A Calculated Seduction(14)
But with Dulcy...well, with her it was going to be hard to remember where to draw that line.
* * * *
For the next two days, Dulcy silently fretted about Saturday night. She wasn’t really comfortable going with Ethan MacMillan, but she didn’t see a way out of it. Oh, she was sure he didn’t see it as a date and she wondered who he’d planned to take before she’d been dumped in his lap. That one thought conjured up a whole other image of being in his lap, in his chair, in his office. Naked.
“Dulcy?”
Her face heated when she realized Pete had come into the office and she hadn’t really noticed. Here she was, sitting at her desk, daydreaming about screwing her boss. She was not being a good employee.
“From the look on your face, you were thinking naughty thoughts. ”
She smiled as he settled in one of the chairs in front of her desk. Peter was just a couple of years older than she was herself. Unlike so many of the other men in the computer department, he usually spent time on his appearance. Just a shade under six feet, he kept his light brown hair military short and his chin free of whiskers. Today, he’d dressed in a dark gray suit, red shirt and black tie.
They’d shared lunch a few times, and she even went to the movies or out to dinner with him a couple of times. Why couldn’t she be attracted to him, instead of Ethan? Oh, yeah, Pete was gay.
“You never mind my thoughts. What are you doing here anyway?”
“I’d planned on seeing if you wanted to go together Saturday night, but word has it, you have a date with the boss.”
Her face heated again. “I have no such thing. Bill just wanted us to go together.”
“Uh huh.”
“Really, I went with Bill all the time and no one thought it was a date.”
“I hate to break it to ya, hon, but Bill is an old man. Now, the new boss is six-foot-three of hunk.”
“If you like him so much, why don’t you go out with him?”
“Oh, because I get strong heterosexual vibes off that one. Besides, he wants you.”
Heat slid through her, charging her hormones, warming her blood. That would be lovely, but it wasn’t true. And thinking that would only lead to disappointment.
“He does not.”
Pete said nothing for a moment and just watched her. “Yes, he does. You don’t pay attention, but you should’ve seen the way he was watching you when we were talking yesterday in the break room. The man was practically screaming he’d staked his claim.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Men these days do not stake their claim.”
“If you’re lucky, they do.”
She shook her head. “I’m not his type.”
He cocked his head to the side and asked. “Why do you say that?”
“He reminds me of someone one of my sisters would date.”
“Good Lord. Why do you say that?”
“Tall, handsome, rich. Their three requirements.”
“Ah, but you forgot the fourth. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who likes to be led around.” He stood and studied her for a moment again. “Do you have anything to wear Saturday night?”
“Yes. ”
Pete groaned. “Not that horrible beige thing?”
She crossed her arms. “I like that dress.”
“Dulcy, I love you. You know that, don’t you?”
She nodded and he drew in a deep breath.
“You’re the only person who likes that dress. Why don’t we run to the mall for lunch tomorrow? We’ll do some noontime shopping. Unless you’d like to run out Friday night?”
“No, I have Richy again this Friday night.” She’d worn that dress to the last three functions and maybe it was getting a little worn out. “How about Saturday?”
Pete was already shaking his head. “Got plans. How about Sunday?’
“No. Brunch with the family.”
Pete made a face and she laughed.
“Guess we can do it sometime next week at lunch,” he said.
“That sounds great. But it will have sleeves. The last dress you tried to get me to buy had no sleeves, no back and barely a front.”
He chuckled. “It’s a date then.”
He turned to leave and practically ran into Ethan standing at the door. She wondered if that man made it a habit to eavesdrop on his employees. Pete apparently wasn’t nervous. But heat rushed to her face. It had to be nerves.