Page 41 of Dirty News
I decided to take her up on the invitation. My birth control prescription would be running out in a month anyway, so the sooner I found a new doctor, the better. I could set up an appointment and fill out the new patient paperwork while I waited forher.
Nina just kept on proving to be a greatfriend.
But what was Duke proving to be? That was the realquestion.
ChapterTwenty
Duke
Lila had just disappeared on me after lunch. We still hadn’t gotten each other’s cell numbers for some reason, and I was regretting that again. I didn’t like the fact that I’d had to act like she was nothing more to me than some coworker in front of the people I’d been out for lunch with. But we’d been there on a mission, and I couldn’t get diverted byanything.
Earlier that same day, Artimus had caught Gretchen acting in a way he didn’t approve of. Not only was she hitting on me, but she was hitting on Ashton, too. So Artimus had set up a little trap, with witnesses to catch her in theact.
He’d sent in a group from human resources first, before we’d headed to the café for lunch. He’d invited Gretchen to join us just as we were leaving the building. Of course, she’d hurried to come withus.
At lunch, she’d tried every trick in the book to get at least one of us to look at her. Being as there were three of us, she didn’t quite know who to target with her advances, so we’d decided that two of us would leave one man alone with her for short periods of time. Just as we’d expected, the flirting had started as soon as the others hadleft.
Artimus and Ashton had excused themselves to make phone calls, leaving me and Gretchen alone at the table. I was sure to keep myself distant, not wanting anyone to interpret my actions for interest inher.
Gretchen was sitting to the right of me, and she leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Maybe you and I could do dinner later, Duke. I’m enjoying spending time with you; maybe we should keep things going. What do yousay?”
I wanted to tell her that I needed her to say that shit a little louder. But I couldn’t do that. So I repeated what she said, to let the covert ears that were listening in on things know what was up. “Gretchen, are you asking me out on a dinnerdate?”
She nodded. “Yeah. No one has to know, Duke. I can keep it quiet.” She made a sexy little giggling sound. “But I can be loud when you want me to be, also. If you know what Imean.”
I knew what she meant, and so did the table of people beside us, all of whom had frowns on their faces. I had to make things clear to the aggressive woman, “Gretchen, that’s very inappropriate. Do you realizethat?”
She laughed and reached out to touch my hand, which I’d left resting on the table just to see if she’d go that far. I moved it so that she couldn’t touch it and she smiled. “Oh, I see. You don’t want anyone to see. I get it. So, how about we just meet at some place, maybe a dark nightclub, or my place? My roomies won’t speak a word of what I do to anyone. You don’t have to worry about that,Duke.”
“I’m not going to do any of that, Gretchen. And you really should care more about your job than that. You know Artimus has a no dating policy.” I leaned back in my chair as I saw Ashton coming back. “I think I need to excuse myself for amoment.”
As I got up, she made one more comment. “Why, have I got you all hot and bothered? Got a hard-on you need to rub out from ourconvo?”
She was a real winner, that was for sure. And dealing with her unwanted advances and lewd comments had me feeling a hell of a lot of empathy for what many women had been dealing with for far toolong.
Fuck, if I’d heard a man say anything like that to my little sister, he’d have gotten clocked right in thejaw.
By the end of our little mission, Gretchen had said inappropriate things to each one of us—even the boss, the fuckingidiot!
Artimus wasn’t an asshole, so he waited to let her know she was fired until we got back to the station. The group of human resource workers came in right behind us, letting her know they needed to see her in their office rightaway.
I wanted to tell Lila all about it but couldn’t, since I couldn’t find her anywhere. I half expected her to show up at my apartment later that evening, but she didn’t. And when she didn’t, I figured I shouldn’t show up at her placeeither.
The next morning, I woke up to a message on my phone. It was from Mrs. Baker, telling me I needed to be in Artimus’ office by nine that morning. Putting on a suit, I headed to see the boss and hoped I’d be hearing some goodnews.
As soon as I stepped off the elevator, I saw Lila waiting. She was sitting in a chair, her long legs crossed as she flipped through a magazine. She had on a dress that hit her just below the knee—red with large black flowers all over it. As always, her lipstick and nails matched itperfectly.
I had no idea how many shades of lipstick, blush, and nail polish the girl had, but I had to guess it was a hell of a lot. She looked up at me to say a very quick hello, then went right back to looking at the magazine, her leg now swinging back and forth, and I could tell she was a bit aggravated bysomething.
I took a seat next to her. “Hey, what’s up?” I whispered, “I missed youyesterday.”
Without even looking up, she said, “I don’t see how. You seemed to be occupied enough with thatbimbo.”
Ah,jealousy!
“Are you talking about the receptionist?” I waited for her answer as her leg started swinging even faster. The jealousy was cute, and it only let me know she was falling hard forme.
“Of course I am.” She finally looked at me. “I had no idea she behaved that way around the men here. What were you thinking, going to lunch with a woman like that? Did you honestly think I wouldn’t get upset with you for doingthat?”
