“But you don’t deny the attraction.”
Her voice dropped. “No, I don’t.” Her voice grew stronger. “But I can fight it.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Jon couldn’t believe he was saying this. “Why don’t we be friends, that’s all, until August, when I go back to teaching. No promises. No strings.”
Her nose wrinkled and she pursed her lips as she used to when she was working out a challenging problem at Mathletes practice.
“Yes, we can keep our relationship as friends and coworkers.” Kate hesitated.
His windpipe constricted as the seconds ticked off until she continued.
“And as a friend,” She grinned, “I’m going to save you from having to drive me to the train station by going back inside and calling Uber.”
He stood and watched her walk away. As far as he could figure, he could take Kate’s action in one of two ways. One: Despite her agreeing to friendship, she didn’t want to spend the time with him. Two: Kate was afraid of where spending time alone with him might lead.
He was going with the latter.
Chapter 9
Thank God for vacations, Kate thought as she peered down the walkway to her and Jon’s cubicles. Not a vacation for her, but her fellow analysts. The Monday following Jon’s swim meet and The Kiss, Kate had had to drag her sleep-deprived self into work. She’d spent most of the day and night before working on a plan to keep a friendly distance from Jon, even though she’d have to fight her attraction to him at least eight hours a day. The only conclusion she’d come to—and one she didn’t want to admit—was that her side of the attraction between her and Jon wasn’t exactly just friendly. Her boss Bob had unwittingly come to her rescue with an early morning email saying he was borrowing Jon to fill in for another analyst who was on vacation.
Jon’s reassignment for that week and a little strategic ducking out of her cubicle at the right times had lessened the danger of her and Jon having any one-on-one time at the office. And they hadn’t had any reason to get together outside of work. Kate had made sure of that by being away from her cubicle at the time she knew Jon would be passing by on his way out to catch his train.
This week Jon had been grabbed again when another analyst had scheduled time off. And so far, so good. It was late Thursday, after Jon’s usual departure time, and Kate was headed back to her cubicle to catch up on the work she was running behind on because of her ducking in and out of her work area to avoid Jon.
“Hey, there.”
Kate blinked her bleary eyes. “Jon. I thought you’d be gone.” That was smooth. But she was operating on only a few hours of sleep again last night. You would have thought she’d never been kissed before.
“Thought or hoped?” he asked.
“Thought. Why?” He must be on to her half-baked avoidance plan.
“Maybe because you’ve been strategically avoiding me for the past eight days. Want to catch a drink with me and talk about it? As friends.”
Right. They were supposed to be friends. Kate slumped. She’d like nothing better than to go have a drink with Jon. One of her new favorites, a monster fresh cherry margarita, so she could blame any romantic entanglement she let herself get into on the alcohol. She straightened. “I had planned to stay late to catch up on work. It’s been backing up without your help.” There. She’d gotten the refusal she needed to give him out in a casual, conversational voice and complimented Jon on his work.
“What? No Brides Club meeting this evening?”
“No, everyone else cancelled.” Right when she needed support—badly.
“Perfect,” he said with a heart-stopping grin that set her nerves tingling along with making her heart skip a beat or two. “I’ll stand in for them.”
Kate opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Tell Jon what she was going to tell her friends? That she was becoming—or already was—insanely attracted to Jon and needed help ramping down her feeling to friend-like.
An earnest expression had replaced Jon’s grin.
“What the heck?” Kate raised her hands in surrender. “Let me get my bag.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Jon leaned his shoulder against the cubicle support post and employed that killer smile again.
It was as if he knew what it did to her. Kate got her things from her desk drawer. He was a perceptive guy. For all she knew, he did, and perversely for someone who’d drawn the line between them at friendship, she liked that.
Feeling like a teenager skipping out of the last period at school, Kate walked out with Jon, sensing everyone’s eyes on her. Hadn’t anyone left for the day yet? She pulled the strap of her bag up further on her shoulder. She wasn’t leaving any earlier than she did any other Thursday for the No Brides Club meeting. Her finger itched to pull her phone from her bag and text Julie or one of the other club members to…what? Talk her down? Come to her rescue by being at the Briarwood when she and Jon got there?
“And, then, I suggested we cut out the middle person and invest directly in the live elephants. What do you think?” Jon asked.
Kate stopped short and blinked at him. “Live elephants?” Jon was working with the socially responsible fund, but what was he talking about?
He opened the front door to the street, as if that’s why she’d halted, and she walked into the afternoon heat. She couldn’t remember the meteorologists saying so, but the recent temperatures had to be topping 100 in the heat index charts.
“You were a hundred miles away. I thought the elephants could bring you back,” Jon said.
“Sorry.” Why did she feel as if she were always apologizing to Jon? And what was she apologizing for? Not listening to him or being attracted to him? “I rode an elephant once,” she blurted out of nowhere.
“Did you.?” He raised an eyebrow, and she tripped on another nonexistent crack in the sidewalk.
He took her elbow.
“Yes, at the county fair when I was six or seven.” It was an odd conversation twist, but why not go with it to keep them talking and her mind from fixating on his touch. It was her elbow for heaven’s sake. She’d tripped.
“That reminds me,” Jon said. “You know how you said you’d like to come up to the farm for a weekend?
Only too well, along with the swim meet weekend.
“When we were driving home from Genesee,” he prompted.
“Yeah.” Sometime next month might be good, preferably after I have my promotion to fund manager under my belt and she was one step removed from being Jon’s boss. Or, even better, after that and when Jon was back to teaching full time.
“Well.” Jon’s voice took on a tentative note. “Grandpa thought it might be fun to have you come for Flag Day weekend.”
They were already at Briarwood. Jon opened the door for her.
She walked in. “Grandpa thought it would be fun?” Kate tossed over her shoulder, catching a sheepish look on his face.
Jon tilted his head. “I agreed with him.”
“Let’s go upstairs.” Kate prolonged answering.
“Your usual?” Jon asked when they reached the rooftop bar.
He knew her usual? Kate wanted to fan her face.
“You can grab us a table while I get the drinks.”
“Okay.” She spotted an out-of-the-way table where people from work wouldn’t be likely to see them. Jon was probably going to ask the bartender what her drink was. He knew she met with her No Brides Club friends here regularly. But that was thoughtful. Kate dropped into one of the two chairs at the table. What was she doing looking for more ways to like Jon. She already had too many.
Jon arrived with the drinks, a fresh cherry margarita, regular size, for her and a draft beer for him.
“I almost couldn’t find you, over here in the corner.” He placed the drinks on the table and sat in the other chair next to her.
His leg brushed hers. The chair was too close. She should have moved it to the other side of the table when she sat down. If anyone from work saw them h
ere out of the way, sitting right next to each other they’d think … the truth. Whether they’d admitted it or not, she and Jon were more than coworkers.
Kate lifted her margarita and took a mouthful.
“A little thirsty?” Jon teased.
“It’s so warm considering it’s not even officially summer yet.” Kate returned the margarita glass to the table slowly.
Jon rested his leg against hers.
“No.” She moved her leg and drilled her gaze into his. “It’s you. Me. Us.”
“You admit there’s an us?” Jon almost crowed.
Kate’s heart soared. Jon did want to be more than friends. Hadn’t he pretty much said that at the farm? But wanting didn’t eliminate the boss-subordinate conflict. Her thoughts leapfrogged ahead. They’d have to keep any relationship very private until he left DeBakker.
He brushed his lips against hers as soft and fleeting as the touch of a butterfly wing. Kate went all melty inside, unable to voice a comeback, even if she could have come up with one.
She opened her eyes to Jon taking a healthy swig of his beer. Had she imagined kiss two? Kate dropped her gaze to her drink and over to his. They’d both made significant dents in their drinks.
“You just looked so cute,” he said as if she’d asked him to explain his action.
He had kissed her. Here in public.
“I could almost hear the wheels going around in your head.”
Kate breathed in and blew out the breath. “Us is what I was going to talk about at the No Brides Club today, if it hadn’t been cancelled and how to put off any romantic us until we aren’t working together any longer. But I’m afraid it’s too late for that.
“You don’t have to look like us being together isn’t a good thing,” Jon said.
She dropped her head to her chest. I’m not certain it is a good thing.
He reached over and lifted her chin. “We can take it slow. It’s not like we just pledged our undying love to each other.”
“Well, when you put it that way ...” Kate managed a wobbly smile. “We also have to keep it separate, private from work.”
“Copy that.” He grinned and finished his beer.
“Hey, I thought it was you guys.” The greeting cut off Kate’s intended reiteration of what she had at stake, giving into her and Jon’s mutual attraction.
“Kim,” she choked, as their fund manager coworker approached their table.
Kate finished her margarita in one slug. The No Brides Club had never let her down before. Why now when she was so close to the gold ring?
“I’d wanted to catch you before you left the office today,” Kim said.
Kate tapped the side of Jon’s foot with hers.
He rose. “I’d better get to the station if I want to make my train.”
Relief flooded Kate. He’d read her signal.
“Right. See you tomorrow.” Now how to handle this with Kim.
“May I?” Kim motioned to Jon’s former seat.
“Sure.”
Kim moved the chair 30 degrees around the table from Kate. “Bob said you usually had a meeting here after work on Thursdays.”
“I do. A group of friends. Everyone else cancelled for tonight.” Kate hesitated. She could say she ran into Jon, like Kim had run into them. That she’d invited him to have a drink to go over the work she had for him next week since he’d been out “on loan” to other analysts the last two weeks. But she’d never been good at stretching the truth.
“How much did you see?” Kate asked. Might as well get right to the center of things.
Kim smiled before she assumed a placid expression. “Enough.”
Kate’s stomach sank. She didn’t know the older woman well, but had admired her professionalism.
“Don’t worry,” Kim added. “I don’t gossip and, besides, I’m leaving DeBakker. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Kate moved to the edge of her seat. Kim had been with DeBakker quite a while. “Where are you going?” She respected Kim. Maybe she should put Kim’s new employer on the list to check out if she didn’t get her promotion.
“For starters, on a 20-day river cruise of Europe with my husband, with after-cruise stops in Paris and London. Tomorrow is my last day working at DeBakker.”
Kate stared at the other woman. Kim couldn’t have been fired. She would have had to pack her personal things and leave immediately.
“Technically, I’m still an employee of DeBakker for four more weeks, but I opted to take my accrued vacation and leave tomorrow.”
“Wow.” Kate leaned back in her chair.
“Yeah, wow.” The woman stepped out of her usual subdued professional demeanor to show some excitement. “When we get back, I’m looking at some business opportunities with my husband. We’ve had an unexpected inherited windfall.”
“Your husband is a private banker, right?”
Kim nodded as she flagged down the bar server. “I’ll have a Honey Bee Brandy,” she said. “Do you want another?”
“No, I’m good.” She needed to keep her wits for whatever Kim was up to.
“Okay,” Kim said, folding her hands on the table. “I didn’t come over to interrupt your love life.”
Kate winced.
“Nor was I looking for someone to gloat to about my good fortune to. If I’d wanted to, I have a couple of male colleagues, I’d descend on.” Kim unfolded her hands. “What I wanted was to give you a heads-up on the additional fund manager position that’s available. I have not recommended anyone on my current team for it. That makes a fund manager position for you and one for Jon.”
“Jon’s not interested in managing a fund.”
Kim’s wave of dismissal of Kate’s declaration made her stomach churn.
“Confidentially, I can’t say I’ve loved working at DeBakker, but it did give me an opportunity to gain the traction I wanted for my career. It could be the same for you. But if they pass you over for fund manager again, you should start looking elsewhere, if you aren’t already.”
“Thanks, that is my plan.”
“Smart woman. Two more bits of unsolicited career advice, and then I’ll back off. Be more discreet with Jon, at least until you’re both at the same-level position, and don’t let your career ambitions dictate the rest of your life. I’ve noticed how focused you are on work. That said, I wish you the best of luck with the promotion and with Jon. From the contact I’ve had with him, he seems like a good guy. Reminds me of my husband.”
Kate thanked her and watched Kim wave to someone across the room before picking up her brandy and leaving.
She wasn’t letting her career dictate the rest of her life. She had it all planned. A fund manager position was the next rung on her life-planning ladder, then buying her apartment, which was coming a little faster than planned. After that, there’d be plenty of time for other, personal goals to fall into place. Goals like love, marriage, and maybe kids.
Kate frowned at Kim’s back and out of nowhere a picture of her sister Ava and Trey announcing their engagement flashed in front of her eyes. They’d looked so happy and in love, as if nothing else on earth existed but each other.
She argued down a pang of jealousy. She’d have time for that. Soon. Wouldn’t she?
The train jerked to a start. Jon hadn’t wanted to abandon Kate, but the only way he could interpret her slapping the side of his foot with hers was as a directive to leave. So he had. It seemed simple, straight-forward enough. But he was a guy. He didn’t know how women’s minds worked. What if he’d read her wrong? Maybe she’d been signaling him to stay and back her up. He remembered Anthony’s comment about good luck with the Ice Queen, after Anthony had seen the two of them together. Except for wanting to wipe the smirk off Anthony’s face, Jon hadn’t given it another thought. Personally, he didn’t care what Anthony thought or about any other office rumors.
Jon tapped the news app on his phone for something to do with his hands but just stared at the media choices
. His abrupt departure could make Kate look bad to Kim, like the two of them were sneaking around doing something they shouldn’t be doing. Which they hadn’t been, but technically might be about to if Kim’s appearance hadn’t changed Kate’s mind. He had a good idea how much Kate’s potential promotion meant to her. Too much in his opinion, but she hadn’t asked his opinion. And he wouldn’t give it unsolicited, even though he’d been where she was now and had found the next bump up hadn’t made him any more fulfilled.
Something soft bounced over his shoulder and landed in his lap. A multi-colored rubber ball. Jon picked it up and turned around in his seat.
“Hewo,” a grinning kid, maybe two years old bounced on presumedly his mother’s lap and reached for the ball Jon held in his hand.
“Hello.” Jon handed the ball to the woman who also had her hand held out for it.
“Thanks, and sorry for bothering you.”
“No problem.” He turned around, the little boy’s image still in his mind. Dark hair, big blue eyes surrounded by long dark lashes, an impish tilt to his smile. If he and Kate had a kid, he or she might look like the little guy in the seat behind him.
He’d never given much thought to having kids. He hadn’t much enjoyed being a kid himself. And given his parents as an example, he didn’t know if he could raise a kid. Jon scrubbed his hand down his face. He’d barely gotten Kate to agree to see him outside of work. An agreement Kate might rescind after talking with Kim. In which case, he’d have to step back. He didn’t want to damage Kate’s promotion prospects in any way. Jon tapped his cell phone screen and chose The Wall Street Journal, scrolling up to the latest article burb.
He could just leave DeBakker now, rather than August first as he’d planned. Making extra payments on the home equity loan his grandfather had taken for the barn gave the farm operation a nice financial padding. But without the extra payments, the farm was still in good financial shape. His finger itched to text Kate that, that if them seeing each other outside of work was a problem, he could quit the statistician job. Resigning should also remove him from any consideration for the fund manager position that no one at DeBakker—including Kate, he suspected—believed he didn’t want.
No Time for Apologies (The No Brides Club Book 5) Page 11
