Page 48 of Teasing Her Grumpy Boss

She glared. ‘You know you are.’

‘You game to take me on, then?’ He nodded towards the table.

She had already taken him on that table in a far more serious game than she was willing to admit and he was winning at that hands down. She shook her head. ‘I have to work.’

‘You’re working too hard.’ He followed her over to the bar.

‘Rich coming from you.’

‘I’m serious. The hours you’re working are too long.’

She cupped her hands around her mouth like a pretend megaphone. ‘Pot calling kettle, come in, kettle.’

‘I’m used to it.’

Meaning she wasn’t? Thanks very much. Despite knowing he was right it annoyed her. He thought she was a flake. Not up to the job, unable to sustain and maintain a decent work ethic. ‘Yeah. Well. Life’ll pass you by.’

He cocked his head and studied her, abandoning Corey’s suggestion of a best-of-three competition. ‘What’s up?’

‘Your friend was in here earlier.’

‘Friend?’

‘Yeah, the woman you work with. What’s her name—’ she showed her deep-in-thought face. ‘um…?’

‘Sarah?’

‘Yes, that’s it. Sarah.’

His eyes were dancing and she knew her pretence at forgetting the witch’s name was as bad an acting job as you could get.

‘What did Sarah have to say?’

‘Oh, she was full of your future.’

His brows shot up. ‘My future?’

Lucy nodded. ‘Apparently you’re the man, Daniel. Partner, professor, even a judge if the rumours are to be believed.’

He nodded slowly. ‘Yes, I’m next up for a full partnership and the dean of the law faculty called me in this afternoon. There’s a position coming up.’ He grinned. ‘I think the judge thing is a little premature.’

Yeah, but he wasn’t denying it was a possibility.

She filled her trusty red bottle with water from the postmix and tried not to remember his torso in the sodden shirt from that night. That was the trouble with the postmix these days—every time she went to use it, she thought of him. She frowned at it.

‘Why was Sarah talking about that with you?’

‘Oh. I don’t know. It just came up in passing.’ She decided not to totally backstab the woman. He had to work with her. And if he had one of his two-date flings with her, what did Lucy care? She’d have left town and forgotten all about him. Her frown deepened.

‘You don’t find talking about my career fascinating?’ he teased.

She glanced up. ‘Oh, no. It’s interesting. You’ve worked really hard to get to where you are. It’s pretty amazing.’

He shrugged. ‘Life isn’t all about good grades.’

‘It is for you.’

‘You’re not as much of a slacker as you like to make out.’ He pulled her up. ‘You didn’t scrape by, Lucy—you went to university, you got a degree. You’re not a drop-out.’

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