I nodded. “Yeah. Of course. Easy.”
I thought back to the way I’d felt last night as I crawled into bed next to this woman, but quickly shut those thoughts down.Those weren’t romantic feelings—that was just the afterglow of good sex. Nothing more.
Then I thought of how I felt when Dean suggested the new woman in my life was special, but this too was something I could easily dismiss. Katisspecial but thinking that didn’t mean I had feelings for her. I could think of someone that way and still be platonic with them. Or so I told myself.
“Okay then,” she went on. “Rule two,no onein the office can find out. This place is a goddamn rumor mill and if this gets out, it will get back to my dad in no time.”
“Understood. No one knows.”
“Which means we have to be subtle here at work,” she said. “No flirting, no smiling at one another. And absolutely no hooking up in the office.”
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the blinds were all still closed, then closed the gap between us and put my arm around her waist. “Oh c’mon, that seems a little too cautious don’t you think? What’s the harm if no one sees us?”
She reached around and removed my arm. “The harm is that people don’t have to literally catch you in the act to know you’ve just had sex. It’ll show all over our faces, and we can’t risk it.”
“What about after hours?” he said.
She didn’t answer right away. Then she smiled at me in a way that made my pants tighten a little. “Why are you so fixated on doing stuff in the office? Is that a fantasy of yours or something?”
“So what if it is?”
She took a moment to think this over. “Alright. Fine. After hours, if we are 100% sure that no one else is here, then maybe we can talk about it. But, if I’m here after hours, that means I have a lot of work to get done and I can’t promise that I’m going to be able to get in the mood.”
I lowered my voice. “Oh, I can get you in the mood.”
Her cheeks reddened and I knew I was close to getting her in the mood right then, which was only making me more aroused. I moved to touch her again, but she dodged me. “Ah, ah, ah.” She ticked her finger back and forth at me. “If you break any of these rules, this is over, understand? I amnotgoing to lose my job over something like this, nor am I going to do anything that might affect my relationship with my dad, okay? I’m serious.”
I stepped back, noting that her tone had shifted. “Okay. I get it. And we want the same things. I swear, I won’t break any of the rules.”
She stuck her hand out. “Shake on it.”
I slid my palm against hers and felt a small jolt of electricity pass between us. It took everything in my power not to pull her into a kiss, but my will prevailed. She gently let go of my hand a few seconds later and turned her back on me. “I have to get back to work,” she said. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
“Truly,” I said, moving towards the door. “The pleasure was all mine.”
She smiled over her shoulder at me, but said nothing else, so I smiled back and left.
Chapter Fifteen
Kat
Jonah and I didn’t see each other for the rest of the day Thursday.
That night, while I laid in bed, I thought about texting him—I had gotten his cell number from his secretary over a week ago, just in case I might’ve needed it. But texting seemed like a rule violation of sorts. Even if we hadn’t expressed it outright, I figured any communication between us should be about work, or about planning a hook-up, nothing else. I turned over and went to sleep and dreamt about the night we shared.
The next morning, I woke up missing him, wishing I was lying in bed next to him. I pushed that feeling aside and reminded myself what this was.
Office fling.
It might be the greatest office fling anyone has ever had, but still, that was all it was and all it was ever going to be. To ensure it stayed casual, I decided not to tell Becca that Jonah and I had hooked up. I knew she would romanticize the whole thing, and end up sucking me into all her fairy-tale, lovey-dovey bullshit, and I couldn’t afford to let that happen.
At work that day, Jonah and I stuck to the deal. We didn’t smile at each other while in meetings, and when we had to speak, we made sure to keep things professional and never strayed from work-related topics. I was proud of us.
When I saw him leave at five, I realized I still had a lot of work to do so I opted to stick around for another hour or so.
So much for leaving early.
But I was glad to be busy. It was the best way to keep my mind off Jonah. I had been wondering about our next meet up, when and where it would be, and running through all the various possibilities had been driving me a little wild.