Page 43 of Protecting Bianca

But I swallowed my impulse and acknowledged him through gritted teeth. “Mr. Church.”

“I thought it was you. Good to see you. How have you been?” Church asked, completely oblivious to the fireworks going off in my head.

“Fine.”

My abrupt tone must have given Church a clue because he finally noticed Bianca standing in front of me. “Oh. Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt. I’ll see you later, Jager.”

“Was that Roger Church?” Bianca asked, as he walked away.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve been trying to speak to him for months, but his receptionist only puts me through to voicemail. I want to invite him to our launch.”

She stared after the man, and I read her intent to follow him. “I’ll extend the invite to him. He’ll be there.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I saved that man billions of dollars from fraud. He’ll be there.”

“Oh.”

Feeling the energy change between us, I extended my arm. “Ready to get back inside?”

She nodded and accepted my arm graciously.

The first course waited for us at the table. It was a butternut squash soup. “Would you like some cream, ma’am?” the server asked Bianca.

“Yes, please.”

She tasted her soup and closed her eyes. Pleasure crossed her features, and her mouth opened slightly. The image was so wildly erotic thatI had to turn away before I embarrassed myself at the table.

“Mmm,” she moaned, and I slammed my molars together, grinding them as hard as I could.

“So, what do you do, Bianca?” Will asked.

Besides torturing me.

“I work for Grapevine. I’m the Public Relations and Crisis Manager.”

“I hear the CEO is an asshole,” said Christina.

Bianca shook her head. “Not really. He can be difficult at times, but no more than any other boss I’ve worked with.”

Will leaned forward. “That’s quite generous of you to say.”

Christina smiled. “She is in public relations, after all. Did we expect a different answer?”

I expected Bianca to be offended by Christina’s frank remark, but she smiled conspiratorially. “Perhaps.”

Christina laughed, and Bianca did, too. This seemed to me an unlikely friendship, as Christina did not make friends easily. But something must have transpired during their brief time together.

I poured everyone at the table a glass of wine as we all got to know each other a little better. I learned things about Christina I hadn’t known before as she opened up to Bianca in a way she hadn’t been able to with just me.

Bianca laughed and whispered softly to Christina as Will’s girlfriend listened intently to what she had to say. I never thought seeing Bianca so relaxed would bring me such joy, but I found myself smiling at nothing more than a genuine giggle from her lips.

The band started playing shortly after dessert. “Oh, I love this song.” Before I could ask Bianca if she wanted to dance, Bianca popped out of her chair and pulled a defiant Christina onto the dance floor.

Will threw his head back and laughed while Christina made what I was sure wasan obscene gesture in his direction.

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