Page 21 of Reaching Gavin

His eyebrow arched into a question mark, and he glanced around the condo. “Heiress?”

That made me laugh. I shook my head, incapable of imagining that as my reality. “If only. Daughter of a Texan rancher—and no. This is my best friend’s sister’s condo.”

“Not a bad deal. She works late?”

I swallowed back the giddiness threatening to escape at his question. “She’s a lawyer, so she works all the time.”

“Then you’re alone most nights.” He took another sip, his mouth lingering longer on the rim. I wasn’t certain if he was savoring the wine or the information.

Maybe I was reading into the questions, but it felt like more than friendly, small talk. Either he was casing the joint or I wasn’t the only one entertaining crossing some boss-employee boundaries. It wasn’t like it was that weird. There wasn’t much of an age difference, and he wasn’t actually paying me. Of course, I wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse.

“ That’s usually when I get to actually talk to my best friends. They’re both out of the country.” It wasn’t as if he was interested in what I did at night when I was alone, but I didn’t want him to think I sat around solo in someone else’s apartment.

“Together?” He asked as he abandoned his now-empty wineglass on the side table. I couldn’t decide whether or not to offer him a refill. Too much alcohol and Cassie usually resulted in bad decisions. But I was sipping and in control.

“No,” I told him as I retrieved the bottle from the kitchen and poured him another glass. It was the hospitable thing to do. “Jillian is in Scotland with her boyfriend, and Jessica is on her honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon?” He didn’t bother to hide his surprise, setting off my own internal alarms. I’d learned to steer clear of the M-word on dates, but this wasn’t a date and it was a fact. Jessica was married. Never mind that I couldn’t wrap my head around it either.

“Yeah, she got married a few weeks ago.” So, so weird to say that.

“Is she…older?”

There it was, the wild-eyed look of a man trapped by a conversation about commitment with a girl he barely knew. Since this wasn’t a date, and I was determined to keep it from heading down that path, I smirked. “We’re the same age. She married an instructor.”

“Her instructor?” He shifted on the couch, uncrossing his legs and looking distinctly lesscomfortable.

“Not currently.” I did my best to look innocent, but I could barely contain my laughter.

“Wow.” He paused and adjusted his loosened tie.

“He’s about your age, so it’s not like he’s ancient.”

“Doesn’t the university frown on that?”

“The university doesn’t really get a say in who we date. Jess wasn’t his student and he was still a PhD candidate.”

“You left that part out,” he said accusatorially, but his eyes twinkled with his own suppressed laughter.

Okay, so maybe I was enjoying making him squirm a little. “I enjoy pressing a person’s buttons.”

Oh hell, I’d just said that aloud. What I’d meant and what I’d implied were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Gavin cleared his throat, pulling at the loosened tie around his neck again. My thoughts went to what he could do with that tie—what I would let him do with that tie.

“I imagine it’s different in the corporate world,” I began, ignoring the alarm bells sounding in my head. I should stop. I shouldn’t finish the thought. I did anyway. “Dating people at work, I mean. There must be rules.”

“Probably at some places.” He let that tidbit hang in the air without giving me any more information.

I couldn’t help but bite. “And at NorthWest Investments?”

“Half of our staff is married to one another. I don’t care if people are hooking up if they’re doing their jobs. I mean, we do have a sexual harassment policy,” he added quickly. “So I wouldn’t recommend you walking around and catcalling people.”

Now he really was squirming. I had brought the subject up, pushed the topic of inter-office dating, but he was still the boss. However loose the rules were, they had to be different when it came to his relationships with his employees. “Good to know.”

“Are you thinking about dating someone from work?” If he felt the least amount of shame asking such a forward question, he didn’t show it.

Now I was the one with ruffled feathers. I stammered, trying to come up with a response that didn’t make it obvious exactly who I was interested in. “Not really.”

“It’s hard for a lot of us,” he said. “We don’t get out a lot. It’s just natural to date someone from the office.”