Page 45 of A Conflict of Interest

“Excuse you!” I laughed, pushing the fries towards her as I picked up my sandwich. “Try one. That way I have moral ground to steal a million of yours.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but I’m susceptible to your negotiation tactics,” she said, sliding a fry out, and I settled into a big bite of my sandwich, immediately dripping dip straight onto—of all places, my cleavage. I slapped at it like I could just pull the dip off of my clothes, and Veronica laughed, handing me napkins. “Well on your way,” she said.

“Wouldn’t want to let you down,” I said, dabbing at it, and when she didn’t make a comment or evenlook—she very pointedly kept her gaze away, looking at where they were finishing up her order, there was part of me that prickled with that feeling likewait, does she not like my cleavage?I pushed it as far away as I could, because I was not supposed to be out here wanting Veronica Preston staring at my boobs.

We made comfortable small talk once she’d gotten her food, trading banter back and forth like we’d never been apart for a day, slowly settling in past that nervous barrier until she was able to make me snort-laugh again, even though I alsochoked on French dip when I did, which only made me laugh more while coughing violently, and Veronica looked at me like I was actually about to die.

But die I did not, and somehow we passed by a whole meal without me getting to the serious topics I’d intended on. But what I did manage to do was prove Veronica right, because by the end of it, I had dip all over the lower half of my face, and I’d wiped it off of my collar and chest about a million times, and Veronica laughed as she handed me another bundle of napkins once I finished the sandwich.

“You’re keeping the napkin industry afloat,” she said lightly.

“It is not the first time I’ve been told that. I don’t even know how I manage to get my whole face covered,” I said, wiping myself down, and it wasn’t until it had left my mouth that I realized how much that sounded like an innuendo, and I winced. Veronica just smiled as if I didn’t accidentally make any comments about getting myface covered in juices.

“It’s just a sign it’s good food. You’re much tidier when the food is garbage and you’re just eating it to be polite.”

I would have bet every dollar I was ever going to make in my lifetime that if I made a comment like that about juices running all over my face in front of Veronica, then I’d never hear the end of the dirty jokes. If she even thought of the innuendo in it, she didn’t let it show. Was I just dirty-minded? I could not be the dirty-minded one here in front of Veronica. That implied I was thinking about Veronica in ways I didn’t… need to be right now.

Or maybe she just didn’t find me sexually attractive. It would be easy for her not to make any innuendos about me if she wasn’t interested in me like that. That—probably should have been a good thing, right? I didn’t want her to just value me for my body or as a quick fling. And it was a good thing! And theredefinitely wasn’t any part of me that prickled likehey, c’mon, don’t you like juices dripping on my face and my chest.Not one part of me thought anything like that. Maybe one, but it was a very small part.

Maybe I was sexually boring and that was why she was different around me now. And maybe I shouldn’t have been caught upthinking about that.

“You okay?” Veronica said, her expression softening. “You have that look like something’s bothering you.”

“Nothing’s okay. I’m bothered. No. Other way around. I’m okay. Nothing’s bothering me. Just… um.” I had a handy out. I needed it, with the way my face was burning. “I just—realized I’d invited you here to talk serious things and all I did was gossip with you and eat sandwiches.”

“And fries. Mostly mine.”

“And that.”

She laughed. “Sorry if I distracted you. Do you want to throw me into the Christmas tree to make up for it?”

“That’s too cliché now. Maybe I’ll try some other kind of Christmas offensive. Tie you up in lights.”

“It’s important to mix things up, keep it fresh,” she laughed, and I scowled.

I definitely shouldn’t have made a comment about tying her up, but she wasn’t even going to react to that? Oh, god, she really wasn’t sexually attracted to me. That was… good. Right? Yeah.

“What?” she said, raising her eyebrows, smiling inquisitively. “You’re giving me that squinty-eye look again. Thinking about what other Christmas decorations to beat me up with?”

Oh my god, Kelcey, stop thinking about ways to make her want you naked,I had to tell myself. What a weird thing to go thinking anyway. I’d explicitly complained to her about howshe’d only wanted me around for my body! Now that she didn’t, I was upset?

Maybe I just wanted someone to want me in general… to want me around as a person and to want me in ways beyond that. Kelcey Huntington, ever the fickle one, I guess.

“Thinking about what to do now,” I said, my voice quiet, and I turned to the window. “You said you’re trying to be better. I said I am too. What do you suppose that… looks like? For both of us?”

She studied me for a long time before she relaxed. “Good question. I’m still working that out. In fact, I, uh… I kind of wanted to ask you.”

I blinked at her. “How so?”

She looked down. “What’s wrong with me?”

I stared for a good three, four seconds before I said, “You don’t enjoy food enough to get it all over your face?”

That was also a setup for a sex joke. She didn’t take it. “All right, so there’s one thing. I’m trying to learn how to enjoy and appreciate food more.”

“I was just teasing you,” I laughed. “You don’t have to be a foodie just because I am!”

“I know, but…” She blushed a little, looking out the window, scratching her head. “I, uh… I think it’s cool that you are, so I’m kinda trying to see what you see.”

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