Page 23 of Maxwell

The man said something that made her laugh, and she playfully slapped his arm. They seemed comfortable with each other. As if they had known each other a long time.

Maxwell hung back from the window in case Jasmine looked in his direction. He didn’t want her to see him watching them.

The stranger opened the passenger door of his black Mercedes, placing a hand in the small of her back as he helped her into the car. After he closed the door, he did a little jog around the front of the vehicle, giving Maxwell a good look at him.

Brown-skinned, clean-shaven, wearing a slim-cut blue suit. Frankly, his pants were kind of tight. His tailor sucked.

The man climbed behind the wheel, and Maxwell watched them pull out of the parking lot, a strange burning in his chest. This feeling was unfamiliar. So unfamiliar it took him a while to realize what it was.

“No way,” he muttered to himself. He checked for his keys and headed out of his office, locking it behind him.

Hell no, he insisted, fighting against the thought that plagued him. He was in the parking lot before he finally admitted the ugly truth.

He was jealous.

Chapter Ten

Jasmine walked toward the front desk. It was almost five-thirty, and the practice was quiet with the phones off and no one in the lobby.

Keisha was at her desk, shoes off, munching on a protein bar as she worked on scheduling updates before she went home. She looked up at Jasmine.

“Hey. I thought you’d left already,” she said, returning her attention to the computer.

“I had some bookkeeping and filing to do, and I didn’t want to leave it undone and have to come back to it on Monday. I just wanted to cross the tasks off my list.”

“I hear you.” Keisha clicked a key on the computer. “You and Nicholas have big plans for the weekend, or is he going to surprise you like he did with the flowers?”

Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day, but she’d already had her Valentine’s Day celebration with Nicholas yesterday. She had known he’d be coming by to take her to lunch, but the flowers had been an unexpected surprise.

“He left town yesterday afternoon, which is why he sent the flowers and took me to lunch. He’s traveling for work.”

“On Valentine’s Day weekend?” Keisha spun around in her chair. “That sucks. You’re spending the day alone?”

“Yes, but we’ve already had our celebration. Lunch was fantastic.”

“Don’t forget the flower arrangement the size of an SUV.”

“Yes, so I’m good. I might go over to my parents’ place and hang out with them tomorrow.”

“That’ll be nice.” Keisha turned back to the screen.

“What do you and Marcus have planned?”

Keisha and her husband had been married for almost ten years but behaved like newlyweds. They both loved surprising each other and religiously set aside one weekend a month to do something together, just the two of them. According to Keisha, they enjoyed each other’s company so much, they had decided they didn’t want to have kids.

“We bought the Saint Valentine package at Chateau Elan. We’re heading up there tomorrow to drink wine, gorge on delicious food, and stay at the spa.”

“Are you staying overnight?”

“Of course.”

“Oooh, nice.” Jasmine walked over to the file cabinet.

The sound of keyboard clicks filled the quiet around them as Keisha continued working.

“Hey, can I tell you something?” Keisha asked in a low voice as Jasmine was putting a new label on a folder.

“Sure. What’s up?” She gave her coworker her undivided attention.