But that had been a long time ago. Over a year ago. She was married to Andrew now, and that wasn’t going to change. Or was it? What was going on with their marriage? Strangely, he would’ve thought he’d feel some sort of satisfaction if things didn’t work out for them after what had happened. But he didn’t.
Shelby didn’t need to know about all that. She was the one who’d needed a fake boyfriend. And he’d already admitted he liked her. A lot. The attraction between them was real. Why not explore it?
He could just tell her the truth—that her boss was an asshole who’d stolen his girlfriend. He mulled that idea over as he reached the end of the beach where the smooth rocks that gave Rocky Harbor its name rose in rounded heaps. The paved path ended, and he stopped at the edge of the grass. “But what good would that do?” he asked Wayne, sitting there looking at him with his tongue hanging out of his mouth in what appeared to be a wide smile. Wayne had no answer for him so he started running again, now across the grass toward Ocean Drive.
He didn’t want to make Shelby and Andrew’s working relationship even more awkward. He also didn’t want Shelby feeling sorry for him, like he knew Gianna had been at the picnic. Shelby already suspected Andrew was scum. She just needed a way to keep him away from her and keep her job. And Jake could help with that. She didn’t need to know all that history.
Maybe Shelby didn’t want to see him again. Maybe he was stewing about this all for nothing. She’d gotten what she wanted—and he didn’t mean the three orgasms!—and maybe that was enough to let Andrew know she wasn’t interested in a little office nooky.
The only way to find out was to call her.
He crossed Ocean Drive and started a sprint toward home.
“That was quite a surprise seeing you with Jake Magill.”
Shelby smiled at Andrew across the small table in his office Monday morning despite the tightening of her stomach. “Oh that’s right, you two know each other. I forgot about that.”
“It’s funny he never mentioned me to you. How long have you two been seeing each other?”
“Um…” Shelby’s mind went blank. What had they talked about Friday night? Something about meeting in April…which was two months ago. “About a month,” she finally said. Crap, she was such a bad liar. Why had she thought she could get away with this? She smoothed damp palms over her knees beneath the table. “I guess I never mentioned your name to him.” Which was true.
Had Jake had forgotten to share something significant with her? Now she might blow the whole thing because she didn’t know about it.
She hadn’t thought much about Andrew and Jake knowing each other, though she’d commented to Myra when they’d gone antiquing yesterday afternoon on the uncomfortable tension she’d noticed between Jake and Andrew. Something had happened and now she was curious. But she’d have to ask Jake that question, because for once Andrew changed the subject from personal to business.
“Have you started on your project charter yet?” he asked.
She blinked once, twice, then opened the file folder on the table. “Yes, I’ve started it, but I wanted to ask you about a couple of things.”
They finished their business meeting, and as Shelby passed by Susan’s desk, she paused to smile and say hello. This time Susan returned the greeting with a smile of her own and Shelby spent a few minutes chatting with her about the picnic before returning to her cubicle, for once without feeling frozen by Susan’s animosity or weirded out by Andrew’s attention. He’d been quite cool, actually. She nibbled her bottom lip as she entered her password into her computer. She’d just wanted him to not have any ideas of being more than business associates, but she didn’t want him to hate her. Guilt at lying to him gripped her insides and twisted.
She opened the document she’d started for the project charter just as her cell phone rang. She reached for it and flipped it open, typing with one hand. “Hello.”
“Hi.” Jake’s deep voice had her fingers going still.
“Hi.” She straightened, and her tummy fluttered.
“How are you?”
“Good. I’m good.”
“You’re at work?”
“Yes. You?”
“Yup. Monday mornings. Hate ’em.”
She laughed softly and leaned back in her chair. “I know. Me too.”
“How’s Andrew this morning? Did we pull it off?”
“Um, yeah. He’s…well, let’s just say our first meeting this morning was very businesslike.”
“Good.” His voice deepened.
“What happened between you and him?” The question popped right out.
“Uh.” A heavy beat of silence, then another. “He didn’t tell you?”
“He said I should ask you.”
“Well. It’s a long story. Why don’t I tell you over dinner one evening?”
Dinner? Was he asking her out? What was this?
This wasn’t a normal situation. This wasn’t your usual post-first-date phone call. Because they hadn’t really dated. They’d just been pretending.
But they sure as hell hadn’t been pretending to have scorching hot sex.
“Are you asking me out?” she said, throwing all the usual dating rules out the window. “Like, for real? Because you don’t have to, you know. You offered to come to the picnic…” She suddenly became aware that although her cubicle had walls on three sides, it wasn’t exactly private and anyone nearby could hear her conversation. “Er, maybe this isn’t a good time to talk about this.”
“How about over dinner?” he said again, amusement shading his voice and making her instantly wet.
Oh, this was crazy.
“Okay,” she said slowly.
“Tomorrow night. What time do you get home?”
That all depended on how long she wanted to stay at the office. With nothing but Lean Cuisines and her television to lure her away, she often worked late into the evening. “By about six.”
“Pick you up at six thirty, then. Did you get your car yesterday?”
“Oh. Yeah. Myra took me there. We went antiquing yesterday afternoon.”
“Find anything good?”
“I’ll tell you over dinner.” She smiled, all warm and tingly inside, leaning back in her chair.
He laughed softly. “Okay. Good. See you tomorrow.”
She clicked her phone shut and leaned her head back, staring up at the white acoustic tiles of the office ceiling. Well. What was this? Maybe the sex had meant more to him than just getting turned on by pretending to be in lust. Did that even make sense? She shook her head.
Myra, with her usual logic and reason, had been most helpful in convincing her that she hadn’t made a mistake by having sex with him, pointing out that Shelby had had a number of extremely satisfying orgasms—okay that didn’t even begin to describe how hot they’d been—and she’d definitely gotten something out of the night too. So she’d managed to come to terms with the fact that she’d had a hot one-night stand and she was okay with it, but she couldn’t help the deep-down little wish that it could happen again.
Because even though it had all been an act, or was supposed to have been an act, the truth was she’d had a lot of fun with Jake, both Friday night when they’d talked over drinks, then at the picnic and even in bed. Well, fun might not be the best word to describe the sex—how about off-the-freakin’-charts hot? Whatever. She liked him. And though she really didn’t want to admit she harbored secret feelings like this—she kinda wanted to see him again.
“Are you okay, Shelby?”
She jerked upright and blinked at Andrew standing at the entrance to her cubicle, his wide shoulders in the expensive suit jacket taking up much of the opening.
“Oh.” Heat washed into her cheeks. “Yes. Sorry. I was just thinking about…uh…the project charter.”