Page 53 of Falling for Mr. Wright

Chapter Fifteen

Ryan smiled and said hello to Nancy, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder, trying to act like there was nothing out of the ordinary for his Monday morning visit to Logan’s office.

He’d spent a long weekend dissecting everything that had happened, and he needed to see Sarah and make sure things were cool between them.

Yeah, he wanted to think what had happened was more than a one-night stand, but he realized that she’d basically done to him what he’d done to pretty much every woman since Melanie—let him down easy and hightailed it out of there as soon as she could.

And it sucked.

He’d get over it. He didn’t like it, but this was Sarah. It wasn’t like he could avoid her at work, and he didn’t want to. She’d been right about one thing: their friendship was too important to ruin. He not only liked having an office friend, he liked havingheras his office friend.

So, if Friday night was truly about getting their physical attraction to each other out of their systems for her, then so be it. He adjusted the strap to his messenger bag, which held two chocolate cupcakes with white-chocolate sprinkles. It didn’t mean he couldn’t bring her a sweet treat to alleviate any uncomfortableness.

Last night, during their Sunday-afternoon football ritual, he’d asked Bridget to make them, saying Sarah had put in a personal request. Of course, he’d left out the part that she’d done so wrapped in his crisp white sheet, naked.

He approached the office and stopped short of the entrance to Sarah’s desk. She was standing behind it at the copy machine, the deep-purple miniskirt she wore hugging her curves. His mouth watered at the sight of her hair swept up in a high ponytail, exposing her delicate neck. He wanted to kiss that neck. Desperately.

Pull your head out of your ass and stop ogling her.

He took a deep breath. “Hey, Sarah.”

“Ryan.” She walked back to her desk with a stack of papers. “Good morning.”

“You look nice today.”

“Thank you.” She smoothed down her black knit sweater. “I did a little shopping yesterday at Macy’s.”

“I bet there’s a lot of great sales this time of year,” he said and cracked a knuckle.Great.They were reduced to small talk about damn holiday sales. “How was your trip home? You didn’t text me…um…I mean you got home okay, right?”

“What do you mean her trip home? Didn’t you take her?” asked a familiar voice.

Crap.Ryan turned around to greet Logan. “Hey, boss.”

“Good morning, Logan.” Sarah moved between them, offering to take Logan’s coat. “Ryan meant Sunday. I was telling him about my adventure into the city for a shopping bonanza. I’d accidentally left my wallet in the women’s dressing room at Macy’s, and couldn’t find it for over an hour. I had no idea how I was going to get home with no money to take the subway.” She turned to Ryan. “It all worked out. Someone had found it and given it to a salesclerk. I didn’t have to walk back to Brooklyn.”

“Glad to hear it,” Ryan said coolly, unsure if he was relieved or pissed that Sarah had so easily conjured up a story to cover where she’d been Friday night.

Logan shoved his hands in his suit pockets, oblivious of any weirdness going on. “How are you feeling?” he asked Sarah.

“Great. I’m so sorry about our date. It must have been something I ate.”

“Before dinner?” he asked.

“I had a little snack before I left my apartment.” She handed Logan a stack of envelopes. “Probably wasn’t the smartest idea to soak a stomach full of chips and guacamole with a peppermint martini. I really am sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” Logan flipped through the mail she’d handed him, looked up, and winked. “It just means we’ll have to try again soon.”

No it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean that at all.Ryan slung his messenger bag over his shoulder, making no move to leave. He wasn’t sure what he’d do, but there was no way he was going to let the woman he’d made crazy love to be asked out on a second date by his best friend.

And he’d admit it. She might have thought it was his typical move, but he’d never spent so much time concentrating on fully pleasuring a woman. It had taken a few beers over the weekend and dissecting what had happened with his sister, to get a woman’s point of view, but yep. He’d made love to Sarah.

And fuck. It was unfair that he wouldn’t be doing it again, never mind that Logan might get that opportunity.

He dug his heels into the floor. Fisting his hand, he cracked a knuckle. Not going to happen.

“Hey.” Logan slapped Ryan on the back. “Speaking of second dates. Corrine thought you were great. I gave her your phone number. That’s okay, right?”

Ryan looked over at Sarah, hoping to see “jealous Sarah” from the restaurant leap out of her chair, but her focus was on her computer screen. “Yeah…sure…Corrine was cool,” he said to Logan.

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