Come Away with Me (With Me in Seattle, #1)(53)

“Maybe you could use a day apart.”

“Probably. Hey, what are you really doing here? You’ve been working from home a lot lately.”

Jules

frowns

and

shrugs.

“Telecommuting is easy.”

“Uh uh. I don’t buy it.” She’s not telling me something. “I know you too well, Julianne Montgomery.”

“My new boss is kind of a dick.” She shrugs again, but she looks like she might be fighting tears. Alarmed, I sit on the ottoman, making her lower her feet, and grasp her hands.

“Has he hurt you?”

“No, he’s just a condescending *.” She shrugs again, but then breaks down in tears. Holy shit.

“Sweetie, what is it?” She drops her head in her hands and cries, a hard, sobbing cry.

“I f*cked him.” She cries through her hands.

“What?” I sit back, my jaw dropped, shocked. Jules has a strict policy, no screwing co-workers.

“The night you first brought Luke home.” I remember that night, when Jules went straight upstairs without coming to the kitchen to meet Luke.

“How? Jules, this isn’t like you.”

“I know.” She wipes her eyes and her nose on the back of her hand. “We went out for dinner with some other people from the office, and I had too much to drink.”

“Honey, is he trying to ruin things for you at work?”

“No! No, nothing like that.” She takes a deep breath and I hand her a tissue. “It’s just so uncomfortable. And it doesn’t help that he’s freaking hot.

Almost Luke Williams hot.” She smiles at me and my shoulders relax just a little.

“Wow, that’s pretty hot.”

“I know, right?” She shakes her head and looks sad again. I hate seeing Sad Jules. “And Nat, you’d be shocked what he’s hiding under those business suits he wears to work. Wow. It was the best sex of my damn life.”

“Jules, are you hung up on this guy?”

“It doesn’t matter even if I am. There is a no fraternizing policy at our office.

We could both be fired.” Her eyes well again, and I just feel so helpless.

“What has his reaction been to all this?”

“Well he was pretty pissed when he woke up the next morning and I was gone.”

“Ah, so you did the whole sleep-with-‘em-then-bail-when-they’re-asleep move.” I nod knowingly.

“Yeah. I didn’t want to face the ugly morning after.”

“Can’t blame you there. But if he was pissed you were gone, maybe he really likes you.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s hopeless.”

“But…”

“No, don’t try to fix this, Nat. It’s done. I’ll go back to the office eventually; I just need a little time to regroup. I took a few vacation days and now I’m working from home until I work up the nerve to see him again.”

“Okay.” I rub her arm soothingly, and then stand. “I’m going up to shower.

Let me know if you need me.”

“Thanks.” She gives me a watery smile. “Oh, Nat?”

“Yeah?”

“Stupid jealous is kinda hot.”





Chapter Eighteen


I’m picking you up in an hour.

Please dress formally.

Oh my. I stare at the text and read it again.

I glance at the clock. It’s five thirty, and I’m definitely not anywhere near close to being formal or sexy. I don’t even know where to start.

This is a job for Jules.

“Jules!” I yell out my bedroom door, mentally thumbing through my closet.

“What?”

“I need to get sexy.”

“What?”

I shove my phone in her hands and she breaks out into a huge smile.

“Wow, he knows how to woo a girl.”

“Jules!” I clasp onto her shoulders and shake her. “Help me. I’m not good at this.”

“Come on.” She grabs my wrist and drags me into my closet. “The new red Louboutins are a no-brainer.” She pulls them off the shelf and hands them to me.

“What am I going to wear with them?”

I’m in a panic.

“Don’t you have a little black dress?”

“No.” I frown. I don’t have many dresses at all.

“Everyone has a little black dress, Natalie.”

“Not me.” I shrug.

“Get in the shower and scrub, shave and loofa. I’ll be back.”

“That sounds painful.” My eyes widen in fear and Jules smirks at me.

“We’re just getting started. Go!

Clock’s ticking.” She jogs back to her room and I start the shower.

***

Fifty minutes later, I am buffed and polished. Jules has curled my thick chestnut hair and managed to twist it up into some kind of sexy knot thing, with tendrils hanging around my face.

The face is a Julianne masterpiece.

She’s made my eyes look all smokey and sultry, accentuating the green in them.

My cheekbones are defined, and my lips are pouty with a cranberry red lip stain that is guaranteed to not smudge or come off for eighteen hours, which sounds too good to be true to me, but I’ll take it.