Page 50 of Foreplay with the Boss

Even though she wasn’t the type. Then again, no one was until they were.

“So how long have you known Jameson?” Kat asked. “As long as I can remember. We grew up together.”

Kat rubbed her hands together. “Excellent. You can give me the scoop on Jameson Stone. I want to hear it all.”

“He’s got a restaurant to run,” I said.

Ben dropped into the chair next to the one I’d pulled out for Kat. “I have well-trained employees who can handle the kitchen for a few minutes.”

She looked at me as if to say you should take some tips from him, then she sat down and turned her full attention to him, chin propped on her fist. “Lay it on me.”

Yep, this was the dumbest idea I’d ever had. I pulled out the chair next to her and tried to telepathically tell Ben to take it easy on me. What I wanted him to do was get a read on Kat, not spill all my secrets.

“Let’s see, where to start on our boy…I could tell you about the many hours he spent in detention. It wasn’t enough to land himself in detention, either. He always managed to convince me to go along so we’d both get busted.”

“Did you get kicked out of the fancy private school too?”

Another surprised, pointed look from Ben. “I managed to graduate by the skin of my teeth, but it sure sucked having to spend my last semester without him by my side.”

Kat clucked her tongue at me, but the way she also curled her hand around my thigh made it seem more like a reward than a scolding. “Such a bad boy.”

“Not just bad, but crazy. One of the craziest things I ever saw him do was jump a motorcycle between two buildings, just to win a bet.”

Kat’s expression changed, concern filling her features, and she shoved my arm. “Jameson! That sounds dangerous. Why would you do that?”

I shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time, and as you can see, I’m fine.” I spread my arms to display how fine I was.

Ben chuckled. “Jameson’s all about high risk, high reward.

Always has been.”

“I can’t exactly deny that, but I try to take more calculated ones these days. I also feel like my risk-taking has paid off well for me, especially in business.”

“So what made you so bossy?” Kat added with a big smile. “Besides being so spoiled and knowing so many random things about fish?”

I cocked an eyebrow at her. “I’m going to show you bossy here in a minute.”

The look on Ben’s face made it clear he was drawing some conclusions, but I was having trouble taking my eyes off Kat so I could get a read on him.

“He’s probably like that because he’s so used to being a boss,” Ben said. “I’m sure he’s told you about the company he runs.”

Amusement flickered through Kat’s eyes. “He has. I’ve even had a tour of his office.” Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink, so I was pretty sure she was thinking of one of her more private tours. “I mean…”

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “She means she’s working with me, but just for a few weeks.”

Kat bit her lip like she was worried what else I’d say, but I didn’t plan on sharing all the whys, or even everything we were working on together.

Ben tapped the table with his palm. “It looks like you guys are about to start a heated make out session that my poor waiter is going to walk in on, so I better give you dinner options and then get to cooking.”

We picked our entrees and then Ben gave us a nod. “Swing by the kitchen before you go, okay? I want to hear how much you enjoyed the food.”

“And what if we don’t enjoy the food?” Kat shot him a teasing smile, and I felt a hint of jealousy until I reminded myself that Ben was one of my best friends, as well as gay. He also had a gift for reading people, and I wanted to know what he thought about Kat. Not that I needed permission to keep doing what I was doing, but navigating these unfamiliar waters left me on edge. Maybe I even wanted him to tell me she wasn’t as special as I was making her out to be, or that he could see she had bad intentions, which was horrible, but my head hadn’t been right since I met her on the

train.

I could afford a little heartache. I couldn’t afford to screw up the company restructure that’d been in the process long since before Kat crashed into my life.

CHAPTER 29

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