Page 40 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Are you actually telling me this with the same mouth still covered in drool?”

“Oh please. Look me in the eye and tell me that you no longer find other men attractive just because you’re trying to be all devoted to Dre.”

“You know I do, but I’m not so obvious about it.”

“Somebody’s jealous,” he sang.

“God, I am not. It’s just uncomfortable, okay? I have to see this man five days a week now. Is it too much to ask for you not to mentally undress him?”

“Speaking of, have you seen him naked yet? Hmm… maybe an employee shower room that you just happened to stumble into while hewas getting all soapy?”

I stared him down through slits. I was going to fucking knock his ass off this table soon. “Kenny?” I said, tapping my invisible watch.

“Right. Well, I’ve decided that… I’m going to ask him to move in with me!”

“What? What!” My eyes widened. “Really? Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure. I’m ready, and I want to show him how serious I am.”

I squashed him into a giant hug. “Ohmigod! That’s amazing news! I’m so happy for you, Stu. When?”

“This weekend. I’m making a nice dinner and planning to romance the shit out of him.”

“Sounds perfect.” My lips smacked against his cheek loudly. “When are we gonna celebrate?”

“He has to say yes first.”

“He will. You two are meant to be.” I gave him one last hug before hopping off the table. “I really have to get back to work now.”

“Okay, sweetie. Say hi to—” I narrowed my eyes again, cutting him off. “I mean, love you,” he said.

“Love you too.” I blew him a kiss and ran to the door.

I half ran/half jogged the rest of the way, knowing I was a few minutes late. My department may have been lenient before, but rules seemed to be shifting now that Stephen was in charge. At least he was still gone for lunch, or so I’d assumed since I hadn’t seen him go back inside.

I darted to my station and was almost there when I heard, “Perry, can you come in here, please.”

Shit. I looked behind me to see Stephen’s head sticking out of the office. What the hell? I turned around and went back, stepping into the glass box.

“I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again,” I said immediately.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m late from my break. Um, isn’t that why you called me in here?”

“No, that’s not the reason.”

Damn, I had to stop volunteering information. “How’d you get back here before me? I saw you leave.”

“I just had to grab something. I didn’t leave.”

The way those fucking blue eyes were looking at me… argh. Okay, so obviously I didn’t see him go back into the building, and neither did Stu. I would have heard about it to the point of retching otherwise.

“Then why do you want to see me?”

He leaned against his desk and my heart went a little wonky. “I got a report back from our Northshore client. You talked them through a processing issue on Monday, and they were very pleased with the way you handled yourself. They’re one of our tougher customers to impress, so I just wanted to pass that information along. Nice job, Perry.”

“Oh, great. Thank you.” That was the last thing I was expecting, but I’d take it.

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