Page 92 of This Heart Of Mine (Chicago Stars 5)

“No.”

He bided his time.

She riddled with another piece of carrot, then shrugged. “I’ve got issues.”

“So does Time magazine. Stop hedging.”

“First tell me where you think this conversation is going.”

“You know where. Straight to the bedroom.”

“Bedrooms,” she emphasized, wishing he didn’t look so grim about it. “His and hers. And it has to stay that way.”

“A couple of days ago I’d have agreed with you. But both of us know that if it hadn’t been for Godzilla’s toenails, we’d be naked right now.”

She shivered. “You don’t know that for a fact.”

“Listen, Molly, the newspaper ad doesn’t come out until next Thursday. Today’s only Saturday. It’ll take another couple of days for interviews. Then another day or so to train whoever I hire. That’s a lot of nights.”

She’d wimped around long enough, and she abandoned all pretense of eating. “Kevin, I don’t do casual sex.”

“Now, that’s weird. I seem to remember a night last February…”

“I had a crush on you, all right? A stupid crush that got out of hand.”

“A crush?” He leaned back in the chair, beginning to enjoy himself. “What are you, twelve?”

“Stop being a jerk.”

“So you had a crush on me?”

His crooked smile looked exactly like Benny’s when he thought he had Daphne right where he wanted her. The bunny didn’t like it, and neither did Molly.

“I had crushes on you and Alan Greenspan both at the same time. I can’t imagine what I was thinking of. Although the crush I had on Greenspan was a lot worse. Thank God I didn’t run into him with that sexy briefcase.”

He ignored that bit of folderol. “Interesting that Daphne seems to have a crush on Benny, too.”

“She does not! He’s horrible to her.”

“Maybe if she’d put out, he’d be nicer.”

“That’s more disgusting than me and Charlotte Long!” She needed to sidetrack this conversation. “You can get sex anywhere, but we have a friendship, and that’s more important.”

“A friendship?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, I guess we do. Maybe that’s what makes this exciting. I’ve never had sex with a friend before.”

“It’s nothing more than a fascination with the forbidden.”

“I don’t see why it’s forbidden to you.” He frowned. “I have a lot more to lose.”

“Exactly how do you figure that?”

“Come on. You know how I feel about my career. Your closest family members happen to be my employers, and I’m on shaky ground with them at the moment. This is exactly why I always keep my female relationships separate from the team. I’ve never even dated one of the Star Girl cheerleaders.”

“Yet here you are, all ready to get jiggy with the boss’s sister.”

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