“I mean the song that sums up everything for you. The one that keeps you going when you don’t feel like you can anymore. You don’t have a song like that?”
Hearing him talk about it like that made me wish I had a title to give him, but nothing came to mind as my personal anthem. “What’s yours?”
“That’s easy. ‘Best of You’ by the Foo Fighters. Have you ever heard it?”
I had no idea if I’d ever heard it or not. If I had, I didn’t know it. Seemed like it was important to him, though. I shook my head. “No, I don’t think I have.”
“With the shit your ex is putting you through, you might need to borrow it for a while. Let me go see if they have it.” He spun away from the table and headed to the jukebox.
I watched him go, my gaze drawn by the way his low-slung jeans framed his ass. The only reason we were out together was because of the deal we’d struck. I needed to keep reminding myself of that and not get caught up in the act we were going to be selling to my co-workers tomorrow night.
A few minutes later, he came back.
“Well?”
“No luck. All they’ve got is holiday tunes right now. I’ll play it for you when we get back to your place.”
When we get back to your place… knowing we would be spending the night under the same roof again sent a shiver right through me. I didn’t expect anything beyond a fake date with Kellan, but a gal could dream. Especially when she had a fully charged battery-operated boyfriend ready to step in and take over like I did.
Our burgers arrived, and we made small talk while we ate. He told me he’d been laid off from a big corporate finance position recently and was working as a Santa until the job market opened up after the first of the year.
“What do you want to do next?” I could picture his long fingers flying over a keyboard or tapping all over something else. Maybe even something like me.Stop it, Blakely.Thoughts like that would do nothing but get me all hot and bothered.
“I’ll try anything.” He pushed back from the table, his burger long gone. “But my real dream is to run my own business. Back in Broken Bend there’s been a huge movement to buy local and chase the big box stores away. I’d love to get in on that.”
I held my burger in both hands, transfixed by the look on his face as he said the “L” word, even if he was only referring to his love of business. A loudplopof special sauce landed on the paper liner of the plastic basket, pulling me out of my daze. I tried to recover by changing the subject.
“Is that an option?”
Kellan looked away, and I could feel his mood cool. “We’ll see. I’d rather stay in Broken Bend, but I guess I’ll have to go where the jobs are.”
“Mmm.” I nodded, my mouth full of a bite of the best turkey burger I’d ever had. Hopefully, he didn’t think I was asking because I wanted to keep tabs on him after he left town.
“I’ve got a question for you. Do you enjoy working with your ex?” He rested his arm on the table. I couldn’t help but let my gaze trail over the sinewy, muscled forearm porn. The man really needed to do society a service and wear long sleeve shirts. How else was I supposed to concentrate on chewing my food without being distracted?
“It’s complicated.” No need to go into detail about why I stayed at a company that clearly didn’t value my contributions, working with a man who clearly didn’t value me as a person.
Kellan leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. His biceps bulged and the bite of burger I’d just swallowed diverted down the wrong pipe.
I coughed, trying to dislodge the hunk of meat and bun from where it wedged in my throat.
“You okay?” Kellan’s forehead creased in concern.
Nodding, I reached for the glass of water. Instead of closing my hand around it and gracefully bringing it to my lips, my lungs seized, and I desperately tried to suck in some air. My fingers grazed the glass, then my arm jerked, sending the glass clattering to the table. Water raced over the smooth surface. While I struggled for a breath, I watched it surge toward Kellan. An ice-cold stream flowed over the edge of the table directly onto his lap.
He must have realized I was actually choking because he jumped up, rounded the table and reached around me to clasp his hands together under my boobs. Then he drove his hands up into my sternum. The offensive bite of turkey burger popped out of my mouth and shot across the table.
Air, blessed air, flowed down my throat. My eyes automatically teared. I sucked in sweet breath after breath.
“Blakely, are you all right?” Kellan loosened his grip but didn’t move his hands.
I leaned against him for a moment while I tried to catch my runaway breath. His heart raced; I could feel his pulse beating against my back.
“I’m fine. Really, it was no big deal.” I reached for a napkin to wipe off my cheeks. He must have thought I was a complete and utter idiot.
His arms slid away, and he stepped to my side. “I think your turkey burger was out to get you.”
“I can think of more impressive ways to go.”