"Only when he keeps calling me during my vacation, which just started less than two weeks ago, and he expects me to drop everything to answer his emails. Oh, and he never says hello, good-bye, or thank you. He's the rudest jackass I've ever worked with. Or for."
"He's been calling you while you're on vacation?"
"Yep. And he got pissed when I told him I would look at the email he sent me first thing in the morning rather than right this very minute."
Ben frowned. "Do y'all handle government contracts or something?"
"Sometimes but we don't have any right now. My assistant would have told me about any hot ticket items that needed my attention."
"Then your boss sounds like he's kind of a dick."
I huffed out a laugh. "Oh, I definitely agree with you."
"You still good to watch a movie or do you want to go home?" he asked.
Shit, why did he have to be sweet and hot?
"I'm not working until tomorrow morning because if I don't set a boundary on this now, I'll end up working sixty-hour weeks even on my vacations."
Ben smiled. "I have a punching bag in my home gym. I'll let you take some of your frustration out on it."
You know what's a great stress reliever? Sex. But that wasn't an option. Because Ben and I were just friends now. I tried to remind my body of that fact, but it ignored me. So I settled for second best.
"How about a shot of tequila and chocolate instead?" I asked.
"I can do that, too."
"Then why are we still here?"
Ben laughed, put his arm around my neck, and guided me out of his office.
* * *
I got homeat ten that night. A nice, respectable hour.
And I didn't have sex with my new friend.
That wasn't my main concern when I got out of my car though. No, instead I was worried about rabid raccoons. One raccoon in particular.
As I walked from the car to the side door of the house, I could swear I felt Gary the Evil Raccoon's beady little eyes following my every move. Maybe I was paranoid, but I'd rather be paranoid than wearing a live fur that was trying to eat my face.
That's why I nearly peed my pants when I closed and locked the door behind me and turned to find Cam, my best friend, standing less than a foot away.
"Holy mother of a cheeseburger!" I clapped a hand to my chest and panted.
Cam crossed her arms over her chest. "Where have you been?"
I decided the best way to distract her from her question was to ask a few of my own. "Out. How was dinner with Brody and Jacks? Is he a good cook? Were there shenanigans?"
"Great. He's an excellent cook. No shenanigans, there was a child present. Now, where have you been?"
This was the thing about Cam. She was a smart cookie. She knew exactly how to throw me off balance so that I didn't have a chance to fib. It was something she did when she caught me partying during midterms in college. It was also something she did when she figured out that I was thinking about giving in to my ex-boyfriend senior year and getting back together after he cheated on me.
"I was hanging out with Ben."
Cam blinked in surprise at my honestly. "Is that a euphemism for something sexual?"
"What? No." I made a face at her. "Why would you think it would be sexual?"
