Paige looked around. The room was filling. She was supposed to give her presentation about the children’s programming in about twenty minutes, and one of her roles here was to circulate and make sure everyone was having a good time. “Uh, I guess. But I’m kind of running this shindig, so a couple of minutes is all I can give you.”
“Then I’ll keep it short. I know what we said, and I know this situation is complicated, but… I have not been able to stop thinking about you.”
* * *
There. Short, direct, to the point.
Josh knew saying anything was probably stupid, but it was also stupid to let the opportunity pass him by. Sure, she was Lauren’s friend and employee, which complicated things. He didn’t have an abundance of free time either. But his desire to even just have a conversation with Paige overrode those things. Perhaps it was lust-driven, but…they’d had fun that night. He wanted more of that, too.
Paige frowned at him. “I can’t have this conversation right now.”
“I wasn’t looking for anything, and I’m not even trying to pressure you. But I had a great time and I think you’re awesome and I don’t see why we should throw that away. Okay, so you know my sister. What’s the big deal?”
She stared at him, astonished. Maybe angry. “The big deal? This is a messy, complicated situation. First of all, I really like this job. Second, Lauren is one of my best friends in the world. What happens if something goes south with you and me?”
“But what if it doesn’t? What if things work out? What if they go…north?”
“Go north?” Paige laughed softly and shook her head. “I just… In this situation, the risk is all on me. I’m the one who stands to lose. I love Lauren like a sister, but she’s your actual sister and blood trumps friendship.”
“Not always.”
“Maybe not always, but you and Lauren are close. She talks about you all the time. I’m sure if you didn’t work such crazy hours, I would have met you much sooner than two weeks ago. Trust me, if something goes wrong, I lose. Have you ever been friends with a couple who broke up and had to choose sides?”
Josh was busy trying to form a counterargument—Such a lawyerly thing to do,he thought with a suppressed sigh—but he paused to answer her questions. “Yeah, a couple of my law school classmates. That was…oof.” Thathadbeen a bad scene, but it was nothing compared to how everything had fallen apart when Megan and Josh had broken up. It was a good thing their law school classmates were spread across the country now; it had made it easier for their friends not to pick sides. Josh was still a little resentful over some of the friends Megan had kept in the breakup. “It’s messy. So, fine, point taken.”
“So, if you and I dated, maybe it would be really great for a while, but if we broke up, trust me, Lauren would choose you. The risk is all mine in this equation, and I don’t like that.”
“Okay, I hear you. And you’re right. Lauren is my sister. And she’s been looking out for me my whole life. If she had to pick between us, I’d probably win. But at the same time, I’m not asking you to marry me. I just…want to take you out some time. Get to know you. Have a glass of wine and a meal. That’s all.”
Something rubbed against Josh’s leg then. He looked down and saw a little gray cat snugging up against his shin.
“That’s Mr. Darcy,” said Paige. “Lauren let me name the most recent group of cats we brought in, so I named them all after Austen characters. The orange cat on the sofa is Mr. Willoughby. The tuxedo over there is Lizzy Bennet.”
“Cute. Although that doesn’t mean a lot to me. I think I readPride and Prejudicein high school, but I don’t remember it.”
Paige gasped. “Have you not even seen the movies?”
He shrugged. “I’ve seenClueless. That’s based on some Austen novel, isn’t it?”
“We’re going to move on past your lack of culture and get back to the point, which is—”
“Which is that we get along well and can talk about anything and one date won’t kill you.”
“When will you have time for such a date?”
“I don’t know. Next week maybe. I’ll make time. If I have to work every weekend until July, it’ll be worth it.”
She sighed. “I hate that you’re right. I’ve thought about you a lot, too, it just seems like the potential for disaster here is very high.” She looked around the room. “I have to get back to the party, but okay. One date. And nothing over the top. Just, like, dinner or something. Conversation. Maybe some wine. But that’s it.”
“All right, I hear you. I will plan a perfectly boring date with you. Then we just…take it from there.”
“I… Okay. I’ll do it.”
Josh’s heart soared, but he wondered for a moment if he’d worn her down. “You, uh, do actually want to go on a date with me, right? You’re not just saying you will so I’ll go away.”
“Josh. Half the problem here is that I don’t want to stop talking to you right now, but I have to because I have to persuade some of the high rollers who just walked in here to drop some money on my programming ideas.”
Josh couldn’t help but smile at that. “So youdolike me.”
