“We’ll see. Are you comfortable with the couch or a guest room? I’m not sure I want youinmy bed all night.”
“I could manage.” He grinned. “Want me to pick up food again?”
“No, I’ll get something. Not turkey.” I squeezed Tom the Turkey’s fat, round body. His button eyes shined in simple cuteness.
“Glad to see you’re feeling better from when you messaged,” Sal said.
“How are you? Need to hug some poultry?” I wiggled Tom at him.
Chuckling, he shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You’re wearing beige. Seems kind of muted for you,” I said.
Sal shrugged, his gaze falling to the shelves. “It’s all good.”
Was he still down about Janice? That sucked. I wish he could see what I saw in him. “You’re good,” I said.
He smirked, the twinkle in his eye brightening the whole room. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
Were his pet names still supposed to be ironic? I couldn’t tell. His dimples made it hard for me to care either way.
We messaged and chatted when we could throughout the day. After closing, we walked out together, sharing secret smiles behind Ash’s back. He sauntered through the metal detector, and unfortunately, I watched his ass the whole time. I had to reign it in.
Ash yawned, collecting her stuff. “I’m beat. Just gonna go home and sleep.”
“Sounds good to me.” I readied my key-ring of gadgets in my pocket out of habit.
“What are you up to?” she asked Sal, perusing her phone.
“Ah, nothing. Meeting up with somebody.” He let out an awkward laugh and bolted through the door, but circled around since he was too much of a gentleman to let it close in our faces.
She frowned. “Who are you meeting up with?”
He glanced at me. “A friend.”
I smiled and rubbed the blunt edge of my mini taser to account for the tingle in my extremities.
“A lady friend?” Ash clarified.
“Ah, maybe.” He fanned himself with his collar despite the chill November breeze.
“It better not be Janice,” she snapped.
He veered off the sidewalk and into the parking lot. “What? No. We’re friendly, but we’re not making plans.”
Good. They better not. She didn’t deserve his attention.
Ash arched her brow. “So, no ex-sex? What about friends with benefits?”
I tightened my grip on my taser. Sal wouldn’t hook up with someone else right as we were starting up, would he? Or did Ash suspect us already? She eyed me when she asked, like she was judging me as well as him.
He gaped, his lip twitching up when he glanced at me. “I don’t know where you get these ideas.”
“Well, you seem too chipper to be meeting a non-sexy friend,” she said. “And you won’t tell me who it is, so…”
“It’s not Janice.” He raised his chin and strolled to his car.
I flushed, fumbling my keys. I was a sexy friend. Sexy to him, at least.
