“We don’t have to actually do anything. Just make sure they sit next to each other. The God of Love will do the rest.”
“The God of Love? We talking the Greek or Roman one?”
“The American one. Alcohol.”
Another point well made.
“Oh, this is happening. I wonder if she’ll let me give her some of my lingerie. I could totally make it in her size.” One of the hazards of having a friend who made clothing was that she kept track of all your measurements, and was not above taking them in public if she thought you’d gained or lost a few pounds.
“I don’t know. I can’t see her wearing anything like the ribbon ensemble.”
“Of course not, I’d make her something maybe white and cotton candy pink. What do you think?” She dashed off to her studio room before I could answer. Another hazard of living with someone who makes clothes was that bolts of fabric became décor in your home, because there were only so many places you could put them.
The rest of the evening was spent giving my opinion on what the design should look like, and how it would capture Marisol’s “essence”. Sometimes Sloane took fashion a little too far.
We had another movie marathon, this time with 80’s classics. Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Ghost, Dirty Dancing.
“Why in the hell do we let ourselves watch this movie?” Sloane said, dabbing her eyes as we watched Ghost.
“I don’t know,” I said, grabbing for the tissues as soon as she was done with them. “We should have done them in better order.” I blew my nose and then yawned.
“We’re such suckers for this shit,” Sloane said, tossing her tissue angrily on the floor.
“It’s why Nicholas Sparks is so successful.”
“Douchebag.” I concurred.
“So what are you going to do with Fin’s terrible advice?”
Ugh, we were back to that. I’d thought we put that baby to bed.
“I’m going to ignore it and keep trying to have a professional relationship, even though it’s hard. I don’t have a choice.”
“Well, that’s not true. You could say, ‘fuck it,’ and just do what you want. Not that I’m saying you should. I know how important your job is.”
“It is important. I’ve been working my entire life to get where I am. I’m not going to give it up and not over this.”
“You go girl!” She held her fist up and we bumped. “Solidarity sister.”
“Amen.”
“How was your weekend, Mr. Blaine?” I had come once again with his cherry Danish and black coffee. It seemed that we had an unspoken agreement that we would alternate who would bring breakfast and it felt like my turn.
“Lovely, Miss Clarke. Very relaxing. I partook in some golf and went deep sea fishing.” I looked up from the pastry bag where I’d been trying to find another napkin.
His eyes were dancing with amusement.
“I’m kidding. I hate golf and I get seasick, so I ended up visiting my nieces. This is the first time in two days I’m not wearing a tiara or glitter on my face.”
Once again, unexpected.
“How old are they?” I asked.
“Four and two. Gracie and Fiona.” Fuck you evolution for making a guy who is good with children so f**king attractive. Especially right now.
“Those are good ages.”
“They’re great. So, how was your weekend?” Oh, now we’re talking about me again.
“It was fine. Boring.” I wasn’t going to go into details. He didn’t need to know details. We were keeping this professional.
“Sometimes boring is the best kind of weekend.”
“Exactly.” Ugh, awkward moment.
“Well, I should let you get to work. I wouldn’t want to take up too much of your time, Miss Clarke.” Oh, that was a dig if there ever was one.
I almost let it go, but I leaned toward him and whispered in his ear and ignored how nice he smelled.
“Don’t be a dick.”
“I seem to recall you sucking on mine. I can’t seem to get the image out of my head. Those perfect lips wrapped around my c—“ I didn’t let him finish as I went to my office and shut the door.
Then I made sure my pants were smooth (thankfully, I didn’t have an erect penis to hide), went to my desk, sat down and got my ass to work.
By lunch, I almost felt like my old self, pre-Lucas. We were getting ready to launch a new product in the coming months, and pretty soon I was going to be spending nights and weekends here while trying to make sure everything was on track and deal with the inevitable insanity that accompanied a new release.
I had to be extra bitchy, and I’d already yelled at three people who hadn’t done what I’d asked them to for the third time. Everyone else was working hard, except for Mr. Craig, who had bailed for golf again. It was so cool that if I did the same thing, I would have been out on my ass a long time ago. Or maybe not. Dad probably would have given me a stern talking to and I never would have done it again.
I didn’t actually mind the crazy and even looked forward to it. Everyone got hopped up on caffeine and went without sleep and lived on takeout, but it helped bring the team together to go through something like that. There’s no other bonding experience like it.
There was only one problem. I didn’t want to do any further bonding with Lucas. Mr. Blaine. We had bonded quite enough already.
But then there was a knock at my door and there he was, invading my space and talking with that voice and looking at me with those eyes.
“It’s almost time for your meeting,” he said, pointing at the clock above my door.
“I know.”
“Well. I just thought I would let you know so you didn’t miss it.”
“Thank you, Mr. Blaine.” I didn’t point out that he could have called me to let me know. I expected him to leave, but he lingered, with only his head inside my office and the rest of him on the other side of the door.
“I’m sorry I was a dick.” He shut the door before I could say anything.
Well, that was progress.
We made more progress over the next week, and I got to the point where I only got a lady boner every other time I saw him, and his lusty looks to non-lusty looks ratio went from 99:1 to 70:30. If we could get it down to 50:50, that would be great.
By the time Friday rolled around, I was ready for the weekend. All the girls and I were going out to the bar on Saturday and I’d messaged Fin asking him to come, but then I started second-guessing myself. I mean, it was going to be him and four women. Most guys would think that was some kind of fantasy, but when you actually put them in that situation, it would be completely overwhelming. I was sure Fin could handle it, but I didn’t want him to get weirded out and then never hang out with us again.