Page 23 of The Lessons

This made me laugh out loud. “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that.”

Now it was Paulina’s turn to look quizzical. “What? Are you married?” She looked at my left hand. “I didn’t think?”

“No. Oh, no, no, no,” I said, taking a sip of water. “Far from it. I just don’t date much, actually. Too busy.” This was my tried-and-true, well-rehearsed fallback answer. I had employed it a lot back in New York, including every fucking Thanksgiving and Christmas when people asked about holiday plans.

Paulina studied me for a minute before responding. “But you aren’t opposed to the idea, right? I mean, philosophically.” Her mouth was twitching up at the corners, clearly trying to suppress a smile.

I took another bite of my sandwich, trying to buy time as I analyzed her reaction. What was I supposed to say to that? Why did I get the feeling she was about to set me up? Ugh. Blind dates were the worst. I’d only been on one back in New York, but it had been horrible. The guy smelled like cheese and insisted we go to one of the fanciest restaurants in the city, only to realize he’d forgotten his credit card. I was not eager to repeat that experience. I shuddered at the horrible memory, but before I had a chance to respond, Paulina cut in.

“Because someone likes you,” she sang, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

“Oh?” I replied dryly, trying to feign disinterest. Maybe I could still shake her off, maybe it wasn’t too late.

“And you know him.”

Chapter Nine

Natalie

Red alert.

My eyes flew up to meet hers. For a split second, Ryan flashed through my mind. But she couldn’t be talking about Ryan; no, it had to be—

“It’s Brad, from the office!” she squealed, looking immensely pleased with herself.

I held my eyes open, trying not to flinch as I processed the information. Brad. Brad from the office. Of course. Yes, Brad from the office was okay, I guess, but we’d barely spoken. Only that one time when he’d invited me out to drinks, and then this morning in Cathy’s office. Was Paulina playing me?

“Brad?” I said finally, sitting back in my chair and glancing around the café, making sure no one from the office was nearby. “Are you serious?”

Paulina widened her eyes at me “Heck, yeah. Why, what’s the problem? Sexy not your type?”

I took another sip from my water bottle. “Um. No, I don’t know if I have a type, really.” It was basically true. My subconscious sneered at me—Ryan Andrews certainly could be your type, it huffed.Brad could be your type, too. Stop being so picky, Sally Sexless.

My subconscious was becoming a horny, sassy motherfucker.

“But you aren’t dating anyone, right?” Boy, she was really zeroing in on it now.

I thought about the agreement I had signed with the surrogacy center. I had agreed to no sex with other people until the end of my treatment. Not that that was at issue here. I wasn’t about to jump into bed with anyone. I started to feel hot all over, and I knew I was blushing.

“Natalie?”

I realized I’d been staring at my sandwich. “Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you were dating anyone,” she said again.

“No. No, that’s not it. I’m just not sure— I mean, I’ve been really busy with the move and everything…”

“Nonsense.” She waved her hands at me dismissively. “He asked me about you. I bet he’ll ask you out before the end of the week.”

“But HR?I don’t think they’d—”

“Nope. New handbook says as long as you don’t work in the same team or departme—”

This time it wasn’t me who interrupted. It was my phone. I looked down. Josh, aka Boyfriend #1, was calling me. I held it up to my ear and mouthed ‘sorry’ to Paulina.

“Hey, Joshie!” I said brightly.

Paulina smirked at me and sat back in her chair. She knew I was using the call to evade the conversation.

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