Page 113 of David's Love

“No one has thawed my heart. I haven’t even spoken with her this week,” I say to make things difficult for her.

“Not with witnesses. And not at work. Come on,” she says, smiling. “Don’t be a…”

“A what, Miss Julie?”

“You know. Stubborn and stuff.”

“Mm-hmm. Stubborn. If you want me to bring her to your place tonight, you need to keep your mouth shut.”

She pinches her thumb and index finger together and makes a sliding motion across her lips.

“They’ll need to waterboard me to confess to it.”

“Not funny,” I say, smiling.

She does a thumbs-up and almost leans in to kiss my cheek.

“No kissing at work,” I joke. “I have a reputation to protect.”

“You should’ve thought about that when you decided to hire her.”

I flick an eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean? Everybody else knows?”

“Not everybody. Because not everybody cares. But James must know.”

I gesture dismissively.

“I’m not worried about him.”

“There must be other people.”

“Whatever.”

And then, it dawns on her.

“Don’t tell me,” she says. “You two will be an official couple soon?”

I smile.

“Maybe. But the secrecy remains. I need a little more time.”

“You have as much time as you need from me.”

She presses her lips together, stifling a genuine reaction, and succeeds in staying composed for about two seconds before doing a happy dance.

“Yay.”

“What’s it to you?” I ask.

Walking backward, she shrugs.

“Nothing. I just like you. And I think you hit the jackpot with her.”

“Not if she’s against long term relationships like you are.”

She stops, her lips pulling into a big o.

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