Page 41 of Mostly My Girlfriend
Then I saw her pulling CJ along behind her and I nearly snarled. CJ with his traditional blond good looks. Always with an earnest expression on his face, as if he might say “Aw, shucks” at any given moment.
I hadn’t liked him when Jules and I interviewed him. Hadn’t liked the way he looked at Jules like she was some queen he needed to kneel before. Hadn’t liked how uncomplicated his personality had seemed.
But Jules had pushed for him because of his experience, his résumé, and how he could advance the aviation side of the company with some of his innovative ideas.
Now they were dating. Seriously enough that she’d used him as the excuse for stopping what could have been another night for us in Paris. Another break from our normal where we could immerse ourselves in the physical. I considered that to be time he’d stolen from me. Which meant, somehow, he was going to have to pay me back.
Jules found me in the crowd and smiled. Only the smile didn’t touch her eyes.
The news, I thought. It must be bad.
She finally reached me. Ahead of CJ, so she must have let go of his hand. I thought the smile on her face was too big.
“Guess what?” she said in a high, shrill voice.
“You know I don’t guess.”
She held out her left hand and I wondered for a second if she was expecting me to kiss it when I saw the ring. An ostentatious pear-shaped diamond that I knew was not to her taste. She wouldn’t want anything that flashy or ornate. Big enough that it would interfere with her typing.
“CJ proposed and I said yes!” she screeched at me.
I looked up from the ring and met her eyes. There was fear and stubbornness and something else I couldn’t identify, which was strange because I always knew what Jules’s expressions meant. I’d been studying them for years.
She was waiting for my response. She wanted to see my reaction, which meant I couldn’t give her one, of course.
I smiled. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” she said, then swallowed.
“Ethan,” CJ said, coming up behind her and offering me his hand. I shook it.
“Congratulations, CJ. You’re a very lucky man.”
“Don’t I know it,” he said, smiling. “Figure I couldn’t mess around when it came to Julia. My dad always told me, son, when you know you want a woman to be your wife, you just make that happen. No point in waiting.”
Aw, shucks.
“Well, I wish you both the best. If you’ll excuse me, I seem to have lost my date.” I set my drink on the bar and turned my back on them. I didn’t have a date, but Jules wouldn’t know that.
She was engaged. To CJ.
And somehow, I had to find a way to make that un-happen.
* * *
Three weeks after Paris
Ethan
I heard the elevator doors slide open, but I didn’t bother to look up. I’d been sitting here for the past hour working on the Jules Needs to Break Up with CJ plan and while I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, at least I now had a course of action.
“You have your own office, you know,” Jules said as she dumped the leather satchel that held her laptop on top of her desk.
“I like yours better,” I said, still not looking up.
“Why are you here so early?” she asked me. “We both know you’re not a morning person.”
“I didn’t sleep last night,” I muttered. “I got you coffee and a bagel with low-fat veggie cream cheese.”
