Chasing Forever (The Forever Series #1)(46)

She laughed to hide the ripple of unease skating through her mind. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve done this before?”

“I don’t kiss and tell, but just to make you feel better, I haven’t dated anyone at Martin and Black.”

She released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “It’s none of my business, but I didn’t know if had to worry about a spurned ex at work.”

“Nope, not at work.”





Chapter Twenty-Two




“And so what happens at work on Monday?”

Lucas shrugged in response. “We pretend as if nothing happened.”

Lucas and Drew sat on a park bench after their run, a few blocks from their street. The morning fog still hadn’t lifted, and the park was completely empty, but Lucas didn’t care. He stuck to his work-week exercise schedule, even on the weekends. He couldn’t break the habit.

“Do you think you can do that?”

Lucas took a drink from his water bottle. “I don’t have any choice.”

“And what did Regan think of that?”

Lucas bent over to tie his shoe. “I don’t think she likes it, but we don’t have any choice. I can’t exactly tell the partners I’m screwing one of the summer associates. Well, not if I want to keep my job and make partner sometime in the foreseeable future.”

“And is that what this about, screwing the summer associate?”

Lucas sat up and looked over at Drew. “No. Not even close.” He didn’t offer an explanation. He knew he didn’t have to. It was written all over his face. He loved Regan. In fact, if he were honest with himself, he never stopped loving her.

“Jesus, are you serious?” Drew asked, completely stunned.

“Yes.”

“Is this something you realized on your little business trip together?”

“No,” Lucas said, shaking his head.

Drew lowered his voice. “How long have you felt that way?”

Lucas ran his hands through his sweat-dampened hair. “For too long,” he answered evasively.

“Since the beginning of this summer or since college?”

“Are you trying to make me feel like a jackass?” Did he have to spell it out? He didn’t mind bouncing ideas off Drew, but sharing his feelings was something entirely different. Drew had been his closest friend for more years than he could count, but his feelings for Regan were personal, too personal for a casual conversation after a run, especially when he hadn’t shared them with Regan.

“No, I’m just morbidly curious on the inner workings of your mind.”

“Fine. Probably since the night I met her.” Are you always such a smooth talker, Lucas Evanston? He’d spent years denying it, but the moment she asked him that question with her sassy smile and glowing green eyes, he was sunk, quite literally. There had never been another woman for him and there never would be.

Drew laughed. “Wow, that sucks for you.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” Lucas stood up and started stretching his legs.

“On a brighter note, I’m convinced you’ll be able to conceal your feelings for her at work.”

Lucas peered over at Drew. “Why is that?”

“You’ve successfully hidden them for over six years. What’s another month?”

“Maybe,” Lucas answered, not convinced because a month seemed like an eternity when he’d already lost six years with her.

***

Monday morning, Regan sat in her office staring at the cappuccino she discovered waiting on her desk when she walked in earlier this morning. Strangely, she had convinced herself Lucas would forget about the cappuccino. He’d already won her over, and now that something was actually happening between them, they really needed to be careful at work. They couldn’t take any risks.

Lucas asked her to dinner on Saturday and then brunch on Sunday, and she declined both times. She claimed she had errands to do, but in truth, she needed some separation from him so she could function at work this week.

Also, she could easily evade Lucas’s questions about Parker by text and voicemail. In person, Lucas would press her on the issue, and she couldn’t explain why she hadn’t called Parker and told him she couldn’t go with him to his brother’s engagement party. After going back and forth, she decided to wait to tell Parker until their shift at the restaurant on Thursday. While that didn’t give Parker much time to find another date, she thought she owed it to him to offer him an explanation in person. What that explanation would include, she still didn’t have a clue, but she knew Lucas would have some strong opinions on the matter.

As if on cue, Lucas walked into her office shutting the door behind him. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you,” she responded.

She glanced at the closed door nervously. “Do you think it’s a good idea to close the door?”

“I’ve sat in closed rooms with you before,” he answered, walking behind her desk to where she sat. “What’s the big deal?”

“That was before.”

Bending his head, he brushed his lips across hers. “Before what?” he asked, smiling mischievously, and her heart fluttered in her chest. Did he have to be so beautiful?