“Don’t get me started. I’ve been so busy. I think I’ve visited eight countries so far this year. I’ve been spending so much time nursing my jet lag and travel fatigue that there’s been no energy for dating. What about you?”
“Busy too,” I said, waving toward my immaculate light wood desk.
The whole office was soft and warm, toeing that line between neutral and feminine. Okay, maybe the blush-colored couch pushed it a little closer to the latter, but I was careful not to make it the kind of place where a man would feel uncomfortable. Even if party planning was largely an activity sought out by women.
“Is that why you were so late today?” she asked, glancing at the clock.
“No, I was at the police station.”
“The police station? For what?”
“To speak to the sketch artist about the shooter.”
“The… shooter? What the hell is going on?”
“It wasn’t in the group chat?” I asked.
“Shit. I think I silenced that chat when Andi and Kit were going back and forth about vet care stuff. There was a shooting?”
“At the Grassi venue.”
“Where I’m assuming you were hosting a party.”
“You would have loved it. The general theme was: penis.”
“Okay. We are going to circle back to that. But are you okay?”
“Thanks to Perish.”
God, even just thinking his name made me feel flushed all over.
“Perish?” she asked, gesturing way up above her head to indicate his general giant-ness.
“He was there talking to Matteo. He, uh, tackled me to the ground and covered me during the shooting.”
“I’m sure your parents have already covered the whole ‘holy shit, that’s scary, we almost lost you’ thing. So I am going to go ahead and focus on the ‘holy shit, was it hot?’ thing instead.”
“It was a drive-by shooting.”
“Sure. Scary. Adrenaline. All the things. But… Perish. Pinning you to the ground.”
“He wasn’t pinning. He was covering.”
But now I was thinking of his giant hand on my wrists, holding them to the ground over my head as his hand and lips and tongue…
No.
Jesus.
What was wrong with me?
“Protective. Yep, yep. Hot stuff.”
“It was scary.” Just how attracted I’d been at such a tense moment.
“Did he whisper reassurances in your ear?”
“It wasPerish,” I reminded her.
