Cold Feet in Hot Sand (10 page)

Deanna swallowed. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.” Jennifer leaned a little closer. “Talk to me, Dee.”

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Deanna struggled to hold eye contact with Jennifer. Though she didn’t like the idea of talking to a co-worker about a tryst with another, she desperately needed to get this off her chest. And maybe gain an ally, since if there was anyone left on the planet who might not be judgmental, it was Jennifer.

“Do you swear on your life nothing leaves this office?” Deanna asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Jennifer leaned forward and rested her elbows on Deanna’s desk. “What’s going on?”

Deanna took a deep breath. “Nick broke up with my sister. I went to talk to him, and we talked, but then…” Shame twisted beneath her ribcage, and her mouth went dry.

Jennifer’s eyes widened. “You… and Nick…”

Sighing, Deanna nodded. “Yeah.”

“Oh, Jesus.” Jennifer sat back with a huff of breath. “About time you two figured it out.”

“Wait, what?” Deanna stared at her.

Jennifer laughed. “Oh come on. Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted him before.”

“I…um…” Deanna shook her head slowly. “I mean, I always thought he was good-looking, but…”

“You never once, even while you were married to that cheating cretin, looked at Nick and thought you’d like to have a slice of that?”

Deanna laughed softly. “Well, okay, but I’ve looked at a lot of guys. And who in this office hasn’t looked at Nick like that?”

“And how many of us would pass up the opportunity if we

got him naked and willing?” Jennifer smirked and held up her hand with her thumb and forefinger forming a zero. “None, sweetie. Especially not you.”

“In theory, maybe,” Deanna said. “But, I honestly never
—
”

“
Dee
.” Jennifer grinned. Dropping her voice to almost a whisper, she said, “You’re not fooling me.”

“I’m serious, though. He’s always been a good friend, and he thinks the same of me.” Deanna paused. “I mean, I think he has.”

“Nuh-uh.” Jennifer shook her head. “To be honest, half the staff thinks Nick was just with your sister because she’s the closest he’ll ever get to you.”

Deanna’s jaw dropped. “What are you talking about?”

“Look, I’m not sure if you two are just so close you can’t see what the rest of us see, but the connection between you two? It’s almost painfully obvious to anyone looking in from the outside.”

“It… really?”

Jennifer nodded.

“But… he and I, we’ve always just been good friends.”

“
Really
good friends,” Jennifer said. “Which is why I’m not at all surprised something happened between you two after he called off the wedding. Isn’t that the first time you’ve both been single at the same time?”

Deanna dropped her gaze. It was, wasn’t it? But she’d been single around single men without jumping their bones. She had male friends. Why was Nick any different?

Well, Deanna. Why
is
he any different?

She waved a hand and shook her head. “Listen, he was upset, I was upset and lonely, we’d both had a little to drink, and we got carried away. That’s all there is to it.”
Liar
.

“I’m sure,” Jennifer said with a knowing look in her eyes. “Deanna, don’t misunderstand me here, okay? I’m not calling you an opportunist or saying you were taking advantage of the fact that he was suddenly single. I know you better than that. What I do think is that you and Nick have had this super close friendship, and this chemistry that’s visible from space to everyone but the two of you.” She shrugged with one shoulder. “Honestly, I’ve been wondering for a while how you’d feel once he was married, so I just think
whatever it was that happened, however you two ended up together,
was

probably bound to happen sooner or later.”

Deanna chewed her lip and lowered her gaze again. Hadn’t she thought the same thing while they’d fumbled their way through their little encounter? That, right or wrong, it had been a long time coming?

“Doesn’t make it right, though,” she whispered.

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t,” Jennifer said. “And I don’t think he would have cheated on her or you would have done him after he’d married Kristina. But I have known you both for a long time, and quite honestly, I’m not surprised you guys wound up together as soon as you were both single for five minutes.”

“Still…”

“Well, good luck sorting it all out.” Jennifer shot her a sympathetic grimace. Then she glanced at her watch and started to get up. “Damn it, I should get back to work before the boss comes looking for me. Just, you know, think about what I said.”

“I will,” Deanna said. “Thanks.”

Jennifer offered a sympathetic smile, then left the office.

As soon as she was alone, Deanna rubbed her eyes. So the whole damned staff thought she and Nick had some sort of latent chemistry? That what happened on the beach had been inevitable all this time?

Shaking her head, she blew out a breath. Maybe there was a spark of something between them, but that ship sailed the day Deanna introduced him to her sister. The ship fucking sank the night they slept together. Whatever might have existed between them couldn’t exist now, not if Deanna had any hope of salvaging her relationship with her sister. Or, for that matter, concentrating at work.

Speaking of which…

Come on, Deanna. Focus.

She faced her computer screen, and couldn’t comprehend a single word on the screen. Jesus Christ, she wasn’t going to be able to concentrate today.

And when Nick came back a week later, it only got worse.

Fortunately, their departments didn’t often interact. Nick was part of the marketing department and Deanna worked in IT. As long as his computer didn’t crap out on him this week
—
oh please, God, don’t
—
they’d have no reason to be in the same room unless they wanted to be.

And in spite of how much she tried to avoid him, she wanted to see him. Desperately. They needed to talk, and no matter how much she told herself differently, she needed to be around him. Near him. He was so far off limits it wasn’t even funny, but the only time she was more off-kilter than she was around him was when she
wasn’t
around him.

She certainly had plenty of opportunities, that was for sure. Before today, she’d never realized how much they passed each other in the halls during working hours. Nick was constantly going back and forth to meetings, offices, and conference rooms. Deanna had her fair share of meetings, plus she was forever on her way to fix someone’s computer or get a printer back online.

And every time
—
every damned time
—
she saw him, she could barely breathe. His presence made the guilt burn hotter, but it did something else to her blood pressure. Something she didn’t want to admit but couldn’t ignore.

She’d seen him in a different light on that beach, and it was impossible not to look at him the same way under the office fluorescents. It was impossible not to hear Jennifer’s voice in the back of her mind, telling her what they’d done had been inevitable. That there was something between them that Deanna hadn’t seen
—
though everyone else apparently saw it
—
until that night on the beach. She wanted to see it again. She didn’t want to see him again. She wanted to be as close to him as she could get. She couldn’t get far enough away. The man was going to drive her insane just by being in this building, simultaneously too close and not close enough.

And on her way back from fixing the VP’s computer, she couldn’t avoid him. He was on his way down the same hallway, walking straight toward her, and there was nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. Except maybe that conference room. She could grab him, drag him in there
—

Stop it, Deanna. Stop it now.

She tried to avoid his eyes as they passed each other, and she succeeded, but she didn’t see his hand coming until it had already gently grasped her arm.

She halted in her tracks and looked him in the eye. “What
—
”

“Can we talk?” he asked softly.

Deanna chewed her lip. “I don’t think we should.”
I don’t think I should be alone with you.

“I think we need to.”

Oh, we do. We definitely do. But here?

Was there a safer place? A place they were less likely to exercise some restraint and discretion? Work was probably the best place for them to do this without digging themselves deeper into this mess.

“I…” She exhaled. “I have a meeting with the IT group at four thirty. I can swing by your office afterward if you want to stick around for a while.”

He nodded. “I’ll be there.”

Nick released her arm, and they both kept walking in their respective directions.

And Deanna’s heart had never pounded quite so hard.

Eight

From the moment he’d walked through the door that morning, Nick had wanted nothing more than to hole up in his office and hide from the world. He didn’t have to ask if word had gotten around, though he was a wee bit curious just what Deanna had said.

“Welcome back, Nick,” the receptionist had said, offering a tightlipped smile.

The girls in accounting casually kept their backs to him as he walked through their department. Customer service was a minefield of icy looks. Carla, a co-worker he interacted with on almost an hourly basis, glared at him over her coffee cup before stalking off to her office.

Welcome back, indeed.

And now he waited for Deanna so they could
—
maybe
—
settle a few things before he went out of his damned mind.

He glanced at his computer monitor to check the time. It was just about five o’clock, so her meeting would be over any time. Any minute, she’d come walking through that door.

Assuming of course she didn’t bail and run like hell. He was tempted himself; awkward conversations were his Achilles heel. His aversion to them was part of why he was in this mess to begin with, so he didn’t have much choice but to face the music or make things worse.

He couldn’t sit still. It was close enough to five, he could safely quit working without taxing his conscience any further. No point in chaining himself to his computer, then. He pushed the
chair back, got up, and went around to the front of his desk so he
could