lunch every day. She created spreadsheets for their poker matches, taught several of them how to use QuickBooks to streamline their personal accounts, and maintained a 4.2 high school GPA.

By the time she got to college, where all the other young women already knew about hair, clothes, makeup, and boys, Kate had fallen easily into her established role as the smart but plain mascot-well-liked, highly resourceful, and a definite peculiarity.

All of which was fine with her … until three successive relationships had crashed and burned with spectacular unexpectedness, shocking her into the realization that all her organizational skills and administrative proficiency were useless when it came to romance.

She pulled out her phone and did a search on the etiquette of asking a man out shortly after a breakup, ignoring a pang of guilt that she was doing personal research on company time. Her quick scan yielded few definitive answers and a bunch of "it depends" responses. But since Miles didn't appear, on the surface at least, to be too terribly heartbroken about the breakup, Kate decided it was okay to ask him out for coffee.

She glanced at the closed door of Luke's office. Her palms grew clammy at the thought of making a move. Unable to focus on work, she fidgeted with her old-fashioned Rolodex, reorganized her supply drawer, and ate two Whipped Creams and a Chocolate Crunchie.

Miles finally emerged at eleven twenty. Kate gauged his expression, relieved that he didn't appear to look disgruntled or stressed out.

"Do you need to schedule a follow-up?" she asked.

"No need. I'll be giving a report at the next board meeting."

"That's wonderful." Kate smiled, buoyed by Luke's positive response. Surely that would make Miles more receptive to her. "I'll add you to the agenda. Will you be working on your report this afternoon?"

"Yes."

"I'm sure you'll need to take a break at some point," she remarked as casually as she could.