“True. And the dress code issolax.”
The thrill she experienced at drawing a joke from him had her leaping to her feet to continue their playful sparring.
“What, does this not do it for you?” She put her hands on her hips and spun to give him the full 360-degree view of an outfit that she wouldn’t even wear to the gym on a day when the air-conditioning was broken and she was guaranteed not to run into anybody she knew. When she rotated back to face him, his face was alive with laughter, his expression… interested. Andthat’swhen she became aware of just how short her shorts really were and how clearly she could see the outline of her hot-pink sports bra through the worn cotton of her shirt. His eyes were slow to lift from her legs, and when they did, she held his gaze with her own, practically begging him to explain why he made her want to break her own rules.
And then Brandon came crashing through the door.
“Ah, Mabel. Hello.” He stopped dead when he got a look at her. “Wow, you’re a mess. No offense.”
Thatderailed her buoyant mood.
“Well, gee, why would I take offense at that?” She folded her arms over her chest, all traces of her playful confidence draining away.
Jake, who’d turned his attention back to his laptop when Brandon walked through the door, didn’t bother looking up. “Pretty bold criticism from a guy with a coffee stain on his tie.”
Brandon looked down at the blotch on his burgundy-striped silk and gave a cry of distress.
But Jake wasn’t done. “Not that it matters. Mabel looks beautiful no matter what she’s wearing.”
He looked up and gave her a tiny, private smile that made her breath catch in her throat. How unfair to say the perfect thing and then look at her likethatwhile Brandon was in the room with them.
Wait, what was she doing?He. Was. Off. Limits.She had to get out of there before she forgot that and blew up her work life yet again. She couldn’t risk that for herself, and she definitely couldn’t risk it for Dave and Ana.
Time to go. Way past time to go.
“I marked up that ad copy like you asked,” she told Brandon stiffly. “If you want anything different, let me know.” She backed toward the door, not wanting to give him the same twirling fashion show she’d given Jake. “Okay, uh, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
She slid out without waiting to see if Jake looked up from his work again to acknowledge her departure.
Six
“Is Brandon around?”
Jake looked up from his screen, blinking a bit as his eyes adjusted to take in Mabel’s head poking around the doorframe. “Nope. He’s in Detroit all week.”
“Excellent. Got a second?”
No. Absolutely not. He was swamped, and the last time they’d talked, she’d somehow extracted truths about his life that he never talked about—plushe’d made a dick joke, a lame one, to the funniest woman he’d ever met, and now all he could think about were her long, tan legs in those shorts from the day before. Smart, funny, pretty? He’d recognized that on day one. Sexy? Sexual? Someone he was attracted to? Those feelings were rapidly climbing the charts, to use a metaphor she might appreciate. And there was no denying the bolt of pleasure he experienced to know that, unlike last time she’d come to the office, this time she was here forhiminstead of being on an errand for Brandon.
Don’t overthink this, Carey.He waved her in, and she slipped inside and shut the door behind her.
“When I crashed your lunch yesterday, you made it clear that you’re not usually a stop-for-lunch guy”—she looked pointedly at the day’s shake poking out of his bag—“so I brought you a sandwich.”
She held out a paper bag and said coaxingly, “Roast beef. Lots of protein. Something best enjoyed with both hands.”
Surprise at her gesture kept him from reaching for it right away. Nobody had ever brought him lunch unprompted.But she must’ve misinterpreted his expression as displeasure because she rushed to add, “It’s cool if you’re busy. And you don’t have to eat it or anything. I can always give it to Dave the human garbage disposal.”
Let her give his two-handed protein sandwich to Dave? No way.
“Thank you. That’s so thoughtful.” If he wanted to, he could wolf this down just as quickly as his usual protein shake and be back to working on the stack of reports for Brandon, no problem. But he found himself pointing to the chair at the other desk. “Join me?”
She hesitated, indecision on her face. “I mean, we’re at work,” she said. “It’s just coworkers having lunch, right?”
Interesting. Did she feel the need to justify spending time with him the way he did her? And were they actually coworkers if she worked for the station and he worked for BPS? He didn’t think so but didn’t want to chase her away by debating the point, so he just nodded.
Her brow smoothed, and she grinned. “Okay then. I’ll go grab my salad.”
That day marked the first in a string of lunches with Mabel that left Jake with a feeling of bone-deep contentment he hadn’t experienced in… well, ever. For the first time in his professional life, he didn’t hesitate to put aside his work to enjoy some company in the middle of the day. Sure, the station’s financial records were still the most disorganized clusterfuck he’d ever seen, Brandon kept throwing new projects his way that added to his never-ending workload, he was struggling to juggle his existing Chicago-based clients from a distance, and every night he fell asleep on scratchy sheets that smelled faintly of bleach in a hotel room with drapes that never quite closed enough to block out the streetlights. But he was also spending an hour every day with a woman who made him laugh, whose syrupy voice made him shiver, and it felt like wading into a warm ocean after years of frigid self-denial on the shore.
