Page 106 of Lead Me On
“Oh, of course! Do you want me to order them?”
“No, no. A man should order his own flowers, right?”
“Sure.”
His office door closed, but opened again only twenty seconds later. “Jane, who should I order flowers from?”
“I’ll bring you a number,” she said, trying to hide her smile. A few minutes later she had the number of a place in Tumble Creek, and a backup number of her favorite florist here in Aspen.
“Mr. Jennings,” she said as she handed it over, “there’s a florist in Tumble Creek, but it’s called Randolph Gifts and Fly Fishing. I wasn’t sure if—”
“Oh, Mr. Randolph! Right. He’s perfect—thank you.”
“He sells flowers and…worms?”
“Well, it’s a small town. You’re coming to the party, right? You did the work, after all.”
Lori was leaving for the big tour of Europe in a week. Mr. Jennings would be joining her for two weeks, but before she left he was throwing a going-away party at her house in Tumble Creek. “Absolutely. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“You should bring Chase.”
“No! Chase and I aren’t… We only went out on one date. Maybe two. Anyway, it’s over. He’s not my type. Obviously!”
“Are you sure? He’s a good guy.”
“Mr. Jennings, last week you were convinced he was roughing me up!”
He shrugged. “Eh, I was freaked out. It’s too bad it didn’t work out. I hope it won’t be awkward for you when he comes in.”
“No, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She hurried out to escape his eyes. The man never noticed anything around him, and suddenly he was Mr. Inquisitive. “Unbelievable,” she muttered as she sat down.
This bad habit of talking to herself was going to have to stop. The whole point of pushing Chase away had been to make herselfmorenormal. But she couldn’t help her nervous energy. She’d gotten hooked on sex with Chase, and she needed a fix. God, how could he be so stubborn?
And she wanted to tell him that she’d seen Jessie, that he seemed to be growing up. Wanted to tell him she was trying to reconcile with her mother.
Sadly, it turned out that the man she’d been using for meaningless sex had become her best friend. A man she’d known for less than a month was her closest confidant. How pitiful was that?
Jane sighed. For once, her work felt tedious, but she forced herself to dive back into the next quarter’s budget and wrestle it to the ground. When the door whooshed open, she was just reaching into the closest filing cabinet to grab last year’s receipts. She glanced over her shoulder, and Chase was standing there.
Chase.He smiled and her heart tumbled over and over and landed somewhere near her feet.
“Hi, Miss Jane.”
“Chase,” she whispered, taking him in on a wide-eyed glance. He’d cut his hair. Actually, he’d buzzed it so low it was practically shaved. He looked as if he belonged in a Mad Max movie. He looked…incredibly hot.
Jane cleared her throat. “Mr. Chase.”
His eyes slid to the vase of tulips. “You got the flowers?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“I hope you like tulips.”
Finally pulling herself together, she straightened in her chair and forced herself to be stern Jane. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean,why?You need to go! This is completely inappropriate!”
