Page 71 of The Boyfriend List
"No. I just wanted to see you after I missed you at lunch."
I cast an eye around the office to make sure no one's watching before he leans down to kiss me, a quick peck on the lips that nonetheless makes me feel suffused with a pleasant glow.
"Are you ashamed to be seen with me, Ria?" London asks, hopping off my desk.
"No," I say quickly. "We're just… at work."
"Okay," he says. "And?"
"And, we're supposed to be working."
"Technically, we still have five minutes left of our lunch break."
I check my watch and find that he's right. "Well, we're supposed…"
"We have unpaid lunch breaks. You know that as well as I do," he reminds me, resting his hand on the arm of my chair, right next to where my elbow is. I never thought my elbow had so many nerve endings until it was millimetres away from being touched by his fingers.
"Um…" It's true that I can't think of any excuses for him not to kiss me at work, other than that I'm worried we'll be teased by Reggie and Giorgio. Or perhaps accused of being unprofessional in the workplace. But it's not like he's my boss—we're coworkers.
"Are you worried someone will see us and report us to HR?" he asks, arching an eyebrow.
"Maybe." I shrug. "Aren't you?"
"No," he says. "I want everyone here to know that you're mine, and I'm yours."
A shiver runs down my spine. "I told my mom about our trip."
"I like the sound of that," he says.
"Of our trip?"
"I like the idea of having 'our' trip, and thingswedo," he says. "It's… nice."
"I like that, too," I whisper.
"Good." His lips curve into a smile.
He lingers at my desk for a few moments as I tap on the keyboard to bring the screen back to life. The screen shows my confirmation email for my job application and the cover letter.
"What's that?" London asks, arching an eyebrow. "Are you leaving McMann and Ma?"
"No?" I say. "I mean, I don't know? Maybe?"
"That's not the Gloria I know," he says. "Ending three sentences in a row with question marks."
"It's a job that popped up," I say. "I was just messing around."
London frowns. "That's not like you either. You don't 'mess around' with your career."
"I'm not messing around with my career…" I bite my lip. "I told you I’ve been feeling bored. Yes, the pay is good, but I feel like I have no purpose here."
London frowns.
"I started law school to pursue justice, you know? And now I'm fighting lawsuits for companies that might actually have ethics violations, which is the opposite of what I wanted to do."
"That makes sense. What job did you apply to?" he asks.
I show him the job posting and he reads it over.
