Page 22 of A Matter of Time
At least we agreed on that. “Well, this is just a business lunch anyway, but thanks. I think. I’ll see you later.”
He gave me a nod and turned back to his computer while I headed to the restroom to freshen up for my lunch, which had suddenly gotten a little bit more interesting.
~Cam~
Sitting at my desk for lunch after Tonia left proved impossible. The scent of her perfume still lingered in the air, and the thought of her and Jason having lunch together refused to leave me alone. She seemed genuinely surprised when I told her I thought he might be interested in her, so I had to assume he hadn’t made any move yet, but how long that would last, I couldn’t guess.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything; it honestly wasn’t my business, as she said, and I had kept my mouth shut the week before after Jason and I first talked about it. Still, after what happened with Bradyn on Friday and after the time we’d spent together in general on the weekend, I felt protective of her, whether she thought I should or not.
I couldn’t just turn my feelings on and off like she seemed to be so good at doing.
Rather than sitting inside and stewing over things, I went for a walk instead, breathing in the fresh air as the warm noon sun shone down. Just a few blocks took me to Discovery Green, a green space filled with other people in business attire looking for a break from their work. Work had nothing to do with my restlessness, though. The session with Tonia that morning had been interesting and helpful. As I told her, she really knew her stuff, and though I couldn’t help but be impressed, it didn’t surprise me. With her drive and talent, she was always going to be a success, no matter what she put her mind to.
That part had all gone better than I expected. As I reflected back over the morning with the sun baking into my skin, I figured I just needed to do a better job of putting the personal stuff aside, since she couldn’t have made it much clearer that, despite what happened on Friday night, she didn’t see us as anything more than acquaintances. Friday had been a blip, and the sooner I accepted that, the better for both of us. The fresh air helped to clear my head and give me a sense of purpose; I could make it through the rest of the month without it getting weird.
When I returned to the office, Jason had returned to his office, talking to his assistant, Marianne, while I could see Tonia sitting in Jeremy’s office just as she had been in mine that morning. The lunch hadn’t lasted too long, so maybe that meant it hadn’t gone all that well. Or maybe it just meant Tonia was on top of her time, as usual.
More importantly, why did I care?
As soon as I got back to my own office, I closed my door so that I wouldn’t have to hear her laugh drifting in, and to my great relief, the rest of the afternoon went quickly as I got caught up on things from this morning and started to put a few of Tonia’s suggestions in place. Time went so fast that when someone knocked on my door, I was surprised to see the clock saying five o’clock already.
“Come in,” I called out, expecting to see one of my colleagues there to say goodnight, but instead, Tonia stood on the other side.
She looked calm and cool and as poised as ever. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure.” I hadn’t expected to see her again that day, nor did I expect her to close the door behind her when she walked in, and against all logic and reason, my heart began to beat a little faster.
I couldn’t help flashing back to that brief, drunken kiss at the bar in Corpus Christi, and as I did, I could almost taste her again. The alcohol mingled with her own sweet flavour, the scent of her perfume brought up a thousand memories from happier times and the way that her lips were somehow both soft and demanding at the same time drew me in just as much as it always had.
Though I knew just how unlikely it would be, I couldn’t help wondering what I would do if she walked straight over to me and kissed me again right there at my desk. Based on the surge of energy that ran through my body, I had to admit the thought wasn’t an entirely unpleasant one.
My surprise only grew when, after closing the door, she did march straight over to me. Unfortunately, the look on her face had nothing in common with desire.
“What the hell are you trying to pull, Cam?” She planted her hands on my desk, leaning across it to get as close to me as she could, so I couldn’t look anywhere but directly at her. Though she didn’t shout, she may as well have. She sounded angry enough. “Did you really think you’re funny?”
My heart continued to pound, but confusion had replaced anticipation as its fuel. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sugar.”
“Don’t you ‘sugar’ me! I’m talking about you standing in this room just a few hours ago and telling me that Jason Barnly is interested in me. If you thought that would be funny, I can assure you that you’re wrong.”
Nothing she had just said made things any clearer. “You’re going to have to back up to the station and let me board this train of thought.”
Her glare made it clear she didn’t find me charming at that moment. “You told me that Jason is interested in me,” she repeated slowly, as if I were hard of hearing.
“Yeah, I got that part. It’s the next bit that lost me. Why don’t you sit down and tell me what happened?”
I gestured towards the chair behind her, but she stayed where she’d planted herself, not yielding an inch.
At least she started to explain herself. “We went out for lunch and after what you said, I took his behaviour for flirting. He’s a nice guy, so I flirted back.”
Jealousy twisted in my stomach. As much as I wished something else caused my discomfort, I had to be honest: I was jealous of my boss for flirting with my ex-girlfriend.
“We were having a nice time, and I started to think there might really be something there,onlythought becauseyoutold me he was interested. So, I asked him if he wanted to grab a drink after work.”
Sheaskedhimout? I groaned internally as her words sank in.Nice work, Cam.In trying to protect her, I’d managed to shove her straight into his arms. It had been a while since I’d screwed something up quite this badly.
‘Round about six years, actually.
I still didn’t understand exactly why she was so angry, though, until she got to the kicker. “And do you know what he said?”
