Page 145 of Theirs to Take

“Yeah, everything is fine,” he said. “I have to go out of town for a week and I’m hoping to leave tomorrow. Can you arrange the flight and hotel room for me?”

“Sure,” she agreed, “where are you going?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“They are sending me to Colorado. McTavish Industries is looking to buy a company out there and they want me to do a risk assessment before they go any further.”

“I see,” she said. Why wasn’t he asking her to go with him? Rod had said for him to bring along his assistant to take notes and help with reports. But Eli hadn’t mentioned her going along with him at all.

“Will you need an assistant?” she point blankly asked him. Eli squirmed in his seat, and she knew that he wasn’t going to give him a straight answer.

“I’m not sure if I’ll need an assistant,” he said. “If I find out that I do, when I get out there, I’ll hire someone locally.”

“You would rather hire a stranger out in Colorado than take me with you?” she asked. “And what am I supposed to do here for an entire week by myself? I’m your assistant, Eli,” she reminded. “If you aren’t here, I’ll do nothing but sit at my desk and answer the phone.”

“You’ll have an easy week,” he said. “You should be happy about that. Take longer lunches and leave early for the day.” She didn’t like any of his suggestions. What Mina wanted was to go with him to Colorado. She wanted a chance to spend some alone time with Eli. “You’ll have more free time to spend with Ben,” he said. “I’m sure that will make you both happy, right?”

“What do you mean by that?” she spat.

“I mean that you and Ben seem happy together and some extra time would be nice,” he said. Mina worried that Eli couldsee right through her scheme with Ben, but she wasn’t about to let him know that he was right about them.

“I’m sure that extra time together will be nice,” she agreed. “I just don’t want to neglect my duties as your assistant.”

“Don’t give it a second thought,” he assured. She was getting nowhere with her plan to make Eli jealous. Maybe “Breaking up” with Ben might be the way to go. At least, she could stop pretending to be falling for her gay best friend.

“Well, I’m thinking about breaking things off with Ben,” she said. Eli tossed the paperwork from his hands down to his desk.

“Oh?” he asked. “Why would you do that? You two seem so cozy together.” She squinted her eyes at him as if trying to see inside his brain. Did he know that she and Ben were just putting on a show for him? How could he—unless…

“Did Carrie and Evan tell you about Ben?” she asked. Yeah, she was about to spill her whole plan to make him jealous, but she had to know.

“Did they tell me what about your boyfriend?” he asked, emphasizing the word “Boyfriend.”

Mina sighed, “Did they tell you anything about him?” she asked. “Anything at all.”

Eli put his hand on his chin as if stroking an imaginary beard, pretending to think. “Let me think,” he breathed. “Oh—they did mention that you and Ben have been best friends for some time now.”

That was hardly a secret. “Well, I did tell you that. Ben and I were friends before we started going out.” That part was the truth. Mina had mixed so many truths in with her lies, she was sure not to slip up. But she had a feeling that Eli knew more than he was telling her.

“Right,” he agreed, “you did tell me that. It’s nice that you two figured out that you had feelings for each other so soon after our evening together.”

“Wait, you think that I fell for Ben to avoid talking about the evening that we had?” He was partially correct. She had been able to put off having to talk to Eli about the kiss that they shared that night, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She thought about it all the time, and that was the problem.

“I’m just saying that the two of you started dating rather quickly, don’t you think?” he asked.

“Just say what you’re trying to say, Eli. I don’t have time to play games,” she insisted.

“Sure you do,” he said. “You’ve been playing games with me this whole time. Did you think that Evan and Carrie wouldn’t mention that Ben’s gay?”

Shit, shit, shit. They had spilled the beans about Ben and Eli was holding onto that bit of news to spring on her. “His sexual preferences aren’t anyone’s business,” she said.

“So, you know he’s gay then?” Eli asked.

Mina shrugged, “Yes, I’ve known since I met him.”

“That means that the two of you aren’t really together, right?” he asked.

“We like hanging out together and enjoy each other’s company,” she insisted.

“You’re not really answering the question, are you, Mina?” he asked. She wasn’t, and she didn’t plan on answering him either. If she did give Eli a straight answer, she’d have to admit that she and Ben cooked up this scam to make him jealous. Eli would probably fire her for lying to him, and why wouldn’t he? She was crazy to think that Ben’s plan would work. Making Eli jealous was a stupid idea, but she only had herself to blame for going along with it.

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