“We are not!” Mabel’s voice floated from the bedroom, which she’d booted Jake out of half an hour earlier after upending the entirety of her closet onto every available surface. One raised eyebrow as she held up every pair of shoes she owned next to every scrap of fabric she owned, and he’d been exiled to the living room.
In truth, he was content to laze on her couch while she spun like a top, getting ready for the Brick’s New Year’s Eve party. Then again, he hated being less than punctual. Maybe he should check on her progress.
He dropped his feet from their perch on the coffee table, and Tybalt, who’d fallen asleep on his lap, gave amrrptof irritation at being jostled. The orange cat grumpily resettled himself on the adjacent cushion and allowed Jake to give him an under-the-chin apology scritch. The cat appeased, Jake headed down the hall to brave the feminine prep zone. When he stuck his head around the doorframe, he was again reminded that he was the luckiest son of a bitch on Earth. His woman stood in front of the mirror, flushed, adorable, and draped in a tiny black dress.
“What do you think? Too basic?” She smoothed her hands down her sides and pivoted, giving him a good look at the plunging neckline. Then she turned around and leaned over to put on her shoes, letting him ogle her long, bare legs.
He swallowed. Swallowed again. Cleared his throat. Shifted to accommodate his suddenly interested dick where it pressed against the zipper of his pants.
“Nothing basic about any of that,” he managed.
She straightened with a pleased smile and fluffed her hair, which she’d styled in a mass of curls for the night. “Thanks. I’m worried I’ll freeze outside, but—”
“I’ll keep you warm.” He crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hard, and she didn’t even bat his hands away when they slid into her hair. If anything, she pressed herself even more tightly against him and returned his kiss ferociously.
When his hands crept to the hem of her skirt, she pulled away with a laugh. “Now who’s going to make us late?”
“Worth it,” he murmured, pulling her back to him. “Some things aresoworth it.”
An hour later, they arrived at one of Beaucoeur’s posh riverfront hotels where the station-sponsored New Year’s Eve bash was in full swing in the ballroom. All the deejays were expected to give a few short live broadcasts throughout the night, and Mabel must’ve been feeling anxious, because she tapped her way across the parking lot as quickly as her heels would carry her. Jake’s longer legs allowed him to keep up, and when they finally made it inside, the first person they bumped into was Brandon, without a date on his arm, surprisingly.
He eyed them with a smirk. “You’re late. Wonder why.”
Just like that, Mabel’s happy, I’ve-been-sexed-up glow vanished, and Jake bit back a curse. She might have adapted to her new work situation, but her interactions with Brandon usually left her a little snarly. He rested his hand briefly on the small of her back before pulling it away, aware that she was still uncomfortable with PDA and not wanting to push his luck. She flicked a smile up at him before returning her glare to Brandon, but it just bounced off the man’s Teflon skin.
He pointed a thumb over his left shoulder. “We’ve got the live remote booth set up in the far corner. Skip’s already done two cut-ins, so go let him know you’re here. I’m sure he’ll want you to take a turn making the unwashed masses feel bad that they’re not here hanging with the slightly more-washed masses tonight.”
She rolled her eyes, nodded curtly, and stalked across the room toward Skip, who was no doubt about to get an earful about their nightmare boss.
Jake sighed. “Why do you get off on antagonizing my girlfriend?”
“Nothing I said was antagonistic, was it?” Brandon asked innocently. “Other than implying that she just had good sex—in the most HR-friendly way possible, of course.”
“Nothing about you is HR friendly.”
Brandon plucked a glass of champagne off a circling waiter’s tray and saluted Jake with it. “You’re damn right. But let’s jump back for a second. The delectable Mabel’s officially your girlfriend now?”
“If we’re doing this, I need something stronger thanthat,” Jake muttered, gesturing to Brandon’s champagne flute. The other man shrugged, drained his glass, and followed Jake to the bar.
Once they each had a tumbler of scotch in their hands, Jake felt capable of venturing into this conversation. “To answer your question: yes. Things are going well between us.”
The information pulled a wolfish grin out of Brandon. “So a woman finally got you to look up from your precious spreadsheets.”
Jake’s hackles rose at the amusement in Brandon’s tone. “What’s so funny about that?”
Brandon pointed at him with his glass. “You, dude. We had hot-and-cold-running sorority girls in college, all of them dying to have sex with you. ‘Oh, Brandon, fix me up with your friend Jake.’ ‘Oh, Brandon, why doesn’t Jake ever come to these parties or hook up with any girls?’” He grimaced at the memories and took a sip of the amber liquid in his glass. “But no, no, the scholarship student had no time for women. Then you get out of college and start making some money, and all you can see is that partnership.”
Jake stiffened. “There’s nothing wrong with ambition.”
“Of course not,” Brandon said impatiently. “What’s hilarious to me is that you relocated down here for a temporary assignment, your last one before making partner, and what happened?”
“Wait, are you complaining about my work? I’ve been laser focused on the Lowell accounts.” It took a little more juggling of his time, but he was making it work, and he was damn proud of the balance he’d achieved. But if Brandon was sending negative reports to his superior at BPS… The thought made the blood pound in his ears.
Brandon dismissed his fears with a lazy wave of his hand. “You worry too much. Your work is good. In fact, my old man just played a round of golf with one of your bosses at Augusta and sang your praises for the first five holes.”
His relief at that unexpected news vanished with Brandon’s next words.
“I’m just commenting on the irony of it all.”
