“I’ll be fine,” I say. “I’m over her. I truly am.” I mostly am. And that’s due in no small part to all the time I’ve been spending with Wendy. “But it was still a sucker punch to see them together.”
She nods and rests a hand on my thigh. “I’m sorry for what she put you through.”
I stare at her hand for too long before I look back at her face and respond, “You don’t need to be sorry. She’s the one who hurt me.”
“I know. But you’re my friend, and when you hurt, I hurt. I hope someday you’ll be able to see her without any kind of reaction other than being glad she showed you her true colors before it was too late.”
See? This is why Wendy is good for me. And it’s why I want to kiss her so badly right now. Well, it’s one of many reasons.
I need distance from her, so I stand. As I’m about to move toward the door, Wendy also stands, wraps her arms around my waist, and rests her cheek against my chest.
“You deserve so much better than Colleen,” she says.
I loop my arms around her and hope she didn’t register the stutter in my heartbeat at her unexpected hug and words.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Wendy pats me on the back and then pulls away. I reluctantly let her go.
“I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” I say as I head out the door.
“As always.” She smiles as she closes the door behind me.
I slump against the elevator wall as I ride down to the ground floor. I don’t know how much longer I can do this with Wendy. I don’t want to lose her friendship, but keeping my feelings to myself is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
* * *
As I reach the conference room at Carter-Jenkins PR the next morning, Wendy is headed my way from the opposite direction, so I wait for her. She’s wearing a stunning dress, which isn’t typical, as she usually wears skirt suits that look like they were specifically created to mold to her curves. This dress looks even better on her, and I struggle to keep my eyes focused on her face. I shake my head in a vain attempt to rid myself of thoughts I shouldn’t be having about her.
“What’s that head shake for?” she asks as she stops in front of me. “Thinking about how you need to stop singing Debbie Gibson songs in the shower?”
I laugh. “Have you been hiding under my bathroom sink again? I told you to stop that.”
She shrugs. “I can’t help it. It’s so cozy under there, and it has such great acoustics for my private concerts.”
“You’re a nut,” I say with a fond smile.
“As long as I can be a macadamia nut, I’m good with that.”
“Macadamias are my favorite, so that works perfectly.” To be more specific, chocolate-covered macadamias are my favorite. I shake my head again before I start thinking about Wendy covered in chocolate. “Anyway, I was thinking about how I need to behave myself.”
“Please don’t,” she says. “Your jokes and witty comments are what make all-staff meetings bearable. Before you were here, they were torture.”
I’ve been working at Carter-Jenkins for only a few weeks as in-house legal counsel. But I’ve known Wendy much longer than that, because Ash used to be the PR firm’s general counsel on a contract basis, and our previous law office is located around the corner. Wendy was in our offices much more often than she needed to be. I used to think that was because she had a thing for my brother, but she recently assured me that wasn’t the case. Now I’m wondering why she was there so much.
“Randall!” Wendy snaps her fingers in front of my face.
“Sorry.” I shake my head again. “I’m a little distracted today.”
She cocks her hip and plants a fist on it. “Oh, yeah? What’s distracting you?”
I can’t help raking my eyes up and down her body. The calf-length bright blue dress isn’t inappropriate for the office, but there’s something about it that makes me want to—
Wendy snaps her fingers again as she sighs. “It’s the dress, isn’t it?”
“What? No.” I stick my hands in my pockets and try to look nonchalant.
