Page 87 of Playing With Secrets
“Then I’d love an eggnog.” She joins me, snickering under her breath.
She’s in an awfully good mood.
“Yeah, I don’t have eggnog, so can I offer you something else?” I go to the end of my kitchen and into my simple bar area.
“Wine if you have it.”
“Wine it is. Red or white?”
“Red sounds good since it’s cold outside.” Her gaze sweeps around my kitchen. “I don’t remember your place being so spacious and modern. Did you have work done?”
“No. It’s always looked like this.” I take the wine out and meet her at the center island. “You weren’t here that long the last time you were here, so maybe it didn’t register.”
“Yeah, that must be it. It’s a beautiful setup.” She leans her hip against the counter and faces me.
“I don't think you came over to talk about my decor, so tell me why you’re here.”
“The last time you and I talked, you said we could start working on our friendship. Lately, it feels like you don’t want to talk to me unless it concerns work.” She moves her thick auburn hair over one of her shoulders.
Jesus, she’s beautiful even in the worst outfit ever.
“We’ve been busy. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk toyou. I just haven’t had a lot of time.” I finish opening the wine and turn to get two glasses.
“But you had enough time to go to dinner with Ava Aldridge.”
“How do you know about that?” My heart skips a beat as I place the glasses down and fill them.
“I overheard her and Isabella exchanging words this morning. It got brought up, and I happened to be in the hallway.” She shrugs like she’s unfazed, but her sad green eyes give her away.
It upset her that I was out with Ava. I shouldn’t revel in Dori’s unhappiness, but I feel justified.
She’s hurt me more times than I can count by flaunting other men in my face. So yeah, I guess I’m still a little angry with her.
I nod. “So that’s what you were doing when I found you eavesdropping.”
“It happened before you found me. And I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was getting ready to speak with Hunter after my meeting with Jonah, but I heard them arguing. That’s something different altogether.”
I hand her a drink and she takes it, bringing it to her lips. She sips on it while I get mine.
“Did you get any good tidbits?” I smirk and hold out my glass for her to toast with me.
“Oh, sorry. I already took a sip, but cheers.” She taps her glass with mine. “I don’t want to talk about Ava and Hunter right now. I want to talk about other things.”
“I’m all ears.” I move to the other side of the island and pull out two stools. “Take a seat.”
She sits next to me. “If we’re going to start building a friendship, I want to be able to talk to you about things that aren’t work related.”
“What exactly are you looking for, Dori?”
“I don’t know, but why haven’t we been talking?”
“We’ve been busy at work. The holidays are right around the corner, and I’m still working on getting over what happened.”
Her shoulders slump. “I said I was sorry. Please try to forgive me for being so hurtful.”
“I am, but I won’t force this. And I’m definitely not going down another path with you when you’re still with Hunter. We can be friends, but not the kind of friends who hang out. It’s too hard.”
I study her beautiful face, and once again, I have the urge to lean over and kiss her. Needing the space, I get up and grab some crackers out of the cabinet.
