Resorting to Romance

by Franky A Brown

  Luke stared at Josie’s silky hair, flowing behind her chair. She ran a hand through it and he tightened his fist, wanting to reach out and see if it was as soft as it looked.

  But that was the last thing he should be thinking about…

  Chapter Nine

  Joselyn wanted to cheer when Danny’s motivational madness was finally over. How many “inspirational” speeches did they need? Victoria’s was quite enough for her. She was surprised how disappointed she was when Luke became lost in the swarm of people exiting the class behind her. She wanted to talk to him more, though she didn’t know what about. It came so naturally. She’d been so wrapped up in resenting him for most of the time she’d known him, she never gave him a chance to be a friend.

  She sighed as she walked down the hallway, remembering his smile as he stood so close beside her on the ferry. She could still smell his spicy cologne mixed with the salty breeze.

  No. She couldn’t go there. He was with someone else. Plus, if Victoria thought Joselyn was attracted to Luke, things at the office could get even worse.

  But it wasn’t only that, was it? She was fortunate there were so many reasons that being with Luke wasn’t an option. She’d almost married a man who didn’t truly love her. It should have been more obvious. She was certainly no great judge of character.

  “Hey, Joselyn.” Kelly came up behind her. “Some of us are going out for dinner tonight. The concierge set us up with a van. Want to come?”

  “Okay, sure. Did you invite Luke?” Joselyn’s muscles clenched, wishing she could take back her words.

  Why did I say that?

  “Do you want him to come?” Kelly narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, watching Joselyn curiously.

  Joselyn’s face warmed and she placed a hand over her cheek, hoping it wasn’t turning red. “You should invite the whole office.” She dropped her hand and shrugged, hoping she sounded casual. “It would be the polite thing to do.”

  “The polite thing,” Kelly repeated. “Okay.” She nodded and cleared her throat. “I don’t know how everyone else will feel about it, but you’re right, we should invite him.” Kelly studied Joselyn for a moment. “Is this only about manners, or is there another reason you want Luke there?”

  Joselyn stood up straighter, determined not to let Kelly see her discomfort. “I only think we should be professional about this and include him. What happens if Victoria thinks you’re shunning him?”

  Kelly scrunched her face at the mention of their boss. “Good point. Okay, I’ll ask him. You coming to my class?”

  Joselyn had no desire to increase the awkwardness of the moment by telling Kelly she didn’t need a class on staging. “Of course I am. It’s my favorite topic. Let’s go.” She tapped Kelly on the shoulder and walked with her to the room marked by a sign that read: Staging for Success. “I’ll help with anything you need.”

  “Great.” The room filled rapidly and Kelly handed Joselyn a stack of papers. “Do you mind passing these out?”

  “No problem.” Joselyn went straight to work, giving each person who was already seated one of the handouts. Then she waited by the door to give one to each person who walked in.

  Luke strolled through the doorway and stopped in front of her with a little smile. “I thought you didn’t sign up for this one.”

  “I’m helping Kelly.” Joselyn handed him a paper.

  He took it from her and smiled. “All right then. No more passing notes in class, Miss Bell.” He winked at her, causing her heart to skip a beat. Then he took a seat on the third row. The man who came in next took his own handout from the stack in Joselyn’s hand before she snapped to attention. A warm wave of embarrassment rolled over her as she realized how preoccupied she had been watching Luke walk to his seat.

  By the time Kelly was ready to start and everyone had a handout, there was only one empty seat for Joselyn. One beside Luke.

  He was seated in the second seat from the aisle, so he would be the only one she was next to.

  She could stand in the back to keep her distance…to keep her emotions from running wild, but that would be pointlessly obvious to the entire room that she didn’t want to sit by him.

  Kelly opened her lecture by holding up large photographs. “Staging, done right, can ensure you get the maximum sale price out of your listing. It helps the buyer see the potential.”

  Joselyn was still standing by the door, and Kelly reached out a hand for the extra handouts and Joselyn gave them to her. She swallowed hard as she smoothed down her skirt and took the seat beside Luke.

  “It helps the buyer really see the house as a home,” Kelly continued.

  “Kelly has been talking about this class forever,” Luke whispered, leaning toward her.

  “She’s super excited.” Joselyn turned her head and found herself nose to nose with him; he hadn’t moved back. Her heartbeat sounded like a drum in her ears. She thought she could drown in his beautiful eyes.

  “Joselyn,” Kelly said from the front of the room. “Will you pass these out too?”

  “Of course.” Joselyn snapped to attention. Kelly held out another stack of papers in the air, and Joselyn practically leaped out of her chair to help.

  Luke breathed in deeply, trying to slow his heart rate after a moment with Josie he couldn’t explain. He hadn’t meant to linger when he’d leaned in to whisper in her ear, and certainly hadn’t intended to lose his sense and stare at her like that.

  He made it through the staging class, trying to ignore her tantalizing scent. It was like roses mixed with springtime. His heart skipped around in his chest and he wondered what was wrong with him. This couldn’t happen. Didn’t he remember how amazing it was to be single again, and how terrible it was to mix relationships with work?

  He should have been ready to run from the room the second Kelly wrapped up the class. Instead, he only wanted to stay beside Josie.

  But it was time to go. “I’ll see you around.” He walked at what he hoped was a casual pace toward the door and increased his pace in the hall.

  “Hey, Luke, hold on.” Kelly hurried after him.

  Luke spun around to face her. “Hey, Kelly. Great class.”

  “Thank you so much. It went really well. Look, most of us from our office are going out tonight. You in?”

  “Sure.” Luke wasn’t sure why he was being invited; he hadn’t received an invitation to go out with any of them since he’d started dating Gina. Josie had thought his sales record was all due to Victoria passing him favors the whole time, so it wasn’t a stretch to think the others probably assumed the same. “What time?”

  “Meet us in the lobby at five.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “See ya, man.” Kelly moved past Luke as Josie came out of the classroom.

  Luke fell into step with her and they walked down the hall. “Did you hear? The office is going out tonight.”

  Josie hesitated a moment. “Yeah, Kelly mentioned it. Are you going?”

  “Yes, it sounds fun.” It could be fun to get to know his colleagues a little better, and while he still wasn’t sure why he was invited, he’d accept any form of olive branch.

  Josie crossed her arms in front of her and rubbed her elbows. “Great, I’ll see you tonight.”

  She turned and swiftly disappeared down the hall, leaving Luke to wonder what was wrong. Things had been going well with Josie.

  But there was that moment. The one where he’d stared at her too long, locked eyes with her, and probably made her uncomfortable. He was an idiot. They were barely friends, and now it was painfully obvious she didn’t want more from him. Why did he care? Friends was the only thing he could hope for in this scenario, and friends don’t stare at each other’s lips when they’re centimeters apart. She was probably freaked out. What had he been doing? He clearly hadn’t been thinking.

  He needed to talk to her and hopefully clear things up.

  Joselyn lifted her phone to see a text from Luke: Can we talk?<
br />
  What did he want to talk about? That was the last thing they should do right now. Her emotions were out of control and couldn’t be trusted.

  All she said was: Later. I’ll see you tonight.

  She checked her watch and headed to the course called Ultimate Client Satisfaction. Anything could help at this point. If Luke had outsold her as much as he had with only one favored client handed to him, he was better at this than she’d given him credit for. There was no good reason why she couldn’t retake her spot as the top agent. She’d do better to focus on that goal instead of wallowing in the past or, worse, thinking about Luke’s eyes so close to hers.

  The afternoon passed and she took plenty of notes. She was mostly successful in keeping Luke out of her mind, but fears of him wanting to talk to her crept back in as the time to gather in the lobby drew closer.

  Please don’t ask why I was staring at you like that in Kelly’s class…please, please…

  Joselyn had no good explanation for it. She returned to her room to change into a sundress and freshen her makeup. It was time to go downstairs and she went to the elevator. She decided it would be pretty safe to avoid any personal conversation in a van with their colleagues. Everything would be fine.

  The elevator doors slid open, revealing the lobby and its luscious tropical flowers. The entire area was permeated with exotic scents. She wished she could bottle it up and spray it around her house. It was an incredibly relaxing environment.

  Kelly and Miranda were sitting on one of the couches beside a large leafy plant. Randy and a few others from the office walked over from the hall of shops.

  She walked over to chat with the others; then the elevator chimed and opened.

  Luke stepped out in a sleek gray button-down shirt and black pants that fit perfectly. His hair was combed over to the side and when he saw Joselyn, he smiled. He glanced at the others, then locked eyes with her as he came closer.

  Joselyn’s heart bounced in her chest like a ball on a gym floor. She needed to look away but her eyes wouldn’t cooperate. This wasn’t good.

  “You all right, Joselyn?” Kelly poked her in the shoulder.

  Joselyn turned to Kelly. She’d be all right if she stopped looking at Luke. She was pretty sure. She lifted her fingers up to rub her temples. “I’m feeling a little light-headed.”

  Kelly smirked. “I never saw this coming.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Kelly ignored the question, placed her hands on her hips, then took a step toward Luke. “Hey, Luke, you want to drive? I’m going to sit in the back with Joselyn. She’s feeling a little dizzy.”

  “Are you okay?” Luke’s concerned expression practically melted her heart.

  “Let’s get her something to eat. She’ll be fine.” Kelly looped her arm through Joselyn’s elbow and guided her to the exit. “Ready to go, folks?”

  Once the group was outside and working on piling into the van, Kelly leaned in and whispered in Joselyn’s ear, “We can sit in the back so you can stare at him some more.”

  Yikes.

  Joselyn’s jaw dropped. This was the worst. Not only were Joselyn’s emotions running wild, but other people were noticing. “That is not at all what I will be doing,” she snapped. Joselyn needed to get her emotions under control, but she had no intention of gawking at Luke. Anymore. How rude of Kelly to bring it up!

  Miranda sat next to them in the back of the van, and before Kelly could whisper anything else to her, Joselyn leaned forward, facing Miranda.

  “How’s Scruffles, Miranda?”

  Kelly rolled her eyes, and Miranda rattled on about her cat for the twenty minutes they sat in traffic on the way to the restaurant. Joselyn only needed to add a few questions here and there to keep her talking about her kitty.

  “What kind of place are we going to?” Randy asked from the front seat.

  “It’s a seafood bistro,” Kelly answered. “The concierge recommended it as a popular spot. They have live music.”

  Minutes later, Luke pulled into the parking lot and Joselyn studied the sign over the entrance. It simply said Murray’s. Nothing to indicate the type of cuisine.

  Luke parked the van, then got out and walked around to help the three ladies out from the back seat. The other guys in the van had gone straight to Murray’s entrance.

  Luke helped Miranda and Kelly step down, then reached out for Joselyn’s hand. She didn’t need any help. But…

  She slid across the bench and held her breath as she gripped his hand. Her fingers tingled as she got out of the van and stepped on the asphalt.

  “Thanks.”

  Luke dropped her hand as if nothing had happened and closed the sliding door. “Let’s eat.”

  Chapter Ten

  Inside the restaurant, a man strummed on an acoustic guitar while a woman tapped a tambourine against her knee in a steady rhythm. The snappy tune had Luke’s fingers thumping on his leg in time with the music while he watched Josie walk to the end of the long table. It was as far from him as possible. He sighed. They’d gotten to the point where he’d thought they could be friends. Now she was avoiding him.

  With all the reasons Luke knew that he and Josie were not a possibility, her rejection of him was a deeper disappointment than he’d thought it would be.

  The servers took their drink orders and Randy turned to Luke. “Do you like fishing, man?”

  “I haven’t gone fishing in way too long, but, yes, I love it.” Luke lifted his fist to his lips and cleared his throat. “Though I’d greatly prefer it not be in a kayak in the ocean.”

  “I was asking these folks about it.” Randy gestured to their group. “Joselyn said you might like to go.”

  “Oh really?” He caught Josie’s gaze for a moment. This was the second invitation being extended to him by a colleague today. Josie had suggested it.

  “If you stay on the pier, the sharks can’t get ya.” Josie sent him a little smile as she unraveled her silverware from the napkin in front of her.

  “Sometimes people do catch sharks,” Randy said. “But I’m told you’re not allowed to have them on the pier. You aren’t supposed to try to catch them on purpose, but if you do get one, it’s against the rules to reel it up.”

  “I’m fully supportive of that rule.” Luke gave Randy a thumbs-up.

  Randy grinned. “Most of the time they’ll break the line anyway and you couldn’t bring it in.”

  It was the first time he’d had a real conversation with Randy about something outside of work. Some of the other guys joined in, and Luke felt for the first time that he was finally a part of the group.

  The drinks arrived just as a familiar voice called out to them.

  “Sorry to be late, everyone.” Victoria adjusted her leather purse strap and snapped her fingers at the server, who was busy passing out the drinks. “I need a chair.”

  The table went silent.

  The poor girl set down the platter holding the remaining glasses in the center of the table and then grabbed a chair from the table directly behind Victoria.

  Victoria pointed to the small space between Luke and Kelly. “Right here.”

  Luke hated that she acted that way. She would never speak to a client in that manner, but she had no qualms about treating her agents like they didn’t matter. Unless the agent was her top seller.

  Luke and Kelly hurriedly scooted their chairs aside to give her room, and the server set the chair between them.

  “Didn’t you tell them I was coming?” Victoria’s eyes cut to Kelly, who squirmed.

  “I’m sorry.” Kelly fumbled with unwrapping the paper around her straw. “I didn’t realize you were.”

  “Really? I’m sure I told you.” Victoria grumbled and sat down.

  Kelly caught Luke’s eyes and shook her head slightly, silently telling him Victoria had not told her so. When Victoria turned to look up at her, Kelly quickly switched to a smile.

  “What is wrong with your face, Kelly?”

  “Um�
��uh…” Color drained from Kelly’s face.

  “You really should listen better.”

  “I will do better in the future.” Kelly turned toward Miranda who sat across from her.

  Victoria raised a finger in the air and snapped at the server. “I’ll have a white wine, and bring out some shrimp cocktail.”

  “Coming right up, ma’am.” The girl pulled the notepad from her apron. “Would anyone else like an appetizer?”

  Kelly opened her mouth to speak, but Victoria raised her voice. “Shrimp cocktail will be fine for everyone.”

  “Coming right up,” she said as she dashed off to the kitchen. The table was in complete silence. Everything about the mood in the room had changed.

  Josie stirred the ice around in her glass with her straw and didn’t look up.

  “I thought this was supposed to be a first-rate place.” Victoria perused the menu and wrinkled her nose. “It’s definitely not. What are you having, Luke?”

  Luke smiled and shrugged at Randy, hoping to convey the jovial question, Why is she always asking me what I think?

  Randy looked away from him, and the rest of the table sought another target for their eyes. Leave it to Victoria to ruin the progress he was making with his fellow agents.

  “Did you hear me, Luke?” Victoria raised an eyebrow at him over her menu.

  Luke tightened his grip on his glass. “I’ll have the blackened mahi-mahi.”

  “Hmm. I’ll try it. Nothing is impressing me so far. And the music is too loud.” Victoria’s eyes scanned the table. “I hope everyone is getting the most out of the conference.” Her eyes zeroed in on Josie. “Joselyn, I hope you have been taking plenty of notes.”

  “Oh, yes, ma’am. I have.” Josie sat up straight and twisted her watch around her wrist.

  “Good.” She glanced at the other agents. “You all better be taking notes on how you can maximize your sales. I expect amazing results when we head back home.”