Page 39 of Whispers and Wildfire

“So sorry to bother you,” I said with a smile. “Are you with a customer?”

“Um…” Luke hesitated. “Jenna just had a few questions.”

“If it’s about scheduling, don’t bother Luke with it. He’s hopeless with the calendar. But I can help if you’d like.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” Jenna said. “I was just asking about an old car my grandpa has.”

I wanted to tell her that maybe her grandpa should be the one to talk to Luke, if it was his car. But jealous ex-girlfriend isn’t a good look, so I bit back my reply.

Besides, I wasn’t jealous. Not even a little bit.

“Sounds good. Luke, when you have a second, I have a question.”

“Sure, Mel.”

I turned and walked back into the garage, willing my ass to look amazing. And wishing I’d worn something sexier than linen pants.

But why? I wasn’t trying to impress Luke Haven. That was just silly.

So what was I doing, swaying my hips as I walked, hoping he was watching?

By the time I got back to my desk, I was livid. At myself. At Luke. At Jenna. At my pants for not making my butt look good. I dropped into my seat with a huff and set the box down.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Luke poked his head in. “Hopeless with the calendar?”

“I wasn’t making that up. Annika forewarned me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Did you really have a question?”

I swiveled the chair so I was facing him. “Of course I had a question. Why else would I have said that?”

He stepped into the lobby, and the door swung shut behind him. The little smirk on his lips made me want to smack it off him.

Or kiss it off him. Once upon a time, that’s exactly what I would have done.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I thought maybe you were…”

I raised my eyebrows and blinked a few times. “Yes?”

His smirk grew, as did my annoyance. “Never mind. What do you need?”

“I…” I glanced away, suddenly reluctant to admit I needed anything from him. The irrational, jealous part of me wanted to cross my arms and tell him, ‘Nothing, go talk to your hot new customer.’

But that would have been immature, and I knew it. If I was going to get mad at Luke, I ought to at least wait until he did something that deserved my sass.

I took a quick breath. “Patrick got a package, but I wasn’t sure what I’m supposed to do with it. Or which one is Patrick.”

“Oh,” he said, as if that surprised him. Apparently, he’d been expecting to get my sass. “No worries. It usually takes me a while to remember names, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. No big deal. Patrick is the one with the beard. Or you can always just open the door and shout. They’ll answer.”

My lips turned up in a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Sure.” He pointed at the box. “Is that the package? I can take it.”

I picked it up and handed it to him. “Great. Thank you. Again.”

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