Page 41 of Still the One

“How about if I want to see you in the flesh?”

Mac shrugs. “I guess I owe you one booty call.”

I burst into a chuckle. “I can just call you whenever and you’ll come over?”

“That’s usually how it works.” She grins at me.

“What if I’d like to make you dinner as well?”

“I have to eat, but… as long as it’s not a date. I’m not going to date you, Jamie. I need to get you out of my system somehow and, apparently, that somehow is amazing sex, but I can’t offer you more than that.”

“I guess I can live with amazing sex.”

“It’s a hard life.” Mac extends her hand. I take it in mine.

“Keep your phone switched on at all times,” I say as I gaze into her dreamy eyes. “I’m going to cash in on that booty call real soon.”

In the next few weeks, one booty calls turns into multiple nights of amazing sex. All we manage apart from that is a few quick meals together. Mac is a busy woman and I have a business to run too. Although, if it were solely up to me, we’d have lunch in a public place once in a while, so she didn’t start kissing me every time the conversation goes down a path she doesn’t want it to go down. When Mac’s gaze lingers on my lips for more than a few moments, I know what she wants. And it’s hardly something I can deny her—or that I can resist. But as time goes by, I want so much more of her than what she’s willing to give. But I have no choice but to bide my time. There’s no point in rushing, or pushing her—it would only have the opposite effect.

Chapter 23

Mac

“Hey, Gabby.” Lisette, the striking new producer we poached from a rival network, knocks on my dressing room door. “Do you have a minute?” Her teeth are so white, they almost blind me when she smiles.

“Sure.” I’m dying to get to Jamie’s after a long day, but it’s important to keep the new producer happy.

Lisette walks in and closes the door behind her. “I don’t know if you know this, but one of the reasons—well, the main reason, really, if I’m being totally honest—that I came to work here is you.”

“Thank you so much, Lisette. We’re so lucky to have you.” I send her my widest smile.

She shuffles her weight around. “Would you be up to grabbing a coffee sometime?”

“Of course. Any time.”

“Or, um, a drink after work? Dinner, maybe, if you feel like it?”

Oh. Is she asking me out? My head’s been so full of Jamie, I’ve been completely oblivious to anyone flirting with me. I don’t immediately know what to say.

“Oh, god,” Lisette fills the silence. “Did I get this so wrong?” She grimaces. “I’ve been told you’re single and…”

“I am single, I just…” I don’t feel particularly single, which is a problem, I now see. I certainly wouldn’t ask anyone on a date if I knew they were in a situation like I’m in with Jamie. We’re not dating, but we see each other all the time. So much, in fact, that I have to wonder if we aren’t dating and whether I’m just being stubborn for the sake of it—which wouldn’t be a first. “I’m sorry. I’m in a complicated situation with someone. An ex. It wouldn’t be very fair on you to…” Damn it, Jamie. “I can’t go out with you, Lisette. I’m sorry. It’s not you.”

“Yeah. Of course.” She locks her gaze on me for a split second. “I had to ask.” Lisette seems to take it in her stride. She even winks at me. Before she exits, she turns to me. “If your situation changes and you feel like it, I’m game.”

I stare at the closed door for a few moments. Maybe Jamie and I need to have a conversation but it’s one I’m reluctant to have. I meant it when I said I don’t want to date her—at least not officially. There’s no point. The part of me that can remain rational around her, which isn’t a big part, yet one I rely on heavily, won’t let me.

When I arrive at Jamie’s, instead of instigating a proper conversation, I ask her a question that’s been on my mind since the first time I came to her place, but is yet another thing we have failed to discuss—because we don’t do a lot of talking.

“Why are you still renting?” I met her landlady and upstairs neighbor Miss Carol last weekend, when she dropped off a portion of lasagna for Jamie. We ate it together and it was absolutely scrumptious.

“I like to move around,” Jamie says.

“How long have you lived here?”

“A few years.”

“Is it because you’re a serial monogamist? Are you like that with apartments as well? You get tired of them after a while?” I’m pushing it—possibly even angling for an argument because of how Lisette made me feel.

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