Distraction (Club Destiny #8)(75)

chapter TWENTY-THREE

Tuesday, January 24

WHEN THE TEMP AGENCY CALLED her late yesterday afternoon, Sarah had reluctantly accepted a one-day assignment to fill in as a receptionist. Apparently, the company’s previous one had bailed on them and they had a lag until the new one started. Figuring it would be simple and easy, she’d opted to do it. More so because she needed something to do rather than sit around thinking while trying to come up with nonexistent things to clean around the house.

The day had gone exactly as she’d expected. Nothing overly dramatic. No pain-in-the-ass boss who drilled her endlessly about stupid shit. No vindictive office assistant who was jealous. In fact, it had been relatively boring.

And once again, after eight hours at the office, Sarah found she was pacing her living room floor.

She glanced at her cell phone, trying to pretend it wasn’t the elephant in the room. She hadn’t heard from Dylan since he dropped her off on Sunday. Rather than call him herself, she’d been hoping he would make the first move.

That was two full days ago.

It wasn’t that she thought he needed to be the first one to reach out. More like she was afraid of appearing too needy. She could admit to having abandonment issues, and that was always the first thing she jumped to. But with Dylan, she knew she couldn’t assume the worst. It wasn’t fair to him. They’d had a wonderful trip, and she longed to see him again, but Sarah knew she needed to slow things down. For her own sake if nothing else.

But then it dawned on her. Why did he have to be the one pursuing her? Shouldn’t she make the effort? What if he was waiting for her to call him? It only seemed fair, right?

“Uggh.” Sarah thrust her hand through her hair.

Reaching for her phone, she pulled up Dylan’s contact information. Just as she was going to hit the call button, her phone rang. The vibration startled her, and she dropped the phone, scrambling to catch it before it died a painful death on the hardwood.

She managed to grab it just in time.

“Hello?” Hmm. She sounded like she’d just run a mile. And not in a sexy, breathless kind of way, either.

“Sarah? Are you okay?”

Sitting in the middle of the living room, Sarah laughed into the phone. “I’m fine. Sorry. I almost dropped the phone. I was just about to call you.”

“You were?” Dylan inquired, his voice dropping an octave or two.

“Yeah.”

“Because you wanted to see me?”

Sarah lay back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “Actually, yes.”

Smokey and Blue were instantly at her side, crawling over and around her, whipping her in the face with their tails.

“Mmm.”

God, she missed him. She missed seeing him, hearing his voice.

“How’re things?” he inquired.

“Good. Busy. Sort of. I went to work today. One-day deal. It was boring.”

“Doing what?”

“Answering phones.”

“Sounds … interesting.”

Sarah chuckled. “No, it sounds as boring as it was.”

Dylan’s sexy laugh echoed in her ear. “What else is going on?”

Sarah thought back to her conversation with Jake. “I talked to my nephew. He sort of grilled me when I got back on Sunday.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Sarah pulled it back to see if the call had disconnected.

It hadn’t.

“Dylan?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “Did Jake happen to mention Nate?”

Well, crap. “He … did. Yes.”

“Nate’s devastated.”

“Oh, no.” Sarah sat up. “I’m so sorry. If it makes a difference, I don’t think Jake’s doing all that hot, either.”

“So, you know?”

“That he’s gay? Yeah. I know. But I’ve known that since he was fifteen when he told me.”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t know?”

“Not officially, no,” Dylan said softly. “I had my suspicions, but I was leaving it to Nate to talk to me about it.”

“Trust me, I get it.” And she really did. Had Jake not come to her, Sarah wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to address it with him.

“Maybe I should have gone to him. Made him talk about it.”

Sarah chuckled softly. “You do know that wouldn’t have changed what they’re going through now, right?”

“Maybe.”

“No maybes about it,” she countered, keeping her voice low. “Whether it’s a crush or true love, it would’ve happened anyway. They’ll figure it out. They’re young. They’re resilient.”

Dylan was quiet again, and when he finally spoke, his voice wasn’t nearly as strained. “So, what’re you doing tomorrow?”

“Nothing,” she admitted. “That I know of.”

“You want to have lunch with Trent Ramsey?”

Sarah bolted upright, getting to her feet. “Trent Ramsey? The Trent Ramsey? Please don’t be messing with me right now.”

Dylan chuckled. “I’m very serious. He wants to meet, see what I thought about Devil’s Playground. Figured maybe you could give him your insight as well.”