Page 10 of Friends With Benefits

Again, silence on the other end. “You’re a smooth talker,” Garth said wearily. “You could talk a hooker into joining a convent. Could you just talk to her?”

There was something in Garth’s voice that made Mitch pause. “Okay,” he finally said. “No guarantees, that’s for sure. I’ll get back to you.”

He hung up the phone and scribbled some notes on a pad of paper on his desk, then tossed down his pen. He was going to have to meet with Mariah Sinclair. No way would a phone call do in this case.

He ran his hands through his hair. He had no idea what he was going to say to her, but he had to take the request to her and get her answer. As if he didn’t know what it was going to be.

He was getting so tired of this shit. Why couldn’t people just get along?

He went to ask Christie to set up the appointment. His new assistant was working out great. She was young and didn’t have much experience, but she was smart and had a lot of initiative. If she saw something that needed to be done, she did it without waiting for him to ask. He liked that.

“Can you call Mariah Sinclair and set up a meeting with her?”

When Christie stood and moved over to a file cabinet his gaze dropped to her legs. Great legs. Skirt just short enough, and it didn’t hurt that she had a rack to rival that of a centerfold model, either. Whoa. Completely inappropriate, he told himself, holding in his grin. He wasn’t interested in Christie that way at all, but he couldn’t help but notice her, uh…attributes.

After lunch with some of the other lawyers from the firm, as they all pulled out wallets to settle their bills, the new guy, Jason, mentioned he’d just moved to Santa Barbara from Seattle and didn’t know many people.

“Where’s a good place to meet people?” Jason asked.

“You’re not married?” Mitch inquired.

Jason shook his head. “Nah.”

Mitch studied the man, wondering…without knowing much about this guy, it was risky. “I’ll introduce you to some friends of mine. Why don’t you join us for lunch tomorrow?”

“Sounds great.”

So Mitch called Kerri again and told her someone would be joining them. Her excitement annoyed him.

“Thanks, Mitch!” Gratitude warmed her voice. “You’re a sweetheart.”

He didn’t feel like a sweetheart. He felt like a bear with a hangover, grouchy and irritable.

***

After the last time, when Kerri had been so positive and then things had turned ugly, she wasn’t going to get her hopes up too high. She kept telling herself that all the way to the restaurant to meet Mitch and Jason.

Her initial impression was that he was a nice guy—well-dressed, well-groomed, cute smile. At first he’d seemed surprised it was just the three of them having lunch, but conversation was friendly.

When she found out that he used to do yoga, her tummy clenched with excitement. This had to work out. It was perfect.

But as the server cleared the table, Jason still hadn’t even hinted that he was interested in asking her out. Kerri tried to catch Mitch’s eye, hoping he would realize she wanted him to do something, give a little push or hint, or something. But he didn’t seem to catch her glances and then the server was bringing their bills. Damn.

Kerri bent down and reached for her purse. They’d been talking about movies and Jason mentioned the new James Bond movie just coming out.

“I really want to see that!” she said, straightening. “The previews look so good!”

She caught Mitch rolling his eyes and ignored him.

Still, Jason didn’t make the offer. She was going to have to take matters into her own hands. She took a breath. “Would you like to go see it on Friday night?”

He smiled and gave a little shrug. “Sure, why not?” It wasn’t the most thrilled reaction she’d ever seen, but at least he hadn’t turned her down flat.

They exchanged phone numbers so they could make plans for Friday night. Well, it was a start. Who knew, things could develop even if it hadn’t been a sizzling beginning.

When she got back to the studio, she called Mitch to thank him.

“Don’t thank me so soon. You haven’t gone out yet. And I gotta tell you, I don’t know this guy that well. He only started here a month or so ago.”

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