Page 67 of Until You

“Yeah.” Admitting it hurt more than she expected. “Are you going to the barbecue?”

His gaze softened, and he stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. “Yeah.” Something shifted in his eyes. “You have to work on Labor Day? No wonder you’re considering looking for a new job.”

“What about you?” she asked. “Happy with your job?”

“Yeah.” He shifted his weight and rested his hand on her bare shoulder. “I like what I do and, for the most part, I like the people I work with.” He paused. “I specialize in contract law, usually corporate stuff. I work with Randy. I don’t know if you knew that.”

She was definitely on shaky ground, but she was genuinely curious about him. “Actually, he just told me last night.”

His brows rose. “When?”

Oh, crap.“After the shoot. When we were talking about Britt’s present. He mentioned it then.”

“Where I work came up in a conversation about Brittany’s wedding gift?”

She tried not to show any reaction. “Yeah, something about the shower, I think. I’ve forgotten.”

The tension around his eyes softened. “So he didn’t put it together that we’ve…”

She raised her eyebrows and laughed. “Become friends?”

He leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “Very good friends.”

She expected him to continue seducing her, but he leaned back up and stared into her face again. “So tell me about the places you’ve worked.”

“You mean the cities?”

“That too.”

Her heart sank, but she stuck to her cover story. “Actually, it’s mostly confidential.”

He looked shocked. “Time management consultation?”

She had a stock answer for that too. “Proprietary formulas, you know.”

A grin lit up his eyes. “Actually I don’t know, which sounds like a good thing. I’d hate to discover your secrets and force you to kill me.”

His easygoing nature made her relax. How many guys had she told her cover story? And what percentage had gotten pissed she wouldn’t divulge more?

“So, if you can’t tell me about your job, then tell me about the cities you’ve lived in. I’m somewhat jealous. I’ve only lived in three places—Columbia, Blue Springs, and Kansas City, and in reality, the last two count as one.”

“It was exciting at first,” she said. “Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and now here.”

“Obviously Kansas City being the most glamorous.”

She gave him a coy smile. “Hey, it’s not so bad. The perks here are pretty amazing.”

His face lit up and he kissed her. “If I’m included in the perks package, I’m feeling pressure to keep you happy.”

“You’re doing pretty well so far.”

He turned more serious. “But I can see the downside. You said you live in furnished apartments so you don’t even have your own things with you. Do you have a home base anywhere?”

“I used to have a storage unit in LA, but I got tired of paying the monthly fee when I didn’t use anything in it.”

“So you’re homeless?”

In the whole five years she’d been doing this, she’d never looked at it that way. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

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