Page 79 of Hiding in the Outfield

“Lunch.”

I raise my brows. “What?”

“Lunch. You really think I can wait until after work? Frank, we’re going to lunch. I want the tea. There’s a new smoothie place that opened up. It’s my favorite. The smoothies are terrible.”

I give in. Very easily. Because I can’t wait to tell her about Jackson—not by name, of course. I definitely don’t already miss him. Because that would be ridiculous. And extremely stupid.

“Why would I want to have awful smoothies?”

“Because they have antioxidants and stuff. They’ll make us svelte and keep us young.”

An amused breath falls from me as I log in to my computer.

“What’s on the docket for you while you’re here?” she asks.

“Client meeting with Colanova.” Colanova is a huge beverage company that I’m assigned to. Led by a certain asshole.

“They also wanted me to step in on a smaller client temporarily while the principal is on maternity leave. So I’m going to meet with the current team and get up to speed while I’m here.”

“Oh, Cathy’s team? Cathy is amazing. She’s so fucking organized. It’ll be easy to step in with her. She’s as anal about her spreadsheets as I am.”

I glance at her screen, and sure enough, a rainbow of headers reflects back at me. Gen’s spreadsheets are literally a work of art. I love me a pretty spreadsheet.

A thwack echoes next to Gen. A huge stack of papers with a large hand atop it rests on the table. “I want this peer reviewed with a rundown of any changes needed returned to my office by four p.m. sharp.”

I shiver at the deep, commanding voice. That would be Kieran. The sexy-as-fuck partner Gen reports to. He’s a total ass. Which only adds to the whole boss-daddy vibe he’s rocking.

Gen tosses her hair and doesn’t bother looking his way. “I’ll see if I can get to it.”

Oooh. Fighting words.

“Genevieve. That was not a request.”

Her mouth tightens. She turns to face him, hair whipping with the movement. “Perhaps if you wanted me to review an accounting report that’s over one hundred pages, you should have planned better, Kieran.”

“Fine,” he grits out. “You will join me in my office at four. If it is not finished, we will stay as late as needed until we get it done. But it gets done tonight. Client deadlines don’t move just because”—his gaze flicks to me, then back to Gen—“you’d rather be a social butterfly.”

“That’s slightly better. I expect Thai as consolation for this. I want the basil chicken with brown rice.” She shoos Kieran, and…was that steam coming out of his ears just now? His jaw tics, cheeks turning an enraged crimson, but he spins on his heel and leaves.

I cackle. I lean into Gen and whisper, “So how good is the sex going to be after that?”

She grins, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. “Won’t be able to walk tomorrow if I’m lucky.”

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

She winks.

She and Kieran have this love-hate foreplay thing going on. He’s also her superior, which does make things dicey. Been there, done that. Have the scars to show for it. At least Kieran doesn’t have a secret wife—that we know of. But the way he looks at Gen when she’s not aware? That man’s a smitten kitten. Or maybe smitten wolf. He’s far from a kitten.

“Soooo… Will you have to spend a lot of time with The Asshole We Will Not Name?” Gen asks.

I slump in my chair and groan. “Unfortunately, more than I’d like. We need to rehearse for the meeting. He’s going to want to go through the deck. Slide by slide. You know how he is. I don’t know why we can’t just go through our parts separately.”

She spins in her chair and raises her hand. “I know why.”

My eyes catch on her forearm. “Oooh! New ink! Gimme gimme.” I snatch her wrist. It’s an intricate vine of leaves that leads up to a flower with a hummingbird drinking from it. “Stunning.”

“Thank you.” She runs her fingers over it. “Saw the prettiest blue hummingbird at my feeder and knew it was going to be my next one. I love what they represent.” Her smile softens. “Harbingers of love. Messengers of joy.”