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“No. Those are boring. Dirty ones are much better. And don’t waste all night thinking about it or you’ll look tired tomorrow, and you don’t want to give Jake the satisfaction of knowing he gave you a sleepless night.”
“Does that advice come straight from the Eva school of dating?”
“Maybe, but it’s all theory, of course. I haven’t had a practical session in a long time, but I’m working on that. In fact I have a date tomorrow.”
“You do?” Grateful for the distraction,
Paige tried to push Jake to the back of her mind. “Who? Not that guy who hit on you in the street the other day?”
“No.” Eva blushed. “Someone else. He’s NYPD.”
“You’re dating a cop? How did you meet him?”
“Well, I managed to lock myself out of the apartment a few days ago. He happened to be passing and spotted me trying to climb in through Frankie’s window. He stopped to help me. Actually, I think he stopped to arrest me, but once he realized I was clueless about breaking and entering, he helped me. We swapped numbers and today he called.”
“Is he hot?”
“I don’t know. He wears a uniform,” Eva said simply. “Every man looks hot in uniform.”
“We should make a plan.”
Growing up, they’d always made a plan when one of them had a date. Because Paige was often in hospital, it was something they did to pass the time when Eva and Frankie were keeping her company. They’d bring in dresses, make-up and plan the whole date.
“My plan is to get some sleep.” Frankie stood up, too. “First thing tomorrow, go and ask Jake why he put his tongue down your throat.”
Paige gave a weak smile. “I might word it differently.”
“Fine.” Frankie shrugged. “But don’t word it so differently he doesn’t understand the question.”
* * *
IN HIS OFFICE, Jake was sprawled at his desk, trying to wrap his brain around a creative content issue. He looked at the problem again, played with a few ideas on his screen and came to the conclusion that his team had done a good job. There were a few refinements he might have added, but those could be inserted in the next phase when they rolled it out.
All he had to do now was talk the client through it and get their buy in.
This was the part of the job he loved. The sparring.
He took a bottle of water from the fridge beneath his desk and drank. It had been a complicated brief. At the moment, their solution was a little too complex for the client to grasp, but he’d fix that. One of his skills was to translate technology into something a six-year-old could understand. And most CEOs, in his experience, had a lot in common with six-year-olds. When this was launched, their business would increase. Again. There would be more enquiries, more business, an increased flow of money. The thought of it soothed him. As long as the money was flowing unimpeded, a river in full flood and not a dried-up riverbed, he was happy.
He had three computer screens on his desk, all of them switched on. His eyes were on the middle one when he sensed movement out of the corner of his eye.
Paige stood in the doorway. Her blue eyes were fixed on his, and an electric tension snapped the atmosphere tight.
He’d planned on doing them both a favor and avoiding her for a while. He’d banked on her doing the same with him. He figured that if they both worked hard enough at it, they could go at least a couple of days without laying eyes on each other. Maybe even a week.
Apparently not.
He would have told himself she was here about a professional query if he hadn’t seen the spark in her eyes.
He knew a woman on a mission when he saw one, and Paige was a woman on a mission.
“Hey.” He kept his greeting casual, hoping he was wrong and she was going to ask him something work related. “How are you doing? No aftereffects from being trapped in the elevator?”
“Not from the elevator, no.”
Shit.
“Good. In that case—” He shifted in his chair, wishing he had an ejector seat. He would happily have taken an impromptu flight over the Hudson to avoid this situation. “I’m a little busy right now so if you could close the door and—”
