Page 24 of Dance with Me on New Year's Eve
And he knew it.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“You want me to reschedule with Jenna so I can meet withyourpick? Fine.”
Jeff frowned for the hundredth time that day. “Jenna?”
“My neighbor.” I smirked. “Keep up.”
“Thought you said you were planning an engagement thing forJanice.”
“I … what?”
“Maybeyoushould keep up.” He paused and then spoke slowly, “Is Janice marrying Jenna then? Odd how similar their names sound.” I could almost swear he was trying not to smile.
“Oh, uh, yeah. They are married. I mean, engaged.”
He stared at me a moment. “Your face gives you away, you know. Your cheeks are pink when you lie.”
My jaw dropped. “They do not.”
“Oh?” He crossed his arms and continued to stare with an unreadable expression. “Why are your cheeks pink then?”
“They’re not,” I retorted. When he raised an eyebrow, my hands flew up to my cheeks against my will. “OK, maybe they are. Well, it’s hot in here. The heat’s turned up too high.”
This time, both his eyebrows rose.
If it were possible, my cheeks would have heated even more. As things stood though, I was already starting to sweat. I wanted to avert my eyes, but something in his held my attention. “Um. I mean—”
What did I mean? It was late springtime in Minnesota, so it was far from sweltering. Today’s weather was actually a pleasant seventy degrees, so I doubted the heat was on in the building. And I couldn’t admit to him the real reason I’d turned red …
Obviously.
“Believe what you want,” I managed to say as casually as I could—which meant not casually at all.
He looked like he was considering a response, but his phone buzzed. His keen eyes shifted to the phone, and a severe frown overtook his entire face as his eyes scanned whatever message was on his phone.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, trying to sound polite when I was actually just nosy.
His jaw tensed, but he didn’t look up.
“Jeff?”
Finally, he set the phone down slowly as he turned to me. “Nothing is wrong. Just an email from Hazel about an accounting issue I thought was already resolved.”
My eyes moved from his still tense jaw to his forearm, where his other hand was smoothing the light blue fabric. “But you seem—” I halted when he dropped his hand abruptly. It was none of my business if something was bothering him. I didn’t care. And surely he didn’t care to tell me anything anyway. “Never mind.”
His sigh was long and pained. “I’m fine. But I need to go call Hazel.” Then, like an afterthought, he muttered, “I should never have let Hazel’s boyfriend assist with the books.”
My brow was furrowed as I studied his face. “Wait, you’re working with Peter?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
Yet another thing I didn’t know about my boss’s life. I tried to ignore the hurt creeping over me like an enveloping fog. “I thought Peter was great with financial stuff. He used to run a big company, you know.”
