I nodded because I felt the same way about causing a scene.
“I can tell him no,” Wick growled, taking me by surprise, and Lacey giggled.
“You can’t,” I said, not even bothering to think about it. “Absolutely not. He’s your employee.”
Interest sparkled in Lacey’s gaze as she shot a glance between me and Wick, and I ignored that, too.
“I’ll just tell him I’m not interested,” she said, voice a touch too high.
“You won’t.”
“Ugh.” She rested her chin on the table. “I won’t.”
Wick nudged his knee against my thigh, and I turned a little more in his direction. “Want to teach him a lesson he’ll never forget?” His evil smirk had my cock plumping in my boxers. What I wouldn’t give to get that look under different circumstances.
“Yes, I do.” Lacey bounced on her seat.
Wick tilted his head toward me. “Take me as your date. He’ll never ask you to do anything like that ever again.”
Lacey snorted and covered her mouth with her palm—I wasn’t sure if she thought it was as ridiculous as I did that Wick would ask me to go on a date. I flushed. God, wouldn’t it be nice if he really wanted a date? I finished off my beer to give myself time to think, but in the end, I nodded because it would be hilarious to see Edgar’s reaction.
“Okay.” I settled my glass back onto the table. “Why not?”
Lacey clapped her hands, and Wick chuckled. I wasn’t sure if I was more excited or horrified, but I couldn’t discount the fact that it would be a lot of fun to get dressed up and go out and watch Edgar slowly melt into a mortified puddle when he sat down at a table somewhere with Wick.
Lacey grabbed my hand and one of Wick’s. Her eyes were bright with excitement. “Let’s do it Friday night. I have fifty-seven messages on my phone from this guy.Fifty-seven.He sent me a sonnet this morning.” She widened her eyes at us.
“Okay,” I agreed faintly, while Wick nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, I really don’t like that guy, either.”
“What? Since when?” I stared at him.
Wick only shrugged, and I settled in, leaving the plotting to my cousin and boss.
3
WICK
My phone buzzedand I picked it up, then smirked at the screen.
Lacey:All set! Edgar will be there. All you need to do is bring Maurice and meet us at 7. It’s going to be a great time! ~Ciao
Grinning, I sent back a thumbs-up. Maurice’s cousin was delightful, which made sense because he was, too. I checked the time and swore under my breath—it was already 6:16 p.m. and I had no idea how it had gotten so late. I jumped up and snatched my gray suit jacket from the back of my chair, and while I stared at the door to make sure I didn’t get caught doing too much for our date, I opened the top drawer of my desk and grabbed out a bottle of Bleu de Chanel. Taking this much care for a fake date was probably too much, but I spritzed myself. If I was going to be close to Maurice tonight, I didn’t want him to have any complaints. I stuffed the cologne back in the drawer, then smoothed my suit jacket down.
Yes, I was doing this. Nerves raced through me, mixed with some excitement. No, it wasn’t a good idea.
I’d realized about three minutes after Lacey and I started planning to pull one over on Edgar Celestine that I didn’t have the best motivation. I honestly didn’t care too much that he wanted to date her, but it did burn my ass that he kept hanging around Maurice. I wanted that to end. His constant botheration of my assistant had crawled under my skin and stuck there. I wanted him to work and leave Maurice alone.
I was having trouble separating Maurice firmly into the “work acquaintance” category in my life, but oh well. He’d probably been more than a friend for a while. What could I do about it at this point? He had felt especially nice pressed up against my side on Wednesday night when we’d gone out together, and while it hadn’t gone farther than a friendly cuddle in the booth, which he hadn’t commented on at all, it was the best thing that had happened to me in some time.
I liked to have Maurice around, and I didn’t enjoy attractive men monopolizing his time. Yes, I was a bastard that way.
When I went out into Maurice’s office, Bern Evangelos was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to him, flipping through stacks of papers. His head was bowed and his dark hair gleamed in the overhead lights. Bern was a tall, muscled man who filled out his clothing nicely, and he occasionally gazed up at Maurice as if he was an angel come to rescue him. For his part, Maurice was patiently perched on his desk chair watching over Bern. I ground my teeth until they squeaked. Was this just the week for hot guys to bother Maurice? I even liked Bern, but really?
“What is this?”
They both turned to look at me, and Maurice gave me a tiny shake of his head, so maybe I’d sounded unpleasant. Bern’s deep brown eyes were wide and a little scared when he glanced up, but I smiled at him because he truly was one of the best workers I’d hired in years. I squatted and laughed as I poked at the order forms he was sorting into stacks.
