Page 22 of The Relationship Clause

The same age? The same age? I scowl at her. “Bill is almost forty. I’m only thirty-one.”

She shrugs. “Still in the same decade, isn’t it?”

I’m about to give a full-blown lecture on how dissimilar those two ages are when I notice the tiniest twitch at the corner of Junie’s pink lips. She’s teasing me.

My scowl deepens, and suddenly I can’t be in the same room as her anymore. Not because I’m actually annoyed at her words or even the fact that she’s teasing me, it’s more the effect said teasing is having on my body. There’s an exhilarating thrill racing through me that I don’t like. I shouldn’t be feeling this way. Not right now and certainly not with her, my soon-to-be sort of fake secretary and my sister’s best friend.

I fold my arms, giving her what I know is my best disapproving look, but it doesn’t seem to faze her. It’s a clear indication that I should let go of this line of questioning, but I can’t.

“How long did you two date?”

“A few months, I think.”

“And you moved to Tennessee?”

Here, a smidge of something that looks an awful lot like guilt cracks her confident demeanor. “Oh, um, yeah.”

Interesting… “What part?”

“What part?”

“Of Tennessee. What part did you move to?”

“Oh, ha, um, Memphis.”

“Right, Memphis. Memphis is a great city. I love visiting the Zoo at Grassmere, the replica of the Parthenon, the Grand Ole Opry. Did you visit any of those?”

She nods quickly. “Y-yeah, those were great. I loved the Parthenon.”

I scratch my chin and step closer to her. “Right, yeah… Except all of those things are in Nashville, not Memphis.”

Junie’s normally fair skin flushes an attractive shade of pink. She claps her hands over her face and moans. “Okay, fine. You caught me! I didn’t move to Tennessee. I told Billy I was moving because it was easier than breaking up with him, okay?”

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this admission makes me that much more intrigued by Junie. She’s like a good mystery book. The more I read and discover, the more I want to find out where all these little threads of story will lead.

But that is definitely going too far. If anything, I need to shut the cover of this book once and for all and commit never to pick it up again.

Before I do something I’ll regret, I push away from my desk. “You have reading to do. I’ll give you some time to review the contract.”

“But what if I have questions? Should I ask Bill or—”

“You can direct any questions to me…or Bill.” I tack on the last part because it feels weird not to. He’s the lawyer after all, even though I hate the thought of letting him close to her again. I leave the room and shut the door.

I settle myself against the wall, arms folded, glaring at the room as a whole. Heads that were previously turned my way quickly duck back to their work. All heads, that is, except for Kiera’s and Bill’s. Kiera is pointedly turned in my direction at her desk, chin resting in hand, a satisfied smirk on her lips. Bill is hiding behind the open blinds of the break room, sipping coffee. We’re across the room from each other, but even from here, I can tell he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at my office. My jaw clenches, anger burning me through.

Not five minutes later, my office door opens, and Junie is standing there, contract in hand.

“I’m done,” she says. “Ready to sign.”

I straighten. “What?”

“I said I’m ready to sign it.”

I can already see Bill hurrying over, but before he gets close, I usher Junie back into the room and close the door. “What do you mean you’re ready to sign? You couldn’t have read the whole thing already.”

One of her shoulders lifts casually. “I got the gist of it.”

The gist?

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