I had to grin. “Well, let’s do it at my place. I know Eileen loves to cook at my place, and it’s not like my kitchen gets much use!”
“That’s a great idea, I’ll let everyone know.”
It looked like my family was coming to dinner on Sunday… and Mac was right, it would be pretty damn perfect if Jessica was there too.
Chapter 6
Max
“What the hell is she doing here?”
Derek’s words had me staring at him in consternation. “Eileen? She’s making dinner, Derek. And she’s Mac’s wife. Why else would she be here?”
Derek closed his eyes and did that thing where he tilted his head up as though seeking divine intervention. “Not Eileen, idiot. Jessica!”
Alex chuckled. “You’re as obtuse as ever, Max.” There was a satisfaction lining his words that I knew stemmed from his amusement, as well as the fact he liked that I rarely changed. He said he could always rely on me to be the same pigheaded dumbass I’d always been.
“I’m not obtuse,” I countered automatically. “I’m just failing to understand why Jessica wouldn’t be here. I took her on a date the other day, it went well, why wouldn’t I invite her here?”
“He has a point, Derek,” Alex murmured as he took a sip of beer and settled back into the sofa, looking like he was getting ready to watch TV for the night. Hell, all he was missing was a box of popcorn. Well, that was if his shit-eating grin was anything to go by.
“Shut up, you’re not helping!” Derek growled, turning on his brother with a fierce glower.
“Not helping with what?” I demanded, confused as
to what in the hell the problem was. “What’s bitten your ass today?”
When Alex snickered, Derek heaved out a grunt. “You’re not supposed to date the staff.”
“Jessica? She isn’t the staff.” I put air quotes around ‘the staff’ just to make that hit home some more.
“She’s a temp; and she works for me.”
“Technically, she works for the temp agency who’s co-signed with us. That means she’s not actually our employee but theirs.”
For whatever reason, that had Alex sitting up. “You thought about this, Max?” he asked me, and I wasn’t sure if he was concerned or just intrigued at my thought processes.
When he shot Derek a look, one that Derek seemed to return with a ‘see what I mean?’ shrug, I scowled at the pair of them.
We were in my office; a room I had no desire to be in, not when Jessica was in the kitchen giggling with Eileen and Mac.
Giggling.
Giggling.
I didn’t think it was possible, but it surely is because I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.
She’d laughed with me, turned soft doe-eyes on me at the restaurant, and in the office, has even sent me shy looks and had bitten her lip a time or two, but giggling?
No.
She was totally at ease, and after seeing her flinch at her own shadow, that was a luxury I wasn’t happy about missing out on.
With a sigh, I perched my ass on my desk.
I wasn’t sure why I had a study when I did all my work at the office, but Alex and Derek’s mom, Sandra, who’d helped me not only buy this apartment but kit it out, had said I needed one.
When I’d told her I worked at the building downtown, she’d just patted my hand and said, “You’ll thank me one day, sweetheart.”