Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(71)

“I think I’d fall over in heels that high.”

“There’s a learning curve, but I’m used to them. And these are deceptively comfortable.”

The elevator opened and we rode it downstairs. We chatted as we walked to the restaurant. When we got there, the hostess seated us at a table next to the window. After perusing the menu for a few minutes, we ordered lunch.

“How’s everything over in editing?” I asked.

“Same as usual.” She shrugged. “I just finished working with Jenna on her travel piece, which was kind of fun. Small towns of the Pacific Northwest. Now I have at least five new places I want to visit.”

“That sounds charming.”

“It was, although I’m not sure how much it will do toward our bonuses. I’m just glad I have your column to balance it out. Your articles always generate clicks.”

“I suppose they do.”

“Speaking of, what are you working on?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I talked to April about expanding my range of topics. I’m working on a piece on dating a single dad and it’s so refreshing.”

“Wow. I’m surprised she went for it.”

“It’s something of a trial run to see how the audience responds. We acknowledged that clicks might go down, especially at first. But I’m confident this will be good for us in the long run.”

“It seems like a risk. I’m not trying to be critical, it’s just that everyone knows your column drives a huge amount of the traffic we get.”

“It does, but how long will that last when I keep recycling articles about blow jobs and multiple orgasms? It’s getting harder to write about the same things in new ways.”

“I can see that. But it must be a little easier since you’re getting regular orgasms.” She gave me a conspiratorial grin. “How’s the hot fling with your neighbor?”

I smiled. “So hot. He’s positively delicious.”

“He has a daughter, doesn’t he? Does she know?”

“We were trying to keep it quiet but she figured it out.”

“Uh-oh. This just got juicier. How did she find out? She didn’t walk in on you or anything, did she?”

“No, fortunately not. We were usually hooking up when she wasn’t home. But there were a few times he came over to my place when he thought she wouldn’t notice. Apparently she did and was smart enough to figure out what her dad was doing.”

“Sneaking around with the sexy single dad next door? I love it.”

“I won’t lie, it’s been fun. He’s such a great guy.” The server brought our salads and I placed the napkin in my lap. “What about you? Didn’t you meet someone recently?”

She nodded. “I did and it’s going well. I introduced him to Frannie and Freddie and they all got along.”

I searched my memory. Who were Frannie and Freddie? It seemed like she’d mentioned them before. “Those are your…”

“Ferrets.”

Right, ferrets. Not a type of pet I was familiar with, but to each her own. “I’m glad that went well. And that he’s an animal lover.”

“They’re all so cute together. He can’t have pets at his place so he loves coming over to mine.”

“That’s sweet.”

“And they don’t even interfere when we have sex, which is so nice. I mean, they watch, but they keep their distance.”

I blinked, not sure what to say to that. “Oh. That’s good.”

“Yeah, it’s so much better than with my last boyfriend. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure they were trying to tell me something.”

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know but I also couldn’t seem to keep from asking. “What did they do?”

“They were friendly to him most of the time, but sometimes when we were in the middle of sex, they would come up on the bed and nibble at his toes. They didn’t bite hard or anything, but it always freaked him out.”

“I can’t say that I blame him for that.”

She laughed. “Me neither. But they leave us alone, which I think is a sign of their acceptance.”

“That’s good for both of you. And your toes.”

Suddenly I was glad April had never asked me to write an article about how to navigate having sex with exotic pets in the room.

Her ferrets liked to watch? Shudder.

Fortunately, our conversation turned toward topics less likely to make me cringe while we finished our lunch—mostly light office gossip. I treated her to lunch and we walked back together.

I went back to my article and made good progress. Shortly before five, my phone buzzed with a text.

Dex: Just thinking about you.

Me: I like that. I’m thinking about you, too.

I smiled and warmth filled me. Dex really was a great guy. I hadn’t told Tala the half of it. I liked him for a million different reasons, the most important of which weren’t even in his pants. Granted, I liked what he had there too, but there was more.

He was more.

It scared me because, in a way, I’d been here before. And I’d given my heart to the wrong man. Not just the wrong man, but a lying, cheating asshole who didn’t deserve to be called a man. What I’d thought was love had clouded my judgment, making me blind to the truth.