Page 73 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Well, then we would have a problem. Christa was a good-time girl, not my forever girl. No disrespect intended.”

“None taken since that’s exactly how she’d want you to view her too.” I shook my head. “But man, I’m relieved. Can you imagine how awkward it would’ve been if you’d felt differently? Not to mention how shitty I’d feel for you.”

“Aww, you care about me.” He poked my arm. “You don’t want to see my heart broken.” Poke, poke.

“Ow! Stop it.” Poke, poke, poke.

We stepped into the cafeteria. I was laughing, both elbowing him away and trying to keep my arms covered. The fucker was going to leave bruises.

“Come on, admit it.” Poke. “You don’t want me to get hurt. You care about me.” Poke, poke, poke.

“Dammit.” I rubbed my arm. “Of course I care about you. But as far as the getting hurt part, think again. I want nothing more than to break all your fingers off right now.”

I heard a throat clear and we both whipped around. “Adam, I need you to cut your break short. BancCrest is experiencing some glitches from that fix we rolled out last week. They’re on the line with questions since you were part of the team overseeing the project.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Stephen’s face was smooth, serious. If I smiled at him, would he smile back? My phone rang then and I dropped my head, opening my purse. Dre was flashing on the screen, and I quickly silenced it.

“Would it be okay if I extended the rest of my break and took an early lunch now?”

“Anything wrong?” He glanced at my purse, no doubt referring to the call.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

His lips parted, ready to say something when a woman’s hand circled his arm. Well, poof! She just seemed to materialize out of nowhere. “Stephen! Glad to havecaughtyou.” She gave his arm a tug and chuckled, as if she’d just said the Funniest Pun Ever. Maybe if she had a fish hook as a hand, the joke would’ve held some merit, but as it stood? Pfft. “Got a moment?” she said.

“I do, Cynthia.” He looked at me. “I’m sure an early lunch won’t be a problem, Perry. Go ahead.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

He didn’t smile back. But I did get a nod and an eyeful of his ass as he walked away with Ms. Glamorous Thirtysomething Businesswoman. Did he prefer them older? I wondered. Did he prefer frosted blondes with large racks and leopard Louboutins?

I sidled over to the cafeteria line and picked up an iced tea andturkey sandwich. I realized then how hopelessly whacked I was. The fact that I’d even spent a second wondering who that woman was and where they were going was enough to make me seriously question my sanity. It was none of my fucking business. But even if it were, this was a workplace and they were obviously going off to discuss work. She wasn’t pulling him into a conference room to suck his dick. Not that that sort of thing never happened in workplaces—we weren’t talking about a convent here.

“Miss?” The guy next to me tapped my shoulder, then pointed at the cashier.

“That’ll be $7.75,” she said, and it probably hadn’t been the first time.

“Oh, right.”

I paid for my food and then brought it outside to the picnic tables. I took a few bites before pulling out my phone and returning Dre’s call. Maybe he had an update.

“Hi, baby.”

“Hi, Dre. I wasn’t able to answer before. What’s up?”

“For starters, you’ll be getting your car back tomorrow.”

“That’s great! So the truck is good to go?”

“Just about. They never determined the exact cause or where it originated, but… hey, I’m sorry for giving you shit about it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Dre. It’s fine.” My few bites flopped in my stomach. It was only fine because I’d deserved it.

“No, it’s not, but it will be. I’ve been thinking a lot this week, and I need to take responsibility for what happened too. I should never have left that weekend. I was supposed to be with you.”

Stephen flashed in my mind, and it was just more remorse to add to the pile. If we were just friends, was it normal to be thinking about him during a conversation with my boyfriend? But it wasn’t like I was thinking about him naked.Fuck. Now I’m thinking about him naked.I rolled the cold bottle across my forehead, then took a long sip.

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