Page 15 of Stuck with the Hot Boss
Finally, he looked her square in the eye. Evie held her breath.
‘I’ll think about it,’ he said. ‘But I can’t make any promises.’
‘Can’t ask for more than that,’ said Evie.
It was a lie. Shetotallycould. And as she watched Leo walk away up the street, she made a vow to do so at the earliest opportunity.
Mission accomplished, but we still have work to do. These two are being cautious, which is sensible, given their professional obligations. Sensible, however, is the nemesis of love. We must put an end to sensible as soon as we can. Stay alert and wait for my signal.
Chapter Eight
‘Mate,’ said Nicky. ‘After all we discussed about bad choices, you still jumped his bones first chance you got?’
‘Technically, his bones were still hidden within his deliciously fit body,’ said Evie. ‘But in essence, you are correct.’
Nicky opened the paper bag of poppadoms. ‘And–?’
‘And?’ Evie echoed. ‘What specific juicy titbit are you fishing for?’
Nicky dropped a big spoonful of lime pickle on her poppadom, which immediately broke under the weight. Undeterred, Nicky spooned up pickle and poppadom shards and shoved the whole lot in her mouth.
‘Was he a churning hunk of burning funk?’ she said, through sticky crumbs.
Evie reached for a poppadom before they all disappeared. ‘Is that actually a thing?’
‘You tell me,’ said her friend.
Normally, Evie was happy to share stories of her sexual encounters. Not in such detail that she grossed Nicky out, but enough to convey the vibe. Being a farm girl, Nicky had a highly pragmatic view towards sex, and her own stories were limited to one-liners, such as ‘Couldn’t find a clitoris if it bit his finger,’ or‘Top lay,’ which Evie always thought made the guy sound like a battery hen.
This evening, though, Evie was reluctant to talk about it. She’d spent the rest of the day travelling around with Ash, watching them do plumber things, trying to get her thoughts straight about Leo. Her mind was like a ping-pong ball, bouncing between sympathy and frustration. Given what he’d told her, she could completely understand why he was so afraid of failure. But he’d been out in the real world for, what, six or seven years? If you hadn’t built up some resilience by then, when would you? Although Evie had most certainly felt a much deeper connection with Leo than she’d ever felt with Shaun-Tony-Jason, was Leo any more reliable, or was he just as flaky and self-absorbed? Were Evie’s instincts wrong yet again?
Nicky was waiting.
‘He was vindaloo hot,’ said Evie. ‘But that’s irrelevant. He’s put the barriers back up between us. Tomorrow, I’ll be staring at the back of his laptop as we converse via email.’
‘What if you ate your morning scone really sexily in front of him?’ Nicky was on her second glass of pinot grigio. ‘Got all suggestive with the whipped cream?’
‘May I remind you that Leo and I share an office space with Nigel and Ange from procurement? And the entire sales team is only separated from us by a glass wall.’
‘They might appreciate the diversion.’
‘They might also complain to HR,’ said Evie. ‘And then Kev would want a word …’
‘Yikes.’ Nicky had heard tales of what happened when Kev wanted a word with people.
Evie tried to use her poppadom to scoop out some raita, but it snapped.
‘You would think that after this many curries,’ she said, ‘we’d know the structural limits of poppadom. Nevertheless–’
‘We persist!’ said Nicky. ‘Because the universe hates a quitter!’
Evie sighed. ‘But what if I’m barking up the wrong man-tree again? What if Leo’s notworthpersisting for?’
‘This is another test,’ said Nicky. ‘A fork in the road of self-discovery. Like the bloke on the bridge said: the key is figuring out what you really want, and why. You have to get your own priorities straight before you can make good decisions about Leo.’
Nicky topped up Evie’s wine glass. ‘Onlythenwill you have achieved the next level of enlightenment.’
‘The Spice Girls level?’ said Evie.
