“Huh. That’s a pretty shallow pool.”
“No, it’s not. I thought it would be, but you’ve turned out to be an interesting guy.”
“Don’t let that get out. It’ll ruin my reputation in this town.”
She grinned. “We’re in Pasadena. You’re still safe in Hollywood.”
After looking at a face that had changed so much in such a short time, he pulled her into a kiss. Nothing fancy. Just a hope, perhaps that while the whole nine yards might be off-limits, this might not be. Kissing her was something he didn’t want to give up.
Finally, she drew away. Pushed some hair back from his forehead with the tips of her delicate fingers. “It’s late.”
“One thing, and then I’ll go.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Friends with kissing, that could work, right?”
She looked at him with those green eyes of hers. He could practically see the debate inside her head. Finally, she smiled, and he knew her answer.
“Yes. Friends with kissing could work.”
“Yippee,” he said, mocking his own exuberant reaction so she wouldn’t get scared and change her mind. “I’ll wash up.” He stood, left her the blanket, gathered his pile of clothes and went into the bathroom. As he cleaned up, he tried to remember why he’d considered her so plain. Probably the contrast to Autumn. But now that he knew Gwen so well, the scales had shifted. There was little better than winning a smile from Gwen.
Naturally, when he got to the door he wanted to try the whole friends with kissing thing. Just to make sure they both understood the concept.
Wrapped in her blanket, he tugged her close and kissed her. Not a peck, either, but a long, hot kiss that made them both moan. When he broke away, it was with real regret, but also hope. Oh, yeah. Friends with kissing was a great start. He just prayed he could stand it while he waited for her to see the wisdom of a comprehensive benefit package.
IT WAS FOUR DAYS until he saw her again. Monday night trivia, and of course, he arrived only minutes before the game. She had saved him a seat, and there was a game player waiting, but what he mostly wanted was a beer.
He sat down, pleased to be in the hubbub and chatter of the now-familiar gang from her work. He knew everyone at the table tonight, which was cool.
First thing, he turned on his machine. Second, he leaned over and kissed Gwen a proper hello, although it wasn’t nearly the kiss he could have planted on her. Then he went to type in his nickname. When he looked up, no one at the table was talking. In fact, they were all staring at him. With a thunk, he realized that he’d just done a very stupid thing.
He cleared his throat and looked desperately for a waitress as he cast about for some way to fix this. She worked with these people. She clearly didn’t want them to know they were kissing friends, and here he’d been so pleased that he’d shown such restraint.
“It’s good to see you, too,” Gwen said, her voice pleasant, her glare not so much.
His whole face got hot, but when he dared look at her, there was no real anger in her eyes. Braver, he looked at his tablemates. They were obviously bewildered, but no one shot him furious glares or threw anything at him. The last test would be Holly.
She was all shock, but pissed off, too. Not at him, though. At Gwen. Holly leaned over his back, forcing his head down to the table.
He heard Gwen say, “Ouch,” and figured Holly had given her a shot in the arm.
“What was that for?” Gwen said.
Holly grunted, but in a feminine way. “You know perfectly well.”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. We’ll talk later, I promise. But the game’s starting now, and I think you’re killing Paul.”
Holly eased up but gave him a shriveling glare. “Some nerve.” She gave him a pop, too, and it hurt quite a bit. “She’s my best friend. I should have been in the loop.”
“Sorry,” he said, wishing the beer would get there, wishing he didn’t want to rub his arm like a little girl. Glad it was out in the open, and that he could touch Gwen tonight. He’d missed her, even through a ridiculously busy few days. There’d been no reading, no movies, not even any baseball games. Just work, a phone call here and there and some nice memories to put him to sleep.
After the first question came up on the board, Gwen leaned over so her mouth was close to his ear. “Smoothly done, Casanova.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered back. “I didn’t think.”
“I forgive you.”
He turned fully to her, the whisper be damned. “Do you now? How magnanimous.”
She nodded, pleased with herself.
He leaned toward her, shifting his glance between her eyes and the big board while he moved his hand to his game machine. He made sure she was looking at him, though, when the next question popped. That’s when he kissed her again. A long one. If there’d been any doubts before from any of her coworkers, they were dispelled by the smoldering lip-lock. Of course, he answered the trivia question at the same time, and when the answer period was over, he let her go. He couldn’t suppress his grin, knowing he’d won on two counts.
She looked up at the board. Then at him. Then she socked him in the other arm. It hurt a lot worse than Holly’s punch.
GWEN KEPT HERSELF as calm as possible as the game continued. It wasn’t his fault, that kiss, not really. They hadn’t discussed the public face of their relationship. Friendship. Besides, it had been a spontaneous gesture that had been not only sweet but a little breathtaking, so she couldn’t be mad at him. She’d learned long ago to defuse tricky situations by acting as if they weren’t tricky at all. But now that they were pressing buttons, trying to win, drinking beer, in essence back to normal, the gravity of what he’d done hit her.
These were the people she worked with. To most of them, she was the boss, although in her office there wasn’t much of a caste system. There was a great deal of camaraderie, but when things got dicey they all knew her word was final. No one objected and the atmosphere at work was mostly jovial, if task oriented.
She’d only brought one man into the fold at all, and that had been on two occasions. Alex had been nice, but mostly a rebound guy, and their dalliance hadn’t lasted long.
Paul, on the other hand, had been allowed in on the basis of being her friend. No hint had been given that there was more. Well, Holly had wanted it to be a love affair, but that was Holly. No wonder she was cranky. Gwen wasn’t even sure why she’d kept things so quiet.
Although she hadn’t seen Paul since that night on the couch, they’d spoken every day. Poor guy, he’d been slammed with work and clients and entertaining, but he still managed to sneak in his daily call.
While it had been nice to speak to him, she hadn’t been prepared for dreaming about him. Not just any dreams, either. Vivid, sexy, naked dreams.
Naturally, she didn’t tell him. Not when she was so confused about what this thing was between them. At least she still had a grasp on the fact that sexual attraction was not enough. Although it sure felt as if it would be. No, there were issues to be dealt with. Big ones.
For example, the incongruity of the two of them together. Even now Kenny kept sneaking stares, his expression perplexed, although he tried to hide it. And there was Steph, shaking her head with what looked to be disbelief.
Gwen shifted her attention to the game, her drink, anything rather than see the reactions around her. It wasn’t a surprise. Come on. She might have a lot of good qualities, but beauty wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t something she could hide or disguise. What pissed her off was that it had never been a part of her relationships at work. Never.