Page 28 of Forget Me

“Isn’t it?” he said, his gaze not leaving mine.

“I suppose so,” Larissa said. But neither of us bothered to turn to her. His blue eyes sparked with something warm, like a clear blue-sky day in September. My memory flashed back to another set of blue eyes that listened to me, acknowledged me. My Mystery Man. I wished for the dozenth time that I hadn’t lost him. That he was here beside me instead of Mateo.

Mateo was just another man like Byron, thinking only of himself with no regard for what I wanted. I didn’t understand Mateo’s agenda yet, but it was getting in the way of mine. My Mystery Man would never have barged in here and dismantled all my plans.

He cleared his throat. “Carlo’s band is looking for their big break. They’d probably give you a good deal. For the exposure. I could talk to them?”

“Yes, please.” The command was back in Larissa’s voice. “Remind me to give you my card, Mateo.”

“Of course.” With what seemed like an immense effort, he dragged his gaze off me to Larissa.

“And you’ll sit at my table at the gala,” she said.

“As long as it’s the same table as Miriam’s,” he said. “Remember, I’m her date.”

The silence stretched long enough that I looked back at Larissa. Her lips pinched together in a way that usually spelled trouble for me.

Then she gave Mateo—not me—a smile that looked painful. “We can arrange that.”

Shit. Mateo and Larissa at the same table at the gala? Warning lights flashed in my brain. “But you said—”

Her eyes narrowed ominously. “We can arrange it, Miriam.”

Mateo’s muscles bunched at my side. “I should leave you lovely ladies to your planning.”

Over Natalie’s and Larissa’s protests, he collected the empty plates and my half-full one. He packed up the leftovers and promised to leave them in the breakroom’s refrigerator for Larissa to take home.

I didn’t miss her flirty smile as she tucked her card into his hand.

With one last cryptic glance at me, Mateo strode out, taking the smell of the delicious food I hadn’t been able to eat with him.

When he left, the fluorescent lights buzzed in a way that hollowed me out. It must have been exhaustion that made me feel dull and flat.

“So.” Mischief danced in Natalie’s blue eyes. “You and Mateo.”

“I thought you weren’t seeing anyone,” Larissa said.

“I’m not. I mean, Mateo’s my date to the gala, but…” But what were we? We’d said we were friends, but we weren’t even that.

“It’s new!” Natalie clapped her hands. “I love that new-relationship feeling. The buzz you get in your stomach, the wild sex—”

“Sex? There’s no sex! We’re just—”

Natalie snorted. “You two were practically having sex against the wall outside. If you haven’t slept together yet, you can’t be more than one date away.”

No. No, no, no. I’d been down this road before. With Byron. Before I’d learned that dating someone I worked with ended in heartbreak and betrayal. And now Mateo and I were working together on the committee. Which I hoped to grow into a permanent job at the foundation. “One date? We—”

Larissa cut me off. “We could use his help now that we’re going with a Latin American theme.”

“But Mateo’s not Latin American. He’s—”

“Does it matter?” Larissa said. “It’s all the same. We need him, Miriam. Don’t botch this.”

Well, shit. Our gala friends-date had somehow exploded into something that could make or break the job I so desperately wanted. I couldn’t afford to screw it up.

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